Bhagavadgita Pages, Chapters 1 to 18
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www.bhagavadgitausa.com
V.Krishnaraj
08/21/2008
The Knower, the
Field, and the Nature
The Supreme Knower, the Body, and the Prakriti
Ksetrajna, Ksetra, and Prakriti
13.0: Arjuna said:
Prakriti, Purusa, the field, and
the knower of the field, knowledge, and the object of knowledge, I wish to
know, O Kesava.
Arjuna uvāca
prakṛtiṁ puruşaṁ caiva kşetraṁ kşetrajñam eva ca
etad veditum icchāmi jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ ca keśava.
This above verse is present only in Bhagavad-gita as it is by Prabhupada. Thus it is given the number 13.0.
Purusa = The Enjoyer. Ksetram = Body. Ksetrajnam = Knower of the body. Jnanam = Knowledge. Jneyam = object of knowledge. Sariram = body. Ksetram = field. Ksetrajna = Knower of the body.
The human body
is the ksetra or the field; the individual soul, trapped inside the body, is
Ksetrajna or the knower of the field; the person owning the body is the
apparent knower or ksetrajna. Knowledge is to know Brahman as Bliss. The idea
here is that if unthinking prakriti makes the body, who is the knower of this
body? The individual soul and the Higher soul are the Knowers of the field and
have an organic relationship to each other. The individual soul or self is less
of a knower than the Higher Self or Soul, because Prakrti burdens and conditions
the individual soul. The field of activity for the Higher soul is not only this
universe, but the individual souls too. The Lord is the Knower and the witness
in bodies of gods and men, and His ksetra is the
universe and the beings. He is the Soul also of gods and men. Once the knower
understands the distinction between the soul and the body, salvation is within
his reach.
All exist for His enjoyment. He is BhOkthA, BhOgyam and PrErithA. BhOktha is the individual. BhOgyam is that which is experienced. PrErithA (Animator) is BhagavAn. BhOktha is the enjoyer. Only if He wills, one can have the enjoyment. Ultimately He is all three. That is the VishEshArtham. That is the knowledge we should acquire. Bhagavan experiences us, because He remains inside us; thus He is the Ultimate BhOgyan (enjoyer or experiencer).
VishEshArtham = Elaborate explanation, (pointing out the special features and beauties of a stanza).
1:Putatma1 (⾡òÁ¡) The Pure Self - One who is untainted by the effects of karma - good or bad. Puta Atma yasya sa putatma - One who has the pure Atma is pUtAtmA.
2:Paramatma2 (ÀÃÁ¡òÁ¡) The Supreme Soul - for whom there is no other guiding or superior soul
3:Muktanam Parama gatih3 (Ó쾡ɡõ ÀÃÁ¸¾¢) One who is the ultimate goal for all muktas or Released or Liberated Souls.
Yagna = Yajna = Yagnam/Yajnam = யக்ஞம் = யஞ்ஞம் = Sacrifice = ritual Sacrifice.
In Vaishnava tradition and according to Sahasranamam, Bhagavan is PutAtma1, Paramatma2, Muktanam parama gatih3. Mukkur Lakshmi Narasimhachariyar questions who that Paramatma2 is. What is the reason for invoking Him as such? He is present in five Maha Yagnas (³Å¨¸§ÅûÅ¢): Devata Yagnam1, Bhuta Yagnam2 , Bruhma Yagnam3 , Manushya Yagnam4, and Pitru Yagnam5. Thus Vishnu is known as Yagna-Purusha (Â츢ÂÒÕ¼ý --yakkiya-purutan) meaning that Vishnu assumes the form of Sacrifice. What we eat is a great Yagnam. We eat not to sustain our body but for the Lord inside us. To perform Yagnam, we need a place. This body is the place for such Yagnam. Bhagavan says that this body is Ksetram. In our body the Homa Kundam is the mouth. Homa Kundam = Pit dug out in the ground for keeping sacrificial fire.
Five kinds of Sacrifice which a householder is enjoined to perform daily. ¸¼×û§ÅûÅ¢1 ( §¾ÅÂï»õ1), ⾧ÅûÅ¢2 (â¾Âï»õ2), À¢ÃÁ§ÅûÅ¢3( À¢ÃÁÂï»õ3), Á¡É¢¼§ÅûÅ¢4(ÁÛ‰ÂÂï»õ4) ¦¾ýÒÄò¾¡÷§ÅûÅ¢5 (À¢òÕÂï»õ5 ) = Devata Yagnam1, Bhuta Yagnam2 , Bruhma Yagnam3 , Manushya Yagnam4, and Pitru Yagnam5.
