Be Unaffected

12.15 He, by whom the world is not affected adversely, and who in turn does not affect the world adversely, and he, who is free from joy, anger, and anxiety, he is dear to Me.

Krishna says, 'He who is not affected adversely or agitated by the world and who in turn does not affect or cause agitation in this world.'

Only the person who is centered on his being, centered on the ultimate consciousness, does not create havoc in the world. Just by being in the presence of an enlightened person, our minds calm down. We become steady. I can say that not only is the world not adversely affected by such persons, the world is blessed by their presence.

Once a person realizes that they are one with the Divine and all of Existence, how can there be any fight? How can there be any drama? There can't be! There is only the experience of intense love and compassion on its own and towards all beings.

How can there be any small enjoyments or agitations when someone is continuously experiencing eternal bliss? It is impossible. For the enlightened one, it has all become a game, a leela. And he sees that the game exists in him and not that he exists in the game.

Here Krishna is saying that the persons who are expressing from their core, unaffected by the happenings around them, are dear to Him because they are centered on Him.

For most of us, that isn't the case. We live on the periphery of our personalities and make a mess of things wherever we go. To most of us, joy is a period between experiences of sorrow and unhappiness. It is like a period of quiet between two battles that we call peace, just as impermanent and just as unreal.

Joy and temporal pleasure from sensory experiences invariably lead to sorrow. Joy is the by-product of fulfillment, of an expectation. When the expectation is fulfilled this time, we feel happy. Most likely, this may not happen the next time around. So instead of joy, sorrow follows.

Joy can only be experienced internally if it is to be long lasting. Such joy is more accurately called bliss. Bliss is eternal, unlike joy, which is transient. Bliss is eternal. It arises when we drop expectation, when we stay centered on our being, when we are in the mood and mode of non-attachment.

'Nissangatve nirmohatvam…nirmohatve nischalatatvam… nischalatatve jeevan muktihi,' says Sankara in Bhaja Govindam. Non-attachment leads to the elimination of desires. A 'no desire' state leads to a calm and peaceful mind, a mind full of bliss. A blissful state leads to liberation.

When Krishna refers to a state of not being in joy, He refers to this temporary transient joy, which is a byproduct of our desires*,* the joy that comes and goes. It is powered by our illusions and fantasies. Only when one goes beyond this joy with its peaks and valleys can one truly reach a blissful state. Both joy and sorrow must be transcended for us to experience bliss.

Anxiety is the cancer of our spirit. From the moment we are capable of thinking, we are in anxiety. We worry. We worry all the time. Worry, anxiety and the resultant stress are our crutches in life. Our anxiety comes out of our fear that we may not be able to fulfill expectations. We have our desires and hopes. We have our capabilities that we are generally aware of. Very often our desires and capabilities don't match. There is a gap. This gap creates the worry.

If we close our eyes and try to focus on an object or event, after a few seconds we see that we can't continue. No thought or idea can control our inner space eternally. Always there is another thought that comes along to replace the last thought. This is the inner chatter of our mind. Buddha refers to it as the 'monkey mind'.

This chatter is the constant jumping of our mind between past and future. It is the journey that our mind undertakes between what it has experienced and stored as memories and the unknown, which is full of expectations and speculations, also based upon the past. This jumping, this journey, is what we call thoughts.

Anxiety builds as our ego realizes that what it desires may not happen. This loss of something that has not even happened, the product of pure speculation, causes intense emotions within us. Long before anything happens we anticipate with great anxiety that the worst can happen. Then we wait with bated breath for the event to pass. Quite often you would have experienced a sense of relief when the worst you had imagined had actually come to pass. There is no longer any anxiety when the future has moved into the present.

Anxiety lives and breeds in thoughts about the future. Its source is our ego. Ego creates expectations. Expectations related to 'I' and 'mine', 'identity' and 'possession' create the fear that what is expected may not happen. To move out of anxiety, we must move into the present moment. That is the only point at which our inner chatter stops and anxiety disappears.

When Krishna says, 'He who is without anxiety will reach Me,' He says that he who is in the present moment will reach Me. In the present moment our thoughts cease and we can see with clarity the truth of our Existence, Krishna Consciousness, and then we are one with Him.

'Let go of anger,' says Krishna. 'He who is without anger shall reach Me.' By the literal understanding of this verse, none of us can reach Krishna. All of us express anger at one time or another. Anger is a positive energy. Expressing anger can be positive, both for the person expressing the anger and the one receiving it. This may sound strange but it is true.

Anger is often the product of guilt. We get defensive when our spouse points out something we did not do in the way that they wanted. We move into a defensive position. We feel guilty when we realize we did wrong. But instead of accepting the wrongdoing, we become angry. We would like our wrongdoing to remain our secret and we dislike the other person for bringing it out into the open. It is like a leper not wishing to see his own sores.

In a sense, this anger is also directed at ourselves. The guilt we feel is the result of the internal rage against our own weakness. Guilt is the biggest sin we commit. Whatever we do at a point in time, we do with the knowledge and awareness we possess at that time. Once we have done what we have done, there is nothing within our power to change it.

'The moving hand writes and moves on,' says Omar Khayyam in Rubaiyat, 'having written, it moves on. Neither your tears nor all your piety can make it move back.' The past cannot be undone. But guilt can be undone. Guilt can be dropped. You can accept what you have done and move on. You can even accept that you cannot accept and move on. You can let go of your guilt.

When we let go of guilt, then we can let go of anger. When we let go of guilt, we let go of our suppressed emotions of anger, regret, defensiveness and the internal fury. Repressed anger can cause cancer. People who appear calm on the surface, controlling the anger that they feel without expressing it, are sitting on a time bomb. Either it can explode unexpectedly causing grave danger to themselves and others, or it can lead into selfdestruction through cancer. It is perfectly possible.

In the Malayan culture, from childhood onwards one is taught not to express negative emotions of grief, anger, irritation and so on. Everyone is supposed to be calm and collected. Suddenly, however, the fuse blows. They call this 'running amok'. This word is now part of the Oxford dictionary. It means that someone is going totally out of control, creating havoc; trying to control results in total loss of control.

One may then ask, what about road rage? What about havoc created by violent expressions of anger? If one learns to let go of anger as it arises, there will be no rage, road rage or home rage. We bottle up emotions and they burst out. Inner anger keeps building up from childhood for various reasons. We build up all the negatives we can think of about society. We are unable to express these for societal reasons since they are not considered appropriate, cultured and civilized. Then it must blow sooner or later.

We should learn to direct anger at issues rather than at people. When anger rises against people, divert it to issues instead of towards a person. The person is only the perceived cause as you see it. The deeper issue remains covered if you direct the anger against the person. It comes back more dangerously. Anger breeds anger. It is a vicious cycle. If however, we express anger and express it fully against the incident, event, or issue, without personalizing it, we can let go of that anger without harm to others and us. It is possible. You need to practice, that's all. When the emotive memory of that anger is expressed, the memory dissolves. No anger remains. Over a period of time, the anger disappears even before it rises. Krishna says that one must reach this state beyond anger in order to be able to reach Him.