Vāṇi ← Gītā

Theme

What the Gītā says about peace

Peace in the Gītā is not an absence. It is a presence so full that nothing entering it causes a ripple. Rivers enter the ocean and it stays still. A lamp in a windless place does not flicker. These images point to the same condition: a mind so settled that praise and blame, cold and heat, honour and insult pass through without leaving a mark. The path there is not dramatic. Eat moderately. Sleep moderately. Sit still. Rein in the senses, not with violence but with patience. Krishna returns to the word śānti — peace — as both method and destination: the yogi practises toward peace, and peace is what practice yields. Arjuna, trembling after seeing the cosmic form, finds his breath again only when Krishna returns to his familiar shape. Peace is not escaping the terrible. It is finding your breath after you have seen it.

Verses

What is night to the world, the sage is awake in. What the world wakes for, he sees as night.

What is night to the world, the sage is awake in — reversed perception

Rivers enter the full ocean and it stays still. So desires enter the peaceful — the craver never rests.

Rivers enter the full ocean and it stays still — the craver never rests

Drop every craving and walk wanting nothing, claiming nothing as 'mine,' no self to defend — peace comes.

Walk wanting nothing, nothing mine, no self to defend — peace comes

A lamp in a windless room does not flicker. So stands the mind of a yogi in practice.

A lamp in a windless room does not flicker — the yogi's mind in practice

Practicing so, always, the mind reined in, the yogi finds the peace that ends in me — the highest freedom.

The mind reined in, the yogi finds the peace that ends in me — highest freedom

The one whose joy, whose rest, whose light are all within — becomes the eternal, and enters its freedom.

Joy, rest, and light all within — becomes the eternal, enters its freedom

Know me as the one all offerings feed, the lord of every world, the friend of every being — and find peace.

Know me as the friend of every being — and find peace

Now that I see your gentle human form again, I can breathe. My mind returns; I am myself.

Seeing the gentle form again: I can breathe. My mind returns; I am myself.

Seated as one apart, unshaken by nature's moods — knowing it is only the strands turning — he stays still.

Seated apart, unshaken by nature's moods — knowing it is only the strands turning — stays still

Ego, force, arrogance, craving, anger, grasping — all dropped; nothing 'mine'; at peace — ready for the eternal.

Everything dropped; nothing mine; at peace — ready for the eternal

Have you heard all this with a gathered mind? Has the fog of your confusion lifted?

The final question: has the fog of your confusion lifted?