Bhagavadgita Pages, Chapters 1 to 18
Bhagavad-Gita:Chapters
| BG01 | BG02 | BG03 | BG04 | BG05 | BG06 | BG07 | BG08 | BG09 |
| BG10 | BG11 | BG12 | BG13 | BG14 | BG15 | BG16 | BG17 | BG18 |
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Veeraswamy Krishnaraj. Contact: myumbra-bgusa@yahoo.com
About the author:
Veeraswamy Krishnaraj, M.D; F.R.C.P (Canada) is a board certified pediatrician in active practice until the end of 1998. He immersed himself in study of Hinduism in depth. He has sufficient knowledge and understanding of Hindu religion that he is confident to publish this book. He kept the words simple, supple, illuminating and to the point, while retaining the original flavor, beauty and grace. Compound words in Sanskrit are a nightmare for the beginner, as they are spliced together compactly in one continuous stretch of characters. He parsed the compound words into digestible syllables or words with superscripts and sequential numbers and rearranged the words in the verse in a readable form in English. In this book, he claims ownership of shortcomings and cedes the rest to Bhagavan.
This book is good for students, and devotees reading the Bhagavad-Gita in Satsang (true company). Two verses nestle in two boxes in one page with no break or carry-over to the next page. Diacritics help the reader enunciate the words like a Sanskritist. The English words are reader-friendly. Wherever there is a need for elaboration, an addendum supports it.
Simplicity, authority, universality, and profundity are the hallmark of the Bhagavadgita, the Bible of the Hindus. The Bhagavadgita is the Song of the Lord. It provides guidelines for daily living with no dogmas and ritual overtones. It encourages and supports your individuality. It also explains the consequence of errant ways. Total surrender to Bhagavan releases the devotee from the ills of life on earth. Hinduism as a term is an external appellation from non-Hindus. Its true name is Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Law or Eternal Order) commensurate with Rta (Cosmic Order). The beauty about the Bhagavadgita is its appeal is universal.
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The above file has all 18 chapters in Sanskrit, Transliteration, colorized words for easy identification, word 4 word translation, superscription of words, rearrangement of words in a readable form in English. This is the best you can get on the internet in one file. This file will be uploaded and sent to you as an attachment to your email upon payment of fees. The above file (18 Chapters and 700 verses) costs USD 18.00 for email upload in PDF format and $22.00 for DVD within US and $25.00 for shipment outside US. Method of payment is through Paypal, the beneficiary being Veeraswamy Krishnaraj. There is a delay between payment and upload because of verification by paypal. You can see the sample verse below.
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Sample verse श्रीभगवानुवाच मय्यासक्तमनाः पार्थ योगं युञ्जन्मदाश्रयः । असंशयं समग्रं मां यथा ज्ञास्यसि तच्छृणु ॥७- १॥
śrībhagavān uvāca: mayy āsaktamanāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan madāśrayaḥ
śrībhagavān uvāca:
mayi1 āsaktamanāḥ2 pārtha3 yogam4
yuñjan5 madāśrayaḥ6
śrībhagavān uvāca = Sri Bhagavan said: pārtha3 = O Partha; [your] āsakta2Amanāḥ2B = mind2Battached2A; mayi1 = to Me; yuñjan5 = practicing; yogam4 = Yoga; [and] madāśrayaḥ6 = taking refuge in Me; śṛṇu13 = hear; tat12 = that; [as to] yathā10 = how; [you] jñāsyasi11 = will come to know; mām9 = Me; asaṁśayam7 = without doubt; [and] samagram8 = completely. 7.1 7.1: Sri Bhagavan said: Listen thou now, O Partha, your mind is attached to me. Practicing yoga and taking shelter in me, you shall have no doubt in knowing me completely. |
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Chapter Seven: Knowledge and Realization
Listen thou now, O
Partha, your mind is attached to me. Practicing yoga and taking shelter in me,
you shall have no doubt in knowing me completely.
7.2:
I will explain to you fully Jnāna and Vijnāna, by knowing which, there
is nothing further that remains to be known in this world.
Jnāna
and Vijnāna: Self-knowledge and realized knowledge. Jnāna is Sabda-Brahman and
Vijnāna is Param-Brahman. Another way of putting is to say that Jnāna is the
narrow and straight path to God without any detours or diversions, and Vijnāna
is the destination itself. Here Jnāna is an acquired knowledge of the self
from all sources, but Vijnāna is direct experience of God. Jnāna is to come
under the magnetic influence of God, and Vijnāna is magnetic attachment to
God. Jnāna is to know that God exists by one's inner experience; Vijnāna is to
communicate and relate to God as a slave, a servant, a child, a friend, a
spouse, and a devotee. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Ramana Maha Rishi had such
communications with God. Supplement section carries a descriptive piece on
Jnāna and Vijnāna, and Sabda-Brahman and Param-Brahman
Jnāna is self-knowledge
and according to Chāndogya Upanishad 8.4.1 to 3, knowledge of the Self is
liberating. Self is a bridge over which neither day, nor night, nor old age,
nor death, nor sorrow, nor well-being, nor ill-being crosses. The one-way
bridge separates the night of miseries of existence at the entry point from
the day of effulgent bliss at the exit point: it is the Brahma-world, a world
of illumination free from evil; all the maladies of the world such as
“blindness and wounds” stay behind. Those who know this sacred knowledge of
the self enter the Brahma-world and are forever free from all miseries of
existence. This one-way bridge on the
7.3:
Out of thousands of men, someone strives for perfection. Of those
striving for and attaining to perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.
Out of
many thousands who strive for perfection, a few attain to perfection; out of
those few, scarcely one knows Me in truth. “Know Me in Truth” is different
from knowing: The former means the yogi has achieved Jnāna already and is
close to achieving Vijnāna.
7.4:
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind,
intelligence, certainly ego, all together are the eightfold division of my
nature (Prakriti).
The five Bhutas (Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether) are of two groups: AmUrtta (formless) and MUrtta (with form). Both AkAsa (Ether) and Vayu (Air) are Formless. Fire, Earth, Water are in the first in the 2nd division.
The Purusa offers Himself as sacrifice and from that emanate all objects, animate and inanimate. Then the moon comes from his mind. The sun comes forth from the eyes, Indra from his mouth, fire from his breath, air from his navel, the sky from his head, the earth from his feet, and the compass or the four directions from his ears. Our physical body is made of earth (minerals), water, fire (body heat), air, and ether. From the sole of the foot to the knee is the seat of earth, from knee to navel is the seat of water, from navel to throat is the seat of air, from throat to forehead is air, and from forehead to Brahma Randhra (top of the head, Brahma's aperture, anterior fontanel) is the seat of ether. Kundalini yogis say that controlling these elements is possible with Dharana (concentration). Here it does not mean that you can walk on water or some such thing. It simply means that all these elements present in the body can be brought to work for you and keep you in good health by Kundalini Yoga. One such example is, you can control Prana (air) by Pranayama (breath-exercises) and obtain benefits from such practice.
