Just as a fire is covered by smoke and a mirror is obscuredby dust, just as the embryo rests deep within the womb,wisdom is hidden by selfish desire.

-Bhagavad Gita

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This verse is taken from the Bhagavad Gita, a short Sanskritwork of seven hundred verses that has fascinated andinspired mystics, physicists, psychologists, andphilosophers of many countries for three thousand years. Seton a battlefield on the morning before a fierce battle, theGita uses warfare as a metaphor for our personal strugglewith the challenges of life.

The Gita's message is simple but profound: our native stateis freedom. What we want most from life is to be free of allthe mental compulsions that keep us from living in peacewith ourselves, with others, and with the environment. Thisdesire for freedom is at the core of our personality, saysthe Gita, and our failings only hide our real nature likedust obscuring the face of a mirror.

E. E.