When the Bhagavad-gita recommends that those striving for self-discipline should withdraw their senses from sense objects (02.58), this recommendation can be misunderstood in two ways.
Avoidance is not aversion: Aversion involves a strong negative emotion that can degenerate to loathing or hating or even wanting to destroy the object of aversion. And aversion can distract us as much as attachment. How? Because both fixate our thoughts on tempting objects, just in opposite ways — attachment makes us think that those objects are wonderful and aversion makes us think that they are dreadful. Pertinently, the Gita bunches both together and urges us to be free from them (02.64).
Avoidance is not running away: We feel like running away from tempting objects when we fear them inordinately, thinking that they will delude, degrade or even destroy us. When fleeing from them becomes our top priority, we can’t do anything worthwhile. Moreover, how much can we run away? The world is filled with tempting objects and even while we are trying to just survive and function, we will have to perceive them sooner or later. That’s why the Gita urges us to learn to tolerate them and the emotions they trigger such as desire and anger (05.23).
In contrast to aversion or running away, avoidance as recommended by the Gita is driven by a single-minded focus on the things that are important for us, without being emotionally engaged, leave alone entrapped, in other things.
One-sentence summary:
Aversion involves going out of our way, emotionally or even physically, to condemn tempting objects and running away involves giving up our way just to stay away from those objects — avoidance involves going on our way without getting into any unnecessary encounters with them.
Think it over:
- What’s wrong with being averse to sense objects?
- What’s wrong with running away from sense objects?
- What does avoiding sense objects mean?
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02.58: One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in perfect consciousness.
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
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