Water is the first creation and is so sacred that the sacred texts say that one should not let water fall on one's feet directly. The observant ones hold the water pot in one hand, pours it into the cup of the other hand and then let it fall on the feet. The deities have abodes in water. Nārāyana means He who abides in water. Sage Narada is named after water. Nārā = water. Ayana = abiding in. Another explanation is as follows: 'The waters are called Nárá, because they were the production of Nara, or 'the spirit' of God; and since they were his first Ayana, or place of motion, he thence is named Náráyańa, or 'moving on the waters.'
The following is about Siva and the five elements. Here you will see a Siva-Vishnu concordance with regards to the five elements.
Saiva view of elements and their association with Siva.
Eight physical forms of Siva = Eight Lingas = Earth, water, Fire, Air, Ether, the Sun, the Moon, and the sacrificing priest. The earth form = Sarva; Water form = Bhava; Fire form = Rudra; wind form = Ugra; Sky form = Bhima; Yajamana form = Pasupati; Moon form = Mahadeva; Sun form = Isana. (Siva states that those who do not regard Vishnu/Krishna as equal to Him are not His devotees. Siva made that statement settling the dispute between Brahma and Vishnu who tried unsuccessfully to fathom the fiery Lingam up and down its length.
Chidambaram temple has five prakaras (walkways cum courtyards) concentric in its configuration representing five Mahabhutas (Great elements-- Water, Fire, Air, Earth and Ether. The innermost prakaram is under the Golden Roof accessible only to the priests.
Of all the five elements, Ether is the most subtle and earth is the least subtle. All elements are necessary to constitute this physical body. From the most gross earth to the most subtle Ether, the subtler element controls the one below and Ether is the master of all. They represent all states of matter: Solid, liquid, gas, plasma. Ether is the orchestrator of all elements and also the root or Stem substance. Water controls earth since it can erode earth; Fire controls water because it can evaporate it; Air controls the fire because it can boost the fire or blow it away; Ether controls the Air because Air abides in Ether. From Ether to Earth, they form a lineage right down the line. Since Ether is the most powerful progenitor of all things physical on this earth and the world, we are its slave; the sense organs exist because of the progenitor substance Ether. Go to Akasa (Ether) POTPOURRI ONE.
The function of Ether is Sound if you control its function you attain liberation from all elements that serve Ether. Mantra is the cure for the oppressor substance, Ether. Sound exists in unmanifest Para form to manifest Vaikhari form, articulate speech. Sound <<Click to go to Sound>>>. The first Sound in the Universe is Pranava, OM. In this day of hurly-burly, eat-on-the-go, TV, and other distractions, Kirtana, or Chanting or singing the glory of Bhagavan is the most efficient tool for the Kaliyuga man to obtain liberation. Or you can use one of the Mantras. Go to Mantra for details. You can chant OM as a generic Mantra, which has no affiliation to any group or religion. Om is older than the universe and religions. Go to >>>POTPOURRI ONE>>> and scroll down to AUM.
Siva is worshipped in many forms: Ether, Water, Air, Fire, Earth, the Soul, the Sun and the Moon. He presides over these entities.
| Sarva | Bhava | Rudra | Ugra | Bhima | Pasupati | Isana | Mahadeva |
| Earth | Water | Fire | Wind/Air | Ether | Soul | Sun | Moon |
Sarva is the Lord of Earth who holds the entire universe of mobile and immobile beings (trees, Coral Reef -Phylum Cnidaria; Armillaria fungus mushrooms--Armillaria ostoyae).
Bhava is the Lord of Water, which is essential for all living entities.
Rudra is Lord of Fire, which is the heat in the body, the earth, the sun and other elements and which carries oblations to the gods.
Ugra is the awesome, formidable, fierce, and ferocious force that keeps the inner and outer universe pulsate autonomously.
Bhima is the Lord of Space that includes firmament, and pervasive space in all entities. Where ever there is space--between atoms or inside atoms--, that is Bhima. It differentiates elements from one another.
Pasupati is the Lord of Pasus (individual souls) and breaks the bonds or ties that keep the soul from its centripetal march towards the Lord.
Isana is the Lord of Sun who "moves in an arch" in heaven and illuminates the universe.
Mahadeva is the Lord of Moon which offers nectarlike rays and sap to beings and plants, assuring satiety and fullness to the universe. He is also the Great Soul or Atman which is more pervasive than all other forms. Another source tells that moon forms the left eye of Narasimha, one of the Avatars of Vishnu. Because of his divine effulgent form, he is the favorite of all ages. Soma-Sava is a great YAgam performed to honor the moon, who in return gives milch cows to humanity, thorough-bred breed of horses, and intelligent, learned, brave Satputras who observe all religious vows.
Watering the roots of a tree carries the sap to the branches which blossom and bear fruits. In like manner, worship of Siva sustains and develops this universe.
Bhima: He is worshipped in his formless form (Ether) in Chidambaram Chidambara Rahasyam (the Secret of Chidambaram) is the abode of Akasa Lingam, Lingam of formless limitless space. In this abode, the representative objects are the five silver-plated steps leading to the shrine and standing for five letters of Namasivaya, Na-Ma-Si-Va-ya, a Prabha or arch, and a Vel (spear) with golden Vilva mala (a garland of Vilva leaves, Aegle marmelos) It has a curtain (depicting Arupam, formless form of Siva and Parvati) at the entrance, which is lifted for Arati, waving of lamps.
Many Lingams:
Configuration of various Lingams are based on the Bhutas or elements: Fire, Earth, Wind, Water and Sky or Ether. The idea is that Siva exists in all elements thus he exists in your body.
| Element | Lingam | Place |
| Fire | Fire Lingam | Tiruvannamalai |
| Earth | Earth Lingam | Kanchipuram |
| Wind | Wind Lingam | Kalahasti |
| Water | Water Lingam | Jambukeshvar (Trichy) |
| Sky or Ether | Sky Lingam | Chidambaram |
When the curtain to Chit Sabah (Hall of Consciousness) in Chidambaram is drawn, what you see is an empty space representing Sky Lingam this is the Chidambara Rahasyam (the Secret of Chidambaram) the Lord exists in all the apparently empty spaces from the atom to the vast spaces of cosmos thus, he is the Cosmic Dancer. The Red Mountain of Tiruvannamalai is the Fire Lingam.
