Video 41

41. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 3 Verses 40-42 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

okay i think it's on so we are studying the bhagavad-gita we are on the third chapter towards the very end arjuna asked this question that why is it what is it that is within us makes us do um wrong things uh things which even if we do not want to do something wrong and yet we end up doing uh things which are unethical or immoral we cannot control ourselves it is also the great obstacle to spiritual life after all what is it that prevents us from meditating peacefully what is it that prevents us from doing unselfish work doing work for the sake of others what is it that prevents us from loving god so and realizing ourselves as beyond body and mind as the atman all the yogas had this one problem this one obstacle what is that and shri krishna answers that it is desire notice that it is the same answer given by the buddha there is suffering in the world it's the first noble truth and the second noble truth is the cause of suffering is desire shri krishna desire and anger but basically desire because we saw that anger is nothing but frustrated desire so desire passion lust this is the uh major fundamental obstruction now in the conclusion of the third chapter sri krishna is going to talk about the ways to deal with this how does one overcome this great enemy of spiritual life in the last few verses so we're going to do verse number 40. i think we are done up to verse 39 last time yes verse number 40. the background to this verse number 40 is this so now that we have decided we are going to be spiritual we have to overcome the problem of desire nothing wrong with desire as such but because it controls us rather than we controlling it because it's an obstruction to a peaceful life in the world and to spiritual realization that is that is the problem with desire so why so how do you control desire how do you how does one overcome this enemy now to overcome any enemy to defeat any enemy you must know where the enemy is so when for example this beautiful city of new york was attacked and uh finally you know everybody wanted to know who attacked and they finally discovered that it was bin laden now it is like that we are having serious problems in life so we arjun asks this question what is the source of this problem karma desire now the next step is where is this enemy bin laden hiding you cannot defeat the enemy without finding out the enemy so that took so many years and a long time later it was found out he was hiding in some place in pakistan and then only the american forces were able to find him and kill the enemy exactly like this we must find out where this enemy in spiritual life where is it exactly what is the base of this enemy what is the hideout and so that is what krishna is going to say where is desire verse number 40. so [Music] the abode of the hideout of desire the abode of desire is said to be the senses indriyani manaha mind and buddhi intellect in these this desire obscures knowledge and deludes the the sentient being the jiva means the one who is embodied one who is in this body and mind us we are deluded we are trapped by desire which where does it have whereas desire hidden where is it where is the base of desire the senses sensory system the mind and the buddhi now the first interesting observation here is we normally think desire is something mental here krishna says no no no desire pervades the entire internal instrument internal interim instrument subtle body so there is one part of the sukkah era which is called anta inner instrument so is there an outer instrument yes the senses are called the outer instrument that means the instruments which are actually within us but they contact the external world so the eyes are in touch with external world they can see the form ears are in touch with external world we can hear sound and so mean similarly sense of taste sense of smell sense of touch they're in contact with the external world so external the sense organs are in contact with the external world that's why they are called external instruments external means they are within us but they contact the external world but compared to that the mind our thoughts our feelings emotions ideas memory they are internal they are not directly in contact with external world the sense organs get information from the world outside and they present it to the mind they present it to the mind and the intellect they store that information in the memory but memory mind intellect these are called inner instruments not external they are not directly in contact with the external world so shri krishna says desire is not just in the inner instrument not just in the mind it is there in the senses also our idea might be that the senses are innocent and they are just like a you know like the lenses of a microscope or telescope which are showing us what is their senses are neutral innocent no they are not desire is very much the senses have an autonomy an autonomous intelligence to them and desire stays has its location as its base the first base of desire is in the senses in the sensory system a lot of energy flows through this these senses and unless they are controlled and generalized its desire which will take over i mentioned this earlier the [Music] american psychologist jonathan height h-a-i-d-t in his book the happiness hypothesis where he mentions he takes up the problem of why is it so difficult to change why is it so difficult to we know so many things but why is it so difficult to do these things the same problem which duryadhan had that i know what is right but i don't feel like doing it i know what is wrong but i can't stop myself there's some power within me which forces me to do it jana amir dharma prabhupti janami adharma nasrid not always sometimes i'm able to control myself but sometimes not able to control myself i do things i say things or think things by the body speech and mind which later i regret i know it is wrong so what is that power even arjuna has the same problem but remember the big difference between arjuna and duryodhana is duryodhana is not interested in changing he did not ask krishna so what can i do about it but arjuna is asking this yoga and vedanta which you are teaching me is all very good but one big problem is even after knowing these things i really cannot do it so well so why what is the problem in this why is it difficult to lead a holy life a spiritual life so jonathan hyde has taken up the same problem he says there is such a lot of literature nowadays self-help literature you go to barnes and noble now you cannot go now because it's all pandemic but you will see whole shelves are full of self-help literature seven highly uh seven habits of highly effective people huh and and here in the west if one book is successful immediately some sequels will be written so seven habits of highly effective people because it sold so much immediately eighth habit came out but all these books are there and they are helpful they are inspiring they are good but with so much information so much inspiration why aren't the