Rooted Sangha: The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 2 | Verse 58 - The Tortoise Metaphor
- sjholisticyoga
- May 13
- 4 min read
This week in sangha, we continue our discussion of The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living by Eknath Easwaran. Each week, I will do my best to summarise the parts of the book we discuss. Please refer to https://www.sjholisticyoga.co.uk/post/what-is-the-bhagavad-gita if you need a grounding in what The Bhagavad Gita itself is.
I cross-reference with other versions of the Bhagavad Gita, so sometimes the translations differ from Easwaran's.
The Tortoise Metaphor
SRI KRISHNA
When, like the tortoise that withdraws its limbs from all sides, he withdraws his senses from the sense objects, then his wisdom becomes steady.
There are moments when our relationship with the senses begins to pull us away from clarity rather than towards it. The problem is not the senses themselves, but the way the mind becomes caught by what they encounter. A sound, an image, a craving, a desire, or a fear can easily take hold of our attention so completely that we lose our steadiness and forget what truly matters.
This is where the image of the tortoise becomes so powerful. The tortoise does not destroy its limbs or reject them altogether. It simply knows when to draw them inward. In the same way, Krishna is not suggesting that we stop seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, or participating in life. Rather, he is pointing towards discernment. The ability to recognise when engagement is helpful and when withdrawal is wiser.
The senses continually bring impressions to us, but it is the mind and intellect that interpret them. The eyes may see money, for example, but they do not determine whether it has been earned honestly or offered corruptly. The ears may hear praise or criticism, but it is the mind that decides how deeply those words enter us.
Sense objects themselves are neutral. What matters is our relationship to them.
To withdraw the senses, then, is really a process of training the mind. Not shutting down experience, but learning not to be completely ruled by it.
A person established in steady wisdom, or sthita prājña, is not numb, withdrawn, or disconnected from the world. They have simply developed the capacity to remain inwardly balanced. They know when to engage fully with life, and when it is necessary to step back, become quiet, and return to themselves.
Are the Senses the Problem?
Some spiritual traditions have even gone so far as to describe the senses as a kind of burden or trap, something that continually pulls human beings away from inner peace and towards distraction, craving, and restlessness. You can find this thread running through many contemplative paths, where the external world is seen as endlessly capable of capturing our attention and drawing us away from what is deeper and more enduring.
But the Bhagavad Gita takes a subtler approach than simply condemning the senses altogether.
Krishna does not say that the world is evil, nor that the senses themselves are a punishment. After all, our senses are part of how we experience beauty, relationship, learning, creativity, love, and even devotion. Through them, we encounter music, nature, touch, conversation, food, ritual, and the ordinary textures of being alive.
The difficulty arises when we become completely governed by them. When every impulse must be followed, every desire satisfied, every discomfort avoided. In that state, our attention is constantly being pulled outward, and the mind loses its steadiness.
The problem, then, is not that we have senses, but that we so easily become entangled in what they seek.
A reflection for practice and daily life
What tends to pull me furthest away from myself?
Which sensory experiences genuinely nourish me, and which leave me feeling scattered or depleted?
Where in my life do I notice grasping or compulsive reaching?
What does 'withdrawing inward' mean to me personally?
When do I know I need to step back and draw my energy inward?
What does inner balance actually feel like in my body?
Giving Back
After covering room and fuel costs, all proceeds from Rooted are being saved to support a local cause, to be chosen together later this year - as a small act of Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion in action.
On 21st September, we made our first donation (£110) to Kettering Samaritans.
On 23rd December, we donated £100 to Johnny's Happy Place, a wonderful mental health support cafe in Kettering.
On 9th April, we donated £100 to The Green Patch in Kettering.
Our next beneficiary is Home-Start Wellingborough & District. We have £55 in the pot!
Going Forward
Next week, we will continue Chapter 2. If you would like to join us in person, do get in touch or book online. It is never too late to join in, even if this is completely brand new to you.
If you would like to buy the book, click the image below for options.
Please Note:
My thoughts draw on teachings from the Bhagavad Gita, and other sacred texts within Hindu philosophy. I share my reflections as a yoga practitioner and teacher, and as a student of Vedanta - not as a scholar or religious authority. My intention is to gently explore how these teachings can be lived and contemplated within contemporary practice, and always with the utmost respect for their cultural and spiritual roots.
Om Shanti.
Vicki x
Comments