शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात् ।
कामक्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्तः स सुखी नरः ।। ५.२३ ।।

śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prāk śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt |
kāma-krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ || 5.23 ||

Audio-BG-5.23

http://www.narayanashramatapovanam.org/media/audio/GP2015/PR/GP2015-PR-20150805-PS-Day5.mp3

Spiritual wisdom is always allied with dispassion. Dispassion has the power to generate unlimited strength and well-being. Without the merits of dispassion (vairagya), none can lead an effective spiritual life. Bhagavad Gita does not deflect from this cardinal message. However secular or all-inclusive Krishna’s analysis and statements are, he does not allow the seeker to be indifferent to the call of dispassion. To be a Self-seeker is to be dispassionate.

This too is a secular message. There is no particular religious element here. Krishna makes a pragmatic evaluation of what the senses represent and can bring for man. The next verse goes a step further. It pronounces in brief but unambiguous terms what is true spiritual or yogic attainment:

Whoever, before his body falls, is able to withstand the urges of passion and anger, is indeed the spiritually integrated and happy individual.

True seeking consists in freeing the mind and intelligence from the clutches of kama and krodha, passion and anger. Servitude to sensory objects will bring in the onslaught of passion and hatred. The whole of spiritual tuition is aimed at gaining inner control and stability.

As exposure to sensory objects disturbs the mind with attractions and repulsions, spiritual wisdom and absorption in the Self fills the same mind with inspiration, strength and poise. When spiritual insight deepens, the influence of sensory objects in generating kama and krodha will become weak. The process works not by shunning sensory objects or interactions altogether, but by taking to them abstemiously and building simultaneously the subjective strength through introspection and dispassion. Herein lies the secret of spiritual sadhana.

The cultivation of spiritual insight and deriving its sublime benefits are not to be in the absence of sensory interactions, but in their very currency. Interactions take place at the sensory level. Spiritual wisdom and its effects work inwardly – in the level of buddhi or intelligence. There should not be any conflict between them. On the other hand, the two should work as powerful complements. In the light of world exposure alone, spiritual quest becomes relevant and meaningful. One is led to seek the Supreme Reality only on repeatedly encountering the ephemeral world and getting exposed to the trifling nature of sensory pleasures. To make one seek, the fleeting thrills the objects give will have to be seriously reflected upon. Thus, there cannot be any conflict between interactional life and spiritual seeking leading to enhancement of dispassion.

To summarize Krishna’s tuition: The whole of yoga, spiritual Knowledge, consists in setting right the mind while it is in the midst of sensory interactions. And this implies making the mind even towards kama and krodha, a constant outcome of these interactions. When the mind becomes even and poised, the very same objects that acted earlier as a source of allurement and hatred, would become like beautiful clear water in which the mind can swim freely and joyfully.

At this stage, Krishna does not even speak of the Self, which was his stress earlier, when he began the dialogue. To be Self-realized is, in truth, to be even-minded or stable-minded, in the manner in which it is explained here. This is again another secular presentation of the whole spiritual truth and attainment!