Inner Science Technology🔗

13.8-12 Humility, absence of pride, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, service to an enlightened spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of ego, the perception of the pain of the cycle of birth and death, old age and disease;

Nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self realization, and philosophical search for the absolute truth:

All these I thus declare to be knowledge and anything contrary to these is ignorance.

In these five verses, Krishna gives a beautiful technique. Until this point He gave us an intellectual understanding. Now He gives the technique and technology to realize and experience what He says. I call these five verses the inner science technology to liberate our inner space! It is a precise technique to liberate oneself from the kṣetra. It talks about how to be liberated from the body-mind and how to bring them under our control.

First, the moment we understand that we are more powerful than the body-mind, we are liberated from the body and the mind. Here, He beautifully gives the technique to liberate us from the body-mind and therefore, how to experience the consciousness.

Let me first give the translation of the verses:

Humility, non-violence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching the bonafide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadfastness, self-control, renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of all egos, perception of all the evils of birth and death, old age and diseases, detachment, freedom from all entanglements, even-mindedness amidst pleasant and unpleasant events, constant devotion, aspiring to live in a spiritual way, giving importance to the ultimate truth, and detachment. All these I declare to be knowledge and besides these, whatever there may be, is ignorance.

Krishna mentions a long list of things in these verses with many instructions. Let me be very clear that if we straightaway try to practice all the qualities He has given here, we will feel we are going mad! We cannot really practice these qualities. All we can do is help the consciousness to happen in us so that we start radiating these qualities. These qualities simply happen in us.

By way of comparison, let us say we want to remove the dirt from a muddy water tank. If we put our hands into the tank and try to take away the mud, what happens? We make it muddier, that’s all. All the dirt that is settled below will come up to the surface. Instead, if we sprinkle a handful of lime powder inside the tank, it will absorb the dirt and we can have clean water in the tank.

Our mind is also like a muddy tank. If we try to suppress it and fight with it, we will create more trouble. Instead just add a little meditation which is like the lime powder, and relax. Just put in your awareness and relax. Automatically the impurities will settle down. The moment we become aware and the witnessing consciousness starts operating, the whole thing settles down. The witnessing consciousness is the lime powder that purifies our being.

Usually when we read scriptures and books, we start executing them straightaway! For example, if it says, ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself,’ we start executing it without understanding. The first difficulty is that we don’t understand that we don’t love ourselves. And we don’t understand that we cannot love somebody unless we first love ourselves. Next, we must have the mood or consciousness from which the loving happens naturally. Love happens as an automatic process.

The minute we impose love on others, it becomes a business transaction. We only know the contaminated version of love. Pure love is not about loving for security or with some other expectation of return. Pure love is an expression of the being. It just happens. If we are true to our being, true to our core, that is enough. Straightaway we will be liberated.

Ramakrishna says that if the straight line of honesty connects your mouth and mind, you will be liberated. We cheat ourselves if we engage in an activity because it is appreciated by society and not because we feel it from within. This constant mismatch of internal and external, of what we feel deep within and what we do, creates problems.

Instead of creating consciousness, we start creating the activity. Instead of working on our being, we work on our doing. Our doing is in no way going to help us. Only our being is going to help us. So work on the being and not on the doing. A person who works on his doing may continuously chisel, chisel and chisel his doing; however, his being will face the same old struggle, suppression, suffering, and fighting. Instead, if we work on our being, we will flower and automatically radiate the right energy, the right consciousness!

Patanjali, a great, enlightened master from India spoke on Ashtanga Yoga, the eight limbs that come together for yoga to happen, for the ultimate consciousness to flower. One limb talks about practices like non-violence and truthfulness. If we practice these qualities just because Patanjali or Krishna say that we should, the qualities will never really develop in us. They will remain skin deep. When true non-violence happens, our very being will radiate love, no matter what. Even if an enemy were to stand in front of us, no other emotion but love would remain in us, and that is what Krishna really wants.

If we visit Sringeri, a temple in South India, we will see a stone statue of a snake protecting a frog with its hood. A beautiful sight! It depicts that emotion of divine love that is unconditional. Divine love does not consider whether a person is a friend or enemy. If we are centered in our being, qualities of love and non-violence happen. It is an expression of our being. All the things that Krishna has mentioned in these five verses are an outcome of the flowering of that consciousness, and not things to be practiced. If we practice them to please somebody else, we would become slaves to the people around us.