(A note: For balance and orientation, we need the inner ear.) From Prakriti comes Mahat or buddhi; from buddhi comes ahankāra or ego; from ahankāra come the indriyas, manas, and tanmātras; from tanmātras, come gross elements (Maha Bhutas) ether, air, fire, water, and earth. As you may notice, these gross elements starting from ether becomes progressively more and more gross until it becomes earth, which is made possible when mass is zapped with energy, according to the ancient thinking. You may notice that from ether to earth (sequence of evolution of Tattvas) matter acquires solidity-- from gas to liquid to solid and from subtle to gross form. The Maha Bhutas are assigned the following colors.
| Akasa (Ether) | Vayu (Air) | Agni (Fire) | Ap (Water) | Prithvi (Earth) |
| Transparent (svaccha) | Black (Krsna) | Red (Rakta) | White (Sveta) | Yellow (pita) |
Indra's birthplace is the uvula of Purusa. (Uvula is the mass of tissue, the
punching bag-like pendant, which hangs off the soft palate in the
midline,
back in the oral cavity.)
Bhagavatam (Book three, Chapter ten) gives details of the creation of matter
starting from Mahat. Mahat was the first product made
from the agitation of the
Gunas. Mahat, Ahankara, Tanmatras with the potential for the creation of gross
elements, the organs of senses,
the presiding deities of the senses, and the ignorance (Tamas) are the first
six creations collectively called Prakrti. The seventh is the creation of the
immovable of six kinds: vanaspatis, trees; osadhis, fruit-bearing plants;
latas, creepers; tvaksara, trees with thick or sound skin like bamboo;
Virudhs, strong-stem creepers; drumas, fruit-bearing trees. Since they draw
nourishment from
below, they are tamasic with latent feelings. The eighth is the creation of
animals and birds of twenty-eight kinds.
They eat and mate, and are ignorant of knowledge of the future. They have
sense of smell, touch, vision, movement, hearing, and instinct but have no
reasoning or capacity for long-term retentive mind or knowledge. The ninth is
the creation of man with rajas. The tenth are the
gods and other celestial beings.
Mundaka Upanishad (Chapter two) describes Brahman in detail. Beings of many kinds issue forth from Brahman, as the sparks fly off the raging fire. He is divine and formless, inside and outside, without prana (breath) and mind, pure and higher than the highest. Mind, breath, all sense organs (sarvendriyani), ether, air, light, water and earth come forth from Brahman who is caretaker of all. Fire, whose fuel is the sun, issues forth from him.
7.5: Besides this lower
prakriti, understand My other higher nature, O Mighty-armed one, the
Life-Being (Jīva-Bhūta or Purusa) which sustains this universe (jagat).
Jīva-Bhūta means Living Being (Supreme God), who is a cluster of all living
beings of earth, ocean, air, and heaven.
Prakriti is matter, and Purusa is the Command and Control Authority.
Purusa or Jiva Bhuta orchestrates this universe of disparate elements and all
living beings. That is the higher mode of Lord Krishna. Who is the creator of
gods, men, and beings, and matter? To whom do we owe this existence, this
reverence, this adoration, this worship, this oblation, and this sacrifice?
That is Purusa the creator, yet He is uncreated. From Purusa emerged men,
Gods, and all living creatures.
Lower prakrti is Aparaprakrti (lower [not supreme] nature), which is the origin of material universe. Para Prakrti is His higher (Supreme) nature and is the origin of all living beings including Brahma and gods.
Agni (Fire) is the god of Fire and is
cognate with Latin, ignis.
7.6: All entities (senitient and insentient) have their source (Yoni or womb) in these two natures. Know it that I am the source of the universe and its dissolution.
In the
beginning, there were no gods; they came later. Who was THAT ONE– tad ekam?
Who was THAT ONE who gave breath to the breathless, life to the lifeless, form
to the formless, and name to the nameless? There was one Being with
self-consciousness, who was that determinate Self with no limit imposed on
Him. The manifestations belong to Him. Through the power of Tapas, he creates;
it is austerity, and specifies heat. There was darkness; there was void; there
was water: All this is “not-self,” prakriti. Since he created the waters, his
name is
Narāyana =
7.7: There is nothing
higher than Me, O Arjuna. All that is here (universe) is strung on Me, as a
row of gems on a thread.
Brahman consists of Isvara and prakāra. Isvara, the manifest form of Brahman,
is supreme; and prakāra is cit and acit: Cit is life and sentient and acit is
inanimate and insentient. Isvara is the inner controller of Prakāra and
antaryāmin. Cit is life, the sentient world of organisms from ameba to man,
and plants. Acit is the world of matter and insentient. Ref. to BG C9V10:
“Under My supervision, prakriti gives birth to both moving and unmoving
(objects).” Cit is individual soul. With Brahman or Isvara as the Supreme
Controller, creation comes into effect by His sheer will. Brahman wills the
contact of his intelligent principle to Prakriti, the non-intelligent matter,
by bringing spirit and matter together in the soul-body of a living being and
infusing vibhu (omnipresence) in all. From this contact, gods to insentient
objects come forth. Therefore, Ramanuja's Brahman is a diverse entity of souls
and plurality of the universe. The Upanishads address Brahman as Param-Jyotis,
the Supreme Light. Ramanuja calls Atman or Jiva as Brahman also. When jiva
sheds its ignorance and the original karma, experiences self-awareness, and
becomes cognizant of awareness of other Jivas and Isvara, the Jiva is no other
than Brahman. Ramanuja equates Isvara as the knower of the Field (Ksetranjana)
and the field as the teeming Jivas and the insentient universe (Ksetra).
Remember Isvara, Cit, and Acit. In the microcosmic Jiva, the Jiva is the
knower of the Field and the body is the field.
go to BG Verse 10.15 BG10
7.8: I am the
taste in the water, O Son of Kunti; I am the light
in the moon and the sun; the prānava (AUM) in the
Vedas; sound in the ether; and the virility
(manhood) in men.
Refer
to Verses chapter 10.20-42
I am the Light, so says Krishna. He is dark blue or black outside and all Light inside. This is the inverse of Siva, whose skin is white as snow in Himalayas but dark inside. The Light is the Sattva Guna of Vishnu whose portfolio is maintenance of the universe. Siva is of Tamasic Guna with the portfolio of destruction.
Savitur in Gayatri Mantra refers to the sun, worthy of worship. Without sun no life as we know can exist; thus, sun is life and soul of this universe. All gods say that their eyes are the sun and the moon; thus worshipping the sun is worshipping God. During Sri Chakra worship, the fire, the moon and the sun are worshipped. Kalas (12) of sun worthy of worship are 1) Tapinī, 2) Tāpinī, 3) Dhūmrā, 4) Marīci, 5) Jvālinī, 6) Ruci, 7) Sudhūmrā, 8) Bhoga-dā, 9) viśvā, 10) Bodhinī, 11) Dhārinī, 12) Ksamā (heat container1, heat emanator2, color of smoke3, Ray producer4, burner5, luster6, smoky red7, grantor of enjoyment8, universal9, giver of knowledge10, illuminator11, patience and forbearance12. Dharini and Ksama refer to selfless qualities of sun which drinks up the ocean and showers it on earth in the form of rain.
