CHAPTER Two.

 

       SRI KRISHNA PARA BRAHMANE NAMAH.

                     SRI BHAGAVAN    UVACHA

                          THE LORD           SAID.

                “ Ahamatma Gudakesha Sarva   

                   bhutasayasthithah

               ahamadischamadhyamcha

                bhutanamantaevacha.”

 

                        The most direct and clear answer for our fundamental question  “Who is God?” and the discussion that followed, was given by Lord Sri Krishna in  Srimad Bhagavad Gita. “Sarvopanishado gavo, dogdha Gopalanandana” the elixir of all the Upanishads, milked by Lord Krishna. It is not exaggeration if we say that there is no other knowledge in the entire Universe which is not revealed in Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita teaches the way to live life meaningfully even while it expounds profound spiritual truths.

 

                         This science of Gita is the quintessence of all that goes under the name of Vedas, but its sense is difficult to grasp. Many have striven to elucidate its words, their imports, and their totality as a reasoned treatise. Men in general, however, have got it as mass of self-contradictory ideas. Noting this predicament, Bhagavan Sri Sankaracarya wrote commentary (Bhasya) to explain the text with due discrimination. In our further studies, we follow the commentary by Sri Shankara, translated by Dr.A.G.Krishna Warrier, an accomplished Sanskrit scholar and also well versed in Philosophy both eastern and western.          

  

                         The moment we think of Lord Sri Krishna, his beautiful childish face with lotus shaped eyes, flute in one hand and a Peacock’s feather on the head, appears before our mental eyes. A slightly advanced devotee imagines the picture of

 

“Shantakaram, bhujaga sayanam, Padmanabham, Suresham                Viswadharam, gaganasadrusam, meghavarnam, subhangam                 Lakshmikantam, kamalanayanam, Yogihrudhyanagamyam,Vande Vishnum, bhavabhayaharam, sarvalokaikanadham”

                 I salute Vishnu, who is the   embodiment of peace, sleeping on serpent; lotus at the umbilical and as substratum for the entire Universe, with the color of dark clouds, and well disposed parts; Lord of universal wealth with lotus shaped eyes; meditated by yogis in their hearts.

 

                        The single greatest trait of human beings which enabled them to conquer all other species and try to obtain control over Nature, is its power of Imagination, Image making capacity.  The moment any thought wave passes through mental lake, it makes an image of the concept. You must have observed how a child learns about its surroundings and people connected with it. When he sees his/her mother sooths him/her and feeds, it immediately makes a mental picture of mother. When her mother appears again in front of her eyes, the mind compares her picture with the picture already stored in its mental lake and if the same coincides, it gives a gracious smile and accepts her as mother. On the other hand, if a pin or an ant gives her pain, she makes a picture of the same and tries to avoid the same.

                       

                         You must have observed that in the lower kindergarten class, children are taught alphabets with the help of pictures. Thus Apple is shown to recognize the alphabet “A”. Child won’t question that how a fruit Apple is equal to alphabet “A”, the fruit is a substance and ‘A’ is a mental concept. A devotee in his child hood stage of spiritual development will not and should not question as to how Lord Krishna with his four hands one with Conch, the other with Discus and the other with Mascot can enter the tiny hearts of all individuals and whether the individuals can survive, if at all he enters. Such questions only bother the dull intellects who think that knowledge can be purchased and sold at will. Similarly the idol worship is recognized as the initial stage and Hinduism recognizes higher stages of spiritual development.

 

                        *1“It is human nature to question which of the spiritual practices is superior when scriptures prescribe many methods. This is due to inborn tendency in every individual to choose the best when given a choice. (Some times easiest for many.) Bhagavad Gita highlights this human propensity at the outset while describing the path of devotion. Scriptures advocate two aspects of the Supreme Reality (formless and with form), to suite the capacity of different spiritual seekers, explains Shankara in his commentary. Meditation on the Absolute is the direct means to Self-realization and for those who find this too abstract and difficult, meditation on God with form is recommended. Many may find even this hard to pursue and for them worship of a representation like image or picture becomes necessary for the mind to develop concentration. This is the first step towards withdrawing the mind from sensory attractions to enable the mind to dwell on the Self, (Atman) within. Mandukya Upanishad describes that Yogis depend upon the control of their mind for fearlessness, destruction of misery, and knowledge of ‘Self. Yogi’s method is to sublimate or eliminate thought by thought. By thought he empties the thought controls of mind and maintains that state of thoughtlessness in the mind. Thoughtless mind is no mind. Man minus mind is God.  Other paths, like devotion depends on emotions and Hatha Yoga on Prana Yama. Vedantin purifies the mind and controls it by his intellect. Discrimination is the subtle motive force by which Vedantin, controls and regulates his mind.   

 

                                   When you start the day sipping fresh ground coffee with its aroma spreading the entire hall and corridor, just recollect the words of Lord Krishna:

“Rasohamapsu Kaunteya, Prabhasmin Sasi Suryayoh:Pranavah Sarvavedeshu Shabdah: Khe Pourusham Nrushu:” (8th sl ./7th ch.)

