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The change in Arjuna’s spirit is noticeable. From the despondent, hopeless state he was in, he is now asking questions in a calmer tone. Like a person who has seen a hut after wandering for hours in a jungle and is suddenly filled with some hope, but who is also proceeding cautiously in what is an unknown territory. The word "sthitapragnya", used in verses 54 and 55 is translated "a person of steady consciousness." In verses 11 to 30, Krishna has described the nature of the soul. In verses 31 to 38, Krishna has shown how fighting the war is better even from the point of view of his duty. In verses 39 to 53, Krishna has described the importance of being in a state of yoga i.e. union with God while performing actions in the world, ending in verse 53 that says, "When you remain unmoved by all that you hear, when your intellect is steady and satisfied, at that time you will have attained to yoga." Arjuna naturally wants to know the marks of a person who has attained such a state i.e. one who is a sthitapragnya and therefore asks this question.

And typically of a person who does not have any idea, Arjuna asks for the external signs of such a person: "What does he speak? How does he sit? How does he walk?" And typically of a person who knows, Krishna’s answer, which runs right down to verse 72, contains no external signs of such a person! Because there are none! A sthitapragnya speaks, sits, walks the same way as one who is not. The difference is all internal.

The big difference, as mentioned in verse 55, is that such a person has given up all desires in his mind. "Then why should he act?" is the natural question that pops up in the normal person’s mind. That is because the normal person is used to thinking that the desires in the mind are the only motivating and propelling factor towards action. The sthitapragnya has realized the foolishness of the pursuits of all personal desires. He has realized that they are all meaningless, a chasing after the wind. He has realized that even their fulfillment has only temporary value, being put to an end by death. And even the temporary happiness is of no great quality, since it is always tinged by the fear that it can vanish anytime and very easily. The moment the external circumstances on which it is based change, it will be gone! And so, he has given up acting on his own desires. And he has wisely shifted to that which he knows is not meaningless, that which has permanent value, that happiness which can never go no matter what happens to him. He has shifted the reason of his actions from his own desires to God’s desires. He no longer does what he himself wants to do, but what God wants him to do. This he knows, has led him into a state where he is without agitation in sorrows or happiness, free from longing, free from attachment, fear and anger. Plus of course, his actions have also become more skillful (verse 50), more effective, since it is now God’s power that is flowing through him. And he fully intends to continue in that wonderful state of being.

He has shifted to "being satisfied in the self, by the self." He no longer needs a particular set of circumstances to be present for him to be happy. He has discovered that source of limitless bliss within him, from which he can draw as much as he wants, anytime and anywhere, happiness of the finest quality, which always keeps him contented and happy, and compared to which all other happiness is pitiable stuff. In the words of 6:21-22, he has got "that infinite happiness which is obtainable by the intellect beyond the senses. Knowing that and situated in that, he moves in reality. Having gained this, he considers no other gain greater; thereafter situated in it he is not agitated even by great sorrows."

That’s what verse 56 starts off with, "One who is without agitation in sorrows or happiness." We have already seen in the exposition of verse 15, that it is "being equal towards both sadness and happiness" that is the important thing. As we have seen there, that happens when the bliss that you are filled with from knowing the Atman is so great, that the joys and sorrows that come from this world automatically become like small change to a wealthy person. Then you become like the ocean of bliss: no matter how many rivers empty into you, your level doesn’t rise; and no matter how much the hot sun evaporates your water, your level does not go down.

The next phrase in verse 56 is "free from longing." You long for something that you don’t have, not for something that you have, and have in plenty. Can the ocean long for more water? Obviously not. In the same way, the sthitapragnya cannot long for more happiness too, and certainly not for objects or circumstances of the world that he knows can only provide temporary happiness of a dubious quality. He already has plenty of happiness, and that too of a quality far superior to that offered by the world. And not only that, he knows the source of this superior quality happiness, this bliss, so that when he does run dry, he knows where to go and freely draw more happiness from, as much as he wants! What then, and how can he long for? The question just doesn’t arise.

The next phrase in verse 56 is "free from attachment." When a person has given up all desires in his mind, and is satisfied in the self by the self, he automatically does not get agitated in sorrows or happiness, and becomes free from longing. He also becomes free from attachment – he has no desire left for a particular set of circumstances to continue. While "longing" relates to the future, "attachment" relates to the past. While "longing" wants a particular set of better circumstances in the future, "attachment" wants a particular set of good circumstances to continue. The sthitapragnya is interested in neither. If better circumstances come, fine. If they don’t, then that’s fine too. What difference does it make to me, I who am full of the bliss of the self? Similarly if current good circumstances remain, fine. If they don’t, then that’s fine too. What difference does it make to me, I who am full of the bliss of the self?