The Vedas: Veda is knowledge. Vid = know. Vid, Weid, Wit, Vision and Veda are cognates; thus I believe that Sanskrit Vid is the origin of European words, meaning knowledge and seeing. There are four Samhitas (collections): The Rg (Rich Verse, Song of praise, poetry), Sàman (gentle words for winning an adversary), Yajus (Worship and its sacrificial formula), and Atharva (after the name of the composer). Athar, obsolete word for Agni or Fire, thus is the root word for Atharva, Atharvan (Brahma's eldest son) who does Fire sacrifice with Soma (an inebriant) and prayers. Part of Atharva Veda deals with incantations to prevent diseases and calamities.
The moon grants sixteen desires known as Kalas: 1) AmrtA, 2) PrAnadA, 3) PUsA, 4) Tusti, 5) Pushti, 6) Rati, 7) Dhrti, 8) SasinI, 9) CandrikA, 10) kAnti, 11) JyotsnA, 12) Sri, 13) PrIti, 14) AngadA, 15) PUrnA, and 16) PUrnAmrtA (Ambrosia1, Life giver2, Growth promotor3, Giver of contentment4, Nourishment5, Attachment6, Constancy7, container of hare (man in the moon)8, Beam spreader9, Effulgence10, Moonlight11, Prosperity12, Delight13, Body or limb developer14, Fullness15, and Fullness of nectar16.
I am the fraud of the gambler; of the splendid, I am the splendor; I am
victory; I am the resolve (of the resolute); I am the absolute virtue of the
virtuous. (10.36)
There
is no life, as we know it, without water. Our body is 60 to 80% water,
depending on the age. We came from earth and water; we are minerals and water.
We came from earth and so we return to earth. We came from fire (body heat and
digestion are two examples of fire in the human body) and so we return to
fire. We came from water and so we return to water. That is the reason why the
grieving relatives throw the dead bodies into
7.9: I am the pure fragrance
of the earth; I am the brightness in the fire; I am the life in all the living
entities; I am austerity in ascetics.
This Verse by Bhagavan Krishna reminds us of Vaisesika philosophy. Translation by Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy.
Book II.1.1: Earth possesses color, taste, smell and touch.
Book II.1.3: Fire possesses color and touch.
Book II Chapter 2 Verse 2: Smell is established in earth.
Book II.2.4: Hotness is established in fire.
Here is the definition of life according to Vaisesika.
Book III.2.4: The ascending life-breath, the descending life-breath, the closing of the eye-lids, the opening of the eye-lids, life, the movement of the mind, and the affections of the other senses, and also, pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, and volition are marks (of existence) of the self.
Here
is the story on the origin of Tapas. In the beginning, there was nothing. It
was a void; it was neither a Being nor a NonBeing. He created the mind and
then water came into existence from worship. Fire or heat is in the water. (If
fire [heat] comes out of water, ice comes into existence.) It was feeling the
loneliness and there was no form, no name, and no breath. It was throbbing and
propulsive; it looked on itself; it was awareness itself. What am I? Who am I?
Let me be something; let me breathe life into my own self; let me be a person
or entity. Prajapati was born out of His own will; but He was still lonely.
Tapas also means religious observance, self-discipline, and worship and is of three kinds: Sarira (body), Vācika (Speech), and Manas (Mind).
7.10: O son of Partha, know Me to be the eternal seed of all
living beings; I am the intelligence of the intelligent; I am the brilliance
of the brilliant.
Since
He created the waters, His name is
7.11: I am strength in the
strong without passion and desire. I am desire in beings not opposed to dharma
(duty, virtue and righteousness), O Arjuna.
7.12: Know that all
states of being, such as Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas proceed thus from Me. I am
not in them, but they are in Me.
Krishna talks
about psychology of human mind; the West has recently discovered that emotion
carries positive or negative valence. Happiness has a buoyant positive
valence. Greed, anger or fear is weighed down by leaden negative valence. It
is better to avoid people with negative valence because it is contagious.
Ambivalence is where a conflict exists between positive and negative valences.
Sattva carries a positive valence. Tamas carries a negative valence. Rajas is
ambivalent because it can move with Sattva or with Tamas. Sattva, Rajas and
Tamas are compared to a tricycle with
Sattva and Tamas forming the rear
right and left wheels and
Rajas forms the
front wheel. If the front wheel moves to the right, Positive
valence of Sattva is dominant and if it moves to the left, the negative
valence of Tamas is dominant.
The pluripotential prakriti results in Gunas (modes): Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. These three constituents of Gunas are inseparable and form a complex: Sattva-Rajas-Tamas complex, which is inert, if it is in equilibrium. Only one of the three constituents is dominant in a person or entity at a time. Sattva is Knowledge, Intellect, Light and Balanced emotion, Balance, Order, or Purity; Rajas is the motor behind Sattva and Tamas. (Without Rajas, Sattva and Tamas are inert.) Dominance of Rajas naturally means Dynamism, Motion and Passion; Tamas is darkness, passivity, negativity, inertia, sloth and slumber. All these three qualities in man, animal or matter amount to 100 percent in variable proportions. One should remember that these three Gunas, strands and complex condition all manifest worlds, both animate and inanimate. The force behind this complex or strands is Purusa (the Spirit) who agitates these strands or Gunas and causes disequilibrium and subsequently heterogeneity and polymorphism. Lord Krishna does not succumb to these three Gunas, which are like the poison sac in the snake (or the acid in the car battery). “They are in Me and I am not in them.” The poison in the poison sac does not affect the snake and the acid does not corrode the container of the battery, so also the Gunas do not affect the Lord. These three Gunas have modulating influence on one another. When a person uses his Rajas to suppress Tamas, he becomes Vira (hero). This is sublimation. This is what you see in soldiers, policemen, firefighters. Their dynamism, motion and passion in the front wheel always goes to the right-- the Sattvic side. Indiscriminate killing is the movement of the front wheel to the Tamasic left side. When the Tamas content of one's character increases at the expense of the other two, he becomes a Pasu (an animal). The classical example is Hitler and his kind. This 'Brute Substance' becomes dominant as the nature descends from Sattvic man. The object of human race is perfection (Siddhi) and the highly Sattvic man is divine (Divyabhava). When the Rajas and Tamas attenuate, Sattva is dominant as in a Sadhu or Yogi. The word Diva (Diva: a distinguished female singer; prima donna.) is derived from the Sanskrit word Diva. (Diva = heaven; Divya = heaven, divine; Deva = god.) Water is Sattva; Steam is Rajas, Ice is Tamas.
Buddhi, the individual equivalent of cosmic Mahat, is intelligence, which with
Ahankāra and Manas (ego and mind) form Chitta, which interacts with and
modulates the Gunas.
7.13: Deluded by the
threefold nature of the Gunas, the whole universe of beings does not know Me
because I am above all these, supreme and imperishable (and incomprehensible).
