Hello and welcome to episode 61 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. Today I want to talk about friends and enemies. Who is your best friend and who is your worst enemy? What does Krishna say about this?
Today’s question comes from Susan who lives in Australia. She says “In today’s world it is hard to tell a friend from an enemy. Today’s friend can be tomorrow’s foe and vice versa. How can we tell a best friend from a worst enemy?”
That is a really great question Susan. Things have changed in today’s world haven’t they? It can be really hard to know who your friend is and who your enemy is. There is a quote from the scripture that I want to share with you:
“The Self indeed is the friend of the Self by which the self can be subdued and the self indeed is the foe of one unsubdued.”
The self
I would like you to write that down and repeat it to yourself. “The friend indeed is a friend of the self by which the self can be subdued and the self indeed is the foe of one unsubdued.” Krishna says there are two self’s. The capital SELF which is the consciousness and the smaller self which is your mind and senses, also known as the gunas. Krishna says that the consciousness becomes your friend when you are able to control your mind and senses by drawing them in and become serene.
Similarly your consciousness can become your enemy when you are unable to control your mind and senses. Krishna says the battle is always between your consciousness and your mind and senses. When your consciousness is able to draw the mind and senses in to control them then your consciousness becomes your friend because it is serene and rests in your consciousness. When you can’t control your mind and senses they run wild and your consciousness becomes your enemy and your life will become miserable.
Transformation
Krishna says that consciousness transforms itself into an angel but it can also transform itself into the devil. It is a simple concept really. There is your consciousness and a transformation happening in you. This transformation could be a pleasant experience or it could be a bad experience.
Krishna says this consciousness is what transforms itself into a painful or pleasurable experience. It can transform into a devil or an angel. When it is a pleasant experience you can control your mind and body but when it is an unpleasant experience you cannot control anything.
Krishna says anger, frustration, hatred and procrastination are all transformations. They are not real. There are just a transformation of the consciousness into anger, hatred, frustration or procrastination. This happens because of your inability to draw your mind in. Your mind goes out, sits on the event and it generates this illusion of anger and frustration. This in turn makes you feel like you are angry and frustrated and Krishna says this is not right. It’s only a transformation that happened because you could not draw your mind in.
Blinded
The reality is that even when you are really angry your consciousness within is pleasant and serene. You just can’t recognise it because you are blinded by the transformations. Your consciousness is completely detached. Even if a terrorist commits a terrible crime and kills people his consciousness is still pleasant because it is sacrosanct. Nothing happens to the consciousness even if the terrorist might feel guilt for what he has done because his consciousness was transformed into guilt.
The consciousness can be transformed into guilt or it can be transformed into anger because our mind goes out and sticks to the event. This leads to an illusion being formed because we allow our minds to be transformed. Remember these illusions are not real. We confuse ourselves by thinking they are real and we screw up our lives. The transformation is not real. Always remember this.
It’s up to you to choose whether your consciousness transforms into a devil or an angel. If you control your mind, body and senses then your consciousness will become the best friend you ever had. If not it can be your worst enemy.
The chariot
I want to help you visualise this so you can easily understand it. I want you to visualise 3 horses, a chariot, and the reigns and then there is you holding those reigns. So the chariot is your body, the 3 horses are the gunas, the reigns are the mind and you are the intellect. Krishna says that you should imagine this in your mind. Imagine you are on the chariot. What you need to do is pull those reigns in to make sure those three gunas’ are always under our control.
When the Gunas’ are in control we must use those reigns to pull them in. The chariot, the reigns and the horses are all the visible things. Apart from you there is also an invisible charioteer. This is our consciousness. Another invisible element is the script. WE only see the visible parts, the horses, the chariot and the reigns but the invisible entities are really important. The invisible parts ensure all the events and the gunas are kept in control.
Krishna says that the body, mind and intellect come from the gunas. You must be aware of both. The visible and the invisible (the charioteer and the script). You must be aware of the chariot reigns and horses and you must also be aware of the consciousness and the script. Krishna says that thinking and acting come from the gunas. All of your thoughts and actions are driven by the gunas. These are the horses that take us through life. We think we are telling the horses where to go but we are not. Your body, mind and intellect are developed from the gunas. So the thoughts and actions come from the gunas and from the event comes the script.
The script
Krishna says that we completely ignore the invisible script and the charioteer. Krishna says our job is to insure the invisible force (the consciousness) is our friend. When we recognise it, it becomes our friend but when we ignore it or discard it, it becomes our foe.
Remember thought is not the beginning of anything and the event is not the end. The beginning is the invisible charioteer and the script. The end is also the charioteer. So you must understand that the self indeed is the friend of the self. Your job is to pull on the reigns and draw those gunas in.
When you draw them in your consciousness will remain as a consciousness and it will not be transformed. Always be seated in the heart of the invisible charioteer. If you are unable to do this it will become your foe. You must draw it in so it can become your friend.
If you do this you will not have to worry about anyone else because you will be in the safe arms of your consciousness.
I hope I answered your question. Remember you keep asking questions and I’ll keep answering them.