In the story of Diogenes, we notice that he never became a slave even though people thought that by handcuffing him he would become their slave. He radiated his inner energy, the pure consciousness. If we live like that, expressing our inner energy, we can never become a slave even if others think we are one.

Normally we believe others' opinions about us. We accept their scale as a standard for measuring ourselves. Then we get into trouble. This is what I call 'guilt'. Guilt is reviewing our past decisions with updated intelligence. If we use our present intelligence to review our past decisions, we create guilt and suffering.

Please be very clear that we are updated every second. We are not the same as what we were a few hours ago. Our intelligence is continuously updated. So naturally when we look back and analyze what happened in the past we feel certain things could have been avoided. The problem is that we think we are responsible for everything. We think we run the show. We take everything upon our shoulders and allow emotions like guilt and worry to come in. If we remember that the universe is pure Intelligence that knows how to take care of our lives, we will simply relax. Also, when we allow the cosmic intelligence to operate, we spontaneously express the beautiful qualities that Krishna enumerates. The same cannot be achieved by doing anything.

Krishna first talks about humility or amānitvaṁ. Humility can never be achieved by effort. If it is attempted through effort, it looks ugly. Humility happens when we feel that every being is unique. It does not come by thinking that everyone is equal. There are no equals! If we deeply understand that every being is unique, we automatically respect everyone. Every being has something that he contributes to Existence, to life.

One important thing that you must know is that even our enemy contributes to our growth! He may do it indirectly but nevertheless, he contributes to our growth. Never think that a person is useless. If he were, he would have been removed from planet earth long ago. We are removed from planet earth the moment we stop contributing to Existence in some way or other. We are here as long as we contribute.

Normally we evaluate whether a person is worthy of our respect. We have our own scales to measure this. We will see how well qualified he is, how much society respects him. Then we will decide, ‘Okay, I think I can show him some respect.’ It is as though our respect is so precious and the world continues to run because of that! When we understand that every being is a unique creation of the universe, that the same divinity that is in us is in them also, we automatically radiate humility and the absence of pride. All these qualities that are supposed to be radiated by a seeker should simply happen from within. This is what Krishna explains.

Another important thing: How should we approach a bona fide spiritual master or ācāryopāsana? He talks about this in another verse also:

It means that we should approach the master with questions and request him to answer the questions. Why? Why does Krishna say that? What is the need? Again and again, spiritual literature repeatedly emphasizes the master. It is not only in the Bhagavad Gita. Whether it is Zen Buddhism, Jainism, Judaism, Islam or Christianity, again and again the master plays an important role. Why? Especially in Vedānta, the vedic system, the master plays a major role. Why?

Unless we see someone continuously living in the consciousness and continuously expressing that consciousness, our unconscious refuses to believe it is possible. Whenever we read about these truths and hear about them, our conscious mind believes in them, but the unconscious says, ‘All these things are old theories! Some crazy person might have written all these things!’ Our unconscious mind won’t accept the truth and possibility of enlightenment. Our head and heart fight with each other because of this. Our intellect says, ‘No, no, no! These are all truths.’ Logically we are convinced but emotionally we are unable to experience it.

When we see a living master, our emotions also automatically start experiencing it. Our unconscious, which continuously questions, becomes silent when we see a living master. With books we learn through verbal language; with a master we learn through his body language. He is a living example that proves the truth. He proves that these things can become a reality for us in our life. When they say this, we don’t need to believe at a superficial level; it becomes a solid experience that touches us deeply.

Three things happen when we meet an enlightened master:

First, we see in front of our own eyes that it is possible to live in eternal bliss or in bliss consciousness all 24 hours of the day. The assurance and inspiration to achieve that state is there. We understand the possibility. Next we ask, ‘All right, it is possible for the master. But is it possible for me?’ That assurance is also given when we reach the master.

The master instills the confidence in us by showing us, ‘If I can achieve, why not you?’

