Wake Up!
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O Mighty-armed, his knowledge is therefore steady whose senses are
completely detached from sense objects.
The self-controlled man is awake in that which is night to all beings.
Where all beings are awake, it is night for the sage who sees.
Just as all waters enter the ocean, he attains peace into whom all desires
enter, which when filled from all sides, remains unmoved; not the desirer of
desires.
The man who moves about abandoning all desires, without longing,
Without the sense of I and mine, attains peace.
O Partha, this is the state of Brahman; none is deluded after attaining
this.
Even at the end of life, one attains oneness with Brahman when established in
this state.
In His concluding words in this chapter, Krishna clarifies to Arjuna once again, how to reach liberation, how to become one with Brahman which is one's true and natural state.
We have seen that a person not centered in self-awareness cannot be peaceful or happy or wise. A person who is led by his senses cannot be self-aware and be in the present. A person who is in control of his senses is firmly in control of his mind. He does not let his senses and mind control him. Only such a person is truly awake.
We all think we are awake; are we really? We live in dreams even if we are awake. The only difference is that we are not asleep in a physical sense. So we pretend that we are awake, that we are intelligent, that we are thinking and that we are making the right decisions.
How then do we wake up? It is said that in King Janaka's kingdom a town crier used to go around shouting, 'wake up, wake up' much after sunrise, to remind people that they should be awake and aware!
The only occasion when we are truly awake is when we are in the present moment, when we are truly aware of what we are doing at that point in time.
A person in such awareness is whom Krishna calls a 'muni', a realized being living in the present. Such a person is always awake, whether physically awake or asleep.
Krishna says that such a person is in sleep when others are awake. The realized person, although he may appear to be living and actively participating in the activities of the same world that we live in, is in reality, in a state of passive alertness. This means that his senses are not immersed in worldliness and he is centered in his Self. He is dead and asleep to this world because he has moved beyond his senses.
A truly realized person is also awake when others are asleep. Even in his sleep he is aware, in what is called the state of supta chittam. We can experience four states of mind - wakefulness, dream, deep sleep and the state of Self-awareness.
When we are awake, we are aware of the 'I' and 'mine' and are ruled by our mind, senses and thoughts. We are controlled by our delusion, māyā. Māyā arises from our identification with the 'I' and 'mine'.
However, a person who is in the present moment is still as the waters in the bed of the ocean. Though there are waves in the surface, they do not disturb the bed of the ocean. Even when desires assail him, they are mere waves in the periphery of his consciousness, and do not disturb him at all. He has abandoned all attachment to 'I' and 'mine'. He is without thoughts and desires and when thoughts and desires come to him, they merge into him without disturbing him.
You may ask how this is possible.
The 'muni', one who is still, in silence, is one who is in total control of his senses. When the senses are controlled, when the ego is out of action, all thoughts and desires are just witnessed. The 'muni' does not get involved in these thoughts and desires. He does not even try to stop or suppress them, as he knows it is impossible. He just lets them be. He just watches them go past, just like the ocean watches impassively as other waters merge into it.
We are all enlightened because we are all a holographic part of the reality of the universe, Brahman. All that we lack is the awareness of the truth of our enlightenment. There is no path to enlightenment because we already are enlightened.
All that is needed is the awareness of our enlightened state.
What prevents you from realizing that you are enlightened is your ego. This ego is not necessarily about any arrogance. It is the perception of who you think you are; it is the collection of thoughts, experiences and emotions that go to make up that 'I' and 'mine'. This identity is that of the body and mind, not of your spirit. Therefore, it perishes with your body and is transient. This identity with the transient reality of who you think you are and what 'yours' is, is māyā.
Māyā is the illusion that creates a barrier between you and your awareness of your enlightened state.
A person who is in control of his senses, his mind and thoughts, lives in the present moment, in full awareness of his true nature and is one with Brahman. He is the only one who is truly awake, not the rest of us who think we are awake. We are all still in deep sleep. Such a person who is self-aware is fully awake even when he is asleep.
People with a strong consciousness of 'I' live out of their blocked mūlādhāra cakra, the root energy center. They are at the very beginning of their spiritual evolution. Their main concerns will be about their own survival and the survival of their species, and they are caught in lust, anger and greed. These are the qualities that the 'I' evokes in you.
The person with a strong attachment to 'mine,' the possessions belonging to the 'I', constantly lives in fear of losing these possessions. Such people live out of their blocked svādiṣṭhāna or spleen cakra - the energy center that gets locked due to fear. They live in insecurity of losing possessions, of losing identity, and finally, of death.
Energization of the mūlādhāra and svādiṣṭhāna cakra and moving the energy up through the anāhata or heart cakra to the ājñā or third eye cakra (the energy center between the eyebrows which is the seat of intelligence) opens up people to the reality of looking at others and the rest of the universe as themselves and finally dropping the ego - one's identification with 'I' and 'mine'.
Then, true surrender to the universe and identification with one's true nature occurs, and enlightenment happens. You then do become God!
Krishna completes his description of the person established in yoga whose profile Arjuna has asked for. Krishna concludes by saying that a person steeped in yoga is centered in reality and is one with Brahman. He says that this person is liberated even if he were to reach that state at the end of his life.
Krishna is in the process of showing Arjuna what he truly is and how he can realize that truth. Control over the senses, resting in the state of mindful awareness instead of letting the senses control you, surrendering to the universe instead of fighting the universe, dropping one's mind and identity and staying in the awareness of the present moment are the surest ways to realize the truth, the truth that you indeed are God.
I tell my disciples time and again, 'I am not here to prove my divinity. I am here to prove your divinity.'
This is the timeless message of Krishna. This is the message of Bhagavad Gita.
Arjuna's confusion is slowly reducing. Actually it is good to be confused. It is much better to accept that one is confused than to live in the delusion that one knows everything. Arjuna had the courage to come out and tell Krishna his fears and doubts. This is the first step towards clarity. How long it takes for that clarity to emerge doesn't matter. One is on the path and that is what matters.
In this second chapter of Gita on Sānkhya Yoga or Transcendental Knowledge as it is commonly translated, Krishna sets Arjuna on the path of recovery. May all of you travel that path too!
Let us pray to the ultimate Existence, Parabrahma Krishna, to give us all the experience of eternal bliss, nityānanda. Thank you!
