A common space for harmonic peacemakers

II: 41

Chapter 2, Verse 41

"Resolute understanding

Is one-pointed, Arjuna,

But many-branched and endless

Are the thoughts of those

Who lack discernment."

Ram Dass:

"The discerning faculty (Buddhi) is the only part of our nature package that is capable of tuning into the higher realms within us. This discerning faculty has a kind of 'swinging door' quality connected with it. It can either get sucked into the lower mind and project outwards into the world, or it can turn back inwards and aim towards the light, the Self, the Atman, the source of it all. The dawning of wisdom is the recognition of the inner light, when the discerning faculty turns inwards instead of outwards. The discerning faculty is still part of our 'package', however. It still reflects a separate 'me'.

Jesus says, 'When your eye is single, your whole being will be full of light.' He's referring to the discerning faculty. It's still part of who we are, but it's standing right there on the brink. It lies between spirit and matter, and it can aim in either direction. Then, in the innermost circle, is the Self, the Atman. It's what's inside you right now. It isn't something external to you. It isn't something you have to acquire. It's already there. You already are it. But until you experience it first-hand, you won't know this to be true."

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:

"The minds of those who do not practice this Yoga are constantly preoccupied by the field of sensory experience. This fails to provide the abiding joy which alone can satisfy the thirst for lasting happiness. That is why the minds of such people continue to search and wander endlessly. Having pointed out the two states of mind, in the next three verses Krishna will explain conditions under which the mind continues to remain irresolute. After this, he will direct Arjuna to rise above these conditions and become resolute, so that he may become established in steady wisdom."

Sri Aurobindo:

“Buddhi means, properly speaking, the mental power of understanding, but it is used in the Gita in a large, philosophic sense for the whole action of the discerning and deciding mind which determines both the direction and use of our thoughts and the direction and use of our acts. Thought, intelligence, discernment, perceptive choice and aim are all included in its functioning, for the characterization of the unified intelligence includes not only the concentration of the mind that knows, but especially the concentration of the mind that decides and persists in the decision. Will, then, and knowledge are the two functions of the Buddhi. The unified intelligent will is fixed in the liberated one, concentrated in inner Self-knowledge. On the contrary, the many-branching and multifarious intelligence, busy with many things and careless of the one thing needful, is subject to the restless action of the mind, dispersed in outward life and works and their fruits.”