The next phrase in verse 56 is "free from fear and anger." When you are full of the bliss of the self, what is there to fear or to get angry about? Fear comes from the thought, "What if the particular set of good circumstances that I am in, don’t continue?" e.g. "What if I lose my money?" or "What if I lose my property?" or "What if I lose my good health?" or "What if I lose my family?" And ultimately, "What if I lose my life?" The sthitapragnya simply says "So what?" just as the millionaire says "So what?" to "What if I lose the small change?" It makes no difference to him even if these things are lost. So how can he fear anything?

And anger comes from thwarted desires. But when there are no desires anyway, what will get thwarted? The sthitapragnya flows freely in life, to wherever the spirit takes him. He has no pre-formed notions as to how or where his life is to go. He only wants to go wherever the spirit takes him. He is "surrendered in the intellect" (verse 49). The person who is full of desires is like a person who wants to go in a particular direction in a river. The river is too powerful for him and time and again, his desire to move in a particular direction gets thwarted, leading to anger, either expressed or suppressed. The sthitapragnya has realized the foolishness of wanting to go in a particular direction and has given it up. He now flows freely to wherever the river will take him.

Does that mean that the sthitapragnya merely floats along, ultimately achieving nothing in life? Not at all. In fact he will most probably achieve far more and far better, than the others. While other people’s worldly achievements are forgotten in no time, the acts done by God’s spirit through people are remembered for thousands of years after they are gone, being written in the Scriptures and in memoirs by other people. And a few of such people are great enough to be the starting points of the world’s religions. God’s spirit is not aimless. The river of God’s spirit is going somewhere, towards some particular destination. The sthitapragnya may not know his destination but he knows that God knows it. And he has left himself free to flow freely with God’s spirit to wherever God wants to take him. He is not bound by any particular ideas of where life has to go. "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) He has no desires of his own left. And since there are no desires left, there can be no "thwarted desires" either. And naturally no anger at anything either.

"Desire" is thus the root of all kinds of problems. "Lust" is desire beyond normal limits for what you don’t have, "greed" is the desire for having more of what you already have and what should have been normally satisfying, "anger" is thwarted desire, "longing" is the desire for future fulfillment, "attachment" is the desire for present circumstances to continue. When you cut the roots the tree automatically dies. If you keep on cutting the branches but let the roots intact, then sooner or later new branches grow! Similarly the Bhagavad Geeta talks about cutting off the root of desire itself. When "desire" itself is chopped off, all these branches automatically die off.

Verse 57 says "He who is without affection towards both auspicious and inauspicious, neither thrilling nor despairing, his consciousness is established." Auspiciousness and inauspiciousness come into play only when you have your own desires. Anything that is conducive towards the fulfillment of your desires is auspicious. Anything that is against the fulfillment of your desires is inauspicious. When there are no desires left, where is the question of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness? Those who go to great lengths in consulting the astrological charts do so only because they want their endeavor to move towards success. The sthitapragnya simply says, "If it is God’s will, let it succeed. If it is not, then let it fail, and it is better off failing!" He does the same in different situations as they come up in his endeavors. If auspicious circumstances i.e. circumstances that are conducive to the success of his endeavor develop, he doesn’t get thrilled. He knows a far greater and permanent joy than any thrill he might get from the fulfillment of his endeavors. Nor does he despair when circumstances go against him. Says he, "What is the worst that will happen? My endeavor will fail. So what? What difference does it make to me? So why should I despair? If God wants it to succeed, he will make it happen in its due time. If he doesn’t, then it is better off failing anyway." He doesn’t waste his time being down with questions like, "Why has this happened? This should not have happened. I hope this doesn’t last" etc. etc. He merely smiles through it all.

Verses 58 and 59 are crucial verses and describe the process by which a person becomes a sthitapragnya. It is all very well to talk about the wonderful qualities of a sthitapragnya, but how do you become one? Krishna is answering an important unasked by Arjuna. Arjuna has asked all the questions an armchair-philosopher would have asked: "What is the language of a person of steady consciousness? What is he given to? What does he speak? How does he sit? How does he walk?" But he has not asked the million-dollar question, "How do I become a sthitapragnya?" We are all like that only! We love information; we like to be aware of things. But we don’t like getting into it ourselves. We love watching sports, but we don’t like to get our own hands dirty. We love berating politicians, but we will never get into politics ourselves. And we avoid asking questions like "How do I become a sthitapragnya?"

