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Do not animals and birds live? Do they have desires like humans have? What about plants, trees and creepers? You cannot attribute desires to them. All of them live; their lineages also continue. They never indulge in desires. Learn the lesson from them and live, move and pursue the natural course of life joyfully, harmoniously, in a fulfilling manner.

Dear and blessed souls:

Harih Om Tat Sat.

Drop all desires & live naturally

Now, we go to the penultimate verse (2.71) of the 2nd chapter. Krishna illustrated all interactions and their impacts with the inflow of various rivers from different mountainous heights into the singular expansive sea. Just as the ocean embraces all rivers, with no preference or prejudice, we too can and must accept all situations and remain unruffled. Let the interactional impacts flow into our own within, into the spiritual expanse of the Self. This is the art and science of subjective interactional sublimation, stability and poise.

Is that all? No. Krishna is not satisfied. He goes to the extent of describing the full Knower, who has his focus always on his subjective, inner personality, which bestows on him spiritual fulfilment.

See the words and phrases Krishna uses: Knower easily and naturally abandons all desires, finding them neither necessary nor helpful. Any desire means agitation to the mind. Allow life to flow in its own way. Sun will rise and also set. The day will pass. It will also rebegin with the sun rising again. None has anything to do in this brilliant cycle.

Our body is beautifully shaped in the mother’s womb. Every cell and organ in it are designed and shaped by the foetus. Foetus grows without any aid or assistance from the outside world. When the growth is complete, it finds its way from the womb to the outside world. Thereafter heart continues to beat for decades, lungs equally bellow. All other organs do their respective functions, generating hunger, thirst and the like. Everyone eats and drinks. He will also thereby get the nourishment to preserve his life.

The whole process is so well arranged that we only have to evaluate and admire Nature’s grand scheme and be in harmony with it. Life will move, of its own accord. Be in tune with Nature and its courses, without causing any let or hindrance.

Be a non-doer joyfully

So, backed with this vision, renounce all desires in life and move in the world as a nispṛhaḥ. What further? Foster no sense of possessiveness, mamatā. In reality, we do not possess anything. Understand this fundamental tenet. Our very body, which we are so enamoured of, is itself possessed by the earth; our lungs by the air. Hunger and thirst that lead to eat, provide nourishment to the body and its organs. Know this well. Then what do you need to do? Nothing. Just live and move wisely and freely allowing the body, senses, mind, intelligence and ego to do their respective roles duly. Perform, whether auspicious or not, whatsoever befalls on your way, in a simple straightforward manner with child-like innocence.

Once you can ensure these, drop even your ego. Never think, ‘I do; I am doing; I have done; therefore, I have to enjoy and suffer the consequences in the form of results’. All such thoughts are neither true nor necessary.

Do not animals and birds live? Do they have desires like humans have? What about plants, trees and creepers? You cannot attribute desires to them. All of them live; their lineages also continue. They never indulge in desires. Learn the lesson from them and live, move and pursue the natural course of life joyfully, harmoniously, in a fulfilling manner.

Inner reformation and refinement

This whole process is personal, inner, resting on your own mind and intelligence. It is the beautiful inner reformation and refinement. Mind fosters no desire, greed or possessiveness, yet everything gets done. Just as seasons come and go, our wakefulness follows sleep, and is followed by sleep. You neither cause sleep nor wakefulness, yet they come and go cyclically. It is all a process of nature’s amazing handiwork!

This kind of inner sublimation, enrichment, enlightenment and harmony will instantly bring about the most beautiful peace and poise, wherein one will have nothing to complain or feel disharmonious about. Yes, human life should be the most harmonious flow upon the earth. We should be an ornament to the world-creatures and beings. Ours should be a meritorious contribution to the welfare of the entire creation. The whole process works through spiritual enlightenment.

The senses do their respective function. Mind thinks harmoniously. Timely emotions are generated to be active harmlessly. Intelligence too plays its role beautifully, preserving external and internal harmony. Human life becomes a synonym of peace, contentment, harmony and fulfilment. What a lofty state to think of, to actualize and to experience!

Cognizing the inner eternal presence

Now, we go to the last verse (2.72) of the 2nd chapter. It marks the conclusion of Krishna’s exposition on Sāṅkhya (Upanishadic wisdom) as well as yoga, Krishna’s own special contribution to spiritual pursuit.

He tells Arjuna very specifically: ‘This, indeed is the Brāhmic state’. What does it mean? Remember: Krishna began speaking with a reference to the inmost Soul in one’s own body. The word he used was ‘Self’. It denotes the presence ‘I’. Its locus is within the body. Krishna described it as unborn, undying, ever-present and even all-pervasive (2.24). Note that he was highlighting it as an inner eternal presence. The word ‘Ātmā’ thus always indicates the ‘Self’ inside the body. We refer to it always as ‘I’. So, the locus is very clear.

Expansion – from Ātmā to Brahman

Here, Krishna describes it further: ‘The state of desirefreeness and inner fulfilment is Brāhmī-sthitiḥ’. The word Brahman refers to the omnipresent truth or God. The ‘I’ or the ‘Self’, when properly understood, is extremely subtle. Because of subtlety, it is all-pervading as well. Its omnipresence irresistibly implies its subtlety. The seeker and the knower have to comprehend this clearly. The locus in his mind has to grow from within the body to the entire world and creation. ‘I’, the Self, is not alone the inmost presence in the body, but also the single omnipresence pervading everywhere and everything, micro and macro alike. It is a special presence, extensive and infinite at once.

By breathing air, the lungs remain healthy and agile. So too, by activity and interaction, the Knower remains healthy and benevolent. He does not have to think of or concentrate upon the inmost Self or ‘I’. The ‘I’ is like a reference point in the infinite space. Every such reference only denotes the infinite, all-pervading presence, the supreme sovereign Consciousness, which is experiential every time.

World – expression and display of sleep

That presence is what causes wakefulness for 16 to 17 hrs of the day. Then, instantly obliterating all the interactional imprints, it slips into sleep for 7 to 8 hrs, half the wakeful duration. Then, it brings wakefulness again from the depth of sleep. What you call the visible and varietal world is in reality an expression and extension of your own indrawn sleep. Can any one deny this?

Our life consists of wakefulness as well as sleep. It has also an extension called dream. All the three states are equally inhering in you. Know well, you are not the body separate from the world objects. You are the Consciousness, projecting the body and the world. Do not say ‘I’ within the body; say always ‘I’, the omnipresence, all-pervading presence, Brahman indeed. Once your understanding grows, extends and becomes expansive like this, there will be no scope for either doubt or delusion.

Oneness alone prevails

This is how Krishna says the Knower is free from all delusions about existence, experience and supreme reality. All become One for him. He is not the body, but he experiences the body. Between the two, he is the experiencer, not the experienced. All differences dissolve and Oneness alone prevails. He reaches such a state of fullness that he does not have to deny anything or assert anything. It is a wonderful state of all-fold fullness.

Even if, says Krishna, one is able to reach this state of fullness and abundance at the end of his embodiment, he still attains Brahma-nirvāṇa, redemption arising from the Knowledge and realization of Brahman. Yes, this state of fullness and ultimateness is to be known and realized. Knowledge and realization are the nature of this supreme attainment.

It is not a physical process covering distance or travel. Nor is it a chemical process, indicating any transformation or change. It truly is one of knowing, experiencing and realizing. Mind you, life is experiential, not material or physical. You are experiential in wakefulness, equally in sleep and also in dream. At no time you cease to be experiential. It is the full knowledge of the experientiality that makes you a full Knower gaining Brahma-nirvāṇa for ever and displaying its magnificence and splendour always.