                 ”I am the essence of water, O Arjuna! As also the light of the moon and the Sun. (I am) the sacred syllable AUM in all the Vedas, the sound inherent in space, and the manhood in men.” Shankara comments “Just as I am its essence in water which is its flavor, so I am the light of the moon and the sun. In all the Vedas I am the sacred syllable AUM. Across me, the AUM, are all the Vedas woven.  So in space its essence is sound, and across Me, as such, is the space woven. Similarly across man’s being or manhood, due to which rises the idea that one is a man, are men woven.        

 

                   Blessed Lord Sri Krishna himself declared that:

“Manushyanam sahasreshu kascid yatati siddhaye

 Yatatam api siddhanam kascin mam vetti tattvatah:” (3rd / 7th)

                      Among thousands of men, one perchance strives for perfection. Even among these successful ones, only one perchance knows “Me” in essence. Of the thousands that hear intelligently, and perhaps understand all the theory and text of the Vedanta, only a few sincerely apply themselves to live the Vedanthic way-of-life fully. Even among a thousand such sincere seekers, only a rare few “come to know Me in My real nature”

                      Let us recollect the thought waves generated during our earlier discussions. The one entity that surfaces every time, poking as ‘I’, ‘I’ i.e. ‘Aham’ and Aham is the similar to the entity called as ‘Self’ and the same is technically called ‘Atman’, the divine spark. Now Lord Krishna says “Ahamatma Gudakesha” in sloka 20 of Ch X. How is it that Lord Krishna is also Atman, the ‘Self’ residing in the inner sense of all beings? Tiny little Krishna with a flute in the mouth says that He is the Self, the Atman in all beings. This is the most subtle point. Please bear with me. Let us analyse what the scriptures say and what they really mean.

                      In Mandukya Upanishad with Gaudapada’s karika, Gaudapada says:

 “Atmahi-akasavaj-jeevair-ghata-akasair-ivadithaha;Ghata-divach-cha-sanghatair-jata-vetan-nidarsanam.”(3rd verse of Advaitha prakaranam)

                The Akash-like Atman manifesting in the form of the separative egos may be compared with the pot-space. Again as pot-space is said to be produced from the total space, so gross forms are said to be created from the reality. This is the illustration for the manifested world. Now, the space in the space, (Space is space always) i.e. the space in the universe, space in the Pot and the needle space, (space in the needle’s Hole, popularly called eye of the needle.) all is one and the only space. If a Pot is kept in the space, (where else you can keep the Pot if not in the space?) space is said to have been created in the Pot. But really nothing new is created. Space is there in the beginning and Pot only is added to the Space so that an illusion is created as if a new entity called pot-space is created. The Language is like that. In fact nothing is created. So is the case with limited Jeeva, or individual ego. Nothing new is created. The entire entity is Atman, to which an individual separative body called Upadhi in Sanskrit language is added so that an illusion is created that the Universal Atman is different from the individual Atman. This is Maya. “Na ma Sa Maya.” What is not there is Maya.  How an entity which is not there, is there?

                 Space, pot-space and needle- space all the three are one and the same space. More than half the population of the world who call themselves as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, might have heard at least once in their life time, Lord Christ’s declaration that a camel can pass through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man through the gates of heaven. However they conveniently forget everything they heard in the church, the moment they leave the front door of the Church.

                   Before we go back to Lord Krishna, (Let him continue Rasa Leela for some time, as He may not get enough time to play later as the conditions under which He has to manifest Himself, according to 7th verse of 4th Ch.; have already manifested throughout our country.) let us paint a verse, most powerful and beautiful at the same time, (the sloka is classified as Sardula Vikreeditha, as its rhythm simulates a Lion taking a majestic playful stroll in its empire) penned by Shankara Bhagavadpada in Vivekachoodamani.(Stanza 217)    

  “Jagrat swapna shushupti susputatharam   yoysou samujjrumbhathe 

      Pratyagroupathaya sada ahamaham ityanthah sphurann aikatha

      Nanakara vikara bhagina  iman pasyann aham dheemukhan

      Nityananda  Chidathmana spurathit ham viddhi swa metham hrudi”                                   

                             ‘*2 “That’ is to be realized in one’s own heart. The nature of ‘That’ was explained in the above verse. The ‘Atman’ is clearly manifest in waking, dream and deep-sleep states. That one in whose presence, all experiences, at all times, throughout life is taking place is the ‘Self’ in us. The consciousness, which illumines the objects of the world in my waking state, and the experiences within during my dream state, and also the ‘absence of things’ during my deep-sleep state, is the ‘Self’ in me. (During the deep sleep state you only know that you slept well.) This Self who illumines the experiences in all three planes of consciousness, is to be very clearly known and experienced.

 *^{2 “}That which clearly manifests Itself in the waking, dream and deep-sleep states; that which is perceived inwardly in various forms by the mind as a series of unknown impressions of the ego; which witnesses the ego, the intellect, etc. which are of different forms and modifications, which is felt as Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, know this Atman, within your heart, as your own Self”.