But Krishna didn’t leave Arjuna. Ask the question or not, he was going to give the answer. Here it is. There are four steps in it:

1. Withdrawing of the senses from their objects.
2. The sense objects turning away by not feeding on them (although the taste does not go).
3. Seeing the supreme.
4. Even the taste goes on seeing the supreme.

And the result of all this? The result is described in verses 64 and 65 later on that he "moves amongst the objects of the sense organs without the self coming under their control. In such regulated freedom of the self, he attains grace. In grace comes the loss of all sorrows and a development of a happy consciousness."

The first step then is the withdrawing of the senses from their objects. There is self-discipline here. There is no getting away from this. People who want God to come and wave a magic wand over them and solve all their problems, without they making any effort in doing what God wants them to do, are doomed to holding on to their problems all their lives. The withdrawing of the senses from their objects is a first practical step that has to be done. Let’s use a common example to make this clear. Since many men suffer from the problem of sexual lust, and since the verses 58 to 72 (and also 3:37-43) seem to be designed keeping sexual temptation in mind, we will use that itself to understand the process, keeping in mind that the ultimate objective is to come to a state of being where if necessary, one can even "move amongst the objects of the sense organs (i.e. beautiful, gorgeous, semi-clad girls) without the self coming under their control." It means you can even be on the topless section of a beach without being affected by what you are seeing! One is considered to be a sthitapragnya only when one, even in the midst of sensuousness and even while the sense-organs are letting in a flood of stimuli, does not get disturbed at all in his inner serenity and equipoise.

But for you to reach that stage, you got to start small, from where you are. We use the example of sexual temptation for men, to expound the verses; women may substitute their special weaknesses to understand. And for those men to whom sexual temptation is not a problem (are there any?) you may substitute your special weaknesses. Money, power, fame, women, recognition, material comforts, electronic gadgets, latest cars, all kinds of new innovations, all kinds of strange "achievements", all kinds of learning, are capable of capturing the consciousness of man and making him their slaves. You substitute your particular problem here.

What would "withdrawing of the senses from their objects" mean in the context of sexual temptation? It means that you withdraw your eyes (men are very visual when it comes to sexual temptation) from whatever tempting sight is attracting you. This is done in two ways. The first way is to remove the sight itself. There is no need for you to browse through the Playboy magazine. You can put it aside or better still, get rid of it permanently. There is no need for you to linger on F-TV or Baywatch as you are flicking through the channels on your TV. Flick through them as you would flick through a channel in a regional-language that you don’t understand. Better still, block them. And those x-rated CDs? Destroy them.

But what if you can’t remove the sight? What if you cannot change the situation? Then you "withdraw your senses from their objects as a tortoise withdraws its limbs." If you can’t change the external circumstances, then change the internal. It requires mental discipline, but with practice, it becomes easier and easier. The process is difficult to describe, but it can be described as "see, but don’t ogle." And don’t let your eyes linger. When you pass by the sweet shop and can’t avoid the fragrance, smell but don’t take a deep breath! And don’t let your nose dwell. Such withdrawing of the senses is called pratyahara.

"Withdrawng of the senses" does not mean that the senses do not experience outside objects. It means that in spite of experiencing them, they are not engrossed in them to the extent that they transfer to the mind impressions deep enough to become the seed of desires. The location of this happening is obviously the mind and not the senses, for it is in the mind where ultimately all experiences are experienced, and where all impressions are created. The senses by themselves are neutral, they merely gather and pass on the experiences to the mind. It is in the mind where all the problems take place.

When you do thus withdraw the senses, "the sense objects turn away by not feeding on them." Observe the movement of the objects of sensuousness from the shops to their customers. They always reach only those who are courting them and wanting them. The alcohol bottles get emptied only when the drunkards come to the bar. Ploughs made by the smithy are not purchased by artists and poets, doctors and advocates, but reach only the homes of the farmers. Similarly, all sense-objects reach only those who court them and want them to come home.

But still a problem remains: "the taste has not gone!" The desire is still there. The taste for sensual gratification is still there. It exerts its pressure on you. It fills your mind. How is this to go? This can go only by replacing it with something more powerful, and more satisfying than sensual gratification. The sex desire is the strongest desire in man. When men are in its grip, they care for nothing else. Kings are willing to throw away their kingdoms. Presidents of the most powerful nations on earth are willing to throw away their power. The reputed are willing to throw away their reputation that has been carefully built up over a lifetime. Top sports personalities are willing to throw away their positions. World famous preachers are willing to throw away their ministries. All for a few minutes of sensual gratification. This sex desire is so strong that self-discipline proves to be a pitiable weakling in front of it. If self-discipline is not helped by something stronger and more powerful, it soon gives up. The taste for the sex desire can go only by replacing it with something more powerful, and more satisfying.

