Bhagavad Gita:
Bhagavad Gita:
The body is a machine, just like a motor car is a machine. I am within this body as the driver is within the motor car.
Now the motor car has many needs. It needs gas, it needs oil, it needs to have it’s tires pumped up and so on. But if one forgets the driver in the car and simply concentrates on the machine and the needs of the machine the driver will not be satisfied.
He will be sitting in the car starving. Because the food of the driver is different from the food of the car. You can not feed the driver gas. His food is different.
So we are the driver of this body. This body has so many needs, but these bodily needs are different from our needs, we are the driver of the body, the soul within the body, “the ghost in the machine…â€
Therefore Krishna recommends in the Bhagavad Gita that we satisfy the bodily needs only as much as necessary to maintain the body in a healthy condition and spend the rest of our time and energy in spiritual activities which help us to reawaken our original spiritual consciousness. It is this spiritual consciousness which is a our real need, the needs of the soul.
Of course the needs of the body are there and we can not ignore that.
It is not that we do not eat, or sleep, or have sex or defend, but these things are done in a regulated way to maintain the body in a healthy condition. But as the motor car is simply a vehicle which is meant to transport the driver to his destination, we see this material body as a vehicle which can be used to transport the driver-–the soul-–to his ultimate destination: back home, back to Godhead. With this understand we can see that satisfaction of the body is not our goal, we simply need to maintain the body nicely so we can use it in the real mission of our life, advancing spiritually.
If we spend all our time trying to satisfy the senses of our body we will waste all our time and energy in this way and become completely distracted from the real purpose of life which is to get out of this material world and get back home to the spiritual world where we will get an eternally youthful spiritual body full of knowledge and full of pleasure… Then we will really be happy…
Please let me know what you think. Rather than directly replying to this email you can post your comments at this web address and I will read and comment also.
http://krishna.org/i-am-not-this-body-easy-to-say/
http://krishna.org/i-am-not-this-body-easy-to-say
The body is a machine, just like a motor car is a machine. I am within this body as the driver is within the motor car.
Now the motor car has many needs. It needs gas, it needs oil, it needs to have it’s tires pumped up and so on. But if one forgets the driver in the car and simply concentrates on the machine and the needs of the machine the driver will not be satisfied.
He will be sitting in the car starving. Because the food of the driver is different from the food of the car. You can not feed the driver gas. His food is different.
So we are the driver of this body. This body has so many needs, but these bodily needs are different from our needs, we are the driver of the body, the soul within the body, “the ghost in the machine…â€
Therefore Krishna recommends in the Bhagavad Gita that we satisfy the bodily needs only as much as necessary to maintain the body in a healthy condition and spend the rest of our time and energy in spiritual activities which help us to reawaken our original spiritual consciousness. It is this spiritual consciousness which is a our real need, the needs of the soul.
Of course the needs of the body are there and we can not ignore that.
It is not that we do not eat, or sleep, or have sex or defend, but these things are done in a regulated way to maintain the body in a healthy condition. But as the motor car is simply a vehicle which is meant to transport the driver to his destination, we see this material body as a vehicle which can be used to transport the driver-–the soul-–to his ultimate destination: back home, back to Godhead. With this understand we can see that satisfaction of the body is not our goal, we simply need to maintain the body nicely so we can use it in the real mission of our life, advancing spiritually.
If we spend all our time trying to satisfy the senses of our body we will waste all our time and energy in this way and become completely distracted from the real purpose of life which is to get out of this material world and get back home to the spiritual world where we will get an eternally youthful spiritual body full of knowledge and full of pleasure… Then we will really be happy…
Please let me know what you think. Rather than directly replying to this email you can post your comments at this web address and I will read and comment also.
http://krishna.org/i-am-not-this-body-easy-to-say/
http://krishna.org/i-am-not-this-body-easy-to-say
Nice article - the analogy makes sense. However, there's one thing I don't understand - why is the spiritual world full of pleasure? How do we know this is the case?
ReplyDeleteIn spiritual world its not pleasure, but its bliss. Pleasure is what one enjoys through his/her senses. But bliss is to be one with the truth. To your question of How do we know this. As Ramana Maharishi pointed out, find out for yourself. Its not a big daunting task. Simply be in a quiet and calm place, (preferably dark) and keep on watch on your thoughts. Then simply ask one question to you: To whom is these thoughts coming? Who am I, the body or something else.
ReplyDeleteListen to your thoughts until you arrive at the source station. You will then receive all your answers.
I am also searching answers for the same question which you have asked. But as soon as I stopped worrying about will this be true, and started to concentrate on my thoughts, there seems to be some level of calmness. Maybe if I continue this I will reach the blissful state.
Anantha Narayanan So the state of "bliss" is not necessarily a state of "pleasure"? Is the definition of bliss (in this context) "to be one with the truth"?
ReplyDeleteI cant say that Aditya because I dont know. This is where we must get help of spiritual gurus who can guide us. But I think that bliss is definitely more than pleasure, because as I had mentioned earlier pleasure can be only through senses. But the bliss is like merging with the truth.
ReplyDeleteAnantha Narayanan ok, thanks for your inputs! :)
ReplyDeleteThe Ananda swarup Brahman expresses in two ways -- one, the sense pleasures or the pleasure that we get after satisfying our ego. It is called priya ananda. Two, the bliss of yoga, the attainment of wholeness, the happiness that we get by selfless actions. It is called shreya ananda.
ReplyDeletePleasure is ephemeral borne out of duality and Bliss is eternal and birne out of Oneness.
I love your analogy with the driver being the soul of the car, like the soul is the driver of the body. Beautiful. I have a deep connection with myself as the soul and when I become aware of the silence before thoughts, feelings and 5 senses it's wonderful. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIts not my analogy. I had simply shared a web link. But I am happy that it was useful to you sal c
ReplyDelete