Rigors of Conditioning🔗

grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in- law and all relatives,

I would not like to slay them to gain control of all three worlds.

Why then, Madhusudhana, would I wish to kill them for control of this earth?

Arjuna now started developing his theme in detail. He started expressing his doubts with clarity. One may ask, ‘How can such doubts be clear?’

Doubts need to be clear if they are to be resolved. Unclear doubts lead only to more confusion. Unintelligent beings have unclear doubts. Arjuna’s doubts were precise.

How could he seek happiness through destruction of his kinsmen, he asked. How could any good come out of this action? How could he desire power, possessions and pleasures through such action? And if he did gain those things as a result of killing his family, of what use would such a life be to him?

Though Arjuna was in a dilemma, it was a dilemma born out of intelligence, not out of ignorance.

Arjuna had been taught all his life to seek power, possessions and pleasures, and he had done it. Up to this point, he had not come across a single situation where the cost of acquiring these had seemed to be greater than the end profit, the resulting enjoyment. Perhaps he had never bothered to evaluate the cost and benefits.

For the first time in his life, he has encountered a situation that forces him to evaluate his options.

‘Do I forge ahead and destroy what is dear to me so that I get more power and possibly more pleasure?’ he asks. What a fundamental question, one that each one of us should ask ourselves. How often do we embark on what we think are meaningful pursuits and activities that promise us more material benefits even though we know that these may in some way damage our life or the lives of those we care about?

Life becomes mechanical for most people. Rather than live in the spontaneity of the present, our past is vividly remembered and is used to forget the future. If the past event is one of sorrow, we try to avoid it in future events. If the past event is joyful, we try to replicate it. We try to avoid regret and guilt in the future, and embrace happiness. The problem is that life is not so predictable. Yet we try to control it as if it is. The bigger problem becomes that we are so conditioned by our behavioral patterns, that in spite of all precautions, we keep making the same mistakes. Our samskaras, our unconscious, ensures this.

Very few of us stop to think and question the purpose and value of our actions. With few exceptions, we are taught how to live and what to do with our lives, first by our families and later by society. We do our best to seek fulfillment and make a contribution in the way that we have learned. Most often we are so busy just trying to keep up with our personal and professional commitments, that it never occurs to us to question if we are truly fulfilled. Our lives become a constant series of ‘What next, what next?’

For example, as youngsters we think, ‘As soon as I get out of my parents’ house and into college, I will be happy.’ When that is accomplished our minds immediately rush to the next goal. ‘As soon as I graduate and get a good job I will be happy.’ Once that is done, it is marriage, house, children, vacation. On and on it goes, until we have all the things that we want but not the sustained satisfaction for which we worked for while doing these things. Perhaps when we are older we seriously listen to the pull of discontentment within, the call of our very being, but by then it is too late to take up inner development with any vigor.

It takes a lot of courage to stop and question our lives, our actions and society’s plan for us. It takes inner fortitude to say to the world, ‘Stop, I want to get off; I want to retire from the world and seek true inner bliss!’

Sanyasis are courageous people. They are not cowards who walk away from society because they can’t succeed by society’s rules. No! It takes tremendous courage and insight to recognize the transitory nature of life and its limited offer of happiness, to say ‘I want something more.’ It takes enormous courage to escape from the materialism of the world with an attitude of seeking one’s true purpose in life.

'What is the purpose of my life, Krishna?' wailed Arjuna.

Arjuna is now questioning himself, his training and his purpose when faced with the task of fighting against his kinsman. The scene from his chariot has taken him off balance! In his heart he knows that what he is about to do is correct. All of his training as a kshatriya confirms this as well. But when faced with the reality of actually killing those who have been near and dear to him, he loses his will. Why?

Arjuna is a courageous man. Only a courageous person will have the confidence to open himself up so transparently and expose his innermost fears and seek help. Arjuna was not depressed. He was not frustrated. He was not afraid in the obvious sense.

Arjuna was confused, but in a way that was different from what we see in Duryodhana's behavior. Based upon all of his training and society's guidance, Arjuna could certainly differentiate between actions that are right or wrong. His sudden confusion grew out of a concern that what he had been taught throughout his life, the very foundation upon which he stood, might be wrong. 'Could this be possible?' he asked himself for the first time.

Fortunately for Arjuna, his charioteer is none other than Krishna Himself, Lord of all beings and Knower of all. Only He can see what is at the heart of Arjuna's grief. Only He could provide answers to Arjuna's doubts and the right solutions to Arjuna's dilemma.

Arjuna argues that the reason one would fight to gain power and wealth through kingdom and enjoyment through its possession was all for the sake of one's near and dear ones. However, these people who were now gathered in battle, ready to lay down their lives and lose their possessions, were the ones for whom Arjuna should share the spoils of war! As we saw, they were his teachers, fathers, grandfathers, uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives.

Arjuna declared that even if they killed him, he would not consider killing them at any cost, even if he gained the possession of all three worlds as his reward. He then questioned Krishna rhetorically, if he would not kill for all the riches of the three worlds, why would he destroy them for the sake of Earth, this one world, alone?