It is like this: the seed is afraid to sprout and thinks, ‘I may die if I rupture and sprout.’ But the tree says, ‘No, you must break open. Only when you break open can I happen.’ The tree within the seed is waiting for the seed to break so that it can come out, but the seed is waiting for the tree to happen! The seed thinks, ‘Who knows whether the tree will happen?’ The tree says, ‘Open, only then can I happen,’ and the seed tells the tree, ‘No, let me see you happen and only then will I open.’

A master represents the tree in the analogy. In our life too, we are afraid to jump because we look for a guarantee that enlightenment is possible if we take the jump. We are afraid of being caught in an ‘in-between situation’! Then neither would we become enlightened nor would we be able to return to our normal lives. We are afraid of the insecurity and uncertainty. But the master offers this guarantee.

A small story:

A journalist interviews a candidate for the presidential election. While delivering his speech earlier, the candidate had claimed that he could see that his future was bright. So the journalist asked him during the interview, 'If that is so, why do you look worried?'

The candidate said, 'My certainty doesn't come with a warranty. I am optimistic but it is not a guarantee!'

We too are stuck in this way! We are optimistic that we may have the experience. At the same time we are afraid to take the risk.

The master has already become a tree. He gives confidence to the disciple. He says, 'Don't worry. I also struggled like you. Look at me, I have flowered. I have not died. I have become a tree. If you open, you will also become a tree.' He sits with us and assures us that he will take care. He creates the energy and gives confidence to open and become a tree. He reminds us, 'When I have achieved, why not you?'

Third, the master creates the right space or technology for the tree to happen. He creates the right conditions, the right soil, water, etc. All that we need to do is trust the master and break open. That is why masters create ashrams. An ashram is a space that allows us to break open. The seed can open and the tree can happen. It is similar to an operation theatre where you go, open, become a tree and start radiating the experience. The ashram is a space where the conditions are controlled, and in a secure and safe way we can enter into the consciousness.

The master makes us experience the truth which is in our very being. So first, he assures us of the possibility through his body language. Next, he makes us understand that it is possible for us also. Third, he creates a space in which it can happen. Fourth, he ensures that we are established in that consciousness. These are the responsibilities of a master. That is why the vedic system, the vedic way of life, insists again and again that we reach a living enlightened master. This is what Krishna calls ācāryopāsana. He gives the important guidelines for us to experiment with the technology.

Q: If you say that the attributes listed by Krishna can only be reached through enlightenment, what hope is there for us to be enlightened? Even if the master guides us how do we move?

Krishna says that these qualities outlined in earlier verses comprise true knowledge; the rest is ignorance. These qualities are not goals and cannot be treated as goals. The path to travel for the spontaneous unfolding of these qualities is what is important, not any perception of where you are on that path and what standard you have achieved.

If you are caught in the game of ‘I am more humble than that person,’ or ‘That person knows more about life and death than me,’ and so on, you will be caught in comparison. You will not move forward.

You do not need to achieve anything to be enlightened. Enlightenment is your natural state. You cannot work towards it as if it is an external object. Enlightenment needs to be realized. This realization comes about as you disengage from negativities and move towards positive attributes. These negativities include many aspects of your ego that project themselves as attachments, desires, regrets, guilt, etc. The positive attributes are those that Krishna has outlined.

Let us take a real-life case. You have a friend who has become successful in business and is now very wealthy. Your first response is envy. You wonder, ‘Why has he become wealthy, why not me?’ One more consideration is ‘How can I benefit from his success?’ At the back of your mind you feel guilty, thinking you should not have these thoughts and feelings.

All these emotions that force your actions arise out of one basic thing: You borrow desires from others because you think they get pleasure from their possessions or status. Even if others enjoy what they have, those possessions and status may not be right for you and may not give you the same pleasure. But still you compare and desire and make yourself and others suffer. You need to understand what your own essential needs are in order to become free of negativities such as comparison, fear and greed.

Krishna says that fulfillment of these genuine needs must be carried out without attachment to the results. You need to focus on the path of fulfillment, not the end result or outcome. As you move with this understanding, these positive qualities that Krishna has outlined happen automatically.

Guidance from a living master makes your path smoother and shorter. With courage and determination you can travel this path alone, without a master. That has been done. But, why do you want to torment yourself unnecessarily?

One disciple said to me, ‘See how much smarter we are than you! You had to struggle alone, not being smart enough to follow a master. We have you and our lives are so much simpler!’