 

                       The subject illumines the objects outside. The subject can be recognized inside, in the deeper recesses of the personality, as the ever expressing I- I- I-, the individuality. The ‘I’ (Aham), is the factor by whose grace our experiences within and without are made possible. The one Reality illuming the various types of experiences, at the various personality levels, and ever expressing itself as I-I-I, deep within is one’s real nature which is to be realized. The diverse forms and their modifications are cognized through ‘intellect’ as the individual’s knowledge. We say, “I know”, “I experience “, etc. It is that consciousness which is experiencing through intellect, the various types of vicissitudes and their changes. When these differences of objects and their changes are transcended, this great reality can be cognized in itself, in its pure nature as the ‘Self’ in all. The Existence- Knowledge- Bliss, which is eternal, changless, is to be realized in one’s own heart.”     

 

                       The awareness that makes it possible for the individual to perceive and know the outer world of objects and inner world of ideas is the Supreme Reality, unborn, all pervading and ever the same Truth.

 

                        99.9999…… percentage of the population of the World, running into billions are dualists, i.e. they imagine an extra cosmic God, as the Supreme reality, all pervading and all powerful. The individual ego taking the path of devotion imagines itself to be related to Brahman, (God) who is supposed by it as having manifested himself. Such an ego is said to be of narrow intellect as it thinks that before creation, all was of the nature of unborn Reality. Among those who follow Hinduism as a religion, most of them follow the path of devotion and Lord Krishna is their God. He is their father, mother, master and all powerful Omniscient, Omnipotent, God.

                        

                       *1 “In an attempt to explain the world outside as a marriage between matter and spirit, great thinkers of the Vedic period had given us the Sankhya Philosophy. According to them, the Spiritual Factor (Purusha) presiding over a matter envelopment,(body mind complex.) dynamites the inert matter and makes the insentient mineral assembly to act, as though it is intelligent and vital. Similarly, one school of philosophy in India tries to explain scientifically, how the Eternal and the Perfect comes to express itself as a world of plurality, in the embrace of matter. This also explains the relationship between spirit and matter. Lord Krishna explains in stanzas four and five of seventh chapter, what all items together constitute the matter-part in us and what exactly constitutes the Spiritual Entity within a living man. Once the individual comes to understand, clearly and distinctly, the distinction between matter and Spirit, indeed, he will come to understand that the Spirit identifying with matter, is the cause for all its sufferings and when It is detached from all its identifications, It rediscovers for Itself Its own essential nature as Perfection and Bliss Absolute. Spirit identifying with matter and sharing the destinies of inner equipment is called the Ego.  It is the Ego that rediscovers it to be nothing other than Spirit that presides over matter.

 

 “Bhumir apo  ’nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca

  Ahamkara iti’yam me bhinna prakrutir astadha.”   (Gita. 7-04 )

                            “Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and egoism- thus are my eight fold Prakruti.”    Lord said.

 “ Apare ’yam itas tv anyam prakriti viddhi me param

 Jivabhutam mahabaho   yaye dam dharyate jagat.”  ( Gita.7-05)

                       “This is the inferior (Nature) but different from it, know thou, O mighty-armed, my higher Prakruti (Nature), the very life –element, by which this world is upheld.”

                       

                          Lord Krishna says that the Self possesses, besides these equipments, (like earth etc.) a Higher Nature which is constituted of pure Consciousness or awareness. It is the Spiritual Entity that makes it possible for the body, mind and intellect, made up of mere inert minerals, to act as if they were in themselves so vitally sentient and intelligent.

 

                        If Consciousness were not in us, we will not be able to experience the world outside or within us. It is this Consciousness that maintains, nourishes, and sustains all the possibilities in us. Without this Spiritual Spark functioning in us, we would be no more intelligent or divine than the stone world. This divine spark, the life Spark in us is technically called as Atman. Lord Krishna’s declaration that the higher Prakruti, the Principle of Consciousness is that “by which this entire world of experiences is sustained” is scientifically true.

 

                        Vasudeva, (Lord of the universe, the other name by which Lord Krishna is known. He has countless names.) Emphatically and vividly explains the same theme of underlying unity, through apparent duality, in 18th stanza of second chapter.

 

                  “Antavanta ime deha nityasyokta sareerinah:

      Anasinoaprameyasya tasmat Yuddhasya Bharatha”

                        *3 “These bodies that perish are said to pertain to the eternal   Self that is embodied- the eternal self that is imperishable and indeterminable. (Therefore fight O scion of Bharatas).