lives of people changing it's just a few of those books if we are able to implement them in our life our life would be totally different but why is it so difficult so jonathan hyde took it up and his answer i have discussed it earlier with you also his answer is exactly what shri krishna says that we are not totally in charge there is this by the body-mind system there is a certain degree of autonomy there is a certain amount of inertia certain amount of independence in our body mind system in the sensory system which go their own way the exam very nice example he gave was the elephant and the rider the mahut i have given this example also earlier so the mouth knows where he wants to go and he directs the elephant and the elephant will go take him there but if the elephant decides not to obey if an elephant sees a banana on the way and the elephant thinks i will like i want to eat those bananas and he goes that way um or as the americans would say that if the elephant goes bananas then then there's very little that the mahout can do very little that the rider can do because elephant is much stronger there's no way that the rider can force the elephant to go the way he wants to go similarly the case with us so the intellect the buddhi is very impressed when you go to um seminar or webinar these days or uh you know self-improvement courses you pay hundreds of dollars and if you and they promise you a wonderful life if you follow these things but the fine print is if you follow and the problem is if you follow me who will follow we decide the intellect is very impressed by these things and intellect decides these are all wonderful things i will get up early in the morning i will do meditation i will do yoga daily i will study something warren buffet he he says in one place in big investor so investment manager so he says in one place that the secret to his success is he reads 500 pages per day that means like two big books i think and it says 80 percent of his working hours are spent in reading he said this is something that anybody he says anybody can do so any of you can do this but then he adds very wise man he says i know you will not do it so why not we i feel like i will be able to do all that so i make this program make this schedule i will follow this from tomorrow my life will be different yes if you follow it your life will be different but what happens next morning when your time first thing is to wake up early in the morning instead of ah seven o'clock you wake up at five o'clock suppose and the alarm goes off buddhism is good time to get up the body says no did you ask me before making your big schedule all the information big ideas from seminar and webinar and vedanta class all for buddhi body said i never signed up for it it is cold i am tired i am sleepy i would rather like to sleep here you go and do your yoga exercise tells the intellect i will sleep underneath the bed now the body is like the elephant not only the body emotions sense organs they like the elephant they do not respond to bright ideas the latest books bestsellers on the um branson noble's bookshelf or webinar seminars or vedanta classes no so the body has its own intelligence nowadays say for example the gut they say the gut has its own intelligence and there are certain parts of our body where there are concentrations of nerve endings so these sensory the sensory system has its own autonomy own intelligence just by the way what does height recommend then he says how does the elephant learn the mouth can learn by reading a book or reading the map the mouth knows where to go similarly buddhi can learn by attending seminars vedanta class and reading books gita class but how will the elephant be trained how will the elephant learn how will the body learn how can we bring the body the sensory system under control and that is possible only by training have you noticed how the elephant is trained not by giving lectures to the elephant and not by giving handout and downloads and seminars to the elephant elephant is trained so the same thing has been has to be repeated and it becomes a habit similarly the sensory system has to be disciplined and trained it will come now so krishna says here now do you talk about self management this is the core idea of self management self management at the level of senses mind and intellect so the senses they have a certain tendencies inbuilt within them our genetic makeup itself so there are certain things that the eyes want to see they are designed in a light there is a certain tendency a certain inclination about seeing certain things it is because of the genetic makeup of our bodies it's because of our conditioning in this life and also conditioning in many lives some scars in many lives so likes and dislikes start at the level of the senses themselves there are certain foods clearly tongue especially certain foods that we like to eat not that it's something very particularly great about that food because that same food at different times we may want to eat we may not want to eat different people have different tastes different places different cultures have different tastes also so it's not the food itself it is the conditioning the training in our sensory system so also from past lives all of this makes the senses present things as nice nice attractive attractive once the sense is focused you're seeing something hearing something that you want to hear and equally there is some uh resistance also things which we do not like dwesh or ragadveisha at the level of senses this is the first important insight which krishna is giving here we think that desire is something in the mind no desire starts at the level of the senses senses have very powerful energies flowing through them and they have particular channels which are already made in each of our cases by our past conditioning our genetic makeup our vasanas in this life and past life so the next level is at the mind so in this system the mind is like the like the inner instrument so all the senses they gather data from outside and they present it to the mind the mind has the job of collecting and coordinating this data considering alternatives uh and controlling the senses now when the mind the senses dump this information in the mind i like i like i like the mind then takes a decision my mind then gets this desire i want this is good this comes at the level of the mind should i or should i not i should this kind of feeling that it's attraction it is nice and this comes at the level of the bind and the faculty of control is lost the mind is supposed to control and coordinate the senses but now what happens is like a horse out of control it drags the mind the senses drag the mind the mind is supposed to control the senses now drag the mind like a horse pulling the mind pulling the rider in a particular direction that funny example of man very seriously galloping through the village in his hearts and somebody asks him sir they're all going in such a hurry and such a serious expression and the man looks back shouting i don't know ask the horse so the horse is taking away the man in some direction our senses are like