Karma Yoga – In Gita Verse 14.7 The mode of passion is born of unlimited desires and longings, O son of Kuntī, and because of this the embodied living entity is bound to material fruitive actions.
To understand Krishna’s teachings, let us reflect upon these ethos through the enlightenment of a Buddha’s sutra:
“Those filled with passion cannot see the path, for it is akin to muddying clear waters with restless hands. Seekers come with hope to find their reflections, but the turbulent surface offers no such clarity. A mind agitated by passionate desires is unclean, and consequently, blind to the path. O monks, relinquish your passions. As the mire of desire clears, the path will reveal itself.”
These profound words of Buddha resonate with a deep truth. Passion here refers to a restlessness within, a disturbance that stems from dissatisfaction with the present moment – a longing for what is not, a rejection of what is.
A mind seized by passion dwells neither in the present reality nor in truth. Bound to the constructs of past memories or future fantasies, it loses touch with the only time that truly exists – the now. As one strays into these temporal illusions, existence slips by unnoticed.
Observe your tendencies; whenever desire encroaches, you’ve strayed from the present. One cannot inhabit the past or future; these are realms of non-being. They either no longer exist or are yet to come into existence. Paradoxically, humanity excels at dwelling in these impossibilities, pulled away from life itself by passion.
To live with passionate dreams is to veer off the middle path – the path of present truth, the gateway to reality.
Buddha’s insight – paralleled by Krishna’s words – echoes a stark reminder: life’s path unfolds only to those present. We are perpetually in the divine, yet oblivious to its omnipresence because we are entangled in what is not.
As we delve into the tapestry of life from children to the aged, it is curious how passion persists, often unchecked by even the wisdom of age. The old, nearing life’s twilight, still ensnared by future yearnings, present a poignant picture of unlearned lessons – that life is not in the yet-to-come but in the already-here.
Beauty unfolds in the absence of passion, where death is not an end but a transition, free from the chains of the karmic cycle. An individual leaving this earthly realm without passion edges closer to moksha, the ultimate freedom from rebirth.
Krishna nudges us toward a mind liberated from passion. For such liberation allows one to acknowledge the Divine that always is.
As the moon casts its glow upon a still lake, so does reality reflect in a tranquil mind. A stirred lake, much like a passion-filled consciousness, cannot capture the moon’s wholeness. Such is the human mind – in its passionless state, a mirror of the Divine; in passion, a distorter of reality.
Krishna’s wisdom encourages the stilling of passions. When the perturbations of desire cease, the universe aligns, integrates, and reflects clearly within us. Liberated by truth, nothing else truly frees. Only by cultivating an inner realm where the Divine mirror stands unblemished can one realise the ultimate truth.
Doctrine and dogma offer no such liberation. Churches and creeds are but signposts to that which can only be known through a passionless heart and a reflective mind – the absolute freedom of truth.
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