 

                       The perishables are things which have an end or ‘anta’. For instance, the idea of reality, associated with things like a mirage, snaps when tested by means of right cognition. This is its end. Likewise, these bodies of eternal and indeterminable Self are as perishable as the bodies seen in the dream or projected by a magician. Men of discrimination affirm this truth. The expressions ‘eternal’ and ‘imperishable’ (nityasya, anasina) are not tautologies, for eternity and perish-ability are of two types. For instance a body, reduced to ashes and no longer perceptible, is said to have perished. It is also said to have perished when, though existent, it has undergone a great transformation due to diseases, etc.  The two expressions ‘nityasya’ and ‘anasina’, rule out both these forms of destruction as regards the Self. Otherwise, the eternity of the self may be held to be similar to that of objects like the earth. To exclude this possibility the text says “of eternal” and of the “imperishable”. “Of the indeterminable” means “of that which is not measurable by means of right cognition like perception and so forth” The Sruthi, Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad declares: “That which is immediately present is Brahman, the self in all”   

                          

                      The eternal theme of Philosophy is to find the relationship between Brahman and Self, the underlying Unity through apparent   duality, between perishable, finite individualized Ego and imperishable, infinite Self. Ultimately both are one and the same and there is nothing other than one, whom you may call by any name, word, or sound.

 “Neha nanasthi kinchana!( There is no duality). Wacharambhanam vikaro, nama rupena. Mruthyikeva satyam .(Clay alone is the truth. Various objects are due to variation in name and form.

 

                      Adi Shankara penned a beautiful, highly philosophical, at the same time a very short hymn comprising of only five stanzas viz. “Manisha Panchakam” It is very apt to study the same in the present context.

 

                      *4 The traditional story behind this Panchakam is rather skeletal. One day Adi Shankara along with his disciples, Padmapada and others, after cool and refreshing bath in the Ganges at Kasi, (The present Banaras.) was on his way to the sacred temple of Lord Viswanatha. Shankara saw a dirty sweeper, with his professional instrument under his arms, coming along. Everyone is a creature of the powerful social values of his age. The Brahmin in the Acharya, colored by the traditional custom, prevalent at that time cried “Go Go” – “Move Move”

         “Annamayad annamayam adhava chaithanyameva chaithanyam

           Dwijavara durikarthum vanchasi kim bruhi gachagachethi”

 

                       These unexpected lashing words of divine sweeper are couched in a rough and unpolished verse. Shankara has been maligned much. His peculiar stand, (against majority of dualists and idle and idol worshipers.) created for him more enemies than friends even in his own times. In no country can the wise man have a large following, during his own life time. Generally the masses can understand and acclaim only those who champion their own weaknesses, and also give them a cheap look of respectability with false arguments and temporary social permissiveness. Shankara insisted that ritualism is a means for inner purification, while for the ritualists it is the very goal of religion. The lashing question of the ‘Sweeper’ in disguise shocked Adi Shankara, and deep within him he must have moved away from his identification with mater. (Body, mind and intellect.)

 

                        The five great elements, earth, water, air, fire and space, constitute the material – cause for the entire world of names and forms. How can Shankara made of five great elements, move away from the world around him, which also constitute the same great five elements? Can the matter move away from the matter? Where can it go? I remember a small story I read in my childhood. One Teacher asked his student as to where the earth can go if the gravitational force is removed, for which the student retorted by questioning where it can go.  Earth was in space, is in space and will be in space.

                                   

                       If the philosopher in Adi Shankara wants the Spirit to move away from the Spirit, Consciousness, that lends sentiency to the inert matter and all pervading, how can the Spirit then move away from the Spirit? Seeing Shankara transfixed in wonder and amazed, Lord Viswanatha elucidates the same question in the following verse.

 

 “Kim Gangambuni bimbathe’ambaramanau chandalavatipaya         Purevantharamasthi kanchana ghatimrutkhumbhayovaambare’         Pratyagvasthuni nistharangasahajanandavabhodhambudhau         Viproyam svapacho yamityapi mahankoyam vibhedabhramah”      

 

                      Is there any difference in the “Jewel of the sky”(sun) when it is reflected in the waters of the Ganges or in a ditch in the way side of a slum? Is there any difference in the space as such, be it in a golden –pot or in a mud-pot? In the ocean of the self existing Blissful Consciousness, in the inner Self, devoid of thought ripples, how can there be this delusory distinction: this is a Brahman’ and this is a dog-eater?                                                                

 

                       Sun in the Sky does not find any difference whether He gets reflected in the pure holy waters of Ganges, or in the filthy stagnant waters of the road side pool in the slums.  The one Consciousness reflects in all hearts. However the reflections will be different according to the reflecting surfaces. Shankara replies the Divine- critic, carefully treasuring therein a secret message for all his followers and sincere students of philosophy for all times that the distinctions based upon social, moral, ethical and such other considerations have no sanction or sanctity in the light of Upanishad Truth. In five majestically laid out verses, Shankara reveals the wisdom of Vedas. Serious students of philosophy are advised to thoroughly study commentary by Swami Chinmayananda on Maneesha Panchakam. For the convenience of our discussion, a brief account of the same is given below:

 

                        Consciousness is that “light of- awareness” in which we apprehend all our experiences in all three states: the waking, the dream and deep sleep. Our body-mind complex is made of matter which is inert and insentient. The same Consciousness is the divine spark-of-life, that shines in and through all living creatures, “from the creator down to the ant” meaning all creatures including plant, animal and human, down to the most rudimentary life in a uni-cellular organism.