that eyes are pulling in one direction the tongue in direction ears and touch and smell different directions whatever is attractive to the senses the mind is being pulled in those directions and unable to control the mind is unable to control that is at the level of the mind some the definition is mind is the one which considers pros and cons various options arise in the mind after taking information from the senses then the desire infects so at the level of senses attraction or repulsion and desire is the form of attraction so let's stay with that attraction at the level of senses attraction powerful attraction habitual attraction um then it comes to the level of the mind what does this desire do at the level of the mind the function of the mind is to control that function is lost it's all it overrides that function and then it goes to the level of the intellect the same desire at the level of the intellect buddhi what does it do the buddhi definition is what does it mean intellect is that modification of the inner instrument which takes a decision which gives clarity understanding decision all of that is at the level of buddhism now in the case of this person where the sensory system is overriding sensory system is completely flowing out uncontrolled way to the object of desire something to eat see watch whatever here and the mind has lost its faculty of control then what happens to the intellect the intellect which has all this information it becomes overpowered it now joins they say that if you can can't beat them join them if you can't beat them join yes so the intellect now joins it an intellect says yes it's good we should do it we should do this we should see that we should touch this we should eat that they say there is this psychology of addiction psychology of addiction people who get addicted drugs drink whatever the senses are very powerful they are habituated to ingesting that that particular drug they want those sensations and the mind has completely lost control over the senses so same desire and what does the buddhi do the buddhi which very well knows what is addiction what is what are the bad consequences and the financial problems all these problems which are coming out of addiction all these things that the buddhi knows is is it all muted or somebody's um yeah there's some background noise coming in we are enabled we are able to avoid ourselves yeah so right so i hope giants will take a look if you find somebody with not muted can mute yes yeah now the uh in the case of the buddhi what happens is the in the in the case of the this addiction the sense organs um they are pushing you toward the addict towards repeating that addictive behavior its drugs or alcohol or whatever it is the mind has lost control and the intellect which he understands all of this but intellect is deluded he says vemma it is delude it's deluded the intellect is deluded deluded in what sense the addict will say oh just one more time it is all right i am fully in control that one more time that addict has repeated so many times maybe drugs or whatever it is but it genuinely feels no no i am not out of control i can control this they say that those who are counsellors and all they say that this is a sign of addiction you the person actually thinks that i can the person actually thinks that i can control it but cannot control if you actually see the person's life the person cannot control the intellect is deluded vimo hayati um all the information in the intellect is now not working as read the gita has attended seminars and self-improvement read many many books purchase self-help books positive psychology so many things but not working sense organs overwhelmed by desire mind loses control intellect confused at the moment of decision intellect gets confused um yes this is number forty then what should we do so 41 42 and 43 sri krishna gives us um now that we have identified the enemy desire where is the enemy in the level of senses at the level of mind at the level of intellect now what do we do at the level of senses mind and intellect 41 tasmanian therefore o mighty prince first control the senses giving up this wicked craving that destroys knowledge and realization that's mark therefore therefore means because this is the situation the desire exists at the level of senses desire exists at the level of mind and at the level of intellect now what do you do he says again important insight by sri krishna sadhana starts from outward and then inwards he says first control the senses first bring the senses under discipline we often we may think so if the mind is pure then what does it matter what you are seeing or hearing internally if you are controlled externally one can it's not so important what what one does no the secret of sadhana is though it is true ultimately it is all about the mind and about your inner instrument what is inside that is the more important thing then what you do outside what one eats outside what one wears outside whether one shaves the head or keeps hair these are all external things and they are not really connected to spirituality but here is the great insight of sri krishna that sadhana must begin from the gross to the subtle from the physical to the mental to the intellectual from the external to the internal this is one insight if you do not control the sensory system at first and we do not control the mind let the senses do what they want i can see whatever i want i can smell taste touch whatever i want eat whatever about whatever desire is coming can fulfill it and at the level of mind i i do not exercise control and then if i you say that only the thing is i am atman that's the important thing the level of intellect i have understood that i am brahmana mahatma it will not work then the result will be one may have understood vedanta but result will be again and again we will get into trouble and we will suffer and say that why is this happening to me i am unable to find peace i am unable to find joy in life so the starting has to be at the level of the senses tasman are the beginning of spiritual life is or beginning of sadhana is starting with a discipline of the senses so the senses have to be brought under control neam control means um we say this lakshman rekha lakshman reikha is the line which is drawn around beyond this you will not go so my discipline is what will i see what will i not see what will i hear what will i not hear what will i taste what will i eat what i will i not eat a discipline um so there are so many interesting stories so this is the the initial level of spiritual life these things have to be there this this external uh protection sri ramakrishna used to give a very nice example when you plant a little sapling you put a little fence around it otherwise he said goats and cows will come and eat it in on the roadside in india if you plant some little saplings you have to protect it otherwise goats and cows will come and eat it but when that tree when it has grown into a big banyan tree you don't need that that fence you can remove it and it's so strong you can tie an elephant to it siram krishna says nothing will happen similarly