Karma Yoga
Chapter 3, Verse 6
karmendriyāṇi saṁyamya
ya āste manasā smaran
indriyārthān vimūḍhātmā
mithyācāraḥ sa ucyate
Who controls the organs of action, but continues in his mind to remember
and dwell upon the objects of sense, such a man has bewildered himself
with false notions of self-discipline.
This is what we were talking about earlier. Krishna says, “Whoever pretends to let go of the outside or pretends to do their sadhana, pretends to meditate or pretends to listen, but deep inside, they are not doing it – they are like hypocrites, because they are being fake with themselves.”
Karmendriyāṇi saṁyamya, “one who controls the organs of action...” Controlling the organs of action includes controlling the senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. But this doesn’t only mean to control what one is seeing, hearing, touching, tasting or smelling. No. You have to come to the point of controlling all ten indriyas:
1. The five sense organs of knowledge, the Jyaana-Indriyas are: Sabda – sound; Sparsha – touch; Roopa – sight; Rasa – taste; and Gandha – smell.
2. The five sense organs of action, the Karma-Indriyas are: Vaak – speech (mouth); Paani – lifting (hands); Paada – walking/running (feet); Paayu – excretion; and Upastha – procreation.
Controlling these from the root itself, not by pretending to do so, is sincerity. Lord Krishna says to have these ten organs of the senses, under control, but carry on with your activity. Have them under control. Even force them to be under your control! It’s very important that you are not under their control. If you look at the world nowadays, it is like that. Maybe in Krishna’s time, it was also true because Krishna talks about it. Everyone has always been in the game of the indriyas, in the game of the senses. Krishna says that the mind itself has to renounce this game. You have to force the mind to not run after these senses objects. You have to bring the mind under control and concentrate and focus it on the Divine.
Don’t let the mind wander around! Don’t let it hang onto the outside. But bring it under control, tame it through your sadhana. Be sincere in your sadhana! Be sincere when you chant the name of God! Don’t be a hypocrite. The ones who are hypocrites are sitting there, appearing to be in deep meditation, but they are not even present. They are somewhere else. Here Krishna is reminding Arjuna of the importance of sadhana, the importance of forcing the mind. You may say, “Oh, I can’t do that,” or “I can’t do this.” “Oh Swamiji, you have told me to do this – Aha, it is very difficult!” Or you may say, “I will try. I will do it for a little while and see how it works.” But then after that, back again to the same pattern. Even if you are doing the sadhana, but you see the same pattern coming back again, you fall into weakness and say, “Oh my goodness, it is still there!” But it is true! It will still be there, because you have not yet let go of it. I was explaining in the previous chapter that you have created an illusion about yourself and you have to fully let go of it. When you sit for meditation, your mind wanders around because you are still hanging onto samskaras from many past lives. You allow these samskaras to take over! When they are there, you enjoy them. And then, when you sit for meditation, you complain about it! So how can you be free?
Focus your mind! If the mind is not centred, if it is not deeply rooted in God, you will be dancing in the game of the indriyas, and you will still be a slave to that. The one who has controlled all his senses from the beginning can’t be a hypocrite, because he doesn’t dwell on the outside. When he sincerely goes inside, his full focus is on the Lord Himself. Then he has peace of mind in his sadhana.
Merely renouncing the outside will not help. Krishna says, “Become focused! Don’t let yourself be fooled or deceived about yourself.” He was talking about the importance of realising what one has to do in one’s life. Don’t create a self-image of what you are not.
Learn to accept yourself! But don’t hang onto self-pity, because you have also a Higher Self inside of you. Whatever you see outside, is just pretend.
When people come and say, “I love you,” this doesn’t mean anything! But when one is sincere with oneself, even if one doesn’t say anything, one will spread that Love. You don’t need to express it on the outside. If one has true Love, it doesn’t matter how or where one is, because we are always connected, heart to heart. When we find this true Love, when we find God, then we realise that we live continually in His heart and He lives in our heart! There is no time or space.
Bhagavad Gita
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