Hello and welcome to episode 16 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. Today I want to talk about Krishna’s formula for achieving your goals without craving or desire. It will be almost effortless
Today’s question comes from Jodie. Jodie is a great friend and is doing some really fantastic things. Jodie asks “how can we get, have and do what we want in life without desiring it. Desiring it seems to be the rajasic way according to Krishna so what is the sattvic way? I’ve been struggling with this for a long time. What is the correct way or is it just fool’s gold?”
That’s a really great question. I don’t know if I can fully answer it in the post because it would usually be a full module in one of my courses. We have plenty of courses so that may be something that will interest you. I want to do whatever I can to help you within this post.
First I would like to take you back to the final words in the Bhagavad Gita. “Have you oh Arjuna with concentrated mind listened to this conversation has your confusion wrought with ignorance been dispelled”. These are the last words after around 700 verses.
Confusion, ignorance and transformation
The most important word here is confusion. When we are confused we don’t know whether to act or not. Then we go into a thinking mode which can be very dangerous. Krishna says confusion is caused by ignorance and not because of knowledge. Ignorance is defined as a transformation of the three types of gunas: Rajasic, sattvic and tamasic on the heart of the consciousness.
This transformation can block your thought process and puts you in a mode of thinking. When thinking starts confusion follows. This is very important. A transformation is a reaction. When transformation happens awareness drops.
So at the start Arjuna was confused so he awareness dropped. This was because of the rajasic, tamasic and sattvic gunas. They invade and cover the heart of the consciousness.
It’s important that when we ask questions, or whenever there is confusion we should know there is a transformation on the heart of the consciousness that blocks the light. Your consciousness will want to be in the light but it is faced with darkness.
Immersion
The first step is immersion. You need to spend the first 15, 30 or 60 minutes, or whatever it takes immersing yourself in the knowledge of the consciousness. This will help get your awareness back up. Before we answer any questions we must be in a very strong place. We need to do this before deciding to act or not to act. If it drops you need to bring it back and keep bringing it back every time it drops. It is a continuous task.
I would suggest that you focus on one verse of the Bhagavad Gita. The verse I would recommend would be “him the weapons cannot cut, fire cannot burn, water cannot wet, wind cannot dry. The self cannot be cut, dried, burned or wetted…Eternal, all pervasive, stable, immovable, everlasting the Self Reigns”
Simply, meditate on this verse. Do it for a week, a month, 3 months or whatever it takes to raise your awareness. Remember Bruce Lee said “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Stick with this verse. Mediate on it and completely immerse yourself. If you do it with complete devotion you will succeed. Don’t worry about anything else yet. Just bring your awareness back to its original state.
The right attitude
Secondly, once your strong you need to develop the right attitude towards life and work. In Indian terms this attitude is called bhava. It’s a spiritual attitude. What happens in this attitude is you develop a power. Take for example a film. The actor is handed a script to follow. As he is acting he can follow the script or you can react to whatever role you are given. Like an actor might read a script and wish he had a better role. These are all reactions. You are following the director by acting and reacting. By developing this powerful attitude you’ll be able to see the difference between action and reaction.
Krishna says with the senses controlled, the mind controlled he who commences the yoga of action with the organs of action he is said to be sattvic and he will win this race. It’s a process. Action will move you forward from thought to action to the event. As you do this you’ll also be reacting, which is thinking. For example “I wish I could be on a different road or a different place in my life.” All this is a reaction that causes attachments and it is the cause of all our transformation.
When you follow the script you’ll follow the process of a thought, reaction and event. When you immerse yourself you’ll be able to distinguish between action and reaction. You’’ realise that what you’re doing is useless. You have already been given the script and the role so if you stick to it you will be successful. If you react too quickly you’ll make bad decisions.
Reign the horses in
Imagine that the 3 gunas’ are horses. Imagine they have reigns and in your mind pull those reigns back. Make those horses stop galloping and urge them to be calm. You must withdraw your reactions and give them up. When you do this all that will be left is you, the script and the giva. There will be no thinking and no transformations.
So follow the two steps. Immerse yourself in the knowledge of consciousness and then reign those rajasic, sattvic and tamasic horses in. As they race along the field of action you grab those reigns and pull them back. Then you will have the script, yourself and the power of giva. You’ll be able to see clearly then and you’ll be able to take whatever action you need to.
Realisation
The third step is realisation. Krishna says there are only two types of people: the enlightened and the seekers. The enlightened are the people who are born with enlightenment and the rest of us are seekers. We are called yogins and we must follow the required steps to connect with our consciousness.
When you do the first two steps correctly realisation will come easy to you. Krishna says “he who works, giving up of the fruits of work is a renouncer and not one who has renounced the household chores and is a non-worker. That which men call renunciation to Arjuna, know that to be yoga. None in need who have discarded all mental construction stills to the beat of yoga.”
So unite with your consciousness and follow the script by immersing yourself and develop a strong attitude which will allow you to withdraw your emotions. You will come to know the script and you will flow with it by acting through your consciousness and not your mind, body and intellect.
I hope I answered your question. Remember you keep asking questions and I’ll keep answering them.
