kleshodhikatarasteshaaamavyaktaasaktachetasaam |
avyaktaa hi gatirduhkham dehavadbhiravaapyate || 5 ||
There is greater trouble for those whose minds are attached to the unmanifest. For, the path of the unmanifest is difficult to attain by the embodied.
kleshaha : trouble
adhikataraha : greater
teshaaam : for those
avyaktaasaktachetasaam : mind attached to unmanifest
avyaktaa : unmanifest
hi : for
gatihi : path
duhkham : difficult
dehavadbhihi : the embodied
avaapyate : attain
We used the example of children helping their parents organize a family event to understand the previous shloka. Now let us imagine that the CEO of the company we work for has asked us to attend an event at his house. What would be our attitude here? We would be on our best behaviour, and try our best to impress him with our actions. We would always ask for permission if we need to use anything in the CEO’s house. We would also be on the lookout for others who are trying to impress him, and perhaps try to be one step ahead of them.
Although we look different than our parents, we feel no sense of difference from them. However, we see a difference between the title of the CEO and our title which could be software engineer, manager and so on. Similarly, Shri Krishna says that the one who is “deha vad” or embodied, the one who still has attachment to the notion that “I am Mr. so and so with a 5 feet 7 inch body, working for XYZ corporation”, such a person will always have a tinge of separation from Ishvara.
So for the majority of us who want to become devotees, it is “adhikatara klesha”, quite difficult to worship Ishvara in his formless aspect. Our sense of attachment to the body creates a sort of wall, a kind of separation between the devotee and Ishvara. We are carrying conditionings of several lifetimes, perhaps, that prevent us from accessing Ishvara in his formless aspect. Extreme vairagya or detachment is required for this. Does it mean that our spiritual journey ends here? Shri Krishna addresses this next.
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