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Bhagavad-Gita: 18 Chapters in Sanskrit

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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.

 

 

 

 09/21/2017

 

Chapter Seven:  Knowledge and Realization

 

The ultimate or irreducible reality is 'Spirit' in the  sense of Pure Consciousness (Chit, Samvit) from out of  which as and by its Power (Shakti), Mind and Matter  proceed. Spirit1 is one. There are no degrees or differences in Spirit. The Spirit which is in man is the one Spirit which is in everything and which, as the object of worship, is the Lord (Ishvara) or God. Mind and Matter are many and of many degrees and qualities. Atma or Spirit as such is the Whole (Purna) without section (Akhanda). Mind and Matter are parts in that Whole. They are the not-whole (Apurna) and are the section (Khanda). Spirit is infinite (Aparichchhinna) and formless (Arupa). Mind and Matter are finite (Parichchhinna) and with form (Rupa).  Atma is unchanged and inactive. Its Power (Shakti) is active and changes in the form of Mind and Matter. Pure Consciousness is Chit or Samvit. Matter as such is the unconscious. And Mind too is unconscious according to Vedanta. For all that is not the conscious self is the unconscious object. This does not mean that it is unconscious in itself. On the contrary, all is essentially consciousness, but that it is unconscious because it is the object of the conscious self. For mind limits Consciousness so as to enable man to have finite experience. There is no Mind without consciousness as its background, though supreme Consciousness is Mindless (Amanah).

1 'Spirit is Atma which manifests as the Self. Its vehicles are Mind  or Antahkarana working with Manas and the Senses or Indriyas, and Matter, namely, the five kinds of Bhuta or sensible matter.

Where there is no mind (Amanah), there is no limitation. Consciousness remaining in one aspect unchanged changes in its other aspect as active Power which manifests as Mind and Body. Man then is Pure Consciousness (Chit) vehicled by its Power as Mind and Body.  Woodroffe, Serpent Power, page 26-27.

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11   'Verily, that Imperishable, O Gargi, is unseen but is the Seer, is unheard but is the Hearer, unthought but is the Thinker, unknown but is the Knower. There is no other Seer but this, there is no other Hearer but this, there is no other Thinker but this, there is no other Knower but this. By this Imperishable, O Gārgi, is space woven like warp and woof.' -

Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad   The Principal Upaniṣads  Page 233.      Dr. Radhakrishnan.     

 

 

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.

 

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 River of Samsāra separates the phenomenal world from the Real; there is no toll, and the password is Self-knowledge. Hazardous materials of the phenomenal world have no permission to go on the bridge to the other side, the land of the Real.

 

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.  

Taittiriya Upanishad (2.1.1) says that from the Self rose ether, which in a downstream fashion sequentially gave rise to air, fire, water, earth, herbs, food, and man. The previous element was the emanative factor for the next entity.

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.

 

Pancha Maha Yajna: Five Great Sacrifices and Pancha Nitya Karmas (Five obligatory duties) are prescribed to the twice-born and observed for peace, material prosperity and spiritual enlightenment. These pentads celebrate the elements (Ether, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth) revealed in the sacrifice, the elemental gods (Akash, Devata of Ether; Vayu, Devata of air; Agni, Devata of fire; Varuna, Devata of water; and Prithvi, Devata of earth), the gods in the Ether; Agni, the messenger god on earth, middle space and the abode of gods; men, fauna and flora on earth; the parents and forefathers on earth or in Pitra loka; Brahma, Vedas and Rishis.... 

 

1) Deva Yajna: This is celebration and worship of Ether and gods in idols, images... with Mantras, offering of Ghee (clarified butter), milk products, and sticks in the sacred fire. The invoked and enlivened Mantras and the awakened fire god carry the oblations to the gods, who in return shower blessings on humanity.  Man by his Yajna begs for forgiveness of Apacharas (improper conduct).

