Bhagavad Gita 2.70

āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ

samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat

tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve

sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī

 

“As rivers rush into the mighty sea,

Yet leave it still, in vast tranquility,

So too, the wise view temptations’ inflow,

And find true peace by refusing to go where desires go.”

 

My dear Lord, you describe that if I want to stay peaceful in a temptation-filled world, I can’t expect desires to stop flowing toward me; I need to ensure that I do not move toward the objects from which the desires come. The only practical way to prevent the inflow of desires from causing an outflow of indulgence is to ensure that whatever is inside me is far more desirable. The more I remember you, the more I realize and relish your greatness and sweetness. The more I find oceanic joy in you, the more I will become eager to be absorbed in you—and therefore become disinclined to crave external things.

Bless me, my Lord, so that even if I do not presently experience that the happiness in connecting with you is like an ocean, let me still recollect those moments in my life when connecting with you did feel like an ocean of happiness. In those moments, external pleasures were exposed as nothing more than mere drops of water. Even if such experiences are fleeting and infrequent, let those recollections drive my desires and actions—so that, with time and purification, those experiences will become more frequent and lasting by your mercy. Thus, my consciousness will become like an ocean in remembering you, who are the supreme ocean of transcendence. 

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02.70 A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.

Let my consciousness become like an unshakable ocean