at the beginning of spiritual life offense of some rules and regulations some discipline and this discipline of the senses is necessary i remember that so it is a rule when we join the order that you have to fast on the ekadashi days so it's a rule for one year or for three years it's there and after that if those who want to follow they can follow but if you don't want to that's all right so all the novices brahmacaris we would fast now the thing is you don't know when the kadashi will be so there are certain days like the birthdays of the disciples of srinami krishna when there is in the main monastery it will be nice food will be there some extra instead of just uh rice there will also be like puri you know luchi that would be their sweets will be there so these things will be there they're very attractive to young people one day what happened was the ekadashi was on the birthday of swami shivananda and that day a lot of nice food is prepared and so the brahmacharis they went in a group to this senior monk there and said swami can we do the ekadashi tomorrow today we can we sort of postpone the akash and he's that either do it today or don't do it at all now the thing is that is the thing when a challenge comes the it's easy to follow the rule when there's no problem when there's a challenge and there's a temptation then can you follow the rule then that rule has a benefit that is the control of the senses um swami bhutah sanji used to tell us that the sadhus in uttarakhand they have a saying about food because they could go for begging so you don't know what kind of food you will get it could be good it could be average or nothing sometimes some days nothing so there's a saying they have in hindi among the sadhus that means sometimes you get good food with ghee that is delicious food in diksha sometimes nothing just a handful of gram mutti or chana so a handful of gram that's all you get or sometimes nothing at all or kabhi and you must be absolutely equal in all these three so that that is again the control of the senses what do you do then first fight this enemy of desire at the level of the senses papanam give up this desire he's calling it this is the one which is productive of sinful activity because of this desire at the level of senses and it destroys ghana vigna national it destroys knowledge and realization so what now again and what is vigna gyana is shastra shankaracharya so the knowledge that we get from the text and from the teacher that is gana so we are studying the bhagavad-gita with the teacher and what we understand from that it is gyana that is lost when the indriyas when you know desire shines the desire is in charge of the injuries and those things are we lose sight of that vignam he says anubhava realization of that that realization will not happen though i am studying i am trying to understand trying to meditate and do my bhakti practices all of these i am trying to do but if once in a while i break the discipline of the senses what will happen is that realization that these practices will deepen into realization i will realize that i am not the body and mind that realization will not flash or even if it does flash he says vigna nashanam even if it does flash it will not be stable it will be lost um that is why this con constant control of the senses is necessary um again this example i've given earlier one sadhu industry a devotee came to him talking about he had a kidney transplant and so this did not know much much about modern medicine so he asked so are you all right now and the devotee said that yes but i have to take these medicines and i have to follow strict diet and routine so this hadhi was surprised he said but you have already operation is done you have got a new kidney now why do you have to do these things the devotee said the doctor explained to me that if i do not do it then what will happen is the the my body will not accept this kidney as part of the body it will not be integrated in system it the kidney will not start functioning giving the benefit and finally the body itself will reject the kidney as a foreign body you know the immunity system will reject it as a foreign body and it will die whole thing will be a failure and even life threatening also this hadoo was very excited we were there so he was uh telling us that see this is how mahatma this is the thing mahatma gave to do in sadhana when you understand certain things when you have got certain amount of understanding of vedanta sadhana must increase so you the knowledge which you have got it has to be protected more meditation more japa more strict life devotion all this bhakti yoga dhana yoga karma yoga all these things protection must be there for that knowledge otherwise what will happen is the knowledge will not be integrated into your life you will not be able to assimilate that knowledge then exactly like that new kidney then what will happen it will not give its benefit that the joy and peace you want from vedanta dukkha the overcoming of suffering and ananda prabhu attainment of bliss it will not come and finally what will happen that knowledge which will be isolated by the rest of the body mind system will be destroyed also just like that kidney will be rejected so to assimilate that knowledge to transform it into given mukti into realization which is stable in the language of bhagavad-gita forgetting that one must do these disciplines especially control of the senses before i go into the 42nd verse which is most important shall we deal with questions uh any comments oh yes there is one question in chat yes actually too um from ramya yes if desire is primarily in the senses how come it gets transmitted from birth to birth with the sharia yes so senses are not only fully in the sula sadhira remember only the physical part of the senses are in this thuleshadera the powers of the senses and the vasanas associated with them are definitely in the um sukshmashad era so they get transmitted from lifetime to lifetime as the physical body falls apart this body goes the subtle body goes to other life lives other bodies and it carries the vasanas and depending on the karma which is activated from lifetime to lifetime those those vasanas those desires will again become active at the level of the senses i think rick is saying translate the sanskrit terms you're right um so somebody should flag it sanskrit i remember when i started these classes in hollywood there would be this gentleman who would sit an american gentleman sit at the back and uh he would once in a while if i forgot to translate any sanskrit term he would raise his hand and too much science great too so i have to translate these things yes is there anything that you don't follow please just remind me to translate sukhmarira subtle body stola shadeer physical body so the question was if you are saying desire is at the level of desire is at the level of the senses so when the body dies when a person dies the physical body is obviously dead and so your eyes and you know the auditory system the olfactory system they're all all dead they're basically the body is destroyed so if the desire is there somehow encoded