2) Brahma Yajna: Brahma is Vedas; Vedas are Brahma. Rishis (sages) and Brahma are worshipped with recitation and chanting of and meditation on Vedas.

3) Pitri Yajna: This involves fire sacrifice in the worship of parents and forefathers with the offering of rice balls and water.  Rice the earth element, fire element and water element are celebrated.

4) Bhuta Yajna: This is the celebration and worship of all god's creatures (all Fauna and Flora). It involves feeding of animals, birds, ants and animals around the house. In south India, the woman draws simple or elaborate designs (கோலம்) in the front porch with rice flour, so that the ants come, eat and carry them away. In many households, even among the poor and the indigent, this is a daily event.

5) Nara Yajna: This is the celebration and worship of man. The householder offers food to the needy.

 

In these Fire Sacrifices, all five elements, the elemental gods, the parents and the manes, the family deity, and Ishta Devata (god of your liking) are celebrated and worshipped.

 

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. Krishna says, “By me, my unmanifest form, all this world is pervaded. All beings subsist in me, but I do not rest in them. My Self is the source and support of all beings.” When Lord Krishna says that He does not rest in them, He means He does not need them for His existence or sustenance.

 

            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.

 

Jagat: Jagat means a moving thing; thus, the world is a moving thing.

All that moves in this world is in motion in the immutable Spirit or Supreme Consciousness. In the phenomenal world, from the sun and the planets down to the individual atom are in motion. There is movement in the atomic level in the apparently unmoving fixed object, like the trees.... There is movement in dead matter. It is jada or inert because it is incapable of mental or physical action. It is unconscious (Acit or Acetanam) in the ordinary sense of the word. Consciousness sleeps in stone, feels in flora, senses in fauna and thinks in man. A man can be Cit or Acit as in a normal man or in an unconscious man. Take a sculptor; he 'brings life' to a dead stone. From an atom in motion, plants, animals, man and Yogi, Consciousness is progressively less and less veiled; in the Yogi, Consciousness is most revealed. God is Superconsciousness or Universal Consciousness. Consciousness as in Cit is not just being awake and ambulant but more. It has sentience.

Man is made of minerals and yet man is not mineral in the sense the minerals in man display consciousness and sentience, sine qua non of being man.

Mind, Ego, and Buddhi are the way we apprehend the external world; Chit is way we (Yogi) apprehend the Inner World: the Universal Consciousness (UC). The Yogi annihilates the mind, ego and buddhi before he apprehends the UC. The outbound apprehenders cannot apprehend the inbound UC by internal journey.

 

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 Nāra. (Nāra: the waters of the causal ocean. Ayana: the resting-place.) Therefore, his name is Narāyana, the resting place of causal ocean. He releases His seeds in the waters and from the seed, grows an egg, from which Brahma comes forth. The half-shells become heaven and earth. Non-Being was the progenitor of Being. Non-Being does not mean there is no existence to it. It simply means Non-being is an undifferentiated stem substance, while Being means the Non-Being has undergone differentiation into names and forms that we see in the universe. It was Brahman's desire that created this universe and all this actualization comes from the void or Ether or Ākāsa and his will. This exteriorized energy or mediating factor is māyā. This cosmic will is enzymatic in the formation of Being from Non-Being; it rose from Kāma, the desire to create. Rg Veda allegorizes this “Non-being” as a woman in the throes of childbirth with outstretched feet. In Rg Veda, the Vedic seers say that this was their conjecture about how this universe came about and there was no pretense in their statement. This is where the distinction between the Absolute Brahman and Isvara came about, the distinction between the Absolute Reality and personal God. The Personal God is the manifestation of the Absolute. Lord Krishna alludes to female principle here as the source. Yoni is the female generative organ; matter is feminine and Prāna; and Purusa is masculine. Prāna is breath or any force or power or phenomenon like magnetism, gravity etc. The creator is Prajapathi, a name for the nameless and formless Brahman. 

