Shimbashi, Tokyo Lecture
2005 August 5

Lecture Series on Bhagavad Gita

Attachment and the Gradual Fall

Last class, we discussed verses 62 and 63 from Chapter 2.Here the Gita discusses our moral and spiritual fall. The fall is not sudden. It is step by step. We talked about the term used by Shankar - Kelikandukavat - like the ball which falls from the hand of a child. It gradually falls down a flight of stairs and reaches the bottom. In spiritual life too, the fall is not sudden. It is not as if you will fall from the 10th floor directly to the 1st floor. The fall is step by step.

What is the purpose of this explanation by the Lord? So that we become careful. Arise and awake, says Swami Vivekananda. If we do not know how the degradation comes, how can we arise and awake? So, if we carefully watch our mind and senses, we will know - this is the beginning of the fall. So that we become alert and know the beginning of the fall, these steps are enumerated.

We say accidents happen suddenly. But there are circumstances which lead to accidents. So, generally speaking, there are no accidents, only incidents. We are not aware of these circumstances and so term it an accident. The emphasis I want to place is on "suddenly" when I use the term accident. There are a series of incidents which culminate into something.

We say, "I suddenly became angry", but certainly there were circumstances which lead to the anger. Similarly with attachment. Suddenly a person hits another person. Here too, there were some circumstances which led to that violent action.

Liking something or someone leads to repeated thinking; which leads to attachment; if problems arise this leads to anger; this leads to delusion; this leads to the loss of decision making as to right or wrong; and this leads to improper action; the fall is complete.

In the Gospel Of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna mentioned a monk who did not look at a thing or person more than once to avoid being attached. Looking twice would lead to three times and so on. In this way, the holy man controlled his mind. This is one concrete example of how we can practise control of mind and senses.

Of course this is for those who want to lead a moral or ethical and spiritual life. Without a moral and ethical life, no spiritual life is possible. And without a spiritual life, no peace and joy is possible. There will be continuous peacelessness.

What is the way?

How to solve this problem of attachment and consequent problems? This is explained in verse 64:

'A man of disciplined mind, who has his senses under control and who has neither attraction nor aversion for sense objects, attains tranquility, though he may be moving amidst objects of the senses.'

There is a saying in English; 'If you encounter an adverse situation, either fight or flight.' The problem is, if this is outside, we can do it. But if the problem is inside, how can we run away? How can we avoid it, escape from it? Even if we go to a cave, forest, top of a hill, the mind and the senses will go with us and create trouble. Sri Ramakrishna gave an example to explain this point: A sage suggested to a king: come to the forest to practise spiritual life. The king replied: I have desires in my mind; even if I come to the forest, there too I shall establish a kingdom.

So, we cannot run away, we have to face it. We have to solve the problem.

One thing we have to understand: things do not happen according to our wishes. If we wish some person to behave in some way, it may not happen. People do not behave as we wish. Parents want their children to be like Einstien, Pele, Shakespeare, etc., but in how rarely this happens. Then, people think: let everybody be kind to me. But it does not happen like this. Then, about the weather: some people do not like summer or winter or the rains. But these do not stop because we do not like them.

Likewise, a spiritual aspirant may think: let there be no objects of temptation. Is this possible? No, it is not possible. In this way, we have no hold or control over our environment, over the circumstances, things will happen as they happen.

If a person has to go from one village to another and there is a river between, he may think, 'Why is this river here? It is such a botheration'. But the river will still be there. We have to cross it using a boat. We have to make ourselves in such a way that we can solve the problems and deal with them.

There is a beautiful poem by Rabindranath Tagore, Jutavishkar, on how the shoe was invented. There was a king who said, 'There is so much dust; wherever I walk, my feet become dirty; what to do so that my feet do not become dirty?' The chief minister said, ' We will get all the dust cleaned.' Thousands of scavengers were put to work. And this resulted in a huge cloud of dust over the kingdom. All were effected. Nobody could see. There was coughing and sneezing. An old man came to the king and said, 'I have a solution,' and he wrapped the king's feet with leather.

At the physical level this is easy. At the mental level it is not so easy. But the concept is the same. We have to protect ourselves. We cannot change the environment. There is rain. You have to go out. What do you do? You have to get an umbrella. A raincoat. A waterproof coat. So, we have to try to become temptation proof. We have to think of some system which will protect us from temptation, from provocation. If we have that, then we can feel safe and secure.

How to do it? It is not a physical thing. Shoes, raincoats are all physical. We have to control our senses, our mind. By doing this we can become temptation- and provocation-proof.

So, the senses and the mind must be controlled. If we don't do that, we have to suffer always. Either because of liking or because of aversion. Some scenes are pleasing, others are not pleasing to the eyes. Same with the sense of smell etc. It is not possible that there will only be pleasing sensations for the senses in this world.

And, the same things are pleasing to some are not pleasing to others. The world is like that. So, if our senses are not controlled and we are led by our senses, then we will sometimes be peaceful and sometimes peaceless depending on the environment.

Same is the case with our mind. Some people I like, some I don't. People whom I don't like, will they go to another planet? Or to another country or city? They, too, will live on this earth and in this country. So these are the types of problems if the mind is not controlled. We have to train the mind that these things are natural and we have to live with them.

This is how, through discrimination, through analysis, we should control our senses and mind. But this is a negative approach. What is the positive approach? If we live only in the plane of the mind and the senses, then it is very difficult to control the mind and the senses. The plane of the mind is emotional and very much controlled by feelings. The plane of the senses is sensual and always wants to eat, see, listen.

We have to live in the plane of connectedness with God, or with our Self. Then it becomes easier to control the mind and the senses. Because that is the state in which we find peace, joy, wisdom, divinity. We then give less and less importance to the mind and the senses. That will be the natural outcome. Because we will have shifted our locus standi, our position from the mind/senses to God/Self.

The more and more we live with God/Atman (how? with connectedness), the easier it will be for us to control the mind and senses and the more we will have peace, joy and wisdom.

Control Alone is Not Enough

If we only want to control the mind and senses, (a) it is a negative approach, (b) it is very difficult, (c) even if we succeed, we may fall later.

How to get connected to God/Atman? Meditation, japam, praying, reading spiritual books, listening to lectures. The most important of these is japam. Wherever we go. Through doing japam inwardly, we get connected with God and it becomes easier to control our senses and mind. The verse says:

"A man of disciplined mind, who has his senses under control and who has neither attraction nor aversion for sense objects, attains tranquility, though he may be moving amidst objects of the senses."

It has a very important word: Prasadam. It has two meanings. One is the food we take after offering it to God. The other is a prolonged mental state. What type of prolonged mental state? That which has calmness and serenity, joy, a free-ness of mind (no fear, no anxiety, no obligation). How does this happen? Through connectedness with the Atman.

There is also "negative peace". People say: I am so peaceful. They mean: Absence of trouble; currently, there are no troubles. But this type of peace is very fragile. It can be broken at any time.

There are so many troubles in our lives related to health, relations, work. If we want a peaceful life, away from trouble, we cannot get it. But if we get prasadam, then problems cannot effect us because we are connected with God/Atman. Problems may effect the body and mind for some time, but we are not effected for a long time.

[Later, during the question and answer session:]

The chanting of the mantra should be slow and with feeling. That is why, the mantras are usually short in length. From my experience, the most important thing is to get connected with God. ･