In this week’s satsangh, I was talking on Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita and concluded with verse 29. The last few verses of this chapter dwell on the Prakriti and the Purusha and this Sloka in particular says that it is the Prakriti or nature that performs all actions while the soul is actionless. This is an amazing sloka and even if we reflect on this one message, there is a lot that can be learned.
Very often, the reason why we get upset in life is when things do not happen as expected. The essence of this Sloka is that we must learn to go with the flow. What is going with the flow? To understand the two Ps of Purusha & Prakriti, we need to adopt this attitude, which I shall try to describe in 4Ps.
The First P is to “Perceive” – We have to Perceive & Realize that we can’t control everything. Even great doctors, engineers and specialists in various fields acknowledge that what they know and do is only a small fraction and there are still many things that they have no control on.
For instance, let us say, we are going to work and are struck in a traffic jam – obviously, there is no point in getting upset! That is not going to make the cars move faster! At best we could set the alarm early and make the effort to get ready and go early. However, in spite of everything we do, if something happens to delay us, we need to know that there is nothing that we can do. Hence, we can at best only control the inputs, but the output is still very much outside our realms. Even the inputs are possible only when there is the grace of the Lord and this is something we need to Perceive.
The Second P is to Ponder – We need to think and be aware of what routinely upsets us – many times our anger and frustration are a result of the fact that we are trying to control things that are not in our control. We need to therefore understand those that we can control and those that we cant in our day to day life and monitor how we react when faced with events beyond our control. One way to help to Ponder, is to keep a diary where we note what makes us upset and how we behave.
The third P is Perspective – Many times the things that seem the most important at that time, appear very trivial when we think of it later on – say a sixth grade exam or missed birthday may have been the most important event of our life at that time but seems trivial when we think back now. Even when an accident happens, we always need to understand that if we live to tell the story, then it is still Ok – cos we can always get another car! So, if we lose anything or any upset happens, if we learn to trivialize it, it impacts us much less.
Finally, we need to Practice this attitude – just as we need to learn to drive, learning to go with the flow is also something that we need to practice doing so that it becomes part of our nature. Some ways to practice are to learn to laugh and have a good sense of humour. We could practice calming ourselves down with meditation. We also need greater acceptance of people and things that are not perfect. When we strive for 100% perfection, most times we are only setting ourselves up for more stress and many times, 100% perfection is not necessary and we should learn to see and accept this. I often say it is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong!
Once we learn and adopt these 4Ps, we learn to go with flow and this leads to the ultimate P – Peace in life!
Hi Sowmya,
Really a great precise and perfect analysis. Felt very happy to see the post so fast since I missed the talk.
Love,
Saroja Sundaresan
Namaskar Friends,
It was a nice explanation by Sowmyaji on the slokas 25 to 29 of Chapter 13, “The Yoga of Discrimination between the Field and the knower of the Field”
While discussing the comments, Suguji mentioned that in Sloka 25 the word “Shruti Parayanah” was important as most of us tend to forget what is told by our “Guru” without practicising the same . Those who are thus devoted to what they have heard,are able to cross the ocean of mundane existence in the shape of death. The most difficult part is that we are not convinced about what the “Guru” is telling or we do not make efforts to folllow the teachings of the “Guru”
Secondly, as to be understood from Slokas 27 and 28
“He alone truly sees, who sees the supreme Lord as imperishable and abiding equally in all perishable beings, both animate and inanimate”. For, by seeing the Supreme Lord equally present in all, he does not kill the Self by himself, and thereby attains the supreme state”. In this the word” na hinasyaatmanatmanam” i.e.
“does not kill the Self by himself” is also to be understood in the sense that we have to make the best use of the opportunity provided by Lord in the form of this human body and achieve our ultimate goal of realising the “Self” otherwise it would mean that we are killing our own soul by ourself.
Hari Om.
Thanks Dumaneji. As you rightly said, the interpretation of the term Sruti Parayanah by Suguji was very insightful. He has also noted that Self realization is the ultimate goal of every human being which is why suicide (atmahatya) is considered to be a heinous crime since such a person squanders away a priceless human birth. As you have pointed out hinasyaatmanaatmanam also tantamounts to the same. Dhanyavaad.
Pranams
Yes, Practical tips to be practiced
One more P is purity. Thru Purity we can experience Divinity. To train our mind to dwell on pure thoughts , words and deeds Sat Sangh is the platform. OM -SELF-SAT are one and the same. Practising OM daily 21 times will help us in many ways!