When asking this question, Arjuna calls Krishna Madhusudhana, which means the slayer of the demon Sadhu. Arjuna implies that Krishna may be a destroyer, but Arjuna himself would not like to be one like Him.

Arjuna's dilemma had now become deeper and more complicated. He had now gotten into justifications as to why he should not kill, justifications that have no merit from the standpoint of a warrior.

Arjuna's initial dilemma was with his value system. As a kshatriya he was bound by duty to destroy enemies and conquer material possessions. The dilemma was created by the fact that his enemies were his kinsmen, teachers and friends. To any observer, his dilemma had validity. But

now, he tries to convince himself through further arguments that actually lack strength.

Arjuna's mind was playing tricks on him. This is a common game we all play with ourselves. When the stakes are high in any competitive environment, when they are too high for comfort, we play this game. We fantasize about rewards far greater than what could possibly materialize. The more unrealistic and unlikely the reward, the easier it is to refuse it. If we are not willing even to take action for such a great, though unlikely reward, why ever would we bother taking on the risk for such a small, realistic benefit?

Once we convince ourselves of this imaginary sacrifice of imaginary rewards, we find it easier to walk away from the more realistic and tougher challenges that we have at hand. Arjuna is playing the same game.

Arjuna said he would not kill even if he were to be killed. This is just a lie that his mind is imposing on him. It is his own loss of identity that is bothering him; the loss of identity that would result from the destruction of his lineage.

Arjuna then went on to say that he would not consider killing his kinsmen and teachers, even if he were offered all the three worlds of this universe in return; even such a great reward at the end of the task would not attract him. Why then, he queries, would the reward of just this planet Earth, be attractive to him?

Who was offering Arjuna the three worlds anyway? The notion was a pure figment of his overexcited imagination. If Krishna had turned around and offered Arjuna the control of the universe, Arjuna's dilemma would have actually become far worse! However, posing it as a symbolic question as Arjuna did, made him look noble.

There is a folk tale in Tamil, in which a jackal offers a crow fruits to eat while trying to entice the bird and capture it. The crow is interested in the fruit but it is smart also! It refuses the offer and consoles itself by saying that the fruit was probably sour, otherwise the jackal itself would have eaten it. 'Oh, oh, this fruit is sour,' the bird says, 'I don't want it.'

Arjuna's tale is similar. He is consoling himself with the idea that the rewards of winning this battle are too small and that even if he were to be offered control of the universe, he would not be tempted. It is a safe position he is taking, since the chances of his being offered the control of the universe are infinitely small. What matters is that it salves his bruised mind and keeps the focus off the real source of his fear.

Time and again, people play this game with themselves and others. It starts when we cannot face the truth and therefore cannot tell the truth. Whatever be the reason, the truth is dangerous, both to the one who speaks it and to the one who hears it. So we camouflage the truth in a more acceptable presentation. Then we are caught in denial.

Arjuna was afraid to lose his own identity through the loss of so many well-established relationships in his life. However, that truth would hurt him and he was not prepared to see it. Perhaps he was not even aware of this truth. It might have been well hidden in his unconscious. For the majority of us, our identity lies in the roles we play, the responsibilities that we have, the worrying we do and the acceptance that we receive from others. Without these possessions and relationships to form the foundation of our personalities, without the foundation of ‘mine’, we feel lost and have no ‘I’. Like us, Arjuna found it better to invent a host of other reasons to avoid facing the truth.

A senior government official, a devotee, once called me in the middle of the night, desperate to see me. ‘I must see you now,’ he said. ‘I am desperate. I am so bogged down by problems and so depressed I may even commit suicide. It is a matter of life and death. I need to see you immediately.’

I talked to this person for a while and managed to calm him down and suggested that he could come the next morning and that I would see him.

‘No, no,’ he replied. ‘I cannot come tomorrow morning. I have urgent meetings that I cannot miss. I will come some other time.’

A few minutes earlier, seeing me immediately was a matter of life and death to him. Now, his meeting in the morning was more critical!

We create illusions in our mind about the situations we face, about how critical they are to our existence. Then we create fantasies in our minds about what is going to happen to us, be it an imagined good or difficulty. We do everything except face the present moment with awareness.

As we will see later, facing the present moment is precisely what Krishna forces Arjuna to do. When Arjuna is able to surrender to Krishna’s teachings and brings his attention to the present, his doubts and illusions dissolve. Arjuna then understands what he needs to do and goes about doing it with purpose and full commitment.

Q: Arjuna was a successful warrior and yet he goes into depression. At least he had a master who could help him. What can others do?

There are two kinds of depression. One is ‘depression of failure’. Time and again you try for some end result and you fail. You then get frustrated. After a while, depending upon how persevering you are, you may keep trying and succeed or give up and move to another objective.

This is why patience and perseverance are considered great virtues. Each attempt is a new attempt and not linked to what happened before. This is what I call ‘un-clutching’. So long as you do not relate a past failure to your current failure, you can continue to be energized and keep trying and ultimately be successful.

