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Chapter 2
THE TEACHING IN BRIEF: SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND EQUANIMITY
7. Awareness Of The Self That Transcends The Body
6. In this situation, commitment to swadharma is not enough. Constant awareness of two other principles is necessary. One of them is: ‘I am not this feeble and mortal physical body; the body is only the outer covering.’ The other is: ‘I am the Self that is imperishable, indivisible and all-pervading.’ These two together constitute a whole philosophy of life. The Gita values this philosophy so much that it enun ciates it at the very outset and only thereafter brings in the concept of swadharma. Some people wonder why such abstruse philosophical theorems are there at the very beginning. But I think that if there are any verses in the Gita whose place cannot at all be changed, then these are such verses. If this philosophy is imprinted on the mind, the practice of swadharma will not appear difficult. In fact, it will be difficult not to practise it. It is not difficult to comprehend that the Self is eternal and indivisible and the body is worthless and transient, as these are the truths. But we should reflect over them, ruminate constantly over them. We should train ourselves to belittle the body and exalt the Self. 7. Look! This body is for ever changing, caught in the cycle of childhood, youth and old age. Modern scientists say that every seven years it is renewed and not a drop of old blood remains. Our ancestors believed that this takes twelve years. That is why they prescribed a period of twelve years for study, penance, atonement of sins or wrongdoings etc. We often hear that mothers failed to recognise their own sons after years of separation. The body changes every moment, dies every moment. Is this body you? Twenty four hours a day its sewers operate, and despite indefatigable scavenging it remains unclean. Is this body you? No, the body is dirty; it is you who wash it. It gets ill; it is you who treat it with medicine. It fills three and a half cubits of space; you are free to roam in the whole of the cosmos. It changes endlessly; you observe those changes. It is open to death; you accept it. When the distinction between your body and yourself is so clear, why do you say that only that which relates to the body belongs to you? And why do you grieve for the death of the body? The Lord asks: “Is the destruction of the body a cause for grief?” |
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