 

                        The infinite Consciousness, disturbed by gushing thought waves, is the apparent world-of-multiplicity that pours all the sorrows and pains into our life. When the body-mind-intellect equipments are transcended, a shore less state of Bliss is obtained. Conditioned as it is by time and space, the objective world outside has to be necessarily in a constant state of flux. That everything changes is the only changeless law that functions all around us, all through our life. Thoughts and actions leave their foot prints upon our personality, and they, in their turn, color our future thoughts and order the direction of our subsequent actions. The present is a product of the past and the future is the past modified in the present. Today will be yesterday, by tomorrow.

 

                      ‘Change’ is the catch word today, rather the cash word. Every one, from the President of America, Barack Obama, to a common road side leader in Andhra Pradesh, wants to en-cash the concept of change. Every one wants change from bad to good always. That shows that the present situation is not at all conducive for happy living for all. Bhisma, the grandsire of Mahabharata, revealed to Dharmaraj, at the end of Mahabharata war, the barometer for the state of righteousness. Righteousness flourishes, when a woman, unaccompanied by a male member and wearing Gold Jewelry to the brim, walks through the streets of city without any fear in the middle of night. Can you imagine even our leaders and higher authorities moving in the nights without any fear? This is the state of affairs now. What can we do? Pray Lord Krishna Paramatma since He has promised to manifest himself whenever righteousness declines and unrighteousness prevails.

“Yadayadahi Dharmasya glanirbhavathi Bharatha                  Abhyuththanamadharmasya thadathmanam srujamyaham”(7s/IVCh.)

                “Whenever Righteousness declines or withers-righteousness as embodied in the order of classes, life stations etc., which promotes the prosperity and makes for the emancipation of all living beings-and unrighteousness prevails, ‘flourishes’ then through ‘Maya’ I project myself, for the protection of the virtuous, destruction of the wicked, and to secure the establishment of  righteousness.”  Lord Krishna.                  

 

                      Continuing the Divine song, (Bhagavad Gita) Lord Krishna says that His essential nature, the higher Prakruti is the very life-element, by which this world is upheld. The higher nature is constituted of Pure Consciousness or Awareness. It is the spiritual entity that makes it possible for the body, mind and intellect, made up of the mere inert minerals, to act as if they were in themselves so vitally sentient and intelligent. If the Consciousness were not in us, we will not be able to experience the world outside or within us. Without this spiritual Spark functioning in us, we would be no more intelligent or divine than the stone world. The entire world of experiences is sustained by the principle of Consciousness. Lord Krishna declares that nothing whatsoever is beyond Him. All that constitutes the world is strung in Him as clusters of gems on a string. He is the pure odor in the earth; splendor in the fire; life in all beings, the eternal seed power. He is ‘the might’- the force, the energy of the mighty. In a nut shell He is everything. “Swaprakasa sarva sampurnam bhavathi”. 

 

                      The blessed Lord Krishna said: The ‘imperishable’ (What does not perish.) is the Supreme Self. The ‘inner Self’ is the reality that in each body is the subjective spirit whose culminating aspect is the ultimate Brahman.

“Maya tatamidam sarva jagad avyaktha murthina

  Masthani sarvabhuthani na ch aham tesv avasthithah” (4th sl/ IX ch.) 

                     “This entire world is pervaded by Me in My un-mani fest form”. All those that have forms are perishable substances (Dravya). ‘Self’ in its essential un-manifest nature must be pervading everything, as mud pervades all forms and shapes in all mud pots. Thus the infinite pervades the finite. “As the mighty wind, moving everywhere, rests always in space (the Akasha), even so, all beings rest in Me.” declares blessed Lord Krishna in the sixth sloka. When the wind is moving, the space need never move. None of the qualities of the wind is the quality of space. Compared with the outstretching infinite space, in which the earth keeps on revolving, at a distance measured in light years, the atmospheric disturbances are only up to the height of a few miles off the surface of the Globe. In the infinite vastness of the real, the arena of disturbances caused by our own assumed self-ignorance is only a fickle. Lord says here “I, in my Un-manifest Nature, am the substratum for all the manifested”.

 

         It is apt to recollect here the fist mantra of Isavasya Upanishad.

                “Om Isavasyam-Idam Sarvam Yat-kincha Jagathyam Jagath

                 Tena Tyaktena Bhunjeetha ma Gridhah Kasyasvid-dhaman.”

                        *5“All this, whatever moves in this universe, including the universe, itself moving, is indwelt or pervaded or enveloped or clothed by the Lord. The renounced, though shouldst enjoy. Covet not anybody’s wealth.

 

                       The great Rishi exclaims that ‘all this’ (Idam sarvam)   that we perceive through our sense-organs or by the intervention of our mind and intellect-all this-is indwelt by the Spirit which is the Lord of the world of perception. Spirit muffled in matter is the living being. In every entity in the world- of- objects the Spirit indwells, permeating everywhere in its homogenous all- pervasiveness. Matter is but equipment (B.M.I.) through which Truth expresses itself in the dynamic- ‘life’ as known to all of us. It is very well known to us that the body, mind, and intellect envelopments can not and will not function of  their own- they being mere inert matter-unless they are vitalized by the Life- force. The Spirit is therefore called as the Lord of Matter, in whose presence the inert aspect in us gains, as it were, a semblance of Life. And yet, in our preoccupation with the object of- experience, we are blind to the existence of and the perfections in the Subject, the great Lord.”     

