Bhagavad Gita 7.4

bhūmir āpo’nalo vāyuḥ

khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca

ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me

bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā

 

Earth, water, fire, and wind, and sky,

Mind and reason, soaring high,

With ego too—these eight compose

My nature split in forms it shows.

My dear Lord, help me to see the material is mundane or profane only as long as I am spiritually uninformed or devotionally disconnected.

When I perceive the material as profane, I mistake it to be bad, evil, or sinful. This may lead me to an unhealthy aversion toward everything material. Because I need to exist lifelong in a material body that functions in the material world, such aversion can make life itself unnecessarily burdensome and even miserable.

If I see the material as mundane, I think of it as devoid of any value or significance, and thus I become filled with apathy toward everything material. While such apathy is less harmful than aversion, it still undermines my ability to both function in the world effectively and render service to you in this world.

Bless me, my Lord, with three things: clarity, humility, and dexterity. The clarity to see the divine potential in the material; the humility to stay away from those material things that are too enticing for me to engage with, even if it is for your service; and the dexterity to engage in your service all those material things that I can safely interact with.

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07.04 Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.