Narāyana = Nāra + Ayana = waters of the causal ocean + the resting place = Narayana is the resting place of the causal ocean.  Sumerian mythology says that the universe was created from the primeval waters that abided in the body of Nammu.  Thus, Nammu, the Sumerian Goddess and Narayana, the Hindu God were the repository of the waters of the oceans.

 

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.

 

II 1 5                Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad                      Page 185     October 6, 2013

Dr. Radhakrishnan

3. Gārgya said- 'The person who is yonder in the moon, on him, indeed, do I meditate as Brahman.' Ajātaśatru said: 'Please do not talk to me about him. I meditate on him as the great white-robed king Soma. He who meditates on him as such, for him soma is poured out (in the principal) and poured forth (in the subsidiary sacrifices) every day. His food does not get short.'

Soma is the name for the moon and the juice from the creeper which is used in the sacrifices, yajña-sādhana-bhūta-somarāja-śabdita-latā-viśeṣa. R

Pāṇḍaraḥ-vāsaḥ = white-robed. The white rays of the moon flood the earth. R quotes Vyāsārya, Pāṇḍarair aṁsubhir jagac-chādakatvāt pāṇḍara-vāsastvam

 

Page 226                       The Principal Upaniṣads               III 7 9

9 'He who dwells in the sun, yet is within the sun, whom the sun does not know, whose body the sun is, who controls the sun from within, he is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.’

Ill 7 14            Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad                     Page 227

It is not the 'sun whom all men see' but that 'whom we know with the mind.' Atharva Veda X 8 14, It is the 'light of lights ' R V I, 113 1, B G XII 17. 'Whose body is seen by all, whose soul by none.' Plato Laws 898 D. That was the true light of the world.' John I. 4;1 9, IX 5 See C U I 6 6, which speaks of an effulgent person m the solar regions who is free from evil.

 

11   'He who dwells in the moon and the stars, yet is within the moon and the stars, whom the moon and the stars do not know, whose body the moon and the stars are, who controls the moon and the stars from within, he is your self, the inner controller, the immortal.’

 

 

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 burner5luster6, 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.

Krishna is the essence in everything and everybody. “He is all things to all beings, the animate, and the  inanimate”. He is Brahman, meaning that he pervades everything, animate or inanimate, virtue and evil, good and bad, like and dislike, charity and stealth, punyam and papam, heaven and hell, creation and destruction, waking and sleep, Atma and mind, Prana and senses, atoms and molecules, consciousness and unconsciousness, bondage and liberation, war and peace, prosperity and poverty, reverence and irreverence, intelligence and stupidity, Vidya and Avidya, pride and shame, and error and rectitude.  He possesses all attributes. He is the stealth in the thief; He is the love between lovers; He is the enmity between foes; He is the sacred knowledge in Yogis; He is the knowledge in the punditahs; He is the compassion and the forgiveness in Jesus Christ; and He is the holiness in Ramana Maha Rishi and Ramakrishna Parmahamsa. He is the death and the regeneration in Siva; He is the terror in Mahā Kali (Durga). He is the dharma (duty and righteousness) in Rama and Yuddhistra; He is the valor in Arjuna. He is the heat in the fire. He is the dominant quality in anything or anybody in this universe, yet He transcends all these qualities and is never stained or affected by them. He is like the sun radiating heat and light, yet not affected by its qualities.

Krishna says in another verse:

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 Ganges River. This custom, I think, should stop, to preserve the purity and sacredness of River Ganga, though I see the reason behind it. Fire (Agni) is the son of Water and that is the reason for cremation. This simply means there is heat in the water. The saying goes that Agni went into hiding in water. When you take the heat away from the water, you get ice. Steam, water, ice (their physical status or forms) are conditional entities depending on heat. When the universe came into being (was created), water was the first product and is the elixir of immortality. Please see Supplement for details on AUM.

