Eknath Easwaran

Translation and commentary of The Bhagavad Gita

Verses 2: 55-72  

Arjuna now asks his first question as Krishna's student. His teacher has been talking about spiritual wisdom: direct, experiential knowledge of the immortal Self. Arjuna wants to know what difference this kind of wisdom makes in everyday life.  If a person establishes an ever-present awareness of the core of divinity within himself, how does it affect the

way he lives.  Arjuna is not interested in what people believe, but in how they conduct themselves in life.

Krishna answers:

Those who are established in wisdom (Sthita - Prajna) live in continuous, unbroken awareness that they are not the perishable body but the Atman.  Further, they see the same Self in everyone, for the Atman is universally present in all.    Such a one, Krishna says, does not identify with personal desires.  These are on the surface of personality, and the Self is its very core.  The Self-realized man or woman, is not motivated by personal desires - in other words, by any desire for kama, personal satisfaction.  If the senses are not controlled, Krishna warns, the mind (or emotions) will follow wherever they lead.  Eventually a person following the senses loses strength of will and unity of purposes; his choices are dictated by his desires.  When the will is led astray by the desire for pleasure, the  mind becomes confused and scattered. Ultimately, Krishna warns, this leads to spiritual destruction:

"When you keep thinking about sense objects, attachment comes.  Attachment breeds desire, the lust of possession that burns to anger.  Anger clouds the judgment; you can no longer learn from past mistakes. Lost is the power to choose between what is wise and what is unwise, and your life is utter waste." (2:62-63)

Verse 5

Reshape yourself through the power of your will;

never let yourself be degraded by self-will.  The

will is the only friend of the Self, and the will

is the only enemy of the Self.

Verse 6

To those who have conquered themselves,

the will is a friend.  But it is the enemy of those

who have not found the Self with them.

Bhagavad Gita

Translation by Eknath Easwaran

Chapter 6 - The Practice of Meditation,  verses: 5 & 6

Most thoughts are gate-crashers, you see;  that is my objection to them. And negative emotions like anger and resentment not only come without invitation, they crash the party early and eat up all the food.  When the proper guests arrive the plate is empty, the chairs are upside down, and the place is chaos.  Quality control simply means that when thoughts come you can say, “May I see your invitation?”  If they don’t have one, you say, “Excuse me, but this party is not for you.”

~ Eknath Easwaran

From: Conquest of Mind

Pgs 31-32

Even those who meditate sincerely and systematically face serious obstacles which must be overcome before they can penetrate the recesses of this vast, uncharted ocean that is the mind.  The Buddha enumerates five such obstacles:  sensuality, ill will, laziness, restlessness, and anxiety or fear.  Each of these locks us out of deeper consciousness.  Like an inner tube around a swimmers waist, these five obstacles keep us from diving below the surface of the mind by entangling us in the thoughts and experiences of the outside world.

~ Eknath Easwaran

From:  Conquest of Mind

Krishna:

33: The sattvic will, developed through meditation,

keeps prana, mind, and senses in vital harmony.

34: The rajasic will, conditioned by selfish desire,

pursues wealth, pleasure, and respectability.

35: The tamasic will shows itself in obstinate ignorance,

sloth, fear, grief, depression, and conceit.

36:  Now listen Arjuna: there are three kinds of happiness.

By sustained effort, one comes to the end of sorrow.

37:  That which seems like poison at first, but tastes

like nectar in the end – this is the joy of sattva, born

of a mind at peace with itself.

38: Pleasure from the senses seems like nectar at first,

but it is bitter poison in the end.  This is the kind of

happiness that comes to the rajasic.

39:  Those who are tamasic draw their pleasures from

sleep, indolence, and intoxication.  Both in the beginning

and in the end, this happiness is a delusion.

40:  No creature whether born on earth or among the gods

In heaven is free from the conditioning of the three gunas.

The Bhagavad Gita

Translation by Eknath Easwaran

Chapter 18: Freedom and Renunciation

Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita

In examining our knowledge of ourselves, the sages made a similar discovery. Instead of a single coherent personality, they found layer on layer of components - senses, emotions, will, intellect, ego, each in flux.  At different times and in different company, the same person seems to have different personalities.  Moods shift and flicker, even in those who are emotionally stable; desires and opinions change with time.  Change is the nature of the mind.  The sages observed this flow of thoughts and sensations and asked, "Then where am I?"  The parts do not add up to a whole; they just flow by.  Like physical phenomena, the mind is a field of forces, no more the seat of intelligence than radiation or gravity is.   Just as the world dissolves into a sea of energy, the mind dissolves into a river of impressions and thoughts, a flow of fragmentary data that do not hold together.

For these ancient sages, however, these were not logical conclusions but personal discoveries.  They were actually exploring the mind, testing each level of awareness by withdrawing consciousness to the level below.  In profound meditation, they found, when consciousness is so acutely focused that it is utterly withdrawn from the body and mind, it enters a kind of singularity in which the sense of a separate ego disappears.  In this state, the supreme climax of meditation, the seers discovered a core of consciousness beyond time and change. They called it simply Atman, the Self.

... Once identified with the Self, we know that although the body will die, we will not die, our awareness of this identity is not ruptured by the death of the physical body.  Thus we have realized the essential immortality which is the birthright of every human being.  To such a person, the Gita says, death is no more traumatic than taking off an old coat (2:22).

"On this path effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure.  Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will protect you from the greatest fear.