 “Pita’ham asya jagato mata dhata pithamah,  Vedyam pavitram omkara rk sama yajur eva ca.”                                                         (17thV /9thCh.)

                “I am the father of this world, the mother, the supporter and the grandsire; the (one) thing to be known, the purifier,(the syllable)Aum, and also the Rik, the Sama and the Yazur also.” “I am the one thing to be known”. The Self is that which, having known, everything else becomes known. The Self, the substratum of the entire universe, is symbolized by the Vedic mantra “Aumkara”

                 Continuing Lord Krishna said:

              “Avyaktham vyaktim apannam manyante mam  ’abuddhayah

               Param bhavam ajananto mama’vyayam anuttamam”(24/7)                                                                             

                      *The foolish think of me,  ‘the un-manifest’, as having come to manifestation, not knowing my higher, immutable and peerless nature.” Men who lack discrimination and capacity to perceive the subtle Truth that shines in and through the vast disturbances of the endless plurality fail to realize the immutable and peerless Self. That which is called ‘manifest’ is available either for the perceptions of the sense organs, or for the feelings of the mind, or for the understanding of the intellect. That which is not available for any one of these instruments of cognition is considered as ‘Unmanifest’. The ‘Self should be considered as ‘unmanifest’ for it is the vitality behind the sense organs, and the very light that illumines the intellect. The distorted intellects of the extroverts, in their miscalculations, come to the false judgment that the physical glory of the Prophet or incarnation is all that is the Eternal Truth. Idol worship is only a convenience for the seekers of truth, so that they may gain during moments of their devoted concentration, a momentum, for the final flight, into themselves, to reach the ‘Self’ and discover their own oneness with it.

 “Idam sariram Kaunteya kshetram ity abhidhiyate   Etad yo vetti tam prahuh kshetrajna iti tadvidah”                 (2ndV/13thCh.)

                  Elucidating the same point, Blessed lord addressed Arjuna “This body is called the Field; he who knows the body, is called Kshetrajna (the knower of the field) by those who know of them (Kshetra and kshetrajna), i.e., by the Sages.” This,  (pointed as Idam) is called ‘the Field’, as it protects from injury; or as it perishes or disintegrates; or as it gives rise to fruits of work just as a field does. The knower of the field is he, who knows the field- this body ‘from the foot to the head- as an object of knowledge. The Supreme lord, who is not subject to transmigration, is the field knower. The idea is that the field- knower, present in and variegated by these countless fields beginning from Brahma and extending down to clumps of grass, is devoid of all differences derived from the adjuncts and is beyond the range of expressions like being and non-being. Since there is nothing to be known other than the Truth of the fields, and field knower, in the view of Lord Vishnu, the content of right knowledge is the fields and field knower.

                 In this mechanical age, it is very easy to understand that there must be a field for energy to play and that then alone it can manifest as work done and serve man. Steam- energy can not be resolved into locomotion unless it is made to pass through a steam engine.  It is apt to recollect Einstein’s assertion that Field alone is True, not the particles.  Einstein’s field is limited and is a mental concept, while Kshetrajna of Lord refers to the knower of the field, the Supreme Consciousness, infinite and beyond all concepts. Sister Niveditha, a close disciple of Swami Vivekananda, said that, whether the sphere of scientific knowledge includes Swami Vivekananda philosophy or not, Swamiji’s philosophy includes the scientific knowledge. Big circle can include smaller circle. One Chine’s mystic said that God is an infinite circle, without any circumference and with centre every where, while a human being is a finite circle with a limited circumference and with the centre at his heart. 

                  In the 7th stanza of Ch. 15th, Lord Krishna says that an eternal part of Himself alone has become the Jiva in the world of living beings. It pulls the senses together with mind as sixth that are set in Prakruthi.(Nature, or field).The Jiva is well known as the eternal agent and experiencer. As the Sun reflected in water is a part of the Sun that goes back to the Sun, and does not come back when the water, the medium of reflection is not there, so the Jivas (individual egos) too become one with Him. The earth goes to earth, the water to water, the air to air and the space goes back, nay remains the space. Even an amateur scientist knows that the entire Universe including ourselves have come from, rather evolved from, the truly homogenous primordial soup, the one without a second.

 “Aham vaiswanaro bhutva praninam dehamasritah

 Pranapanasamayukthah pachamyannam chathurvidham.”(14s/15c)                       

                “Becoming the fire (of hunger) and dwelling in the bodies of living beings, together with the in-breath and out- breath, I digest the four fold food.”    Lord Krishna said.  Becoming the fire in the stomach, the Vaisvanara, and dwelling in the bodies of living beings, co-jointly with the in-breath and out-breath, I, (Aham) digest the food. Vaisvanara is the name given to “Self’ in the waking state.