 

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. Kāma (desire) slowly took hold of Him; he performed Tapas. This Kāma and Tapas (austerity and sacrifice) became the driving force behind the creation. This Tapas provided the fire, the energy, and the focus, backed by desire. This formless “Self-Awareness” powered by Kāma and Tapas, bursts forth into this universe. Was it the Big Bang? It was self-sacrifice; it was Self-Immolation; and he tore Himself apart. This Tapas was the very first sacrifice of its kind in this universe. Prajapati is exhausted from this creative process, this Big Bang. He is in shreds; He is in pieces; and He is powerless from sheer exhaustion. The creatures feel their power. The creatures ignore Him; they back away from Him. Prajapati feels his weakness and powerlessness, and the creatures feel the freedom. That freedom spells trouble, there is chaos, and there is disorder. God somehow has to prove His Supremacy over His creatures and the universe. When the lesser gods gave up on the Supreme God, man came to His help. Man understands. This is the beginning of God’s Second Coming with the help of man. God has to penetrate (Vibhu) all creatures, gods, man, and the world to control them and establish order. He does that and becomes all-pervasive. (Vishnu means All-pervader.) Man by his creative and procreative abilities, becomes a helping hand, and is closer to God or Atman than all other creatures on this earth. By his own tapas, man comes even closer to God and becomes one with Him. This is the story of how man and God come closer to each other. When you read passages from Genesis, It says that creation is not a chance, but a will of God. Initially in Christian creation, there was no form, but plenty of chaos. There was propulsion in this creating entity, as Hindus believe; there was heat as in Tapas and water. It says that light came into the human beings from Him, as we say that Atman pervaded us. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” We Hindus call that Light as Atman and jivātman. Vishnu is the personification of the light and sun; He is the light in the heavenly objects, and where there is light, there is Vishnu. Prakriti was undifferentiated to start with and underwent differentiation and evolution. This process was methodical, linear, branching, reactive, and cascading. The reverse process of involution ending in dissolution is plain retracement.

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 Nāra; and Ayana is the resting place. He contains the causal ocean in Him and so His name is Nārayana. The waters pour down from Him; He releases His seeds into the waters; an egg (embryo) grows from the seed; Brahma comes forth from the egg; and gods, men and other creatures come forth from Brahma. See commentary on Verse 6.

 

7.11:  I am strength in the strong without desire and passion. I am desire in beings not opposed to dharma (duty, virtue and righteousness), O Arjuna.  

 

 

  November 20, 2013.

बलं बलवतां चाहं कामरागविवर्जितम् ।

धर्माविरुद्धो भूतेषु कामोऽस्मि भरतर्षभ ॥७- ११॥

balam1  balavatām2 ca3 aham4  kāma5 rāga6 vivarjitam7
dharma-aviruddhaḥ8 bhūteṣu9 kāmaḥ10 asmi11 bharata-rṣabha12  7.11. 

aham4  = I; [am] balam1 = the strength; balavatām2 = of the strong; vivarjitam7 = free from; kāma5 = desire; ca3 = and; rāga6 = passion. asmi11 = I am;  kāmaḥ10 = desire; dharma-aviruddhaḥ8 = not opposed to righteousness; bhūteṣu9 = in beings; bharata-rṣabha12  = O the Best of Bharata clan.  7.11.

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page 216  Bhagavadgita  By Dr. Radhakrishnan: Definition of Desire and Passion (kāma5 and rāga6 )

 

(7.11) I am the strength of the strong, devoid of desire and passion. In beings am I the desire which is not contrary to law, O Lord of the Bharatas (Arjuna).

  kāmarāga: desire and passion. Sakara distinguishes kāma as desire for what is absent1 and rāga as affection for what one has obtained.2 Desire as such is not evil. Selfish desire requires to be rooted out. The desire for union with the Divine is not wrong. Chāndogya Up. refers to desires as essentially real (satya), though

overlaid by what is unreal (anṛta) , VIII, 3. Our desires and activities, if they are expressive of the spirit in us and derive from the true spiritual personality, become a pure overflowing of the Divine will.