in them the desire also will go why should it go to the next life no my answer was the senses function not only in the physical level but actually at the subtle level they are part of the subtle body these are powers of the subtle body and the conditioning is there at the level of the subtle body we have yes and without the control of our senses we cannot realize the ultimate so how do we get out of this like vicious circle yes very good question uh yes the question punamji has raised is that in the second chapter when arjuna asked about the nature of the enlightened person stita pragya the one whose wisdom is is settled that's another term for jivan mukta free while living a fully enlightened being krishna says that one whose senses are under control that wisdom of that one becomes stable the realization of that one becomes stable now her question is that without control of the senses you cannot attain enlightenment and without full enlightenment you cannot control the senses it leads to a vicious circle how will you attain enlightenment without enlightenment full control of sense is not possible and without full control senses enlightenment is not possible one interesting answer here this exact question is raised by ramanujacharya the great master of vishishtadvaitaverantha in his bhagavad-gita commentary he uses this he says this is a vicious circle exactly like he said it's a vicious circle that control of the senses is absolutely necessary for enlightenment and enlightenment is actually necessary for control of the senses for perfect control of the senses uh then how do you get enlightenment at all and he says this is where bhakti is useful ramanuja's insight bhakti devotion to suppose devotion to krishna to to whichever deity is beloved to you the devotion there what happens is the devotion is of the nature of desire this desire and devotion i have the same force the same force which flows out towards the world and says i want these things i want to see this taste this touch that hear this smell that so the desire which flows out energies which flows out to the senses that alone is uh generalized towards god instead of i the same i want instead of i want the world it becomes i want god it is channelized towards god realization now bhakti does that very well bhakti is of the nature of love so when one loves i love the lord that is that is my uh that's the pull of the heart then that same love which was flowing out towards the world as desire is now channeled towards god towards the form uh and the name of the deity ishta devata the chosen ideal the chosen deity especially if you're initiated into a mantra this is very useful so that's the path of uh devotion so that ramanuja takes that occasion to introduce the importance of devotion um one teacher of guyana from the advaita path in uttarakhand he says i think i read i did not hear it i read it he was asked which is greater bhakti or ghyana and he replied bhakti badi here bhakti is greater people were surprised that how is this person this swami who is a great nondual is saying that bhakti is greater he said if bhakti is greater than bhakti means devotion devotion is greater than what about knowledge and he immediately replied in knowledge there is no greater or lesser there is no higher or lower gyan but then he explained later on what happens is this is at the beginning in this level of sadhana spiritual practice at the level of spiritual practice what happens is this we may and i'm talking about advaita vedanta vedanta so we may study vedanta understand these things and we will see what is to be understood the next verse itself but that is at the level of the intellect the intellect begins to understand and appreciate it the clarity comes to the intellect but if the mind and the senses are not purified yet the desire still remains there and it pulls us continuously out towards the world and there all the problems will remain desire and anger and greed these things they rule maybe at the level of a sadaqa it may be very controlled it may be in the finer form but it's still there i remember this swami who was a very great wonderful swami a great teacher of vedanta but he had a hot temper and he would lose his temper and yell at people and then somebody asked him but swami you are the atman why do you get angry and he said oh don't you know uh i am the art man i am very clear about that this desire is at the level this anger is at the level of the mind i am a witness of that anger you may say that you may even mean it but it's not a very good good thing it's not a very inspiring sight that sadhu he said the the gyani the man of knowledge who is weeping weeping means you know i am troubled by desire or anger or greed this kind of a grumbling complaining unhappy gyani it's not an inspiring sight so the senses have to be controlled at the very beginning bhakti is very useful there suppose you say but without bhakti is not possible it is possible it's more difficult remember it's not really a vicious circle all it means is an effort has to be made for the control of the senses it's not that the senses cannot be controlled without perfect enlightenment everybody controls the senses all of us do to raise a family to hold on to a job uh you must control your senses to some extent at least to complete your phd whatever it is to some extent a discipline is necessary and we do control from childhood onwards we are taught to control our senses if we do not control the senses let alone sadhana one cannot succeed in worldly life also okay this much um all right anybody else there are two more yes is the faculty that's responsible to control the senses mind controls the senses buddhi takes the decision right so controls the mind and mind controls the sense so ultimately my is weak and that's why my senses are running yes so is it like fox guarding the hen house yes you're right it's because the lack of clarity in the buddhi but what krishna pointed out in verse number 41 is that the process has to begin by shutting the um door before you take care of this so you don't you want continuously fox to enter every day into the house so at the level of the eyes and ears and there must be a discipline at the sensory level stomach is upset yes i need to put medicine and diet to clear to clear the stomach but to do that first of all i need to control my intake no amount of medicine will work if i keep on stuffing myself similarly no amount of clarity meditation vedantic thinking will work if i continuously engage myself in um you know in in sensory addiction that means continuously engaged in pursuing say pleasure for example they will neither time nor knowledge and neither time nor energy and what we read and understand also will be quickly overpowered if the control is not there so the control should start at the external at the at the grossest level at the physical level starting with the senses then mind and then buddhi yes we can continue to study and think at the level of buddhi that is what i started with at first that we always think and it is true the real spirituality is internal it should be at the level of buddhi and manas mind