Verses 16.13–16.16🔗

Kṛṣṇa does not let go. He wants Arjuna and mankind to understand how deeply the human psyche is damaged by the ego. Śaṅkara defines āhāra or food, in one of his commentaries, to mean all sensory inputs, whereas traditionally āhāra is translated as food. Food, as we normally understand it, is what the mouth consumes. This is the sustenance upon which the physical body feeds and grows. Many live only to eat, but a few aware ones eat only enough to sustain them, so that they can live. Every sensory organ has its own āhāra, inputs, upon which it feeds. Based on these inputs, the eye, ear, tongue, nose and skin develop their desires and convey these desires to the body-mind system.

Control of these senses and the desires that they weave is what Sage Patañjali prescribed as pratyāhāra, one of the eight methods of his Aṣṭāṇga Yoga. Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1167 Pratyāhāra is not suppression or starving the senses. Just as we need to eat in order to live, the senses need inputs to function. However, these inputs can be regulated so that the fantasies they weave are kept in control. The average human is led by his senses; he does not lead his senses. His karmendriya, the organs of action that are responsible for movements are driven by these senses without the need for input from the conscious mind.

Instinctively, they avoid pain and welcome pleasure. A small story: Two friends met in the street. One of them looked sad and almost on the verge of tears. The other one asked, ‘What happened? Why do you look so sad?’ He replied, ‘My uncle passed away three weeks ago. He left me fifty thousand dollars.’ His friend said, ‘That’s not bad.’ He continued, ‘Two weeks ago my cousin died and he left me ninety thousand dollars.’ His friend cried, ‘This is great!’ He went on, ‘Last week my grandfather died. He left me a million.’ His friend asked, ‘Then why are you so sad? He replied, ‘Because this week, nobody died.’

Understand: Once we allow our mind to get driven away by the senses, there is no stopping. We won’t know how to make it stop either. So we continue with our fantasies. We fantasize about accumulating wealth. Unfortunately for us, the purpose of gaining wealth is rarely to enjoy it. If that was the reason, all we need to do is to gain some wealth and then spend it on enjoyment. In most cases, the joy of acquisition becomes the drive for the person rather than the joy of using the wealth. It has nothing to do with what one can do with the wealth. It has to do with how much more we have than all the other people that we know.

The day our neighbor buys a new air-conditioner, the temperature in our house goes up! The day our neighbor buys a new car, our car, which till that day ran well, will stall. As soon as we see another woman wearing the latest style shoes, our shoes that had fit absolutely fine, start pinching. We are driven by comparison and envy. We are not merely fulfilling our needs, we are actually fulfilling other people’s wants and desires. From childhood, we are taught to grab. Nothing we have is enough. Nothing fulfills us. Until death, we are driven by greed. Existence is waiting to shower us with all that we need.

The problem is that we never stop to understand what we need. All the time we are caught in the web of our sensory fantasies, and we run after what others own; we let our senses lead us. After doing the meditation programs and becoming healers, people spend more time meditating, doing completion processes and being aware of who they are and the reality they want to create. They develop an understanding of their real needs. It is no longer necessary to run after empty wants. What they need comes to them; their needs follow them. I tell them again and again, ‘Do not get stuck in my form. Do not run after me.

Do not chase me. Just devote yourself to enrich the mission, which is for enriching the Universe with Enlightenment. Focus only on enriching the mission. Then, I will run after you. I shall chase you to be with you.’ Many quickly understand this. To them it makes no difference where they are and where I am physically. Wherever they are, I am with them. It is not a mere theory or illusion. Ask them. It is real. Once we move from the ‘me’ focused demonic state into the ‘you’ based Divine state, we no longer need to worry about creating wealth, developing a power base, establishing relationships or whatever else we have focused attention upon all our lives.

Existence takes care of all this. Existence takes care of us. If instead, we are focused on our own self, ‘me,’ be sure, we are moving in a downward spiral that Kṛṣṇa says takes us into hell. Cast Into Suffering