And that can only be God.

The taste for sensual gratification goes only on seeing "the supreme." It cannot go by self-discipline alone. "What can repression accomplish?" as said in 3:33. Repression only leads to a warped, distorted personality as seen in the lives of many ascetics. The opposite of repression i.e. wanton abandonment will ultimately burn you up as said in 3:39, "the enemy in the form of sense gratification, is insatiable, and burns like fire." Fire will burn everything up unless it is put out. Lust will burn you up until it’s put out. You cannot hope to put it out by satisfying it. That’s like pouring fuel into the fire! Sensual gratification can thus be conquered neither by repression nor by wanton abandonment. It can only be conquered by replacing it with something more powerful, and more satisfying: God. The Supreme. "Even the taste goes on seeing the supreme."

How does one "see the Supreme?" It is the life-long process of getting to know God better. It involves knowing your Scriptures (i.e. knowing more about God), prayer (talking to and hearing God) and obeying him. It’s not a one-time event but a lifelong process. "The taste going" is also a process in which the taste for sensual gratification dwindles step-by-step as your relationship with God grows stronger and stronger. As you drink more and more of the greater joy, the bliss that comes from the relationship with God, your taste for worldly joys which are of inferior quality automatically dwindles.

Which comes first, getting the taste of God or the self-discipline of withdrawing your senses? That’s like asking the question, "Which step should I put forward first, the left leg or the right leg?" What difference does it make? The important thing is to put them forward one after the other. If you have put the left leg forward first, then the next to go forward is the right leg; and vice versa. Similarly here, getting the taste of God and the self-discipline of withdrawing your senses have to go together. One without the other will not lead to progress. If you continue with the self-discipline of withdrawing your senses without getting the taste of God for a long time, you will soon go dry and lose motivation. "Renunciation afflicts one with grief if without yoga" (5:6). On the other hand, if you stop the self-discipline of withdrawing your senses i.e. if you indulge your senses after you have got the taste of God, you won’t be able to sustain your state of yoga i.e. union with God. Experiencing God is not in your hands. It’s in his hands. If you continue in your sins, he will speak to you – gently at first, firmly later, and finally with warnings. If you still continue, he may simply leave you to your ways.

"Getting the taste of God" and "the self-discipline of withdrawing your senses" both feed on each other and get you into a virtuous cycle. "Getting the taste of God" makes "the self-discipline of withdrawing your senses" easier, that leads to "getting even more taste of God" which in turn makes "the self-discipline of withdrawing your senses" even easier. Most people are caught in the opposite vicious cycle – "no taste of God" leads to "indulging the senses" (in order to somehow find some satisfaction somewhere), which leads to "even lesser taste of God" that leads to further "indulging the senses" and so on. Most people are so much caught in the vicious cycle that they don’t even know that they are trapped. In order to break out of the vicious cycle and get into the virtuous one, you will have to make the first effort, just as you have to make the first effort to break out of any other vicious cycle and get into its corresponding virtuous one.

The following verses (41-44) from the Adhyatma Upanishad are in line with this passage:

Before we move on to verse 60, a word of warning: Rigorous and unnatural practices for controlling the senses are not in order. There are people who resort to acts like castration for controlling their sexual desires. But as the saying goes, "the solution to wrong use is not no use, but right use." If God has given us sexuality and sexual organs to enjoy it, then it has to be enjoyed rightly. Verses 55 to 59 make it abundantly clear that the victory over wrong desires is to be achieved in the mind, not by the physical doing away of the sense organs. This is not a problem in Hinduism alone, but in Christianity too, where people have taken literally, Jesus’ statements in Matthew 5:29-30 ("If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.") The Bible uses a lot of figurative language and it is important to know when it does so. See Appendix 1 for "Commonsense-rules for objectively arriving at what the Bible really says."

Verse 60 continues with the subject, and shows the sheer power of the senses: "Even for a man who sees and is endeavoring to control them, the senses can abduct by force the mind and put it into agitation." There is no way the senses are going to be controlled by the mind or the willpower. They are far too powerful! The great problem for man in living the righteous life is not lack of information. The great problem for man is lack of power. Man knows very well what is right and what is wrong. He may not acknowledge it with his mouth, but in his heart of hearts he knows it. The busy-ness of the day may hide his wrong actions from his conscience, but when he lies on the bed alone at night, his wrong actions mockingly dance before his eyes. Man knows very well what is right and what is wrong. The big problem for man is that in the moment of temptation, he invariably chooses to do what is wrong. Actually we shouldn’t even say, "he chooses to do what is wrong!" It would be more accurate to say, "He helplessly does what is wrong!" The following passage from the book of Romans in the Bible, chapter 7 verses 14-24, describe the very same plight of man mentioned in this verse 60:

That’s the plight of man. "Even for a man who sees and is endeavoring to control them, the senses can abduct by force the mind and put it into agitation." He very well knows what is right and what is wrong. His real problem is that he does not have the power to do what is right. Invariably, in the moment of temptation, he helplessly does what is wrong.