and intellect that is very true but it will not work until the the gates of the city have been controlled yes so does that mean is a mind autonomous yes so all of these are autonomous they as we discussed earlier they have their little degree of autonomy the senses themselves have an inbuilt intelligence to them mind has its own autonomy and the buddhi also of course definitely it is autonomous and so they can they can pull in different directions and we feel that we feel pulled the nature of desire is this i do not want to say i'm pulled by this cookie and i know that i should not eat it it's of no use it's just a level of the of the tongue which wants to have a nice taste and so i understand it's of no importance it's it's not good for my health so i will not eat this is one pull intellect is saying and the tongue is saying it's nice i want it and this pull is there this is the nature of desire this is the problem same person at one level we do not we want to control it and we want to overcome it we are very clear about it at the other level we want it also i don't want to do it and i want to do it together this is the this is the problem [Music] let me just hold on to the question let me enter into number 42 most important this is the key to the whole method of overcoming desire the central message of sri krishna in this third chapter yo buddha so it is said that the senses are superior superior than the senses is the mind intellect is superior to the mind and beyond the intellect the supreme is the self the atma so senses are superior superior to what it has not been said superior to their objects to the external objects this word the key word here is para para means superior superior in what sense they are subtler suksma they are inward pratyak and they are more powerful higher so compared to the things which you see here smell taste as compared to the cookie which i'm going to eat the sensory power of taste is superior to that it is inward also inward in what sense inner to me closer to me the witness the consciousness it is the senses are closer to me than the object of the senses and the senses are superior in the sense that there is more intelligence involved in that the object is lower inferior outer physical in this 42nd verse the entire wisdom of pancha kosha viveka has been put in there shri krishna teaches the pancha kosha viveka to arjuna in 42nd verse panchakosha viveka the method of discernment of the five sheets five sheets panchakosha method of discernment discernment of what discernment of the self from the five layers of the human personality this is you this you find in the titanium panishad in the thai theory upanishad second chapter the second chapter of the thai theory upanishad is called brahmanandawali the chapter on the bliss of brahman there the method of this the discernment of the five sheets pancha kosher viveka five sheath discernment method is is taught what is said there that look at the human personality look at what we consider ourselves to be take a look first most obviously there is the physical body so here is this body the entire physical body with its you know the organs and tissues and down to the cellular level inner to this is the vital body so the physical body is annamaya kosha the sheath of a food a food means it's it's made of food what we eat and drink that is converted into this physical body and inner to this para para means inner inner to this is the vital body the prana maya kosha ah vital body here means the physiological processes which keep this physical body alive breathing digestion circulation the nervous system all the activities together which we call life so these are processes in fact a doctor of course the doctor must study anatomy but the doctor actually studies the processes which are going on in the body to cure a patient to keep a patient alive those processes must continue so the the this is called pranamaya kosher the entire physiological processes in the human body in any living body it is inner inner in what sense one must be careful here the prana my question that each sheath is inner to the other it does not mean physically inner if you physically go into the body like a doctor may probe into it you will only find more body ah there will be flesh there is the skin if you probe inside you will find the flesh and the the fat and the blood vessels and the nervous system and the bones inside that you will find the marrow if you go down microscopically you will find tissue and these cellular system intracellular structures so all those things you will you will find ah that is physically inside but this is um this is in the sense of subtle means what is at a more well i can only say subtler level what is supporting this physical system that is closer to you psychologically the pranic system even interior to that para higher than that superior than that interior in that is the mind so here comes the senses and the mind at the level of the prana maya kosher the vital sheath and the manomaya kosher the sheath of the mind there are the senses the senses and the mind is the manomaya kosha the sheath of the mind where thinking is going on feeling is going on all the information from the senses are correlated and you get a sensation of the world directions for acting walking talking eating these are going on so mind inner to that finer than that higher than that is the uh vigna my kosher the buddhi the the the sent the sheath of the intellect and beyond that we talk about the anandamaya kosher the sheath of bliss but shri krishna has given a simplified model here he has not gone into that and then beyond that is the atman beyond means subtler than that inner to that is the atman the self all of that is in the thai theory upanishad where you find this entire pancha panchakosha viveka the discernment method of discernment of five sheets but here sri krishna has just given a simpler model consider the world which is higher than that is the sensory system which krishna talked about the five senses and then higher than that higher means inner subtler than that is the mind buddhi and oneness and higher subtler inner to that is the buddhi the intellect and higher than that subtler than that inner to that finally highest of all is the atman which is consciousness this structure has set up this is beautifully explained in qatar panishad as the with the image of the chariot the image of the chariot so um yama explains to nachi keta yama the lord of death explains to nanchiketa the little boy who asked the questions in the cut open that consider this human system the body mind system to like a chariot and in the chariot the body is the chariot the senses are the horses the senses are there are five horses five powerful horses they're the senses and what what is the road on which these horses are running not a physical journey it is the road is the sense objects and they are running they are running towards seeing hearing smelling it is form sound and taste and smell and touch so those are the roads on which they are running and the horses are controlled by the rains the rains are the the the ropes by which the horses are