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.
Opening page and 2:40, translations of The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran
There are many translations of the Gita and many interpretations of what the above quote means. Traditional Hindus might translate the original Sanskrit to mean that the path is all about the performance of Vedic rituals and the greatest fear is that of not coming back in the next life in human form. I am not Hindu and do not see the words in the same context.
I see them as meaning that as long as we attempt to awaken and connect to God than we are on the right path. Every bit of effort we put in to that process means we can not fail. Our greatest fear, I believe, is that of being separated from God.
Of course, I have no true understanding of these scriptures nor should I pretend to. These are my interpretations only.
What is the Spiritual Path according to the Gita?
I love this from Easwaran's translation of the Gita:
Arjuna: Tell me of those who live always in wisdom, ever aware of the Self, O Krishna; how do they talk, how sit, how move about?
Sri Krishna:They live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in them, whose love for the Lord of Love has consumed every selfish desire and sense craving tormenting the heart. ...Not agitated by grief or hankering after pleasure, they live free from lust and fear and anger....Fettered no more by selfish attachments, they are not elated by good fortune or depressed by bad. Such are the seers.....Even as a tortoise draws in its limbs, the wise can draw in their senses at will....
(2:55-58)
Huh?
I believe the spiritual path involves finding the true Self within us. It is an inward journey towards awakening. To me, this path entails getting beyond ego's hold to the seer within. (My ego right now is big, red and throbbing like a broken nose. It is hard to see beyond it.) It is ego that causes suffering through our need and our constant seeking of "selfish desire" and craving. When ego is in charge we are agitated by our emotions: grief, the need for pleasure, lust, fear and anger. The five senses in our body rule because we see ourselves as our bodies and experience the world through our bodies. Our selfish desires would include our need for success, recognition, material wealth, things and good opinion.
The seer, however, is wise, making the Love of God the priority in life. Those who allow the seer to rule their experience are in control of the senses(their bodies) and of their emotional reactions. They see themselves in all living things. The seer exists in a place of peace.
Having a Hard Time Getting past ego to Peace.
Sigh!
What I want from life more than anything else is peace of mind, to experience life through the seer's eyes. I know I am going in the right direction...just walking forward (inward) as the Buddha said to do but man is my ego resisting. :) It is a challenge to get around it and its reactions to life circumstance. I know in my heart that all the loss I am experiencing is a good thing (that loss includes any chance for conventional external support in returning to wellness or some form of financial balance, my house and all I own in the material form, my physicality, my job, my titles, and most recently my reputation as a good teacher.) This so called "suffering" is taking me forward...to a place where I am not elated by good fortune or depressed by the bad. I know that it is a positive thing but man does it sting.lol.
There are moments when I catch myself reacting rather than responding to life I caught myself yesterday striving so hard physically, mentally and emotionally to pass on knowledge and hard earned wisdom to others who really did not want it. As often happens in human relating when there is very understandable stress and frustration (some of it I am partially responsible for) resistance was very obvious. I was not in the place I wanted to be to "respond" appropriately to that resistance. So I didn't.
Even though I want to get beyond a need for good opinion, I wanted to walk away from role, when the time comes, feeling good about what I accomplished and with my reputation as effective, fair and positive intact. I doubt if it is. And I found myself thinking out loud, "Oh come on. It is all I have bloody left other than my loved ones. Let me leave the world of ego comfort with at least that. " Not to be lol.(How is that for overly dramatic?)
Oh well...it is what it is. All these things I perceive I lost mean nothing in the big picture. I just need to accept my life now as if I voluntarily renounced the things of the physical world for a higher calling. Even if it feels like they have been "taken from me"(that is not the case, just perception) I need to see it all as a choice I made at some point. I want to accept that they are gone and to know I do not "need" them. From acceptance, I step into the world of the sage. It may be challenging at first, but I will find my peace there.
As river flows into the ocean but cannot make the vast ocean overflow, so flow the streams of the sense-world into the sea of peace that is the sage. (2:70)
All is well.
References/Recommended Reads
Easwaran, Eknath (2009) Translation of The Bhagavad Gita. Tamales: Nilgiri Press
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