Are we stuck? Thankfully, no! Paul has a triumphant answer to the ending question: "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" And the answer is the same: "God!" "Even the taste goes on seeing the supreme."

The senses are so powerful, that verse 61 in fact makes the control of the senses as a test for knowing whether a person is a sthitapragnya or not! "The one who is in control of his senses, his consciousness is established." You want to know who a sthitapragnya, a person whose "consciousness is established" is? Well, look at whether he is in control of his senses or not! There is no way a person can be in control of his senses if he is not in a strong relationship with God! Without a good, healthy relationship with God, there is no motivation or power strong enough for him to control his senses. Why should he control them? What will he get by controlling them? By freely indulging them, at least he gets a few minutes of pleasure. What will he get by controlling them? There is just no motivation left! All moralizing amounts to a big zero in front of the few minutes of pleasure. As said before, the sex desire is the strongest desire in man. When men are in its grip, they care for nothing else. For a few minutes of sensual gratification, kings are willing to throw away their kingdoms. Presidents of the most powerful nations on earth are willing to throw away their power. The reputed are willing to throw away their reputation, top sports personalities are willing to throw away their positions, world famous preachers are willing to throw away their ministries. Why? Because in the absence of a strong relationship with God (yes, even for world-famous preachers as history sadly shows), there is just no motivation or power available for them to resist the temptation.

The taste for the sex desire can go only by replacing it with something more powerful, and more satisfying. And that can only be God! The motivation to control the senses can come only when you know that what you are losing (your relationship with God) is greater, more important, and more beautiful than what you are gaining (a few minutes of pleasure). The power to control the senses can be available only when your relationship with God is strong enough to draw that power from him. So verse 61 says, if the senses are under control, know for sure that the man is in a good relationship with God! "Keeping them all under control, he sits united with me beyond the senses," it says in its first half. The sthitapragnya, the person of stabilized consciousness knows that the only way to live a victorious life on earth is to "keep his sense organs all under control, and sit united with God beyond the senses."

Of course "sit" is not to be taken literally, but figuratively. Physically, he may be moving about, he may be involved in some activity, he may be even in a war situation as Arjuna was, but internally, he is "sitting" in union with God. His mind is not running about here and there, it is stabilized in God.

Verses 62 and 63 describe eight-stage process of degradation by which a person perishes. The process can be terminated after any of the first seven stages, and most worldy-wise people, due to the practicalities of life, are successful at terminating the process after the third stage i.e. before the desire for sense gratification moves to anger. The objective of the Bhagavad Geeta is to get you to terminate the process after the first stage itself (which is involuntary and unavoidable), nipping it in the bud so to say. That gets you to live the life of a jivanmukta, a person liberated in this life itself. The eight stages are:

1. Attention to the sense objects
2. Attachment to them
3. Desire for sense gratification
4. Anger
5. Delusion
6. Bewilderment of memory
7. Destruction of the intellect
8. Perishing of the person

Attention to the sense objects: This is the first stage and is involuntary and unavoidable. The senses are made for attention, that’s their very purpose; and if they don’t do that, then we cannot operate in this world. If the eyes, the ears, the skin don’t pay attention to their respective sense organs, we will not be able to move around in this world. That’s their job and they are supposed to do it. The problem is, they prove to be the gateways, the windows, through which consciousness becomes conscious of the sense objects and gets attached to them.

Attachment to the sense objects: Once again we use the example of sexual temptation to illustrate the process of attachment. You are flicking through the channels of your TV and suddenly see some scantily-clad, gorgeous girls. Suddenly the flicking stops! Why? Because consciousness has got "attached" to those images. "Attachment" as we have seen before, has to do with your past. An eight-year old boy, who has not yet sexually matured, would have simply carried on flicking the channels since the images of scantily-clad girls mean nothing to him. With him, the flicking would have stopped at a Cartoon channel. When you were flicking the channels, your eyes were doing their job of seeing what was on them, and that was fine. It’s their job to see and they were doing their job. The problem starts when, because of the attachments you have developed for particular sense objects because of your past experiences and behavior, you pause the flicking of channels when you see Miss Pamela Anderson in her red swimsuit.