These
three Gunas come from the Lord, but they do not affect the Lord. He is beyond
these three qualities, but gods, men, animals, and objects are subject to
these Gunas, which delude the living beings. The qualities of each entity are
according to the dominant guna: Sattva, Rajas, or Tamas. Buddhi (Chitta), the
modulator of these Gunas is inadequate in man for him to understand the
Supreme and the Imperishable. Let me explain what the Supreme and the
Imperishable mean. From the beginningless time, the first entity is the
Supreme, and then comes the Imperishable and then other evolutes come forth
from the imperishable. The Supreme and the Imperishable are beyond human
intelligence and understanding and therefore incomprehensible in this context
of the three Gunas.
7.14: This divine māyā of
the three Gunas is an impediment; certainly, those who take refuge in me can
cross over this māyā.
Māyā (Maya)= Mā + Yā = Yā +Mā = That + which is not.
Maya is many things to many people and concepts; some of them are discussed here.
Māyā
is avidya (nescience); and is veiling, revealing, relative, differential, and
projecting. The three Gunas are qualities through which we experience this
phenomenal world. To that extent this world is real, but this phenomenal world
is only (a veil) a projection of Brahman, the Lord or the Self and so veils or
hides the real Brahman. It blocks the vision of Brahman.
Brahman is like the ocean and the phenomenal world is like the waves, which
rise and fall. For the duration of the wave, it has a form, a name, and a life
(time). The waves are there because the ocean is there, and this
transitoriness, the projection, or the formation of the wave is an expression
of māyā.
The experience of Brahman is real through Vidya; experience of the phenomenal world is less real because of avidya or ignorance. Avidya sees the illusory world, not knowing the Brahman, hypostasis of that illusion.
Māyā is unmanifest but manifests nonexistent objects, according Bhagavata Purana, 11.9.33. The Lord created māyā to help the individual soul, while enjoying this world, look beyond and reach Brahman, the Real. Māyā is the rite of passage for the soul, before it attains to Brahman. Brahman and māyā participate in the creation of this world. The enzymatic, inductive, and regulatory Māyā is not Sat or Asat, (being or non-being), and acts on Brahman to project this phenomenal world. That is why Brahman (the Mover and Shaker) is the manifest cause (Vivarta) and māyā is the transformational cause (Parināma.), that results in the illusory phenomenal world. What a dream world is to a dreamer is the phenomenal world to an awaking person.
Māyā has regulatory control on this phenomenal world as far as the
qualities (Gunas), functions and interrelationships are concerned. Since māyā
is the transformational cause, the transformed material (from substrate to
substance) has different qualities, functions, and relationships; examples are
in nature: Kerosene poured over fire results in conflagration and water poured
over fire causes extinguishment. That is one example of Māyā and the creator
of Māyā is Mayin.
His (Brahman) name is also Amaya, because he transcends Māyā, is devoid of Māyā, and projects Māyā. Māyā is an external potency and acts like the heat of the sun, which evaporates the water, but neither the water nor the water vapor affects the sun. Māyā is enamored by and fixed on relative reality of the world and projects the illusion of the phenomenal world, which is play and pastime of Maya (mayavilasa = Māya + Vilāsa = Maya sport). Māyā is the cataract between you and the Real, that is Brahman; and it is a hurdle for the attainment of Brahman because it is an impediment in the jivatma's onward journey towards Brahman.
Jiva is described as the mirror image (Pratibimba)
of Brahman in Avidya or ne
More on Maya in relation to Siva and Sakti
Siva as Parabraman is Siva Sakti (Cit Sakti) without action; Siva as Isvara is Siva Sakti exercising Maya Sakti which is movement and change; simply put, Siva is static and Sakti is dynamic. Sakta talks about Paravastu (Supreme substance) and says that their is no sakti without Siva and and no Siva without Sakti. Siva, the Mayin, is not affected by Maya. To a Sakta, Cit and Maya Saktis are Siva Consciousness, variable in their scope. Sankara's Isvara is shrouded in unconscious Maya , while Sakta's Isvara is all Himself projecting Sakti. (Sakta is worshipper of Sakti, mother Goddess.) Sankara's Brahman is the highest common denominator when you subtract Maya from Isvara and Avidya from Jiva; this is one instance where subtraction leads to a higher and weightier entity. There are many views on this subject. Brahman is Vivarta cause (abiding, moving) and Maya is the Saha Kari, cooperative cause. (Vivartavāda is assertion of the Vedanta doctrine which maintains the development of the Universe from Brahma(n) as the sole real entity, the phenomenal world being held to be a mere illusion or maya.) Maya originates from Brahman and that being so, Maya Sakti cannot be unreal. Brahman is Vivarta cause; Brahman is the hypostasis of illusion through Maya; Maya is Parinama (transformational) cause. There is another twist. Brahman, Maya, and Avidya form a braid which creates the world and beings. Ramanujacharya does not believe Brahman as the repository of Maya and Avidya. Ramanuja puts the following question: How could it possible that Avidya (Ignorant) Brahman produces a Maya (unreal) world? To Ramanuja, Brahman is the Soul and the universe and beings are his body.
Vaishnavites are of the belief that Paramatma (Vishnu) is the Vivarta cause (abiding, moving, inducting) of the universe and also the Parinama (transformational) cause. Anything (other than Atma and Brahman) is subject to change, modification, transformation. A substrate becomes a substance, which again is a substrate for yet another substance. This is Parinama or transformation. Go to BG10 for more details.
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Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna
948. Can there be Maya in the emancipated soul? Ornaments cannot be made of pure gold; some alloy must be mixed with it. As long as man has a body he must have some Maya, at least to carry on the functions of the body; human totally devoid of Maya will not survive more than twenty-one days. |
7.15: The evildoers, the
ignorant, and the lowest among men, who are robbed of their knowledge by māyā,
are of demonic nature and do not seek refuge in me.
Māyā,
as said before is avidya (ignorance or nescience). Māyā is veiling; it veils
the Real. The māyāvins (the fraudulent) are the shortsighted; māyā undermines
them; they do not even know that. What is common among these māyāvins is that
they have an ego not under the control of Sattva, but under the control of
Rajas and Tamas; their Chitta (buddhi, manas and ego) is out of order and is
not synchronous with the Self. Ahimsa, truth, honesty, continence, and
rejection of gifts are the needed sattvic moral qualities, before this jivatma
can even reflect on the Supreme. The māyāvins lack those qualities listed
above, do not believe that we are His creation and that we are His
instruments, move in the darkness of nescience, and avoid the light of divine
wisdom. The māyāvins deny the existence of the Lord, His manifestations and
His Supremacy, commit evil acts, and consider they are independent of the
Lord. The lowest among men are those, who
recognize the Supremacy of God, but do not follow the path towards Him.
The foolish and the ignorant are people who enjoy
the bounties of this world, as if they are entitled to them.