controlled the rains together it's called the mind manas senses are horses the mind is the rains and the rains are in the hands of the charioteer the driver who is the driver buddhi the intellect and then what are you you are neither the horses nor the marines nor even the driver you are the passenger so it's like uber you're sitting in there you are the passenger inside and you are unconcerned with the functioning of the chair here but the chariot is meant for your purpose to take you on your spiritual journey and the spiritual journey is not from one place to another spiritual journey is from ignorance to knowledge to yourself actually um um radhakrishnan dr radhakrishnan said the goal of the spiritual journey is to find ourselves so that is the journey now the chariot example is meant to show exactly what krishna is saying here the horses have to be trained they have to be disciplined he says when the horses are well trained and the rain is firmly controlled and controlled by the rain the mind is uh mindful samanaska and the intellect pragyana one the intellect is full well it was very well read in vedanta and understood everything clarity is there then the chariot he says that means that it reaches the end of the spiritual journey otherwise the chariot comes to disaster so the car will crash if the horses are not controlled one is rushing this way one is rushing that way they are not taking you where you want to go if the rains are loose what is loose rain what is the meaning of that the mind is not mindful nowadays mindfulness is a big big thing exactly that word mindfulness is used in the cut openation condition literally means mindful focus contr attention concentration the mind has to be focused and concentrated able to bring the senses under control and at the level of intellect there must be understanding of vedanta um wisdom must be there here it is being applied to vedanta but just think about it anything that you want to do in life you want to earn a lot of money you want to make it big on broadway you want to become a professor at columbia university or harvard all of them they require the senses to be controlled mind to be mindful focus concentration and the intellect to be full with the wisdom which is necessary for taking you to that goal here of course it means enlightenment the highest goal and this will lead to realization of the self the the passenger in the chariot so here you see indriyani the senses are said to be superior to their objects it's not object not mentioned here indriya the mind is superior to the senses superior means inner in control finer and superior to the mind is the intellect the buddhi and superior to the buddhi that means beyond the book the inner most is you the self which is consciousness i think this is what i wanted to say yes let's quickly look at the questions yes can you hear me yes i can hear you um i i have a basic question that i'm confused about is that going by vivekananda's poem about which engine none escape the law yeah the law of karma if karma is deterministic yes what is its role all in the control of the census that karma's deterministic at trump's free will and you need free will to be able to actually control the senses i yes i'm glad you raised this question i was supposed to mention free will but i had forgotten about it um the very idea that from tasmania in the 41st verse krishna says at the very beginning control or discipline the senses here itself he introduces the concept of free will so without free will to bring the con senses under control control means a discipline this i will see this i will not see this i will eat this i will not eat and so on it requires free will to use the mind to focus think about this and not about that not let the mind scatter be attentive it requires free will and to clarity at the level of intellect of course so free will is there doesn't karma override it no it does not karma is more like it gives us two things one is the the conditioning of past so certain tendencies certain forces which have been called prakriti here by krishna very powerful we flow according to our prakriti this was discussed earlier so that conditioning has been created by our past karma notice there we have created what we are today as a result of what we have done in past lives so but at this time it seems deterministic because they are very powerful they force us along certain groups of action desire and thought feeling also ah but there also they just are powerful but we have this window of opportunity at the most subtle level desires thoughts they float up from our subconscious mind due to our past conditioning into the level of our conscious mind and as they come up i like this i want that i need this that coming up we have no control over that's coming from our past conditioning but at that moment we have control that's where sri krishna is saying catch hold of that moment and control control means see whether what is coming up those impulses should we let them run free should we express them so one idea is that whatever is coming up due to a misunderstanding of freudian psychology in the early 20th century whatever is bubbling up desires and impulses from the subconscious mind express it if you don't express it it will lead to repression it will lead to suppression and lead to problems in your day-to-day life what sri krishna is saying is whenever the weakest when these impulses come up then if you have a high goal in life spiritual goal of course even something else you want to do in life you will automatically see whether these if i [Music] eat that if i drink that if i do say these things will it be a take me towards my goal or away from it and skillfully replace positive thinking positive words and positive actions use those replace the negative ones with those so that that opportunity is always there that exercise of free will why it is so difficult is if we miss that window of opportunity and it's they discussed in the patanjali yoga sutras it's a very small window of opportunity where if you catch it thought desire is still weak if you nip it in the bud and replace it with positive not all of them the ones which are negative you replace them you can change your life but if you do not do that and our default setting is we are not even aware of what's bubbling up by the time it's already at the level of the mind conscious thought uh then it's difficult to control especially if there are ingrained patterns of behavior of addiction of desire of anger of negativity depression so that dominates the mind then that is expressed in speech and that is expressed in action so we have yeah yeah we have always possible to find a window of opportunity that yes the window according to sri krishna according to vedanta the window of yoga also window of opportunity that that gap is always there moment to moment you have the power of taking a decision the power of taking a decision is we may fail and the mind tricks us into thinking that see you tried it didn't work it is for very disciplined people not for you you are a failure but no that power has not gone away again the next moment the power is there