Page 135 - Microsoft Word - SPIRIT AND THE MIND.doc
P. 135

Bhagavad-Gita 119
despondency makes us aware of our mistakes—it intensifies our yearning for an answer to the riddle of our mortal existence and for the ability to transcend. By humbling our minds and egos, this despondency—Kierkegaard’s dread or despair, modern man’s existential anxiety—readies us for our journey inward. It brings us from our mind to our heart—from selfishness to selflessness, from loneliness to love, from separation to union. “The Gita which begins with despondency, ends with realization—despondency is the seed and realization the fruit.”4
What is the basis of our suffering?
Whoever the individual, however scholarly, he cannot escape delusion and so he is subjected to grief, which acts as a break upon activity. Arjuna, the great hero, capable of great renunciation and great wisdom, is deluded by the awful needs of war, and his grief handicaps his activity too. He confuses the body and the self; he starts identifying the two. He imposes on the real self (the atma5—ever untouched by the characteristics of the moving, changing world) the unreal and ephemeral nature of the world and takes this delusion to be as true. This is the tragedy not only of Ar- juna alone but of all humanity!6
(Sathya Sai Baba)
Can we transcend suffering—overcome the delusion that we are only the body, bound by time and space? The Bhagavad-Gita teaches a number of attitudes and approaches to this consummate human dilemma. The most basic are those extolled in all the major religions: those of faith and devotion leading to surrender to God’s will, the dynamics of which we in the behavioral sciences are almost totally ignorant. Perhaps appearing simple and naive to the scientifically minded, Krishna’s most profound declaration in the Bhagavad-Gita is also the essence of Christ’s teachings.
Fix thy thought on Me; be devoted to Me; worship Me; do homage to Me; thou shalt reach Me. The truth do I declare to thee; for thou art dear to Me. This is My teaching, My grace. This is the path to come to Me. Give up all lesser actions and duties; surrender to Me; do not grieve; I shall liberate you from the consequences of all your acts.7
(Krishna)


































































































   133   134   135   136   137