1  kamaḥ 'ṛṣṇā asannikṛṣṭesu viṣayeṣu

2 rāgaḥ, rañjanā prāpteṣu viṣayeṣu.

       

             

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.  We are born, we live and we die: we are the waves in the ocean. We merge back into the Brahman; the waves merge back to ocean.

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. Maya is like (the air and) the wind that moves unseen and yet it moves objects; you can see its effects in that you breath and live by it and the unseen wind moves objects like the limbs and branches of the trees.

Jiva (embodied soul) is described as the mirror image (Pratibimba) of Brahman in Avidya or nescience and Isvara is the prototypical clinical Brahman. Another view states that Jiva is Brahman delimited with nescience. The first example is the reflection of the face in the mirror; the second is the small pot holding the delimited space in the midst of an immeasurable vast space. Panchadasi holds the view that reflection is a phenomenon and an illusion. We are all little pots with our own little spaces. Brahman is the vast space. When the pots break, our little spaces merge with the vast space of Brahman. What is real: the image in the mirror or you standing before the mirror?  Which one is real and has substance: you or your shadow? When you move in ignorance, your shadow of ignorance follows you. In the high noon of Spiritual Realization, your shadow of spiritual ignorance disappears.

 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.

 

 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.  

 

Good and evil do not depend on the acts one does or does not, but on the frame of mind one has. The good man is he who concurs with the divine purpose, and the bad man is he who resists it. If one's mind is good, one's acts will be good. Our attempt should be not be so much external conformity as inward cleansing. From goodness of being good will and good works flow.2 When the soul is at peace, the greatest sorrows are borne lightly. Life becomes more natural and confiden. Changes in outer conditions do not disturb. We let our life flow of itself as the sea heaves or the flower blooms.

Page 107, Principal Upanisads, By Dr. Radhakrishnan.

 

 

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.

 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

 

Wealth is compared to the spokes of a wheel. It is something external. If one loses wealth, he loses only his outer trappings. He can regain wealth. It is the distinction between being and having, to use Gabriel Marcel's words.

Dr. Radhakrishnan. The Principal Upaniads. Page 178.  October 10, 2013.

 

 

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.

 

Besides worshipping the Lord, here are the five kinds of worship.

ஏகாங்க வணக்கம்: Ekanga worship. Worship with one body part. To stand before the deity with the head bowed.

திரியங்க வணக்கம்: Trianka worship. Worship with 2 body parts: Head bow with opposed hands above the head.

பஞ்சாங்க வணக்கம்: Panchanka worship. Worship with five body parts: Head bow, 2 Bent knees, 2 hands opposed.

ஷடாங்க வணக்கம்: Shatanka worship. Worship with six body parts: Forehead, two hands, chest, two knees hugging the ground.

அட்டாங்க வணக்கம்: Attanka Worship. Worship with eight body parts: Forehead, 2 shoulders, 2 hands, chest, 2 feet in prostration.

 

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. Do not lament."  Vishnu takes you to a higher heaven (Vaikuntam, Paramapadam) from which there is no return to earth of misery.

 

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, Krishna makes the devotee's faith steady. His names and forms are many, but He is One and the most Supreme. All prayers done with faith go to Him. Polytheism is the whipping boy of monistic religions like Islam; Arabs were polytheistic before they embraced Islam.  Polytheism is like the father who is also a son, a husband, an uncle, a father-in-law.... One man, many names, many faces, and many attributes are his persona. He cannot mix his roles among his characters. He is an obedient son, a loving husband, caring father, platonic lover of his daughter-in-law.... This is polytheism: one god, many names, many roles, many faces, many persona.... This is a simple concept but a hard one for other monistic religionists to comprehend.

    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 worshippersMurti = 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?  I am reminded of the humorous statement made by devout Catholics, What would Pope know about marriage....?