The demonic people are those who know God's
supremacy, but hate Him.
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Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna
189. As one mask may be worn by various persons, so also various kinds of creatures have donned the garb of humanity. Some are tearing wolves, others are ferocious bears, and some again are cunning foxes or venomous snakes; though they all look like men. |
7.16: Four kinds of virtuous
people worship me, O Arjuna. They are the distressed, the seeker of knowledge,
the seeker of wealth, and the Jnāni (seeker of wisdom), O the best of
Bharatas.
Sukrtinah: doing good actions, virtuous, prosperous, fortunate, cultivated,
wise
There
are many kinds of devotees: Relief seeker, Atman Seeker, Wealth Seeker, and
Knowledge Seeker. The Lord loves them all; but He likes the Jnāni, the
knowledge seeker, most; next comes the Atman Seeker. Both of them are not
after material wealth or seeking relief from wants or suffering. “The Sage
asketh nothing and refuseth nothing from God.” He worships God for His own
sake. Broadly speaking, the worshippers seek either prakriti (material) or the
Self. The one who puts the Self before Prakriti is very dear to the Lord.
7.17: Of these, the Jnāni
(the wise one), who is always in union with Me and whose devotion is
single-minded is the best. I am very dear to that Jnāni, and he is very dear
to Me.
7.18: All these (four kinds
of people) are noble, but the Jnāni, I consider, as truly My Self. In my
opinion, he whose mind abides in Me alone has Me as the unsurpassed
Goal.
Udāra: noble, exalted, distinguished
Jnāna
and Vijnāna are “Self” knowledge, and realized divine intuitive knowledge.
Jnāna is Sabda-Brahman and Vijnāna is Param-Brahman. Another way of putting it
is to say that Jnāna is the narrow and straight path to God without any
detours or diversions, and Vijnāna is the destination itself. Here Jnāna is an
acquired knowledge of the self from all sources, while Vijnāna is direct
experience of God. Jnāna is to come under the magnetic influence of God and
Vijnāna is magnetic attachment to God. Jnāna is to know that God exists by
one's inner experience and Vijnāna is to communicate and relate to God as a
slave, a servant, a child, a friend, a spouse, and a devotee. A few attaining
that status were Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maha Rishi. Please read
Supplement section on Jnāna and Vijnāna, and Sabda-Brahman and Param-Brahman.
7.19: After many births and
at the end (of the last birth), the man of wisdom takes refuge in me, in his
knowledge that Vasudeva is all there is to
know. Such a great soul is very difficult to find.
The name Vasudeva is derived from Vas 'to dwell' meaning that Vishnu dwells in all things and all things dwell in Him. Deva means the heavenly or the shining one as resplendent as the sun.
It may
take a person a lifetime or many life times, before he can attain to the Lord.
He, who knows that Vasudeva is all there is to know, is certain to attain
moksa. Taking refuge in Vasudeva entails bhakti, Prapatti and Saranāgati.
Bhakti is devotion; Prapatti is complete resignation; and Saranāgati is total
surrender to Vasudeva. The relationship here goes by the name Sesi-Sesa,
meaning Master-servant relationship between God and man. When Lord accepts the
devotee, it is like the cow licking the newborn calf clean: forgiveness of
sins. It is also like the devotee playing the role of Yasoda (mother) to Baby
Krishna. This, known as Vatsalya, speaks of the
closeness between parent and child, and God and man. When the Lord, seeing and
knowing the utter helplessness, extreme devotion and vulnerability of the
devotee, confers His Divine Grace on the devotee, by taking him to moksa like
a cat would take the kitten by the nape of its neck. The devotee clings to God
as a helpless baby monkey would cling to its mother. The cat and monkey
allegories are popular among the Vaisnava sects.
Yasoda and Baby Krishna
The
Supreme soul and the individual soul are magnetic to each other, but
ignorance, karma, and māyā are impediments for the closeness to the Lord.
Saranāgati, self surrender; Prapatti, resignation; and bhakti on the part of
the individual; the knowledge that Self is Real; and God’s compassion, love
and grace for the devotee get the individual soul in closeness to God. This
magnetic systemic resonance between God and man is the goal of the individual
soul of man.
7.20: Those,
whose wisdom succumbed to desires, surrender to other gods and perform various
rites, compelled by their own natures.
The
unwise offer various sacrifices, rites, and rituals to lesser gods with the
idea receiving material gains. Lord Krishna states that their Gunas are
subject to the vāsanās (clinging subtle impressions) from previous birth,
which residing in the subtle bodies are like the scent clinging to the
clothes; and in this case, these subtle impressions are the remainders of the
past lives. These vāsanās are like the smell of the smoke left behind on the
baked clay pot. Their present behavior comes under the influence of past
impressions (Samskara) left from previous births, like the clinging fragrance
on the clothes and the clinging smell of smoke in the pot.
These
rituals can bring certain value to the worshippers and find their way from the
lesser gods to Lord Krishna Himself for fulfillment. Lord Krishna doles out
boons to the worshippers through the lesser surrogate gods; according to
Alvars, the lesser gods are not qualified to grant moksa or liberation that
has to come directly from Vishnu or Narāyana or Krishna Himself. The Alvars
recommend prayers offered directly to Vishnu Himself and go to the extent of
upbraiding the devotees for having wasted their time by offering prayers to
lesser gods and going through several births and rebirths without getting the
moksa, because they were praying to gods other than Vishnu. Alvars also
recommend change in behavior (truth, honesty, compassion, ahimsa, charity, and
cheerfulness) on the part of the devotees.
The YO-YO effect:
The embodied soul going up to heaven and coming back down to earth again and
again is compared to the roped vessel plying on the pulley up and down the
well (fetching water). It is not going anywhere. It is also compared to the
bouncing ball (like Yo-Yo). This commuting soul between heaven and earth
becomes disgusted with its lot, wants to break out of this habit and find a
permanent place higher than the heaven, devoid of Yo-Yo effect. Karma Kanda
offers no effective solution and thus the soul enquires into Brahman, the
origin of the phenomenal world, maintenance and dissolution. Visvam and Vishnu
offer the solution. Krishna in BG18.66 says the following:
"Abandoning all duties, surrender unto Me only. I
shall deliver you from all sins.
7.21: Whatever is the
form of deity, whom a devotee desires to worship
with faith, I make sure that his faith is steady (in that deity).
Narāyana is the Absolute Supreme or Isvara. He created the gods, men, animals
and the universe; and His Soul resides in those gods too. Whoever is the god a
devotee prays to, with faith,
God has no form or name. Then why does he have name and form? He takes on a form, not because he has one but because the devotees enter a blissful state by worshipping the form.
The following explanation is offered in the difficulty of a critic in understanding and promoting image worship.