§ÅûÅ¢ in Tamil = Âï»õ in transliterated Sanskrit = Sacrifice.
Devata Yagnam1 = §¾ÅÂï»õ = sacrifice to deities performed in the consecrated fire.
Bhuta Yagnam2 = â¾Âï»õ = Giving food to animals.
Bruhma Yagnam3 = À¢ÃÁÂï»õ = Learning and Reciting the Vedas.
Manushya Yagnam4 = ÁÛ‰ÂÂï»õ = Feeding of guests.
Pitru Yagnam5 = À¢òÕÂï»õ = Offering of libations to ancestors.
(Saiva Siddhantists have a different view about the knowledge of the individual soul and God. Siva is Pure Consciousness separate from and higher than the physical world. He relates to the world through His Sakti, while Vishnu is all-pervasive. He is in you, me and that. Sakti is Siva's surrogate in all His dealings with the world of beings and matter. We are part Sat and part Asat and thus are not pure until we get rid of Asat.
The individual soul is not as pure as the Pure Intelligence, that is Siva, because Siva is pure knowledge and does not seek knowledge from an external source; He exercises Iccha, Jnana, and Kriya (desire, knowledge, and action) without any help from other outside entities. On the other hand individual soul seeks knowledge from the senses derived from the products of Maya (material cause of universe and beings). Apart from it, the individual soul is enveloped in a shroud of Mala or impurities. The individual soul is Sat-Asat (Asat = unconscious matter, insentient matter, Cit-Acit of Vaishnavites) because it uses Asat (sensory organs) to acquire knowledge. God is Pure knowledge; He does not need hands-on experience, direct perception, demonstration, or instruction to acquire knowledge. He sees without eyes; He hears without ears. The soul and its capacity to acquire knowledge are compared to an eye or crystal; God or Siva is the sun. All objects, including the crystal, disappear in the thick of darkness and the eye cannot perceive any object (in darkness); the eye and the crystal need sunlight to see and shine respectively. Siva provides sunlight of knowledge to the soul to cognize an object.
The soul is compared to an owl which is naturally equipped with the nictitating membrane in addition to the eyelids. The owl closes its eyes with its nictitating membrane and prevents light from entering its eyes. In like manner, the soul is covered by Anava Mala preventing the light of knowledge reaching the soul.)
Since the
individual soul (Jiva) is trapped inside the body, he is a ksetrajna, bound by
body, mind, and sense organs and therefore is called Nitya-baddha (eternally
bound soul). He can obtain liberation by controlling his mind and senses. The other Ksetrajna is known as Nitya mukta,
who lives free in Vaikuntha. For the soul to go
into Vaikuntha is like buying a one-way ticket to eternal bliss (it is like
crossing the Rubicon); the soul never leaves Vaikuntha once it arrives there. The individual
soul is like a tenant in the body and the Paramatman is like the Landlord. The
Lord can evict the soul from the body (physical
death)
and either takes the soul ito Vaikuntha or relocate it in another body-house. The
Jiva-ksetrajna knows something about his field. The Lord knows and owns all
jiva-ksetrajnas (all souls) and their bodies and therefore He is the Supreme Ksetrajna, the Supreme
Knower.
As Prana
(breath), sense organs, mind, and intelligence are unable to wake up the body
of a sleeping person, the indwelling jiva-ksetrajna wakes up a person.
There are five
sheaths in the body or the field: food, vital air, mind, Vijnāna, and
bliss. Bliss or Anandamāyā kosa or causal body is the innermost
layer, and knowing bliss as one's own form is knowledge. Even though the Self
is not a manifest object, its presence is palpable in all experiences of the
body. The difference between the individual self and the Higher Self is the
latter is free from the limits and conditions of beings (with individual self).
It is not
the endless study of the Vedas; it is not standing on one leg (until it
withers) for a thousand years; it is not the sacrifices, pilgrimages, and
prayers; these are not the path to Bliss. True knowledge is to understand that liberation is to know Brahman,
and giving up the I-consciouness, mine-ness, passions, and dualities.