Most of what you do is like tossing a coin! The end result is one of probability. The more you attempt, the more the chance of your success.

In the so-called less developed countries, more people suffer from this depression of failure. They would like to acquire more material possessions and until they acquire these they are constantly striving and sometimes become depressed.

The other kind of depression is what I call the 'depression of success'. This is common in developed societies. Here, you are successful in acquiring all that you have dreamed of but then start wondering what the purpose of all these acquisitions are!

Wealth, relationships, pleasures and all these external acquisitions create more wants. Enjoyment of what one acquires is no longer the purpose. Acquisition itself becomes the purpose. This can never end. It becomes an addiction. The more one acquires, the less one derives pleasure.

People ask me time and again in USA, 'Master, we have everything that we ever wanted, far more than we ever dreamed was possible. Yet we are dissatisfied. We have all that we always wanted, but now we do not understand why we wanted them. There is no joy.'

Of course, there is no joy. You think joy comes from outside. No, it comes from within. So, you change cars every year, houses every three years and spouses every five years!! That is why in the Vedic culture there is no word for the English word divorce! The concept itself was unknown! In those days, you never attempted to change your spouse; you worked on changing your perception and personality! The external change will never bring you happiness; the inner transformation always will!

How do people cope with success?

The first is through addiction. One keeps acquiring without even knowing why. This is the classic example of decreasing value with increasing inputs. It never works. Whether it is alcohol, drugs, sex or wealth, more and more delivers less and less. In fact, it delivers more and more suffering, that's all.

Depression of success can lead to suicide, either just killing oneself or slowly dying within, and becoming the living dead. Addiction is an active way of inviting suffering and depression is a passive way of inviting suffering. Both methods are dead ends. The third method, which only a few intelligent people choose, is that of meditation. You have to go into the depression to get to know it, to analyze it and come out of it. These are the three paths to get out of depression. You have to choose your own path.

You may ask, 'But is it not that difficult?'

It is not!

Just change the programming in your mind! Instead of

always saying it is difficult, start saying it is easy! It is you who creates the word ‘ difficult’ in your mind. In the beginning your mind will not accept that it is easy. It will resist. But if you go on telling yourself that it is easy, you will find that you have become more positive in your whole outlook.

Ramana Maharishi, an enlightened master from India, sings so beautifully:

‘So easy is this Self Realization, so easy this enlightenment!’

His followers ask, ‘How can you say it is easy?’ He explains that we need to work hard to achieve in this outer world, to have a good lifestyle. But we only have to relax and be quiet to achieve in the inner world, and that is enough!

You have been trained to achieve many difficult things but you forget the simple thing. All you need to do is look into yourself. You cannot say that you are so poor that you cannot even address your mind with good words, or speak kindly to yourself. Of course, you can!

You do not need complicated techniques to achieve this. People talk of ‘stillness of mind’, ‘pranayama’, and all such big words. These create more complications.

Meditation is simple. Now, as you are sitting, just become aware of your boundary. Not going where you are not is meditation. Being where you are is meditation.

Usually when you are here, you are thinking of your home. When you are at home, you are thinking of the evening discourse. At the discourse you are thinking of when you can return home. At home you are thinking of the next day's office work. At the office you are planning an evening outing. When outside, you start thinking of home again. We are never where our body is. So being in the present, living with awareness and consciousness is what I call meditation.

We are always disturbed by too many words and ideas. Just relax and be where you are. Feel the ground, feel how you are sitting, and feel all the parts of your body. Just experience the present. By just being totally in the body you will start experiencing life. Because this idea is so simple, it is difficult to understand.

There is a Zen koan about the Truth. It says:

It is too clear and so it is hard to see.

A dunce once searched for a fire with a lighted lantern.

Had he known what fire was,

He could have cooked his rice much sooner!

The truth is too simple and is there right for us to see, but we make it so complicated!

All our lives we are used to moving out of our body in search of pleasures and so it is difficult to come out of it.

We are used to living either thinking about regretting whatever we have done, or in the future speculating about what can happen. If you are used to living in the past and in the future, don't be bothered by it.

Here is a logical example: when you have a headache, you try to come out of it. You take medicine to come out of it because painlessness is your nature and you want to come back to that state quickly. In the same way, if worrying and thinking about the past and the future is your nature, then why do you want to come out of it? You want to come out because it is not your nature.

Why then are you associating yourself with the worrying? Associate yourself with living in the present.

You have come from France and settled in USA for the past 30 years. As you no longer practice speaking French, you have forgotten how to speak French. Suddenly if somebody starts speaking in French, will you not remember? In the same way, bliss and living in the present is a language closer to you than your mother tongue. Up to the age of seven, you were in that state. So start reclaiming that forgotten language, that forgotten state.

Moving into the present allows you to disassociate from guilt, regret, greed and speculation. It will allow you to disengage from past happenings that you project into the future. These are the projections that invite suffering. You understand that success and failure are both in your mind. You learn to perform without attachment to the end result.

You then walk out of any possibility of depression!