Unattached And Untouched – In Gita Verse 16.16 Thus perplexed by various anxieties and bound by a network of illusions, they become too strongly attached to sense enjoyment and fall down into hell.
Krishna in this verse is guiding us to understand that freeing oneself from Anxieties and Illusions is within our own grasp. The very nature of being human entails that we possess the innate ability to rise above the entanglements of our mind’s creations. It is a matter of shifting our attention and recognising our true nature – a state of non-attachment that we are born with, not something to be laboriously cultivated through external efforts but to be rediscovered within ourselves.
Consider the branch that sways with the wind: it moves not because it belongs to the east or the west but because it is rooted at its centre, able to experience the direction of the wind yet not defined by it. Similarly, we have the capacity to experience life’s varying conditions – pleasure and pain, success and failure – without becoming defined by these transient states.
Let us ponder on the example of water, which can be heated or cooled, yet fundamentally remains water. Our consciousness experiences attachment and aversion, joy and sorrow, heat and cold, but in essence, it remains unchanged, non-attached.
Meditation and self-inquiry are practices that can illuminate this truth. In the stillness of In the practice of meditation, we become the silent observers of our own minds. As we sit in silent observation, we notice thoughts drifting by, ephemeral as clouds against the vast canvas of the sky. This realisation dawns upon us gently: we are akin to the sky itself – vast, boundless, untouched by the fleeting dance of cloud formations. This sky-like nature of our consciousness is a testament to the unchanging essence within us.
As we probe deeper through self-inquiry, we start to peel away the layers of our thought processes and emotional responses. This introspection leads us to a profound truth – the reality of our mental and emotional states is as temporary as ripples on the surface of a still lake. Recognising their transient nature, we untangle our sense of self from these passing phenomena.
This recognition of non-attachment is fundamental to all conscious beings. It is not a quality unique to enlightened individuals, but rather the inherent condition of consciousness itself. Stripped of the veils of relationships and worldly engagements, consciousness rests in sublime solitude – pure, whole, and unencumbered by the dual constructs of attachment and aversion. These constructs lose their relevance in the absence of the ‘other’, revealing that at their core, they depend entirely on relational existence.
By acknowledging the impermanent nature of all that is external, we ground ourselves in an organic state of detachment. This grounding is not forced but unfolds naturally, allowing the incessant hum of anxieties to dissipate. Anxieties are born from clinging to the impermanent, mistaking the evanescent for the eternal. With each moment of clarity, the mirage of our worries begins to fade until we are left with the lucidity of our true nature – serene, untroubled, and free.
Aloneness is more than a physical state; it is a recognition of our wholeness, where we are complete unto ourselves. In aloneness, the concepts of attachment and aversion fade away as they are relational in nature and reliant on the existence of ‘another’. When we find ourselves in true solitude, we experience the fullness of being that is our infinite nature.
Through the guidance of Krishna, we are called upon to shed the layers of anxiety and illusion that shroud our innate self. This cleansing brings us back to our essential nature: a state of unattached awareness, where we are truly alone, not in isolation, but in completeness – untouched by the transient play of the world, resting in our original face, our true self. This journey marks our return to stillness, a loving embrace of our deepest essence. It is in recognising this aloneness as our full presence that we experience the freedom Krishna speaks of – one that has been within us all along.
Tags: Unattached And Untouched