Self, Soul,
and Higher Self are equivalents; lower self, "self,” soul, and individual
self are equivalents.
13.1: Sri Bhagavan said:
This body, O son of Kunti, is
called the field; he, who knows this, is called the knower of the field. Those
who know this say thus.
The
implication here is that not everybody knows who the knower of the field is.
13.2: Know Me as the Knower of the field in all fields, O Bharata. The
knowledge of the field and its Knower is knowledge in My opinion or mind.
Ksetrajnnam:
Knower of the field. Ksetra: Field. Ksetrajana is the Lord. He is the Knower of
all fields.
He is the
Knower and the Witness in the bodies of gods and men. His ksetra or the field
is the universe and the beings. He is the Soul also of gods and Men.
He binds all
beings from the highest to the lowest: All beings are strung together like
flowers on a thread; man is a bead or a bud on the thread of the conscious Higher Self;
thus, that Self or that thread is the Inner Controller. He is the earth, and is
in the earth, but the earth knows not. He is the inner controller: He is
all-pervasive in both the sentient and the insentient.
The whole
world proceeds from the Imperishable Brahman. Brahman delegates Himself to
become Isvara, the personal God, and in that transformation, He becomes the
Mayin and exercises His māyā power. The Prakriti that projects is
māyā itself; here māyā is both the power of the Mayin and
the projected Prakriti. Māyā is both the cause and the effect: you
know the cause when you see the effect, and Mayin (Isvara) owns both.
Māyā is Sakti/power, which Siva uses to create this universe: This is
the Saivaite view. Ramanuja believes the creative power remains in Lord Vishnu
(in the form of Brahma). (According to Sankara, this union between Self and
"non-self” is the basis of adhyāsa or superimposition.) The Lord is
the Knower or the enjoyer of both the prakriti and the individual souls. The
individual self is also a knower or an enjoyer of this matter (prakriti) in his
own limited field: his body is his ksetra or field and he falsely identifies
himself as the body.
13.3: What the field is; what kind it is; what its transformations are;
what its source is; what he is; who he is; and what his dominion is, hear from
Me briefly.
Let Me tell
you briefly about the field, its nature, its modifications, its source, its
purpose, who the individual self is, the nature of the self, and its dominion.
13.4: The rishis sang this in
many ways, in various Vedic hymns, and aphorisms of Brahma sutra with logic,
reason, and certainty.
(The sages sang this in many
ways, in various hymns and aphorisms of Brahma sutra, with logic, reason, and
certainty.)
13.5: The great elements, the egoism, the intellect, the unmanifested,
the senses, the mind, and the five sense objects.
13.6: Desire, hatred, pleasure and pain; the body as an agglomerate (of
25 elements), consciousness, and firmness: this is the field briefly described
with their modifications.
Sanghatah:
agglomerate. Cētana: consciousness. Dhrutih: firmness. Savikāram: modification.
Panchadasi (Chapter five) defines consciousness as follows: Consciousness is that by which a man hears, sees, speaks, tells different tastes apart. Brahman is the consciousness present in the gods, humans, horses, cows.
Each one of
us (body) is an agglomerate of 24 elements and consciousness: earth, water,
fire, air, ether (5); vision, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching (10);
eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin (15); speech, grasp, locomotion, excretion
and generation (20); buddhi, ego, mind and Avyakta (24). These 24 elements
collectively called field or ksetra are subject to modifications
(Savikāram): desire, hatred, pleasure and pain, experiences of life events
and the final release, moksa. The individual self moves intimately in the
elements and their modifications. The mode of behavior deeply rooted in the
above elements finds firmness or anchor in the following: Sattva, goodness;
Rajas, passion; or Tamas or darkness, which undergo modifications. The ultimate
goal of all these modifications is to attain liberation by becoming totally
Sattvic.
The five great elements are
earth, water, fire, air, and ether. Ahankāra is the ego, Buddhi is the
intellect, and Avyaktam is the unmanifest. The five senses are vision, hearing,
smelling, tasting and touching (touch sense) served by the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.
