Bhagavad Gita - Book 16, Volume 5

INTRODUCTION

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Śaṅkara defines āhāra or food, in one of his commentaries, to mean all sensory inputs, whereas traditionally āhāra is translated as food. 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 Aṣṭāṅga Yoga. Pratyāhāra is not suppression or starving the senses. 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 desires without the need for input from the conscious mind. Instinctively, they avoid pain and welcome pleasure.

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. 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. 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.

GOALS:

Students to contemplate on
what their real needs are and
learn to differentiate them from
wants that are inspired by outer
influences. They develop a
healthy attitude towards money.
The importance of wealth as a
supportive energy in enabling
one to achieve one's life
purposes must not be
undermined. Wealth must not
be accumulated for the sake of
competition nor associated with
ideas of self worth and security.

Illustration of Nithyananda and an offering pot