Rooted Sangha: The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 2 | Verse 60 - Enoughness and the Restless Senses
- sjholisticyoga
- 3 days ago
- 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.
Enoughness and the Restless Senses
We continue exploring how Krishna describes those who move through life with steadiness and wisdom.
SRI KRISHNA
60. The turbulent senses can carry away the mind of even a wise person who is striving for self-mastery.
I actually find this comforting. Many of us come to yoga hoping to become calmer, more content, less stressed, less reactive. Yet even after years of practice, we can still find ourselves comparing, craving, worrying, scrolling, seeking approval, or believing that happiness is waiting just beyond the next achievement. 'I'll be happy when....' 'I'll be able to relax when.....'
The Gita tells us that this is not a sign of failure. It is simply the nature of being human.
Our senses are constantly gathering information and presenting possibilities. More success. More certainty. More possessions. More experiences. More validation. The mind is quick to believe that peace lies just beyond where we are now. Yet if we pause and look honestly, we may notice that the finish line keeps moving. And it keeps moving away from us.
The thing we longed for arrives, and for a brief moment, we are satisfied. Then something else appears on the horizon, and now we want that.
The practice of yoga is not about suppressing these desires or pretending we don't have them. It is about becoming aware of them. Learning to observe them. Understanding that we do not have to follow every impulse our senses present to us.
This week's theme of Enoughness invites us to explore a different possibility. What if peace is not found through getting more? What if peace comes through appreciating what is already here?
There is a beautiful distinction between aspiration and grasping. Aspiration arises from inspiration. It allows us to grow, learn and create. Grasping arises from the belief that we are somehow incomplete.
One expands us. The other exhausts us.
Have you ever gone online to buy one thing and ended up spending an hour looking at ten other things you didn't know you wanted? You started out perfectly content. Then, suddenly, your house, wardrobe, garden, or appearance seemed lacking.
Nothing actually changed except what your senses were exposed to. The wanting was created.
Perhaps that is why so many spiritual traditions point us back to gratitude. Gratitude interrupts the constant search for something else. It invites us to notice what is already present.
The breath that is sustaining us.
The body that carries us.
The people who love us.
The simple beauty of an ordinary day.
When we are caught in the habit of wanting, life can feel perpetually unfinished. When we practise appreciation, life begins to feel surprisingly abundant. This doesn't mean settling for less, giving up on dreams, or never wanting things to change. It means recognising that our worth is not dependent upon those changes happening.
The Gita reminds us that lasting contentment does not arise from controlling every desire. It arises from seeing beyond them. From remembering that beneath the restless movements of the mind there is already a deeper place of wholeness.
A place that knows, quietly and gently: This moment is enough. And so am I.
A reflection for practice and daily life
What are your 'I'll be happy when...' sentences?
What might change if happiness wasn't waiting at the end of them?
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
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