These are sensory Jnānendriyas. The "eater” or the enjoyer of the
senses is bhoktar. The sense organs are different from senses and the five objects
of senses are motor functions: speech, grasp, locomotion, excretion, and
generation served by (Karmendriyāni) larynx, hands, feet, rectum, and
genitals. The doer of these is kartar. Now we have five sensory functions and
five motor functions with corresponding organs. Add to this the manas, the
ahankara, and the buddhi. Manas (mind) has a dual function, both sensory
and motor. If mind does not pay attention, sensory and motor functions of the
respective Indriyas (organs) do not occur. You look but you do not see when your mind is
not functional. On the sensory side, mind observes, evaluates, and determines
the sensory input such as vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. On the
motor side, actions are initiated, after the sensory input undergoes evaluation
by the mind and buddhi.
Tanmatras namely sound, touch, color, taste, and smell are the subtle, supersensible, rudimentary and nonspecific particles from which the gross elements namely akasa, air, fire, water, and earth evolve respectively. There are two divisions in the gross (great) elements (Mahabhutas): Amurtta and Murtta, the formless and the formed. Akasa and air are formless elements, while fire, water and earth formed.
Panchadasi (2.88) says that Akasa is the most extensive element compared to the rest. Quantitatively starting from air each element is 10% of the former element. It attributes this statement to Puranas.
The
tanmatras (merely that) are nonspecific in the sense that they lack qualities (according
to Samkhya philosophy) such as Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas or calmness,
turbulence and delusion. When the transformation takes place from the subtle to
the gross, the gross elements acquire qualities. These gross elements again in
turn are responsible for products downstream such as hearing, tactile sense,
vision, taste, and smell collectively called sensory functions. The latter have
corresponding peripheral organs to receive the respective sensations, namely the
ear, the skin, the eyes, the tongue, and the nose, which again have their own
respective brain centers.
|
Tanmātras
― Subtle Elements |
Sound |
Touch |
Color |
Taste |
Smell |
|
Gross
Elements |
Ākāsa
(Ether) |
Air |
Fire |
Water |
Earth |
|
Sensations |
Hearing |
Tactile sense |
Vision |
Taste |
Smell |
|
Ears |
Skin |
Eyes |
Tongue |
Nose |
|
|
Brain centers |
Auditory center |
Sensory cortex |
Visual cortex |
Gustatory center |
Olfactory center |
The Tanmatras have specific names: Sabda Tanmatra (sound), Sparsa Tanmatra (touch), Rupa Tanmatra (color and form), Rasa Tanmatra (taste), and Gandha Tanmatra (smell). Sound abides in Sabda Tanmatra; same premise applies to all Tanmatras.
These
Tanmātras are the subtle physical counterparts of sense perceptions:
hearing, tactile sense, vision, taste, and smell. The subtle element that
travels from the flower to the nose is tanmātra. The five bhūtas (the
gross elements), ether, air, fire, water, earth evolve from Tamasic tanmātras. The
dominant element's space or compartment consists of half (50%) of the dominant
element and one eighth (12.5%) each of the other four elements. None of the
reconstituted gross elements is pure in each compartment. We know now the
gross elements developed from the subtle elements and so it is reasonable to
deduce the gross elements exude subtle elements. For the gross elements to
acquire the gunas (qualities), Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas (calmness, turbulence,
and delusion) during the transformation from the subtle elements, the gross
elements had to become compounds representing one dominant element and four
other contaminants.
Compartment one, Ether: 50% is Ether and 12.5% each of air, fire, water, and earth.
Compartment two, Air:
50% is
Air and 12.5% each of ether, fire, water, and earth.
Compartment three, Fire: 50% is fire and 12.5% each of ether, air, water, and earth.
Compartment four, Water: 50% is
water and 12.5% each of ether, air, fire, and earth.
Compartment five, Earth:
50% is
earth and 12.5% each of ether, air, fire, and water.
Compartment four, Water: 50% is
water and 12.5% each of ether, air, fire, and earth.
Let us take water: 50% is water; Water is Hydrogen and oxygen; if you take the atoms, there is space. It is mixed with air (think of fish extracting oxygen from water). Water has Fire in it, meaning there is heat in water. When you remove heat from water it becomes ice. It has earth in it meaning it has minerals, which contributes to the taste of the water.
Table13.06 table: From the subtle and the finer elements, to the gross, to the sensory, to the Command and Control Center (Buddhi and Purusa), and to the motor organs: Chain of events go from the top to the bottom.
