Look Within – Talks on the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Venkatesananda.

[Guest guest]

At the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita, the two armies were assembled on the

battle field, ready to fight. Arjuna said to Krishna " Take my chariot and put it

right in the middle, between the two armies, so that I can estimate the relative

strength of ourselves and the enemy " .

 

The Bhagavad Gita is considered a Yoga text, a scripture that deals with Yoga;

and I think that when the hero says " Let me assess the relative strengths of

ourselves as well as our enemies " , there is already a message, a very vital

truth of yoga.

 

Look Within, try to stand where you stand – place yourself right in the middle.

 

On one side, all your lust, anger, greed, jealousy, hate, temptations and all

sorts of things, and on the other side your good qualities.

(Nobody, not even the worst criminal in the world is totally free from something

good; and not even the greatest saint is totally free from some deficiency.)

 

Are we prepared to look within?

 

Here the chariot must be right in the centre, in the middle, not leaning to one

side – not rationalizing, not justifying, not saying " Alright, I have some

defects but I know why they are there. As long as they are in me, they are not

defects! "

 

We do this very often.

 

I tell other people not to smoke, may be smoking myself, and thinking " But of

course I smoke in absolute moderation "

 

As long as the defect is in me, I feel that is not a defect.

 

Without rationalizing like this, without condemning, without justifying, can I

have a look at myself, standing right in the middle: these are my spiritual and

moral assets and these are my spiritual and moral liabilities?

 

I think it is very important for one to be able to honestly face one's own inner

being, to see one self for what one is. (I am not looking for any testimonials –

who is interested in testimonials?)

 

If I am vicious, I am vicious – can I become aware of this viciousness, can I

become aware of strength of my enemies?

 

Or am I saying that just because they are mine and they are not weaknesses?

 

Oh no, because, that is the second lesson we learn in the beginning of the

scripture.

 

This man who stands up right in the middle of the two armies and sees his army

on the one side and his enemies on the other side and says " Oh, they are not my

enemies; they are my cousins, uncles, grandfathers and other relations. Do I

have to kill them?

 

This is the next lesson in what you call spiritual life, the life of Yoga. It

can be seen in our lives in hundred ways. Let us take a simple example:

 

You want to stop drinking. Suddenly you realise that the man from whom you used

to get your supply has become your friend, so when next time when you walk past

his shop and he calls out a friendly greeting to you, you think " Oh, I am going

to let this man down if I stop drinking and don't buy any more liquor from him.

How can I let him down? He is my friend. "

 

Or, you are passing a pub and all your friends call out to you, you think " Can I

let down my friends? I will just have a glass to keep them company " .

 

Is it because you are serious that you should maintain this friendship, or is it

because you want to rationalise, maintain and sustain a habit which somewhere in

you appears to be unhealthy.

 

How do we know? Something in me says it is unhealthy, but I don't want to give

it up; and because I don't want to give it up, I look around for an excuse – and

usually I find one.

 

An excuse is always couched in such altruistic and noble expressions. (One can

always find a noble, beautiful reason for doing something terribly vicious.)

 

" How can I let my friends down? " Do I really mean this, or am I motivated by

something else?

 

How do I know, unless I have a calm, peaceful mind, a mind that is inwardly

alert, inwardly illuminated?

 

It is only such an enlightened intelligence that can really see how the mind

fools us, plays with us.

 

To be continued..