                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 holds 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.

 

 September 17, 2013. Prayer and Worship. The Principal Upaniṣads . Dr.Radhakrishnan. Page 50-51.

Prayer and sacrifice are means to philosophy and spiritual life. While true sacrifice is the abandonment of one's ego, prayer is the exploration of reality by entering the beyond that is within, by ascension of consciousness. It is not theoretical learning. (Chāndogya  upaniṣad  VII. 1. 2. 3.)  We must see the eternal, the celestial, the still. If it is unknowable and incomprehensible, it is yet realisable by self-discipline and integral insight. We can seize the truth not by logical thinking, but by the energy of our whole inner being. Prayer starts with faith, with complete trust in the Being to whom appeal is made, with the feeling of a profound need, and a simple faith that God can grant us benefits and is well disposed towards us. When we attain the blinding experience of the spiritual light, we feel compelled to proclaim a new law for the world.

 

 

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

 

Swami Rama Tirtha (1873-1906) was great Advaitin who was also equally at ease with Persian, Arabic as well as Sanskrit literature. 

"Hold your tongue and your staff"

A shepherd was looking after the grazing of the flock of his sheep in a jungle. He was addressing his God in his own simple way. He was saying, "O God, I have heard that Thou art very beautiful. If only once Thou could showeth Thy face, I would offer Thee milk of my best sheep. If there are any thorns in Thy soles, I would pick them and take them all out. I would rub out all dirt and impurity of Thy back, I would pick up all the lice out of Thy head. I would serve Thee with all my heart, if Thou could showeth Thy face only once, only once."

When that shepherd was talking to his God in his simple but sincere way, the Moses happened to pass that way. When he heard the shepherd making that sort of prayer to God, he lost his temper. "That is enough. Will you keep quiet now? I can no more tolerate such an insult to God. Does God need the milk of your sheep? Do the thorns prick His soles? Could there be any uncleanliness on His back? Does He have any lice in His hair?" Saying this he gave the shepherd a severe blow with his staff. The shepherd cried out in pain. Immediately Moses heard the voice of God, "O Moses, what have you done? It is unjust and unfair. Everybody is free to worship Me in his own way. Who are you to stand between Me and My devotee? You were sent to this world to induce people to be united to Me and not to separate them from Me. By hurting that shepherd, you have committed a great sin."

Hazrat Moses was very much ashamed and he apologized to the shepherd.

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September 17, 2013. A One Light (radiant God) split into Vedic Deities, who are the messengers of the God. (Messengers = Demiurges, godlings, elemental gods...)

Hymns to gods and goddesses are replaced by a search for the reality underlying the flux of things. 'What is that which, being known, everything else becomes known ?' (Muṇḍakaupaniṣad  I.1.3; see also Taittirīya upaniṣad  II. 8.) Kena upaniṣad  gives the story of the discomfiture of the gods who found out the truth that it is the power of brahman which sustains the gods of fire, air, etc. (See also bṛhad-āraṇyaka upaniṣad  III. 9. 1-10.)  While the poets of the Veda speak to us of the many into which the radiance of the Supreme has split, the philosophers of the Upaniṣads speak to us of the One Reality behind and beyond the flux of the world. The Vedic deities are the messengers of the One Light which has burst forth into the universal creation. They serve to mediate between pure thought and the intelligence of the dwellers in the world of sense. Page 48, The Principal Upaniṣads by Dr. Radhakrishnan. 

 

Nammalvar (880-930 C.E) Vaishnava Saint-poet says the following in verse 2583 of Divyaprabhandam.