Worship by its nature is Mūrti-pūja or Puttali-pūja (worship of an image) with rites and rituals according to corporeal worshippers. Murti = Image, Idol, Form. Puttala = small statue, effigy, idol. Puja = worship. The image worshipper and the critic are not cast in the same mold. What the critic sees and hears, he does not understand. That is like looking at the sweet-shop (Candy shop), knowing the color, shape, and quantity and trying to guess whether a particular item is hot or cold, sweet, sour and or hot without having tasted each one of the items at least once. The Puttalikas (image worshippers) argue what would the critic know about something he has not experienced. The knowledgeable taster could not even begin to describe the gross and the subtle differences among the items to the one who has never tasted any of them; words fail them. How is it possible to describe the taste of an orange, apple, banana, grapes, dates, melon to a person who sees but never tasted any of them in his life? You have to taste them before you know their taste, worth and the individual differences. What would an (aniconic) iconoclast know about something he never experienced by worshipping images?
Krishna talks to Uddhava as follows in support of both forms of worship.
"When the Sadhaka concentrates his mind on My smiling face, there comes a time when he, his mind and I become one and the Sadhaka loses the physical and spiritual delineation between him and Me. The Murti (the form or the face) in the mind evaporates; the Yogi brings Ether in its place and rests it in Me, the Paramatman. The Yogi in Samadhi will see Me as Paramatma of all Jivas. The Yogi forgets that he is different from Me; the "I" in him dissipates; he loses his identity. This is incorporeal Upasana or Videha Kaivalya. Videha = incorporeal. Kaivalya = detachment of the soul from matter, isolation, beatitude.
A Sadaka should practice meditation and concentrate his mind on all body parts of his Istadevata from the feet to the crown and from the crown to the feet; by doing this, he will get vision of the whole body of the Devata in his mind. Once perfection in meditation and concentration is attained, the Formless will replace the Deity with form. The gross image evaporates and the subtle formless form (Ether) takes its place. Krishna says the following: Seeing his family and objects day in and day out, man develops love for his wife, son and objects. In like manner if man thinks of Me always, he will be merge with Me.
There is an interesting story about rationalist Vivekananda becoming a spiritualist and his success at converting a foreign-educated inveterate aniconic (an-iconic) fop to an idolist. Once Vivikananda went visiting with the neo-phobic of Indian values and mores. He was led to a hall of frames where forefathers of the fop's ancestors graced the walls. No later than the host showed his father's portrait with great respect and obeisance, Vivekananda spat on it knowing full well that he was an iconoclast. The salivary splatter on the revered portrait drew inordinate anger from the host. Keeping his natural cool and composure, Vivekanada questioned its sanctity and whether his father lived in the portrait. The foreign-educated man, intelligent as he was, immediately realized that the idols are as sacred to the votaries as his father's portrait was sacred to him.
Is there a God? Kabir says: 'that which you see, is not; and for that which is, you have no words. It cannot be told by the words of the mouth; it cannot be written on a paper. It is like a dumb person who tastes a sweet thing--how shall it be explained.' Rabindranath Tagore: Kabir's poems pp. 95, 121; extract from The Brahma Sutra Page 243 by Dr. Radhakrishnan.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa offers this reassurance to devotees with wavering faith in his book, Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, Saying 248, page 83. The water of a rapid stream moves round and round in eddies and whirlpools in some places; but passing these it resumes again a straight and swift course. So the heart of the devotee is caught every now and then in the whirlpool of despondency, grief and unbelief; but this is only a momentary aberration and does not last long.
Worship of Images Sayings 322 to 332
322. While raising a building, the scaffolding is indispensable; but when the work is completed, no one feels the necessity of it. So also image worship is necessary in the beginning but not afterwards.
323. As a man begins to learn writing by drawing. big scrawls before he tries to write a smaller hand, so a person must acquire the power of concentrating his thoughts by fixing the mind first upon forms, and then, after succeeding therein, by fixing it upon the formless.
324. A marksman learns to shoot by first having big objects to shoot at; and as he acquires more and more facility in shooting, he aims more and more easily at the smaller marks on the target. So when the mind has been trained to focus on images having form, it is easy for it to do so on things having no form.
325. As a toy fruit or a toy elephant reminds one of the real fruit and the living animal, so do the images that are worshipped remind one of God who is formless and eternal.
326. The Master once said to a disciple of his: You were talking of images made of clay. There arises a necessity for them too. These various forms used for worship have been provided to suit the needs of different men at different stages of spiritual evolution.
327. The mother so arranges the food for her children that each one gets what agrees with him. If she has five children and she gets a big fish to cook, she makes different dishes out of it, and gives each one what suits him exactly. One is given rich Polao with fish; another, of weak digestion, only a little soup; and so on, according to the digestive power of each. (The same is the case with the various symbols and disciplines prescribed for spiritual aspirants.)
328. A disciple: One may believe that God is 'with form'. But surely He is not the earthen image that is worshipped.
The Master: Why call it an earthen image? The Divine image is made of Spirit.
329. The Master once said to Keshab Chandra Sen, who was a great iconoclast in his days: "Why do these images rouse the idea of mud and clay, stone and straw, in your mind? Why can you not realize the presence of the eternal, blissful, all-conscious Mother even in these forms?"
330. If a worshipper is convinced that the images of the Deity in the shapes of various Gods and Goddesses are verily divine, he reaches God through their worship. But if he hold. them to be nothing better than mud and straw and clay, to him the worship of such images does no good.
331. If there is anything wrong in image-worship, does He not know that all worship is meant for Him?' He will surely be pleased to accept the worship, knowing that it is meant for Him alone. Love God; that is the duty nearest to you.
332. When one sees God, one realises that everything, images and all, is a manifestation of the Spirit. To him the image is not made of clay but of Spirit.
7.22: Endowed with that
faith, he worships that god, and fulfills his desires, granted by Me alone.
All
prayers, worships, and sacrifices go to the Supreme and all the boons come
from the Supreme. It is the faith that matters and the gods are intermediaries
between man and the Lord serving both.
7.23: Finite and limited is
the fruit gained by these men of small intelligence (small minds). The
worshippers of gods go to those gods, but my devotees
come to Me.
Nammalvar (880-930 C.E) Vaishnava Saint-poet says the following in verse 2583 of Divyaprabhandam.
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When there is the Primal Lord, it is plain lack of wisdom to offer worship to godlings. Even worse is their offer of animal sacrifices to minor gods. These acts in the guise of receiving benefits bring only miseries. They do not give liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Is this the nature of the world?
Hindu religion has shown this resilience in allowing man to worship a
pantheon of forces and gods, and the Lord. It could be as simple as nature
worship: The object of worship could range from elements of nature to tutelary
gods. According to Vivekananda, the worship ranging from the crude to the fine
is not in error but a journey from truth to truth, from lower truth to higher
truth. It is relative as in “darkness is less light, evil is less good,
impurity is less pure.” The Kali of a Yogi Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is
different from the Kali of an uninitiated and the unrealized. Ramana
Maharishi's experience of Shiva Consciousness is different from that of an
ordinary devotee of Shiva. They come from two different worlds. Nevertheless,
the devotee's experience is important for that devotee. We, the ordinary
devotees of God, are not learned and enlightened men in the knowledge of the
Self; but we are on our way towards that goal.