One example: Sound becomes
Ether, which upon its gross manifestation becomes hearing; the latter needs an
organ to receive the hearing. The peripheral organ needs pathways, central
processing organ and organ of response to the sound -- Vestibulocochlear
pathway, going to auditory region (Temporal lobe), Mind, Buddhi and Purusa,
Mind, Motor cortex and actions.
|
Subtle and nonspecific |
Subtle and nonspecific |
Subtle and nonspecific |
Subtle and nonspecific |
Subtle and nonspecific |
|||||
|
SOUND |
TOUCH |
COLOR |
TASTE |
SMELL |
|||||
|
Air 12.5%
Fire
12.5%
water 12.5%
Earth 12.5% |
Ether 50%
|
Ether 12.5%
Fire 12.5%
Water 12.5%
Earth 12.5% |
Air 50%
|
Ether 12.5%
Air 12.5%
Water 12.5%
Earth 12.5% |
Fire 50% |
Ether 12.5%
Air 12.5%
Fire 12.5%
Earth 12.5% |
Water 50% |
Ether 12.5%
Air 12.5%
Fire 12.5%
Water 12.5% |
Earth 50%
|
|
ETHER |
AIR |
FIRE |
WATER |
EARTH |
|||||
|
Gross and Specific |
Gross and Specific |
Gross and Specific |
Gross and Specific |
Gross and Specific |
|||||
|
Hearing |
Touch |
Vision |
Tasting |
Smelling |
|||||
|
Ears |
Skin |
Eyes |
Tongue |
Nose |
|||||
|
Vestibulocochlear |
Sensory Pathways |
Visual Pathways |
Taste Pathways |
Olfactory Path. |
|||||
|
Auditory region of the cerebral cortex |
Somatic sensory region of the
cortex |
Visual region of cerebral
cortex |
Gustatory region of cerebral
cortex |
Olfactory region of cerebral
cortex |
|||||
|
Mind |
Mind |
Mind |
Mind |
Mind |
|||||
|
Buddhi & Purusa |
Buddhi & Purusa |
Buddhi & Purusa |
Buddhi & Purusa |
Buddhi & Purusa |
|||||
|
Mind |
Mind |
Mind |
Mind |
Mind |
|||||
|
Motor Cortex |
Motor Cortex |
Motor Cortex |
Motor Cortex |
Motor Cortex |
|||||
|
Motor Organs-Karmendriya |
Motor Organs-Karmendriya |
Motor Organs-Karmendriya |
Motor Organs-Karmendriya |
Motor Organs-Karmendriya |
|||||
Tanmātras is special to the Sankhya system, one of its greatest contributions. Mātra-Tan means "merely that". All objects and beings emanate tanmātras, subtle, supersensible and fine elements all the time. Let me give you an easily understood phenomenon. All warm-blooded beings emanate heat; that heat is fire, which traces its origin to the Rupa Tanmātra "Color and shape." All of us can detect that heat without any problem. We also emanate many other tanmātras, which only yogis can detect. You know that a shark can detect the tanmātra that emanates from a minute amount of blood spilled in the ocean within the range of its special sense. We do not have that ability. Likewise a bitch (a female dog) exudes pheromones in the urine during estrus, which is detected by the male dog many miles away. The proof is that the male dog goes out looking for the female dog. That is Tanmatra. We don't have that ability. Now you see how yogis can detect tanmātras that we miss. You can see the same phenomenon in the psychics. The dead bodies exude tanmātras that a psychic can sense, which we cannot detect. Vivekananda says the temples and places of worship emanate good tanmātras, which augment and strengthen the Sattvic quality in the devotees. When Sattvic yogis go to these temples of worship, the place acquires more beneficial tanmātras. You may call these tanmātras as vibrations.
Ether comes from elemental sound. Sound is
primal. OM is primal. Akāsa is ether, the stem substance. Ether is
perceived as sound.
Air comes
from elemental sound and touch, and is primarily perceived as touch.
Fire comes
from elemental sound, touch, and color, and is perceived primarily as color and
form or shape.
Water comes from
elemental sound, touch, color, and taste, and is perceived primarily as taste.
Earth comes
from elemental sound, touch, taste and color, and is primarily perceived as
smell.
Each gross
element, as you see, becomes a compound when it is combined with other elements.
The gross
elements, gross body, and their connection:
Table: