Why do we fight – You might have heard the idiom – “Under the same roof“. Normally loved ones, they live under the same roof. As family and friends, although we live under the same roof but often we also fight under the same roof. This is an old problem in every civilization, nationality, community and society. Why do we get divorced? Why we go to the court for different issues? In this blog, I will give a philosophical reasoning based on Bhagavad Gita which would surely help to resolve all your fighting issues.
Table of Contents
We are Conscious Beings?
We are all individuals, but we are not only made up of only flesh, bone, and blood. This external body is simply a notion but I’m beyond this external body. I live as a conscious being.There are 8.4 million species – insects, plants, aquatics, reptiles, birds, and animals. Each of them represents a different level of consciousness. When I’m talking about consciousness, I’m referring to only physical consciousness. Being aware of physical consciousness means being aware. An ant is also physically conscious and aware of its safety.
Since we are conscious being, consciousness has a variegated form. So, when you are in the body of an ant your consciousness is very much shrunken but a full-fledged consciousness manifests in the body of a human being. I as a human being, I’m able to develop civilizations and contribute to art, science literature and develop a variety of ethics to cooperate with each other. Ants and Animals cannot do it. So by simple observation, we can say human beings are more elevated in their consciousness than the other lower forms of bodies.
In the human form of life itself, there is a lot of variegatedness in consciousness and this is why under the same roof makes sense, because two individuals, although they’re human beings, the level of consciousness are different. They see the same thing differently. Let’s understand this through an interesting example and my own experience of a couple.
Suppose there is a gold biscuit, fallen on the road and you are walking. If you see that gold biscuit what you will do? If you are greedy, then you’ll put in your pocket and watch that nobody has noticed and will rush to your house but if you are in mode of goodness, then you will go to the police or right person like probably a district magistrate and will hand over the gold biscuit there and say that somebody must have lost this gold biscuit and this must go to the right person. But if someone who is a Yogi searching for the absolute truth, for him, a gold biscuit or a pebble , stone, or even soil and dirt, all have the same value Because all of them are ephemeral. That means Yogi is situated in a higher level of consciousness or in real consciousness or is trying to acquire the real consciousness.
Once I saw that two people – boy and girl, they’re living together and suddenly they come out and the boy is shouting – Why did you squeeze this toothpaste in this particular way? And then the girl is saying, Am I your servant that I am going to squeeze the toothpaste the way you do it? And that is quite a simple, trivial thing how to squeeze a toothpaste.
Just imagine what is the level of tolerance we have. We fight on such trivial issues as how to squeeze a toothpaste and it also happens to me and each one of us. Surely one must behave in a very dignified way but how is it even possible that we can live under the same roof and not fight? To decode this, we have to understand human consciousness. There are 5 Levels of consciousness
Anna-maya
When we were small kids, the only consciousness we had is Anna-maya. A child is satisfied only by getting nice food. This stage of consciousness, in which the goal is just to eat sumptuously, is called Anna-maya
I was hungry when I was a small kid. Now also I’m hungry. Did you ever feel this is my limitation? Hunger is still attacking me. So did I ever transcend hunger? Did I ever try to transcend the hunger? or Do I have to live with hunger? Let’s be practical. Yes, as long as I have this mortal body. I will go through the hunger but in the human body. I must recognize hunger is suffering. And because I’m hungry, it is not that I can eat anything and everything. That is why Krishna in Bhagavad Gita 9.27 says
yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam
Translation: Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform – do that, O son of Kuntī, as an offering to Me.
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever austerities you perform was to whatever penances you do whatever charity we gave, we must do in the plane of transcendence. Krishna is saying – He is the absolute truth .On his behalf if we start doing things, then the same activity that was causing problems to others would not cause any problem, because Krishna, The Absolute Truth becomes the center.
Let’s take the example of some conflicts under anna-maya consciousness. Sometimes you like something, and the other person likes something else, and if you bring something that is your liking then the other person would complain. But if you have sanctified the food and you say, this is Prasadam – Mercy of Krishna, then both of you will be happy. There is no my liking or his liking or her liking. The primary question is What is Krishna’s liking? Hunger certainly is a cause of conflict amongst families. Somebody would say, I would use certain nonvegetarian products to mitigate my hunger, the other person will say, I will use some vegetarian products. But Bhagavad Gita says No, you just please Krishna by offering him food and then eat.
Did you ever think about it? A sanctified food that is offered to Krishna purifies my consciousness, makes me more tolerant and helps me to develop compassion. I can empathize with people suffering much more when I take accept the food that is sanctified. The same hunger can create conflict but there is a process by which the same hunger can unite people and that is Krishna Prasadam.
In India, that is a tradition. You go to big temples or tirtha places like Vrindavan, Jagannath Puri, Mayapur, Dwarka, Badrinath etc there are Big Bhandaras everyday – where sumptuous Krishna prasadam is distributed. Rich and poor, Mystic Yogi and gross materialists, they all sit in the same place and eat together. Unity in diversity. What a wonderful thing. Under the same roof, everybody’s eating but there is no fight.
But the same food on the dining table, three people sit down and there is a big mismatch and fight. Isn’t it? Think about it – Under the same roof, why do we fight? Now, Lets go to another level of the next higher level of consciousness.
Prana-Maya
If one can continue his life without being attacked or destroyed, one thinks himself happy. This stage is called prana-maya, or consciousness of being aware of one’s existence and also of others.
We also have conflicts based on prana-maya. Each individual, not only human being, even the animal habitats, the water habitats, the jungle habitats, all of them they have the Right to Live. Of course, you can see nowadays, there are many groups. There are some equal rights group that wants equality among Dalits and Brahmins and they give their reasonings while there are some others who do not want discrimination between rich nation and poor nations because everybody has the right to live but these ideology themself causes conflicts.
Think about this now. If all our Right To Live is to please the common personality – The Absolute Truth or God. Will there be conflict? No. Is it not possible for us to change our living life, the way of life, respect everyone, allow everyone to have their own space to live, create associated structures by which we can develop or we can recognize the symbiotic relationship that we have – From earthworm to bees to birds, to animals to a human being, isn’t it?
The earthworm and microbes, eat the soil and soil become fertile. And that’s where the farmers grow beautiful organic food. They’re very fragrant, natural, healthy, full of vitamins. And then there are bees, that help in pollination. So, like that, if you look we can always recognize a symbiotic relationship among all species. We have to live, give credit and space to every living entity as their Right To Live but real life begins from Jnana Maya
Jnana-Maya
Jnana Maya means to recognize the difference betweeen something that is matter i.e within this domain of time and space and something antimaterial i.e beyond time and space.
In the antimaterial, there is no notion of past, present and future. Everything is eternal/ Sasvata/ Sanatana So, I, the pure conscious being is Sanatana and everything around me or external to me, is ephemeral, temporary.
Bhagwad Gita tries to bring people to this level first. Krishna educates Arjuna for us to recognize that we are pure conscious beings. I am totally pure conscious being and even an ant is a pure conscious being and also The plant is a pure conscious being but the dresses are different. There is a popular verse in Bhagavad Gita with says
vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
[Bhagavad Gita 5.18]
Translation: The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].
A properly educated person, who is in the state of Jnana-Maya, is adorned with an ornament called humility and because of that, he sees an intellectual, an elephant, a dog, and dog eater, everything on the same platform. He doesn’t see all these different dresses, but within that dress, he sees pure consciousness dwelling.
What a beautiful concept of Under the same roof. If you have this Jnana, how can you fight? You recognize that everybody is a spirit soul, Divine child of Krishna, the Absolute Truth.
Vijnana-Maya
In the Vijnana-Maya stage, you practice the knowledge of eternity as mentioned in Bhagavad Gita. You understand – that which is eternal is pursued with a different spirit, and that which is temporary is pursued with a different spirit.
Normally when people don’t understand this, they become very possessive and consequently exhibit six qualities which are normally not appreciated by cultured people – lust, greed, anger, pride, illusion and envy.
But when a Vijnana-Maya person recognizes that something temporary, he detaches himself. When we are in our youth, we think this youth will remain forever, but after some years there are wrinkles, and we lose all our teeth. This would surely happen to all of us. And therefore why to fight for that which is temporary. Why not embrace that which is eternal?.
Ananda-Maya
So when we after pursuing the Vijnana, when we become realized – we develop wonderful qualities – tolerance, love, equanimity, equipossesness in all situations, empathy for everyone and we always remain in a state of happiness. And that is the ultimate state which is called ananda-maya – in which you go back to your original state, that is pure consciousness. At that stage you don’t seek anything external – career, marriage, American passport to become happy. I’m always happy just with my own situation. And that is when I am purely self situated. I’m situated in Atman, in pure consciousness as a servant of the Absolute Truth.
If under the same roof, if such self-realized people are living there will be no fight at all. 5000 years ago, in Naimisaranya, 88000 sages were hearing the topics of absolute truth – Srimad Bhagavatam / Bhagavata Purana from Suta Goswami, and these people lived there for a thousand years.
Normally, people, come together, maybe they can live together for a week, sometimes a month, or years. And after that, they feel No, it’s too tough to tolerate the other person and then depart their ways, but 88,000 people lived together in Naimisaranya for 1000 years, for the benefit of the people of age of quarrel – Kaliyuga under the same roof.
Conclusion
We can live under the same roof, provided our goal is conscious evolution i.e We want to progress in our consciousness. Everywhere people are fighting in terms of caste, creed, gender, nationality, resources, but we have to change our perspective from which we can look at things. We have to start looking from the Absolute Truth perspective and Bhagwat Gita is all about the Absolute Truth Perspective. I hope this would help you to again, to critically analyze your situation and take steps, conscious steps to make a conscious evolution in your lifestyle
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