The
Transcendent, the Unmanifest, the Supreme, the Imperishable, and the
ParaBrahman are the same. Because the human mind can perceive and configure
god only in human form and in human dimensions, we give a human form and name
to the Unmanifest. Human mind cannot grasp God in any shape other than human
form, because the human mind is the product of Prakriti, which is unconscious.
However, Lord Krishna can take any form by His māyā. The unintelligent think
the Supreme Unmanifest is afflicted with a manifestation.
This is the Empyreal Highway to Vaikuntham. Go to ANDAL'S TIRUPPAVAI for details.
They who come to Him are Comers. They who live away from Him are Goers and are compared to grass-widows. A grass widow (வாழாவெட்டி) = a woman who is separated, divorced, or lives apart from her husband. A married woman's place is her husband's. We (men and women) are all married to Paramatman. He is Purusa (Man) and we are Striyah (woman). (There is no need and this is not the place to inject any meaning other than that of religious idiom.) Our soul sprang from him; our spiritual constitution is the same as his and the soul always pines to go to the source. Our place is Paramapadam. The union of the individual soul with the Great soul is liberation. A soul that moved centripetally to Paramapadam, attained His feet and does Kaimkaryam is a Comer. He or she who is not in Paramapadam is a Goer.
Here is the path of a Comer to Paramapadam: The Empyreal Highway.
In modern parlance, the Empyreal Highway has many stops. The liberated soul carries a toll-free E-Z pass at entry and exit to reach Narayana. At every stop from one to twenty-four the soul is greeted and felicitated by a god or gods. At some stops the soul has to wade through a river or lake to wash off all the accretions and residuals gathered during life on earth so that the soul emerges in a purer form. At stop 19, the soul receives the message that it has entered the world of Narayana (SAlOkya). In the Highway, all souls are Striyah (female) meaning that they are females in relation to Narayana; it does not matter what gender they belonged to on earth. Narayana is the only Purusa. As a matter of fact they do not carry any anatomical identity. At stop 20, the soul enters The Tower, takes a seat (at stop 21-Vichaksana Peetam) and enjoys a great fanfare from the assembled gods who tell the soul that it has attained the state of Samipyam --nearness to Narayana. A few more stops only to reach Narayana. At exit 24, the soul is in the purest form, ready to merge with Narayana. It is not a physical union. It is spiritual and yet it is not a fusion. It is like a family gathering; you are all in one place and yet you are separate; the patriarch is at the top of the heap. It is like the difference between heavy water and light water. All the pure souls are light water particles and Narayana is heavy water. In a typical lake there is plenty of light water and very little heavy water and yet they are mixed together and the chemistry of both is the same. Though they are one with Narayana, they cannot create, maintain and destroy the universe; only Narayana has that exclusive power.
7.24: The unintelligent, who do not know me as the Highest, the Imperishable, and the Supreme, think of me as the Unmanifest becoming the manifest.
7.25: I do not manifest to
everyone, veiled by My Yoga-māyā. The foolish do not understand me as unborn
and unchanging.
Lord
Krishna explains yogamāyā: Yogamāyā is My veil; I assume human form that goes
with the jivātman and Gunas; I am beyond all these. My human form fools the
ignoramus, who underestimates my powers. I am Unborn, Supreme, Imperishable,
Transcendent, and Immutable; yet in this form, I am resplendent with kalyana
Gunas. This is a divine sport to me, and I willed this human form, so my
devotees can surrender and take refuge in me.
Yogamāyā has two operating principles:
Kalyana Gunas:
auspicious qualities.
7.26: I know, O Arjuna, all
beings in the past, the present, and the future (those yet to come in the
future). But no one knows me.
7.27: Desire and hate arise
from the dual nature of delusion, O Bharata. All living beings surge forth
into delusion, O Parantapa.
Sarga:
discharge, surge, letting go
We are
all born in delusion from previous vāsanās clinging to our subtle bodies.
It is
like a shadow that follows us everywhere we go. Dualities of phenomenal world,
such as love and hate, pleasure and pain, likes and dislikes are the stuff of
Gunas, which originate from prakriti. Because of delusion, Gunas and prakriti
hide the Supreme Self. These Gunas and Prakriti are like the opaque screen
between the eyes of one's own self and the panoramic view of the Greater Self.
Māyā is the opaque screen, which has to lift in order the jivātman and the
Paramatman have unhindered view of each other, ready to merge. You are the
soul, not the body, the mind, or the senses. Jivatma's natural home is
Paramatman, but delusion and māyā of Gunas and prakriti derange the jivātman’s
homing device. Once māyā lifts, the soul is free to reach its destination.
This shadow of delusion that follows us everywhere disappears at the high noon
of realization of the soul. The Jnāna yogi, who rides the sound waves of OM,
concentrated ever in the Self, goes from sabda-Brahman to Param-Brahman, which
is silence and Bliss.
7.28:
The people, who perform pious and virtuous deeds, and whose sins ceased
to exist, are free from deluding dualities and worship Me firmly fixed in
their vows.
The people, whose sins
kept them away from Brahman, had their sins erased by their pious and virtuous
deeds. Thus freed from the sins, they are free from deluding dualities. The
karmic bags are empty; karmic inflows into the subtle body stopped; their
karma reaches a zero-sum endpoint. With karma resolved, and the avidya and the
māyā shattered and swept off, they have moved close to Param-Brahman, whom
they see in everyone. He sees his self in all, and all selves in his own self,
for he has ascended the eight angas and is pure in spirit.
7.29:
All those people, seeking liberation from old age and death,
take refuge in Me and know Brahman, the Supreme
Self (Atman), and karma in its entirety.
Sankaracharya exemplifies seeking of God as follows. Seek the blissful Lotus Feet of the Lord, as a man washed by floods seeks the high ground, a man in the scorching sun seeks a shelter, a man groping in darkness seeks light, and a man shivering in cold seeks fire. O Mind, Shed your fears and seek the Lord.
7.30:
Those who know Me (associated) with Adhibhūtam, Adhidaivam and
Adhiyajnam, know Me at the time of death, with their mind meditating on Me.
Adhibhūtam, Adhidaivam, and Adhiyajnam: All-penetrating influence of the
Supreme Spirit over material entities, Supreme deity of all deities, and the
Supreme principal of Sacrifice.
Lord
Krishna is the Lord of the material world, the gods, and the sacrifices, and
the unitary confluence of all these three entities from beginningless time. He
created Gods, men and beings, and the Universe; He Himself offered the first
sacrifice.
End: Chapter Seven:
Knowledge and Realization