Desire for sense gratification: What happens next, after you have stopped the flicking? You continue seeing the scantily-clad girls. You let your eyes feast on them, enjoying the skin-show. Before you know it, fifteen minutes have passed and your mind is thoroughly gripped by sexual desire!

Anger: Suddenly the bell rings and you hurriedly change the channel. It’s your wife! No man finds his wife half as attractive as any other woman, and your wife is no match for those gorgeous girls. But being a mature person, you sigh and switch off the TV. This is where most people stop the process. Because the next step is anger. Anger comes from thwarted desires, and you are mature enough and practical enough to know that those desires of yours are no way going to be satisfied. Romping on the beach with those gorgeous girls is only a fantasy. There is no point in getting angry. The only loser will be yourself. So you let go and forget it.

That’s what most people do. They terminate the process of degradation before it gets to the "anger" stage. To understand the entire process, let’s continue with it until the final stage to see what an immature person would do. He would have switched off the TV, but his desire has been thwarted. He gets angry. Angry at the fact that he has been saddled with such an unattractive wife! And that anger leads to delusion.

Delusion: The sanskrit word translated "delusion" is "sammoha" which means "stupefaction, bewilderment, confusion, insensibility, unconsciousness, ignorance, folly, illusion of mind." The sense is that of a person who is stupefied by hypnotism. Once anger lodges into his spirit, he becomes stupid. It’s as if he is hypnotized, as if he is in the grip of some power that has made him unconscious.

Bewilderment of memory: That’s the next stage. He now starts leading an unreal life. He fantasizes. His life becomes more and more detached from reality.

Destruction of the intellect: He now loses his intellect i.e. his ability to distinguish and discriminate between what is good and what is bad, between what is right and what is wrong, between truth and untruth, between the important and the unimportant, between the relevant and the irrelevant, between what is "short-term gain, long-term pain" and what is "short-term pain, long-term gain."

Perishing of the person: His life becomes a mess. "Perishing" here does not mean he dies. But his life becomes so bad that it’s not worth living. His relationships are spoilt. His marriage is on the rocks. He takes out all his anger on his helpless children. He loses his job – he simply can’t focus on his work. And he can’t find another one. How can he? He can’t last even five minutes in an interview. Within a minute of meeting him for the first time, you get the feeling that there is something wrong with him! He feels worthless. Sitting at home makes it worse. An idle mind is the devil’s workshop, and here the devil finds more than what he needs.

That of course is an extreme case of a person having gone right up to the final stage of the eight-stage degradation process. As said before, most normal people stop the process after the third stage i.e. before "desire for sense gratification" turns to "anger." The Bhagavad Geeta wants you to terminate the process of degradation after the first stage itself i.e. before "attention to the sense objects" turns to "attachment." That’s why you will find the Bhagavad Geeta laying so much emphasis on "attachment" as the key problem. The very next verse (v.64) starts with "He who is freed from attachment and aversion…" The Bhagavad Geeta wants you to be free after the first stage itself. That gives you far, far more freedom in this world, than being freed after the third stage, and makes you fitter for moksha. Each stage in the above eight-stage process can be also looked at as having decreasing order of freedom (and sanity). The person who is gripped by anger has less freedom than the person who has only "desire for sense gratification." The person who is deluded has less freedom than the person who is only "gripped by anger," and so on. The maximum freedom is enjoyed by the person who remains at the first stage itself, who stops the degradation process there and then. He "moves amongst the objects of the sense organs without the self coming under their control, in regulated freedom of the self" as the very next verse (64) says. We can look at that now.

Verse 64 says, "He who is freed from attachment and aversion, and moves amongst the objects of the sense organs without the self coming under their control, in such regulated freedom of the self, he attains grace." Aversion is repulsion, or attachment in the opposite direction. If you have attachment to girls who have outer beauty, you are bound to have aversion to those who don’t. But don’t get spiritual and say, "Oh, I don’t fall for outer beauty. I prefer girls having inner beauty." You are in the same boat! You are as bound as the person who falls for outer beauty! The above statement can be reworded to "If you have attachment to girls who have inner beauty, you are bound to have aversion to those who don’t." You are still not free. To be really free, you gotta be free from both – attachment and aversion. Actually both are two sides of the same coin; once you are free of one, you become automatically free of the other. That’s why the Bhagavad Geeta uses the phrase "freed from dualities" quite often. In 2:45, Krishna has advised Arjuna to "be without duality." In 4:22, the action that "surpasses dualities" is the action that does not bind. In 5:3, it is the "renouncer who does not have aversion nor desire, who is free from dualities, he is certainly in happiness and completely liberated from bondage." In 7:27 and 7:28, the same phrase is used to refer to people who are not deluded. In 15:5, the advice is to "be liberated from dualities and reach unbewildered that imperishable position."

