From the Baghavad Gita

World Religions remains one of my favorite subjects of all time, for several reasons. First, I'm an academic at heart and I love studying and learning - God's world is fascinating and I want to experience all of it. Second, and more importantly, we as Orthodox profess that God IS Truth. This means that anywhere you find Truth you've found God, and that any seeker of the Truth is, ultimately, a seeker of Christ and a fellow companion on that journey. That shouldn't stop us from proclaiming the fullness of the Truth in Orthodoxy, but neither should we fear the words of other religions, so long as we think critically about what we are reading.

I was reading the Baghavad Gita, which, aside from some of its metaphysical claims (about reincarnation and the nature of deities), is a remarkably Orthodox text about what it means to be a spiritual human being, and I ran across this passage. I struck me how aptly this describes the ideal of an Orthodox ascetic, and with the fast approaching it seemed appropriate. I've "translated" (interpreted) a few words to make it more accessible to a Christian reader. Those appear in paranthesis.

From the Second Canto, line (shokta) 54 - 72:

Arjuna asked: "Who is the man of dispassion, Krishna? Who is steady in devotion? How does he speak, rest, walk?"

Krishna answered: "He has shed desire; he is content in the soul, by the soul. He is steady. He endures sorrow. He does not chase pleasure. Attachment, anger and fear do not touch him. He is not selfish.

He does not rejoice in prosperity. He is not saddened by want. He can recall his senses from their objects as the tortoise pulls in its head. He is serene.

Objects scatter away from the good but lazy man, but desire remains. In the perfect state, however, desire also goes. Yes, it is true that the violent senses rock the reason of the wisest man, but the steadfast man thinks of (God), and commands his desires. His mind is stable, because his desires are subdued.

Meditation on objects breeds attachment; from attachment springs covetousness; and covetousness breeds anger. Anger leads to confusion, and confusion kills discernment; discernment gone, choice is rendered impossible; and when moral choice fails, man is doomed.

But a person who is established in firmness, free from pleasure and repugnance, traversing experience with his senses restrained -- such a person finds tranquility. When tranquility comes, sorrow goes; a person whose wisdom is tranquil is truly stable.

The wavering person does not grow. Without growth, there is no peace; without peace there is no bliss.

The mind is swayed by the senses; they destroy discernment, as a storm sinks boats on a lake. Only that man can be described as stead whose feelings are detached from their objects. What is night to others is daylight to the restrained man; and when dawn comes to others, night comes to the perceiving sage.

The ocean, deep and silent, absorbs a thousand waters. The saint absorbs a thousand desires, and finds peace -- which the satisfier of the senses cannot.

Undistracted, passionless, egoless - he finds peace.

Peace is to be in (God), Arjuna, to suffer no more delusion. In peace is eternal unity with (God), the peace of enlightenment."

Hope you find that as much of an exortation as I did.

In Christ,
Macarius