CONVERSATION BETWEEN GOD AND MAN
Chapter 6 THE ROLE OF BUDDHI IN MAKING THE RIGHT DECISIONS Continuing His explanation of the role played by the Mind, Krishna points out how the Mind could be a friend as well as a foe; this is where the Buddhi enters the picture. With the help of Buddhi, the Mind would be a friend and play a key role in making actions conform to Sathya and Dharma. But without Buddhi, Mind would quickly lead one to the slippery slope of disaster. ******************** KRISHNA : Arjuna, humans create problems for themselves by relying excessively on worldly intelligence or medha shakti. You are a very clever man; however, your smartness is mostly related to the external world. ARJUNA : Wait a minute! We all live in the external world; should we ignore it and not pay attention to it at all? KRISHNA : Did I say that? What I am saying is that while you must certainly pay attention to the external world, you must pay MORE attention to the Atma. ARJUNA : Why? KRISHNA : Because the Atma is Eternal while the world is only transient; besides, your true Nature is the Atma. ARJUNA : On the other hand, Krishna, while my body may perish, the world goes on; it has gone on for thousands of years. How can one dismiss it so summarily? KRISHNA : I am not asking you to dismiss the world totally. Everyone lives in the world; saints and sages have done so; and I too have incarnated in this very world. Therefore, one must not and CANNOT ignore the world. At the same time, one must not ignore the Atma either, because remember, it is the VERY CORE of one's being and Eternal too! ARJUNA : Do You mean to say I refused to fight because I ignored the Atma! KRISHNA : Indeed, that's exactly what happened! ARJUNA : I do not understand. KRISHNA : Arjuna, you refused to fight because you thought you were the transient body, forgetting that you are in fact the Atma. Such forgetfulness makes you get excessively attached to your relatives, friends and Gurus. This is nothing but dehabhimaanam or body-consciousness. The Atma has NOT guided your decision and that is the real problem; and that problem has come about because you lack Spiritual Discrimination! ARJUNA : Krishna, are You implying that I ignored the connection between the Atma, Buddhi, and medha shakti? KRISHNA : Yes, indeed. God has blessed you with medha shakti for survival in the world. Survival is very important, and that precisely is why God has given you medha shakti. But that does not mean you should rely solely on it, ignoring the Atma as if it did not exist or matter. In fact, in all critical matters, the decision MUST be based on larger considerations related to the Atma, and that is where Buddhi helps. ARJUNA : How exactly does the Buddhi help? KRISHNA : Well, Buddhi is a link to the Atma. If this link is blocked or is not in good shape, you cannot get guidance from the Atma. The Mind then gets a good chance to misguide you, and you would end up doing something that is NOT your duty, and against Dharma itself. In short, if Buddhi fails to function, you can be sure you would soon be on the slippery slope to disaster. ARJUNA : I am a little lost here because You have suddenly brought in the Mind. Where does the Mind come in, and how is it related to all that You said earlier? KRISHNA : Good question! You see, a human being is made up of three distinct entities - the gross body, the subtle Mind, and finally the Atma, which is the source of everything. Among these three, the Atma comes first, obviously, since it is the source. Next, comes the Mind; it is 'shaped' out of the Atma, and is expected to take orders from the Atma; once the Mind receives instructions from the Atma conveyed via the pipeline Buddhi, the Mind then directs the senses and the body about how they should interact with the external world. ARJUNA : I accept that but please tell me where and how I went wrong. KRISHNA : When you said you would not fight, that statement was influenced by your Mind, which was guided by body-consciousness or worldly attachments. Your Mind never consulted or took any orders from the Atma. That was the fatal flaw. ARJUNA : Alright, but please can you tell me once more where the Buddhi figures in all this? KRISHNA : That's simple; as I just told you, the Buddhi is nothing but a pipeline between the Atma and the Mind. When the Mind is dominated by attachment to things of the external world, Buddhi becomes blunted; that is to say, the pipeline gets clogged. ARJUNA : Oh, I see. So, while medha shakti might give all kinds of ideas for action, one must always use one's Buddhi, or the capacity for Spiritual Discrimination, to check out if that action is right or wrong, is that it? KRISHNA : Correct! Buddhi helps you to connect to the Atma, and that is why it is so very important. You must connect to the Atma so that the Atma rules your life and not the Mind. That precisely is why the first thing I told you was that you are NOT the body but the personification of the Eternal Atma. This fact must never be lost sight of; only then can your actions be right. ARJUNA : Krishna, can You summarize all that You have said thus far? Please tell me in simple words : What exactly is meant by right action? KRISHNA : That's easy. Right action is that which reflects the Nature of the Atma. What is the Nature of the Atma? It is nothing but Prema or Pure Love. ARJUNA : Krishna, You mean the Nature of the Atma can be described in just one word, Pure Love? Are you saying that if a person performs actions based on Prema or Pure Love, then that person reflects the Atma within? KRISHNA : Correct! ARJUNA : And actions based on Prema would automatically be in complete harmony with Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Karuna, Daya, Ahimsa, etc.? KRISHNA : Absolutely! ARJUNA : And the manifestation of all these virtues is absent when the pipeline called Buddhi gets choked? KRISHNA : Correct once again! ARJUNA : Krishna, why does Buddhi become blunted? KRISHNA : Arjuna, tell Me, how is knife kept sharp? ARJUNA : That is simple! We have to periodically sharpen the knife and make sure it never gets rusted. KRISHNA : Right, in the same way, there is a discipline needed to keep the Buddhi sharp. If that discipline is not followed, then Buddhi can get blunted. ARJUNA : Sorry, not clear! KRISHNA : It is simple really. When a man allows his Mind to be contaminated, Buddhi becomes blunted. ARJUNA : How does the Mind gets contaminated? KRISHNA : Ah, that is a good question. You see, Arjuna, by its very nature, the Mind tends to wander in the external world, dragged there all the time by the senses. ARJUNA : But Lord, it is YOU who have given us the Mind and the senses! Are not these faculties doing what they are supposed to do? KRISHNA : Yes, Arjuna, God did give humans the senses and the Mind, but does that automatically mean that man is using them the way they ought to be? Let Me explain My point this way. God has given the tongue to animals and also to man, to help them with eating. But in the case of humans, the tongue also helps in speaking. Some people use the power of speech to abuse others. Did God ask them to do so? Do you think God gave them the tongue for that? ARJUNA : I agree You have not given the tongue for saying bad things, but how exactly are we supposed to use it, apart from using it for eating? KRISHNA : Simple! Use it for chanting the Name of God and singing His Glory! Is that so very difficult? ********************** The last point made by Krishna is incredibly important. For ordinary mortals, or, for that matter, even for very intelligent people who are unavoidably quite preoccupied with worldly affairs (like the Head of a State, for example), it is not possible to spend a lot of time pouring over the scriptures, absorbing all the intricacies. Krishna gives Arjuna the comforting news that it is really not necessary to do so, as long as one learns to constantly chant the Name of the Lord. Vivekananda said Meditation is merely the constant remembrance of the Lord, and naamasmarana, or constant repetition of the Name, is the easiest form of Meditation. The question is often asked : The Lord is known by so many Names; which is the preferred one? Bhagavan Baba has answered it beautifully. He says (and this is captured in one of the Sai bhajans), "Chant any Name you like, but do so with Love and deep feeling in your Heart." Going through life without chanting the Name or naamasmarana is like driving a car without brakes! Gandhi attached great importance to naamasmarana, and that is why he was able to give up his body with the Name of the Lord on his lips, the importance of which Krishna would explain later.
