Be in it, but not be of it!

On the battle field of Kurukeshtra in Mahabharata, Krishna tells Arjuna to “Be in the world, but not be of it”. I often ponder what this line means to me! As I internalize it, I am clear that what keeps us tied to the world is the notion of “I, me, and mine” which continues to build our ego. As we cling to the ego, we get so caught up in the two sides of the same coin – we rejoice at praise while we lament on criticism; we want only joyful events and shun the sorrows. How is that fair? When we get hung up on building our ego, we forget our true nature which is as vast as the blue sky. We identify so much with the visiting clouds , yet the blue sky, our true nature, remains unchanged.

In the end, peace comes not from controlling the world around us, but from letting go of the need to control it. When we stop attaching ourselves to the highs of praise and the lows of blame, we create space for something deeper—a sense of inner contentment and balance that can’t be shaken by external circumstances. This is the freedom that comes from living in the world but not being of it.