 

                        Second chapter of Bhagavad Gita is the most important and in essence it is the elixir of Gita. But it is the one which is mostly misunderstood by common man who uses both religion and God for material benefits and wants to do business with God through the media of religion. The top leaders, who want to en-cash his ignorance, keep him intoxicated permanently. However let us try to understand the nuances of Gita to the extent permissible from our level of understanding. In my attempt, I will be following ‘SRI MAD BHAGAVAD GITA BHASYA of Sri Sankaracarya translated by Dr. A.G. Krishna Warier and published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras. For a thorough understanding readers are advised to refer the original text referred   above.

   “Dehinosmin yadha dehe kaumaram youvanam jara

   Tatha dehantara prapti dhiras tatra na muhyati”.(13s/2nd.c)

                                           

                         Blessed Lord Krishna told Arjuna, when the later expressed profound grief at the idea of killing his elders and Guru in the battle field; “Just as the embodied self has, in the body, child-hood, youth and old age, so does it win another body. An intelligent man is not bewildered by it.” The embodied ‘Self’ ‘dehi’ is what owns a body.

(‘deham’ means body and’ dehi’ means the owner of the body ‘Self’). For the embodied Self in the present body, child-hood, youth and old age are inevitable and is universally observed without any exception in any part of the universe .These three stages are different among themselves. When child-hood ends, the self does not end. When the second comes into being, the Self is not born .Similarly the immutable Self wins another body, different from the present. An intelligent person, ‘dhirah’ is not bewildered in this circumstance.

 “Avinasi thu thadviddhi yena sarvamidam tatam;             Vinasamavyayasyasya na kaschit karthumarhathi”(2c-17)

               “Know ‘That’ by which all this is pervaded, as imperishable. None can destroy ‘That’ which is immutable”                                                              This Brahman known as ‘sat’ does not change its own nature i.e. does not forfeit it. It has no parts and no properties. Therefore none can bring about the destruction of this immutable Brahman. Indeed the ‘self’ is Brahman, and any transitive activity of the ‘Self’ is inconceivable.

       Na jayate mriyate va kadachit  nayam bhutwabhavitha va na bhuyah

Ajo nityah saswathoyam purano   Na hanyathe hanyamane sareere.”

                        “This self is never born; it never dies either. Having been born, it never ceases to be, again. Unborn, eternal and everlasting, this ancient One is not slain when the body is slain.”

 

                         This ‘Self’ is not born i.e., it does not come into being. Transformation of things known as birth does not happen to the ‘Self’. Similarly it does not die either. Having experienced the state of being, this Self does not again reach the state of non-being. Being devoid of attributes, it does not suffer decay through that of the attributes, either. The term ‘ancient’ denies also the transformation of growth, the opposite of decay. What develops through the accession of parts is said to grow. It is also called as new. Self is free from all kinds of transformation.

“vasansi jirnani yatha vihaya navani grhnathi naro’parani    Tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany anyani samyathi navani dehi”            ( 2c -22.)

                                  “Just as a man puts on fresh clothes after discarding worn-out ones, so does the embodied Self, discarding worn out bodies, proceed to take up new ones.” The embodied Self, the immutable Spirit, proceeds to take up fresh bodies.

                 Most of the dwaitins, the dualists, depend on the above few slokas to suggest the theory of re-birth. This is only to fool the gullible common man so that he can perpetually control the Aam admi and make him subordinate to him. There is no suggestion any where in the above slokas that the body takes another body after death. This is non sense. The body made up of food, water, and air is perishable. Even the staunch dualists, the Christians believe that earth (means food, as the food material comes from earth only.) goes to earth, water to water and air to air. Only the Spirit takes different bodies. Actually it does not take any body. This has been clearly explained in the Mandukya Upanishad. ( 3rd sl. of 3rd ch.). Spirit, the divine spark that makes any thing to be conscious of the objects of outer world and  inner thoughts, called technically ‘Atman’ or simply ‘Self’ in Vedanta, is like  space. When a pot is kept in the Space, a separate pot space is said to be created. Space in the pot and space out side is only space and absolutely there is no difference in the Space. When an individual ego comes into ‘being’, when the conducive conditions exists for the unification of necessary material aggregates, i.e., ova and sperm; and the divine energy, the spark of life, “Atman’ said to have entered into it. The idea of spirit entering into body is only for the understanding of those who can not grasp the highest truth that everything is Atman, the divine spirit only. When Einstein said that, Energy field alone is true and particles are just temporary manifestation of energy only, only a few scientists could understand at that time, in the beginning. But that does not mean that Truth has to be accepted by majority.