~ Eknath Easwaran

(The Bhagavad Gita 2:40: Translation Eknath Easwaran)

May the Lord of Love, who projects himself

Into this universe of myriad forms,

From whom all beings come and to whom all

Return – may he grant us the grace of wisdom.

He is fire and the sun, and the moon

And the stars.  He is the air and the sea.

And the creator, Prajapati.

He is this boy, he is that girl, he is

This man, he is that woman, and he is

This old man, too, tottering on his staff.

His face is everywhere.

He is the blue bird; he is the green bird

With red eyes; he is the thundercloud,

And he is the seasons and the seas.

He has no beginning; he has no end,

He is the source from whom the worlds evolve.

From his divine power comes forth all this

Magical show of name and forms, of you

And me, which casts the spell of pain and pleasure.

Only when we pierce through this magic veil

Do we see the One who appears as many.

The Shvetashvatara Upanishad - Verses 1-5

Translation Eknath Easwaran

A human being has so many skins inside, covering

the depths of the heart. We know so many things,

but we don't know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty

skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox's or bear's,

cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to

know yourself there.

From 'Original Goodness' Eknath Easwaran on the Beatitudes

"Doing more than one thing at a time divides attention and fragments consciousness. When we read and eat at the same time, for example, part of our mind is on what we are reading and part on what we are eating; we are not getting the most from either activity. Similarly, when talking with someone, give him or her your full attention. These are little things, but all together they help to unify consciousness and deepen concentration. Everything we do should be worthy of our full attention. When the mind is one-pointed it will be secure, free from tension, and capable of the concentration that is the mark of genius in any field."

Eknath Easwaran. Conquest of Mind (Kindle Locations 1316-1320). Kindle Edition.

In practical terms, what does it mean never to be hooked by self-will? It means the agitation in your mind ceases. Everybody, I think, knows the feeling of helplessness that comes with an agonizing memory, a paralyzing fear, a maddening conflict. We just don't know what to do, and the memory, the fear, the conflict, repeats itself over and over and over in our mind. The agony lies not in the memory or fear or conflict but in the repetition. When we are not hooked by self-will, we can stop the repetitive agitation of the mind cold. When the mind is still, how can there be agitation? We still grieve when others suffer, but we do not suffer for ourselves; and our grief for others releases the will and resources to love and help and serve.

Eknath Easwaran. Conquest of Mind (Kindle Locations 1243-1248). Kindle Edition.

"The Buddha calls his path "going against the current." If you want to follow me to freedom, he says, be prepared to swim upstream, against the river of conditioning. Be prepared to grapple continuously with the fierce flow of your negative mental currents. Struggling like this builds up our muscles. In time our strokes will become almost effortless and our sense of purpose irresistible."

Eknath Easwaran. Conquest of Mind (Kindle Locations 1184-1186). Kindle Edition.

When you feel a strong craving to demolish a big stack of pancakes, dripping with fresh butter and maple syrup, consequences may be the furthest thing from your mind. There is nothing wrong with pancakes if you can stand the calories, but if we go on yielding time after time, we develop a habit of yielding - not just to pancakes but to anything. Any impulse, including anger, gains increasing power to claim us. "Remind yourself of these problems now," the Buddha says. "Reflect on them, and then start strengthening your capacity to say no. It will serve you well in every activity of life."

What the Buddha is asking us to cultivate is reflective thinking. I distinguish this from "reflexive thinking," a phrase from Norman Cousins which aptly describes what happens in our minds when we are being driven by an urge. The Buddha is a teacher who respects our capacity to reason and reflect. Gradually, as we develop this capacity, we should be able to consider the consequences not only of actions but of mental states like anger. We should be able to see how anger spreads and grows until it gains the power to disrupt any relationship anytime it chooses.

Eknath Easwaran. Conquest of Mind (Kindle Locations 1106-1114). Kindle Edition.

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“Right understanding is seeing life as it is. In the midst of change, where is there a place to stand firm? Where is there anything to have and hold? To know that happiness cannot come from anything outside, and that all things that come into being have to pass away: this is right understanding, the beginning of wisdom.

“Right purpose follows from right understanding. It means willing, desiring, and thinking that is in line with life as it is. As a flood sweeps away a slumbering village, death sweeps away those who are unprepared. Remembering this, order your life around learning to live: that is right purpose. “Right speech, right action, and right occupation follow from right purpose. They mean living in harmony with the unity of life: speaking kindly, acting kindly, living not just for oneself but for the welfare of all.

Easwaran Ed., Eknath (2009-06-01). The Dhammapada (p. 45). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

“Right attention follows from right effort. It means keeping the mind where it should be. The wise train the mind to give complete attention to one thing at a time, here and now. Those who follow me must be always mindful, their thoughts focused on the dharma day and night. Whatever is positive, what benefits others, what conduces to kindness or peace of mind, those states of mind lead to progress; give them full attention. Whatever is negative, whatever is self-centered, what feeds malicious thoughts or stirs up the mind, those states of mind draw one downward; turn your attention away. Hard it is to train the mind, which goes where it likes and does what it wants. An unruly mind suffers and causes suffering whatever it does. But a well-trained mind brings health and happiness."

Easwaran Ed., Eknath (2009-06-01). The Dhammapada (p. 46). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

"If a hostile person learns to slow down his thinking enough to see how much of what provokes him is projected by his own mind, his world changes, and so does his behavior – which, in turn, changes the world for those around him. “Little by little,” the Buddha says, “we make ourselves good, as a bucket fills with water drop by drop.” Little by little, too, we change the world we live in."

Easwaran Ed., Eknath (2009-06-01). The Dhammapada (p. 91). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.