the window of opportunity is there every moment to moment to moment it's just that we miss that window by the time we are already nourishing that thought it's become strong then it's very difficult to overcome you may use willpower to overcome it once you may you will fail the next two times now it is easier said than done there is a lot of discussion on this meditation for example what does it do calming the mind focusing the mind that some manaska mindfulness it slows down these mental processes makes it calm so that the window of opportunity becomes visible to us otherwise what happens in day to day life is first of all we are not introspective we are too busy and we immediately snap into the mode of desire or anger or retribution he said something to me i'll lash back by saying this by the time it's too late it's very difficult the the real reason is not the lack of knowledge it's it is that samanaska that mindfulness is lacking so the opportunity to exercise free will has passed yes all this but it's a good point all this is predicated upon the existence of free will this would make no sense at all if we did not have that much free will to make a beginning in this path i have given this example earlier also the yogi's mind and the worldly person's mind i told you about this experience i had in in gangotri where i would sit on the bank of the ganga this was in august i think so after the rainy season lot of lot of rain water there and muddy water so one sadhu sat next to me and told me look at this river the ganga that bhagirathi it is this is the difference between a yogi's mind and a worldly person's mind what is the difference it is four things first if you come in winter you will see the same river in a different form it mostly chunks of ice now you see there is a lot of water at that time there will be less most of its frozen similarly in a worldly person's mind lot of restlessness thoughts emotions desires coming and going changing whereas the yogi's mind only the deliberately selected ones are there so it's much calmer then he says look at this water it's turbulent it's muddy actually at that time it's full of landslides are there so the water is brownish but he says if you come in uh winter it says he said in hindi chavannini you can see you can throw a coin into the river the water is so clear like glass if you look down there's a wooden bridge if you look down from the bridge you can read up the denomination of the coin also it's so clear it says the worldly mind is turbulent and full of impurity whereas the yogi's mind is clear transparent third he said the worldly mind is dangerous this is this river is rushing with so much water if you step into it you'll be swept away actually somebody had been killed the earlier day similarly the mind of the worldly person turbulent suddenly something comes up bursts into anger into depression commits suicide terrible it can make you do anything and then you regret it later the the very ah of course if you commit suicide you did not much chance of regretting it later but uh if you see the very fact that we feel guilty and we regret certain things why did i do that why did i say that why did i even think that it shows that our mind is not under control sometimes we do things which later the same mind regrets it so that is the mind of the worldly person and he says when you come to in winter if you see the mind if you see this river it is there's so little water you can easily walk across it you can enter into the river and walk across to the other shore it is not at all dangerous to you similarly yogi's mind is not dangerous and the fourth one he said was this water you cannot drink yourself you cannot offer to anybody he said that means it's full of sediment at that time but he says you come in winter you take the water it is sweet and cool and pleasing you can drink it yourself and you can give it to others also similarly the mind the worldly mind it gives you no peace and people around you also will not be in peace because of you of the worldly mind but the yogi's mind when you have a yogi's mind it gives you peace and it radiates peace all around you this i have seen in in senior monks advanced spiritual seekers so much at peace and joy and serenity and you you catch it also when you are in their company okay let me just read the last one [Music] thus knowing the self as superior to the intellect and becoming established in the self establishment itself means i am brahmana from this attitude with this paradigm conquered desire which is very difficult to comprehend the ways of desire are very difficult to comprehend i think whole of freudian psychoanalysis is in this phrase kamarupam duras are the incomprehensible nature of desire but that can be overcome when you realize yourself as the self and from that perspective you deal with the sensory mental and intellect system what it means we'll investigate it little further next time before we move on to chapter four any last comment rick said that uh is asking which of the koshers does the subtle body which reincarnates include so the kosher is the only the under my kosher physical body is destroyed at uh death and the pranamay kosha manomaya kosha vignamai kosha and the ananda my kosher all of these are they they're part of the causal body and subtle body which transmigrate to other other lives atman is of course from an advaithic perspective is all pervading brahman um yes there was a question from rodrigo can the transmigrating self without a physical body learn on in between state are the physical injury absolutely necessary for learning in between state i guess so because it depends on what that in between state is there are some in between states which are um brutish that means animal-ish where free will is not possible this is one big difference between animals and human beings spiritual life is possible for us because the degree of free will that window of opportunity is there for us it's not there for for animals they cannot exercise that that that freedom degree of freedom is not there ah that's that also holds for in between states from death to rebirth depending on which lokai we are lucky or unlike unlucky enough to be in spiritual practice may or may not be possible is it called emotional intelligence it's not emotional intelligence though emotional intelligence is a modern way of putting it it's um it is a sign of self-mastery actually so emotional intelligence you know it has become daniel goldman popularized the term so eq the term of emotional quotient emotional intelligence it includes one of the central features of emotional intelligence is impulse control so the senses want something immediately i will do it are you able to control it at that level that is one of the components five components one component is that one let us stop here and we will pick it up i will send you the links for the patanjali yoga sutra class which is going to start next week those who are interested you can attend and we will meet again [Music] foreign all right so let me see all of you before we all disappear yes take care till we meet again take care thank you thank you