{"id":324,"date":"2023-05-16T15:38:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T15:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shant.nu\/?page_id=324"},"modified":"2023-07-03T10:48:08","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T10:48:08","slug":"the-inner-war-for-peace-esoteric-teachings-from-the-gita","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/shant.nu\/the-inner-war-for-peace-esoteric-teachings-from-the-gita\/","title":{"rendered":"The Inner War for Peace: Esoteric Teachings from the Gita"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

5000 years ago, a war was fought. That war never ended, and is still being fought. In our minds\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arjun, our hero, threw down his weapon, and said he would not fight. Thus starts the Gita, the Song of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who don\u2019t know the story of Mahabharata, of which the Gita is a chapter: The king Pandu died, and his blind brother was put as a caretaker in his place. It was supposed to be a temporary measure, until the real king\u2019s sons grew up. But the blind king\u2019s son\u2019s were jealous, and tried to cheat and steal the kingdom. Over the years, the things got worse, until all out war broke out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mahabharat was a total war, a sort of a World War of the time. Kings from as far as Persia and Afghanistan came to fight, which was basically all the known world at the time. Arjun was supposed to be the hero of the story, like Aragon or Luke Skywalker. For him to refuse to fight was hard to believe. And yet, he threw down his weapons in disgust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the external story of the Gita is about an outer war, the estoeric teaching is about the war in our minds. We, like Arjuna, resist facing our inner darkness and make all sorts of excuses to hide from it. Krishna, the Universal Teacher, must them come down to guide us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is the one who fights this war?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you call \u201cme\u201d is a collection of thoughts, random thoughts, that have taken over the seat of consciousness, and are masquerading as you. It\u2019s not even the whole mind, just a few thoughts that believe they are \u201creal\u201d. These thoughts pretend to be you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These thoughts are the ones that suffer. Because they have no concrete existence, and THEY KNOW IT. Which is why they are so scared all the time. Which is why YOU are so scared all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these thoughts have become self aware. They have come to realise that they are not the real rulers of this body-mind complex. That they have always been just the caretakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That the reason we are so miserable is because we have forgotten who the real king is, and given all our power to a thought that thinks it exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is these self aware thoughts that are the ones, meditating, the ones that want peace, the ones trying to find a God outside of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, this sets them on a collision course with the other thoughts, that don\u2019t want to give up their seat of power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And hence the Inner War starts- between 2 groups of thoughts. One that want everything to remain as it is, and others that want the Divine Light to come in and change the Being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thoughts on the side of the Light are few and weak. They often feel helpless and out of control, and throw down their weapons in disgust. Like Arjuna, like me, like YOU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These good thoughts would certainly be crushed and destroyed; but they have help. They have the Teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Enemy- The Blind King<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enemy is the ego, the identification of the mind with the continuous stream of thinking, identifying with the limited self, identifying with the routine, mechanical and destructive thought patterns most people are stuck in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ego is the devil in Christian myths, cunning and dangerous. He attacks with cunning and guile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Hindu stories, there is always a demon who wants to be worshipped as God. And he kills anyone who refuses him. One demon, Hirnayakashyap, tried to murder his own son when the son refused to worship him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the ego- it\u2019s children are the Divine thoughts that accept that there is an external divine force in the world, that the ego is not God. This angers the ego so much it tries to murder it\u2019s own children, the thoughts that want to bring peace and joy. This is known as the dark night of the soul, a spiritual depression so crushing that many Yogis give up the spiritual path completely. But never forever, as the Teacher brings them back. The Teacher is the Divine Guide, our friend from God who guides us to the Light. But more on him later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Durga Saptashati, the Goddess Durga is attacked by the the main demon in the shape of the bull. The ego, the mind, is like that. Like a bull, it charges straight at us anytime we try to meditate, and destroys our practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another demon is Rakta beej, literal translation, the Seed of Desire<\/em>. Every time he was attacked and his blood fell on the ground, 2 demons would take his place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, this is symbolic of our desires, our thoughts. Try to crush them by force, and 2 more take their place, until you are crushed under the weight of thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the enemy every spiritual student must face. This is the blind king, the ego, driven mad by anger and hate, willing to kill his own children, even the body, to get what it wants. The ego isn\u2019t scared of death; indeed, if it feels it is losing, it is happy to destroy the body. Look at all the suicide bombers or the people who kill themselves when they face humiliation. The ego fears nothing, and it has the power of God behind it, as it too was created by the same Divine Energy that created the Divine Mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the enemy You must face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Teacher is a representative of God, who comes in as a friend, a guide, to help us through the night of the soul. In the Gita it was Krishna but it could equally be Buddha or Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Teacher is the silent voice, the calm voice, that speaks last, but speaks with certainty. The ego speaks first and speaks loud. He is the one who wants to fight, to insult, to show them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Teacher is the calm voice of peace, the voice that has the strength of God behind it. The biggest tragedy of humanity is that most people can\u2019t, or won\u2019t<\/strong> listen to this voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The War<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so begins the war. The ego, the blind and insane king, strikes first and draws the first blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ego is strong, and will not be happy with just striking you inside the mind. No, remember he was created by the Divine Mind, and so he has some of its powers. No, the ego will attack you in the outer world as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will face problems at work; in married life; with children or parents. And in many cases, all hell will break lose. You will be fired, as your wife will leave you emptying your bank balance and your parents will stop talking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is when the meditator usually throws down the weapon and says, \u201cI can\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Gita, Arjun says he can\u2019t kill his own brothers. These brothers are your old habits and thought patterns. These are the thought patterns that got you through the hard times before. They have been with you since childhood. They have helped you out many times. And now, you are being asked to kill them, why? Because some God said so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where was this fucking God when you needed him the most? Should we trust some God we have never seen, and who may not even exist? Or should we trust our old habits and mind? After all, they have always been with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is the dilemma of the mind. It is being asked to take a leap of faith, to trust the unknown. It is being asked to jump into the dark, be willing to be crushed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is what scares the mind. It throws a tantrum, refuses to meditate, and makes your life difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Yet, we must fight<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We only have 3 choices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n