Sri Krsna wants us to examine our own outlook and find out the level of materialism in it. So in this shloka and the following two shlokas, he uses the first person to drive this point home. Here, he wants us to inquire into what we think is our ultimate goal, our destination, our objective in life. Most of us will come to a similar conclusion that it is accumulation of wealth so that we can take care of our material desires as well as those of our family.
The demoniac person thinks: "So much wealth do I have today, and I will gain more according to my schemes. So much is mine now, and it will increase in the future, more and more.
But this line of thinking has a flaw in it. Desires are bahushÄkha, they multiply infinitely, as we have seen in earlier chapters. Each desire contains the seed of several other desires. If any of those desires is unfulfilled, we invite stress, tension and anxiety into our lives. Now it does not mean that we should not harbour any desires. It just means that we need to apply some system, some framework to ensure that desires are managed and do not get out of hand.
The four stage Äshrama system (brahmachÄri, grihastha, vÄnaprastha and sanyÄsi) prescribes the duties of an individual based on their stage in life. When duties are given importance, desires automatically manage themselves. For instance, if one is a householder, then one focuses on what is the essential set of desires for fulfilling oneās duties, rather than deriving joy out of adding more and more desires. And even if some desires are unfulfilled, they do not agitate the mind because the goal is the duty, not the desire.
Krishna Realm
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Sri Krsna wants us to examine our own outlook and find out the level of materialism in it. So in this shloka and the following two shlokas, he uses the first person to drive this point home. Here, he wants us to inquire into what we think is our ultimate goal, our destination, our objective in life. Most of us will come to a similar conclusion that it is accumulation of wealth so that we can take care of our material desires as well as those of our family.
The demoniac person thinks: "So much wealth do I have today, and I will gain more according to my schemes. So much is mine now, and it will increase in the future, more and more.
But this line of thinking has a flaw in it. Desires are bahushÄkha, they multiply infinitely, as we have seen in earlier chapters. Each desire contains the seed of several other desires. If any of those desires is unfulfilled, we invite stress, tension and anxiety into our lives. Now it does not mean that we should not harbour any desires. It just means that we need to apply some system, some framework to ensure that desires are managed and do not get out of hand.
The four stage Äshrama system (brahmachÄri, grihastha, vÄnaprastha and sanyÄsi) prescribes the duties of an individual based on their stage in life. When duties are given importance, desires automatically manage themselves. For instance, if one is a householder, then one focuses on what is the essential set of desires for fulfilling oneās duties, rather than deriving joy out of adding more and more desires. And even if some desires are unfulfilled, they do not agitate the mind because the goal is the duty, not the desire.
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