Gita Satsang - Ch. 6 - v. 35 - Swami Dayanandasaraswati's Commentary

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Namaste,

 

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regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

Part II: Verse 34

 

 

SADNESS IMPLIES A CERTAIN TYPE OF THINKING

Sadness means there is a particular type of thinking going on; without

thinking, you cannot be sad. Sadness is not like hunger, thirst, or

sleep. Without thinking you become hungry, without thinking you go to

sleep — especially after a big meal. And, in the morning, without

thinking you are as hungry as a wolf. So, to be hungry you do not have

to think, whereas to be sad you do. In fact, to be sad, angry,

hateful, agitated, depressed, frustrated, you need to think a lot.

The mind is very much present, but, at the same time, it does not take

your permission. This implies two people here, one who is cultured,

highly educated, highly sophisticated, and very considerate, and whose

language, style, demeanour, and decorum are quite different from the

other person, the angry person. This person seems to have a parallel

life, occupying the same mind and the same place, but this person

seems to have his or her own roots and definitely seems to be in

charge. And when this person takes charge, everything is gone. This is

what is called pramathin here, a tyrant that can disturb and take

control of the body, mind, senses, everything.

One may now ask, `If it takes charge like this, why not take control

of it with some other greater force? After all, if someone wants to

control you, you can also control that person. All you require is to

reinforce yourself properly with enough weapons, enough strength. Then

you can regain control. But this kind of reinforcement does not work

here. Whatever strength I manage to muster for myself to control this

pramathin is not adequate. The other always seems to be stronger. It

controls me and it is strong, balavat. Its hold is so strong that I

cannot wrench myself away from its control. I cannot even wriggle out

of it. Nor can anyone else get out from under it either.

Arjuna describes the mind as drdha here, meaning that it keeps one

under its control, just like the silk that winds around the worm,

keeping it inside the cocoon until it grows adequately to come out.

Drdha also can be translated as well rooted. This mind has its own

roots that seem to be so deep that nothing is strong enough to uproot

it. Storms generally uproot things, but this mind cannot be uprooted

by any storm. No amount of brainstorming can do it.

THE MIND HAS ITS ROOTS IN CHILDHOOD

The mind has its roots in childhood and has picked up all kinds of

problems from childhood onwards. As a child, one's perceptions are

limited. And, to those perceptions, others are added along the way.

Thus, there is a certain core personality with a lot of added

embellishments. Together, they seem to be a person, someone, who is

altogether different, whom we call the mind, the psychological mind.

It is this psychological mind, the emotional mind, that Arjuna is

talking about here, the mind that is drdha, the well-rooted mind that

controls everything. To control such a mind, Arjuna says, is something

he considers to be very difficult to do — tasya aham nigraham manye

suduskaram.

Duskara means `difficult' and suduskara means `very difficult.' Arjuna

compares any attempt to control the mind with trying to catch the air

in one's hand — vayoh iva suduskaram. The air is not available for

catching; therefore, to control it is impossible. Even if he tries to

trap the mind somewhere, like one can trap air, he can not do it

because the mind would always be outside of the trap he set for it. It

would just look at him, teasing him almost.

Is this not what happens? You think you have given the mind a job to

do, like chanting a mantra, `Come on, turbulent mind, chant! OK?' Then

you think that the mind is doing it — until you find that it is

outside somewhere! The mind may have taken you so far away that you do

not know how long you were there or remember what you were doing

before. Somewhere, the mind trips you up and then takes you for a

ride. It is so elusive that you cannot even set a trap for it. This is

why the mind is compared to a monkey.

STRESS NEED NOT BE A FACTOR OF AGITATION

Therefore, to have to do something with this mind is no small job,

Arjuna said. And he lived in an era where stress was not the concern

it is today, since the society was not under so much pressure as it is

today. Arjuna had a lot of leisure and did not have all the hurry that

we have today. But, still, he had a mind, albeit a very cultured mind,

that was cancala. And if Arjuna's mind was cancala, you can imagine

what the mind of his cousin Duryodhana must have been like. Arjuna, at

least, had no conflicts because he did not live a life of adharma. He

always lived a clean life, an unquestionable life, which meant that he

slept well because he did not nurse any guilt inside. Whereas

Duryodhana was a guilty person from head to foot, with all the

conflict that goes with a life of adharma.

Arjuna was a man given to a life of dharma, right conduct and right

values, and great achievements also. Thus, there was nothing for him

to smart or feel spiteful about. He was successful in all his pursuits

and had a lot of titles showered upon him. In other words, he was a

master of his age, a man who, on any given day, could be proud of his

life and his achievements. Everyone in the society looked up to

Arjuna, even before the great war of Mahabharata took place. He was a

versatile person, a man of music, dance, archery, and other

disciplines of knowledge. He was a great warrior and also a prince.

But, even with all these qualifications, Arjuna's mind was cancala.