To be able to "move amongst the objects of the sense organs without the self coming under their control" is our objective. This is the stage of the jivanmukta, the person who is liberated in this life itself. In this state, you have succeeded in stopping the degradation process described in verses 62 and 63 at the first stage itself. You can now pay attention to the sense objects without moving to the second stage i.e. developing attachment to them.

The phrase "regulated freedom of the self" gives the lie to the belief that "everything is OK." The freedom that the Bhagavad Geeta offers is misunderstood in many sects (especially Advaitic sects) to mean "everything is OK." According to these sects, if everything is consciousness, then whatever is considered "wrong" by society and the religions is also right! In fact there is no "right" or "wrong". There is only "existence." Whatever is, is! Everything is okay! Lying is okay, stealing is okay, murdering is okay, taking drugs is okay, having sex with your own daughter is okay! Such people go through their lives living and teaching that "everything is okay," drunk with the feeling of superiority of their own belief system, intoxicated by the heady feeling that "they have got it right while the dvaitists are still struggling!"

The phrase "regulated freedom of the self" gives the lie to all this. Yes, there is freedom, but it is "regulated freedom of the self" that brings grace ("prasadam") from God. This freedom is like the freedom that you have while driving on the roads. Yes, there is freedom for you while driving. But it is to be "regulated freedom" not wanton abandonment. If you drive anyway and anyhow, you are bound to bring harm to yourself and others. At the least you will cause a lot of inconvenience to others. We live in a society, in which there are other people, who are a part of the same Brahman that you are, in whom is a part (amsha) of the same God that is in you. If you live anyway and anyhow, you are bound to bring harm to yourself and others. At the least, you will cause a lot of inconvenience to others. And such living will definitely not bring God’s grace ("prasadam") upon you.

And according to verse 65, it is in this grace that comes the loss of all sorrows and a development of a happy consciousness. These things come from God. You cannot produce them by yourself. Sorrows come from unfulfilled desires, but when there are no desires left, where will the sorrows come from? When whatever God gives is acceptable to you, where will sorrows come from? An excellent example of this is found in the book of Job. The following is narrated in the first two chapters of the book of Job:

"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" – such a statement can come only from a person who knows that everything comes from God. Job had reached the position that his happiness was not dependent on the things of this world. Such grace can come only from God. His relationship with God was so strong that even when he lost his all (except his life), he was still happy! This state is not developed overnight. It takes constant walking with God to come to such a stage. However, as you do so, your intellect becomes sufficiently established, as the second part of verse 65 says. You become habituated to responding in a godly way. Job’s intellect had become so established in God that his immediate reaction on the disasters that had come upon him was, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." Most people would have got upset, angry, depressed. Most people would have despaired and bemoaned their fate. Many would have cursed God. How many times do we blame God for the "bad" things that happen to us (but attribute the "good" things to ourselves)? But not Job, because he had years of experience of walking with God. And having those years of experience, his intellect had become so "sufficiently established" that his immediate reaction was also positive. His habits were so well-established that he did not need any "time to recover." A person who has years of experience in business is not troubled by small problems, that a newcomer would be baffled by. His intellect has got established in business. Over years of constantly distinguishing between the important and the unimportant etc., his intellect (discriminative ability) has got so much practice that when a problem comes up, he is not baffled. He knows immediately what to do; no, he just does the right thing instinctively since he is so habituated. Similarly the person like Job, who has got years of experience of walking with God, is not baffled. He is habituated to thinking in a godly way. When disaster strikes him, he is not baffled. But when problems hit a person who is not well connected with God (i.e. is not in Yoga or Union with God), he loses his peace.

That’s exactly what verse 66 says: "There is no intellect for one who is not connected (to God), nor is his consciousness established; not for such a person is peace. For one without peace where can there be happiness?" Since he does not have a well-established connection with God, he does not have the discriminating ability to distinguish between what should be a godly reaction and what not, nor is he habituated in responding to situations in a godly way. Such a person does not have peace. A person who does not have a godly perspective is sooner or later, bound to come across situations where he loses his peace. Peace comes from a larger perspective, a broader viewpoint. When a problem hits a company, the junior executive is baffled, he loses his peace. But the CEO is unmoved. He has a larger perspective, a broader viewpoint. He has seen plenty of problems before. This problem is no big deal. It may be a big deal for the junior executive, but not for the CEO. Similarly for the person who has walked with God and has a well-developed relationship with him, no problem is any big deal. He knows that God is bigger than all problems put together and He is in control. The only thing he himself has to do is to keep himself clean and obey God in whatever God tells him to do.