 “Nainam chindanthi sastrani  nainam dahathi pawakah

  Na cainam  kledayanty apo na sosayati marutah”                     ( 2c -23)

                       Weapons do not cut ‘It’; fire does not burn ‘It’. Neither water does wet ‘It’; nor does the wind dry ‘It’. That means the embodied Self can not be cut, burned, wetted or dried. This Self is eternal all pervasive, stable, immovable and everlasting

     “Jatasya hi dhruvo mrutyur  dhruvam janma mrtasya ca

 Tasmad apariharye’ rthe na tvam socitum arhasi” (2c-27)

                      

                        Lord Krishna further states that death is indeed certain for one who is born; and for one who dies, birth too is certain. Please observe carefully. Only that which takes birth dies and only that which dies takes birth. Both these terms refer to the body only. ‘Atman’, the divine spark of life is eternal and never takes birth and hence does not die. Let me explain this a bit. A seed is born of the Plant. Seed takes birth. When the seed sprouts, a tiny little plant takes birth. But the seed dies. The same seed does not take re-birth. A plant grows, becomes a tree, which in turn gives numerous seeds. Only transformation takes place. This is so simple. The body is a psycho-physical organism while ‘Self’ is all pervading, eternal, divine spark of life.

                  Let me quote Jalaludden Rumi, the suffi mystic:

“I died as a mineral and became a plant. I died as a plant and rose to animal.I died as an animal and I was man.Why should I fear? When was I lost by dying? Yet once more I shall die as man to sour with angels blessed; but evn from anglehood, I must pass on. All except God doth perish.When I have satisfied my angle soul, I shall become what no mind ever conceived. O! Let me not exist. For non existence proclaims in organ tones “To Him we shall return”.”    

           “Avyaktadini bhutani vyakta madhyani bharata     Avyakta nidhanany eva tatra ka paridevana”      ( 2cd-28.)

                 “The beginning of beings is un-manifest. Their middle state is manifest. Their end too is un-manifest.”

                 In the light of above discussion, it is apt to quote from the Hymn to ‘Sri Daksinamurthy’, highly spiritual and scientific potent song penned by Bhagavan Adi Sankara.

“ Bijasya-‘ntariva-nkuro jagad-idam pranga nirvikalpam punah  Maya-kalpita-desakalakalana-vaicitrya-citri-krtam

Mayaviva vijrmbhayaty-api mahayogiva yahsvecchaya

Tasmai sri guru- murthaye namaidam sri daksinamurtaye.”

                      *6 “He who, like a juggler or a great yogi, unrolls this universe just out of his own free will-the universe, which before creation remained un-manifest like the future tree in a seed and has later on projected Himself out to be the world of endless variety, due to the delusory play of time and space, both the products of Maya-to Him, the divine teacher, Sri Daksinamurthy, is this prostration.”

 

                        The entire field of our experiences, which constitutes the world around us, was, before creation, one infinite homogenous Truth, which our scientists call as primordial soup. From it, due to the play of, interference of, because of, time and space, the entire world of objects, from electrons, protons, atoms and molecules up to stars and galaxies have been projected. Behind all this is a principle of intelligence, one pure, infinite, consciousness, one pure ‘Self’ in all beings and things. According to Shankara, the world of manifested names and forms, so fully spread out in space and playing in the stream of time, was lying dormant in an un-manifest condition, as the Tree remains in the embryo of a seed. When the seed is placed in a favorable condition, the embryo asserts into its fullest manifestation as a tree. Time and Space are concepts of intellect, and without space, the things can not remain. That which gives accommodation for things to exist, is called space. When once the ‘space’ is formed, objects automatically rise up to occupy it and the objects are continuously changing in the play of time.

     “Sarvabhuthastha atmanam sarvabhutani ca atmani

    Ekshithe yogayukthatma sarvatra samadarsinah” (Gita.6ch-29 verse)

                                                                        

                       “With equality of vision everywhere, he whose inner sense has been tuned to Yoga beholds the ‘Self’ in all beings, and all beings in the ‘Self’” He ‘whose inner sense is concentrated’, beholds his Self existing in all beings and ‘all beings’, from Brahma down to a blade of grass, ‘in the Self’, i.e., has become one with the Self; for, he has ‘equality of vision everywhere’.

 “Bahunam janmanamanthe jnanavan ma prapadyate

 Vasudevah sarvamithi sa mahatma sudurlabhah” (Gita.7ch-19.v.)

                                                                                                             

                       At the end of many births, (after a lengthy period of evolution as human beings with evolved brain and heart) devoted to self-purification resulting in greater knowledge, ‘the man of  knowledge’ gains full illumination and directly reaches Me, Vasudeva, the inner Self of all, realizing that Vasudeva is all. Whoso thus directly reaches Me, Narayana, the Self of all, is a great soul, and is extremely rare.

Om. Sarva vedantha Siddhantha gocharam tam agocharam.

Govindam paramanandam sadgurum Pranathoshyaham. 

 

Note

    *1  Bhagavad Gita by SwamiChinmayananda.

    *2  Talks on Sankara’s Viveka Chudamani  

          by    Swami Chinmayananda

 Published by Central Chinmaya mission trust, Mumbai- 400 072.

   *3    Bhagavad Gita Bhasya by Sri Sankaracarya, translated by Dr. A.G.Krishna Warrier.

        *4   Maneesha Panchakam by Adi Sankaracarya, with commentary by

 Swami Chinmayananda,  published by CCMT. Mumbai. 

            *5    Discorses on   Isavasya Upanishad by Swami Chinmayananda

        *6   Hymn to Sri Daksinamurthy of Adi Shankara, commentary by    Swami   Chinmayananda.