Krishna knew his Arjuna; the warrior, the man of action, the daring adventurer, the ruthless realist. When such a tumultuous personality spurs himself on with a drawn dagger, as it were, either to agree with or to condemn the noble philosophy of a true missionary, the teacher must have the balance of mind to approach the rebel-intellect with divine understanding and extreme tact. At this juncture in the Geeta, the situation, in a nutshell, is this: the Lord propounds a theory that MIND STILLED IS SELF GAINED, and Arjuna argues that mind cannot be stilled and so Self cannot be gained.
When an impetuous man like Arjuna gets hold of an idea in all enthusiasm, the best technique is to yield to him to start with. “Stooping to conquer” is the secret of success in philosophical discussions, especially in such cases of prejudice natural to the ignorant. Thus, the great psychologist Krishna, with the very first word in his reply, quietly disarms his mighty adversary, and tickles his vanity with the term, “NO DOUBT, O MIGHTY-ARMED.” Krishna admits that the mind is turbulent, strong, unyielding and restless and that it is very difficult to control, and therefore, the goal of perfect and enduring tranquillity, cannot EASILY be achieved.
By this admission Arjuna is flattered. By reminding him that he is a mighty-armed soldier in life, he is mentally brought to a restful peace. The taunting implication in it is obvious; to achieve the impossible and the difficult is the job of the mighty-armed: it is no glory for a warrior to claim that he has plucked half-a-dozen flowers from a bush in his own court-yard. The mind is, no doubt, a great enemy — but, the greater the enemy, the nobler the victory.
In the second line of this stanza, the eternal missionary in Krishna, very carefully weighs his words and uses the most appropriate terms to soothe the mind of Arjuna. “O SON OF KUNTI, IT CAN BE BROUGHT UNDER CONTROL” is an assertion which comes only at the very end of the stanza. Through practice and renunciation, the mind can be brought under control in the beginning, and ultimately to a perfect ‘halt’ — this is the confident, reassuring declaration of the Lord in the Geeta.
Renunciation has been already described earlier in the Geeta as Samnyasa which was defined as renunciation of (a) all clinging attachments to the objects of the world, (b) lingering expectations for the fruits-of-action. These two are the main causes for the agitation of thoughts, which again thicken the flood of the thought-flow, and make the mind uncontrollable. As Shankara declares, ‘practice’ (Abhyasa) is “constant repetition of an idea regarding one and the same object-of-thought.” This consistency of thought during steady meditation generally gets dissipated because of the frequent explosive eruptions of desires. Whipped up by the new desires that are rising at every moment, the thoughts wander into dissimilar channels of activities, upsetting the inner equilibrium, and thereby shattering the true vitality of the inner personality.
Thus viewed, practice (Abhyasa) strengthens renunciation (Samnyasa), which generates detachment (Vairagya), and which in its turn deepens meditation (Abhyasa). Hand in hand, each strengthening the other, the total progress is steadily maintained.
In scriptural text-books, the arrangement of words is to be carefully noted, for, in all cases, the words are arranged in a descending order of importance. To very seeker the question comes at one time or the other, whether he should wait for the spirit of detachment arriving in his mind of its own accord, or he should start his practice. The majority wait in vain for the accidental arrival of the moment of Vairagya before they start their Abhyasa. The Geeta, in this stanza, by putting the word ‘practice’ (Abhyasa) before the word ‘detachment’ (Vairagya) clearly declares that such an expectation is as ridiculous as waiting for the harvest of the crops that we have never sowed!
Let us analyse life, question its experiences, argue with ourselves and note carefully how much we put into life and how much, as a return, we gain from life. When we become aware of the deficit balance, each time, we, of necessity, shall start enquiring how our life could be more profitably re-organised, so that our coffers of joy and happiness could be replenished to their brim. Soon, the study of the Shastras will follow, which will give us a peep into the wonders of moral life, the wisdom of ethical values, the joys of self-control, the thrills of growth, and the consequent suffocation of the ego-centric little-life.
From the moment we start trying to become aware of our own lives, we are in the realm of ‘practice’ (Abhyasa). As a result of this, the detachment that comes automatically to us is the true and enduring ‘detachment’ (Vairagya). All else is a sham show of stupid self-denial, which cramps a human being and distorts and perverts his intelligence into an ugliness riddled with hysterical ravings and bleeding with psychological ulcers. Vairagya born out of Abhyasa alone is the charter for free spiritual growth; of your own accord, never renounce anything. Let your attachment-with-things drop off, of its own accord, as a result of your intellectual growth into the higher planes of better understanding and truer estimation of things and beings, happenings and behaviours, occurrences and incidents in life. When through right ‘practice’ enduring ‘detachment’ has come into our inner lives, then, the mind comes under our control, because it has no more any world of pluralistic objects to roam into, and the only world which it now knows is the world of equanimity and sameness. (V-19; VI-32).
WHAT THEN WILL BE THE LOT OF THOSE WHO HAVE NO SELF-CONTROL?