Peace comes from knowing that. Such a person is unaffected in the biggest of calamities, what to speak of small day-to-day problems. Verse 66 goes on to say, "For one without peace where can there be happiness?" Obviously. Peace of mind is a very important component of happiness. How can there be happiness without peace of mind?

Verse 67 rounds off the root of the problem: "When the roaming senses engage a man's mind they carry away the intellect as wind carries away a boat on water." Now strangely and interestingly, 3:42 will say later on, "The senses are said to be superior, superior to the senses is the mind, superior to the mind is the intellect, but he (God) is superior to the intellect also." Is there a contradiction here? Answer: No, there isn’t. Verse 67, as a part of the passage running from verse 60 to 68, is talking about an uncontrolled, natural process, like the uncontrolled, natural growth of a jungle (and not the controlled growth of a cultivated garden). The analogy given is that of the wind carrying away a boat on water. But this happens only when there is no control on the boat to guide and direct it against the wind. If the boat is left as it is, without any external force being applied to it to steer and move it in a particular direction, the wind will carry it away in whatever direction it wants to. But if external force is applied by an engine, then the boat can be guided and moved to whichever direction you want it to go. In this case, the engine proves to be superior (i.e. stronger) than the wind. The same is the case with man. If left uncontrolled, the roaming senses will engage a man's mind and carry away the intellect as wind carries away a boat on water. But if external force is applied, then man’s mind proves to be superior (i.e. stronger) to the body, the intellect superior (stronger) than the mind, and the Spirit of God superior (stronger) than even man’s intellect, in guiding and moving the man in a particular direction. That is exactly why verse 3:43 will say, "Thus understanding him who is superior to the intellect, steady the self by the self and conquer the enemy, mighty-armed one, in the form of formidable lust." In other words, "Knowing God, conquer even the enemy of formidable lust."

Verse 60 started off the discussion of the problem by saying, "Even for a man who sees and is endeavoring to control them, son of Kunti, the senses can abduct by force the mind and put it into agitation." Verses 62 and 63 described the eight-stage process of degradation. Verse 64 spoke about nipping the problem in the bud: stopping the degradation at the first stage itself, rather than waiting for the third stage. Verses 65 and 66 described the happy result of nipping the problem in the bud itself: the loss of all sorrows, the development of a happy consciousness, and complete peace of mind. Verse 68 rounds off the solution and the description of a sthitapragnya: "One whose senses are curbed down in every way from their objects, his consciousness is established." The section had started from verse 54 in which Arjuna had asked for the signs of a sthitaprganya. It ends with a summary description of the chief sign of a sthitapragnya: that his senses are curbed down in every way from their objects, and his consciousness is situated in God (yoga).

Now note an extremely important point: All this is not a question of intellectual understanding. Intellectual understanding may be the starting point, but the real taste of the pudding is in the eating. You are not just to merely understand all this intellectually, but to live it. You are supposed to become a sthitapragnya, a yogi, not remain a person who merely understands with his mind, what a sthitapragnya, a yogi, is like. Neither are you to create moods in the mind, of the "think you are serene, and you will become serene" kind of nonsense. If you are not serene (and most people are not), then it is better that you acknowledge that you are not serene, go in your privacy to God, and tell him that you are not serene, and you want that serenity. Then shut up and receive from him, let him flood you with his serenity. That’s how you will become serene.

Krishna has purposely not given a single external sign of a sthitapragnya in verse 55 to 68 in spite of Arjuna having worded his question in verse 54 that way: "What is the language of a person of steady consciousness? What is he given to? What does he speak? How does he sit? How does he walk?" That makes a very important statement: There isn’t a single external sign of a sthitapragnya! You can only sense it by his spirit. That also gives a very important warning: Copying of external signs is useless. If you see a serene person, don’t try to copy his external signs: the way he talks, walks, sits. You won’t get serenity that way. If a poor man tries to copy the external signs of a wealthy man, he doesn’t become rich. It only creates a tension within him, and opens him for ridicule from others who can see through him. It is much better for him to acknowledge that he is not wealthy, and actually do those things that will make him a wealthy man. Similarly, if you find that you are not a sthitapragnya, then much better for you to acknowledge that you are not a sthitapragnya, and actually do those things that will make you one. Merely copying the external signs of a sthitapragnya will actually harm you.