 

  verse 2583 of Divyaprabhandam

ஓ ஓ! உலகினது இயல்வே--
ஈன்றோள் இருக்க மணை நீராட்டி படைத்து இடந்து
உண்டு உமிழ்ந்து அளந்து தேர்ந்து உலகு அளிக்கும்
முதலபெருஙகடவுளநிற்ப புடைபபல
தானஅறி தெய்வமபேணுதல்; தனாத
புல்லறிவாண்மபொருந்தககாட்டி
கொல்வன முதலஅல்லன முயலும
இனைய செய்கை; இன்பதுன்பஅளி
தொல் மா மாயபபிறவியுளநீங்காப
பல் மா மாயத்தஅழுந்துமாமநளிர்ந்தே!
--Verse 2583

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?

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Here is a Saivite view. I am compelled to give the opposite view for transparency and balance. Saivites regard Supreme Siva as the First, the Foremost and the All-pervader Whole (முன்னோன், முழுதோன்)

These words were uttered by a saint-poet but not by Siva Himself.

Verse 115. sivagnana siddhiar: Siva is the Foremost among gods, capable of Grace.

யாதொரு தெய்வம் கொண்டீர் அத்தெய்வம் ஆகி ஆங்கே
மாதொரு பாகனார்தாம் வருவர் மற்று அத்தெய்வங்கள்
வேதனைப் படும்; இறக்கும்; பிறக்கும் மேல் வினையும் செய்யும்;
ஆதலான் இவை இலாதான் அறிந்து அருள் செய்வன் அன்றே.
115.

Whatever god you have (may worship), Siva the Father, the Mother and PAkanar (the One beyond all Karmas) will become that god. Those gods (of other sects and religions) are subject to Vedanai (pleasure and pain). The (lesser) gods are subject to death. They take birth. They perform deeds (that generate karma). Siva devoid of all these (burden of Karma, birth and death), knowingly dispenses Grace.

 பாகனார் = pAkanAr =  One who has attained moral or spiritual ripeness. Siva beyond Karma. வேதனை = VEdanai =  Experiencing pleasure and pain. In this instance, the other gods excepting Siva are like any other human souls subject to pleasure and pain.

Here is one of the Most Celebrated Doctrines of Saivism which depicts Siva is the foremost among gods. All other sects and religion have lesser gods who are like any other soul (like us) in this world. The lesser gods have an exalted status but will never become Siva. Worshipping lesser gods gives lesser rewards. Siva does not object to or cast any aspersions on gods of other sects and religions. Siva is the only One who can dispense reward or punishment to a being according to his merit and demerit. He is the only One who can give Grace, the ultimate reward of all, which gives liberation and merger with Siva. 

The six religions are Saivism, Srivaishnavism, Saaktas, Ganapatyas, Kaumaras, and Sauras (= சைவம், வைணவம், சாக்தம், காணாபத்தியம், கௌமாரம், சௌரம் =  Worshippers of Siva, Vishnu, Mother Goddess, Ganesa, Kumara or Skanda, and Sun).

 

             

            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. India has shown the evolution of the human soul from that of a nature worshipper to one of absorption into the Brahman, Samādhi. Still there is a whole spectrum of beliefs ranging from nature worship to that of nameless and formless Brahman. 

Krishna categorically states worshipping deities like the sun, the moon, the earth, Indra and such is of limited value. Worshippers of Indra and other lesser deities do get to enjoy worldly benefits and go to svarga, which is a lower heaven compared to Krishna's (highest) heaven. They go to Indra's heaven as temporary residents, and enter Samsāra or cycle of birth and rebirth after their term ends in the lower heaven. Because Krishna is the soul of Indra and other lesser gods, the sacrifices offered to lesser gods go to Krishna, and the lesser gods do not have the authority to offer moksa or the highest liberation. The lesser gods do not have that mandate, which is inherent, and integral to Krishna. The Alvars 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 moksa, because they were praying to gods other than Vishnu.  

 

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: Union of the efficient and causal principles causes manifestation of this phenomenal world; therefore, God is the (instrumental or) efficient cause, and the material (operative or proximate) cause of the phenomenal world.

 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.

 

Krishna says that time is in Him, because he knows the past, the present and the future. As he said earlier, only the Jnānis know Him and are dear to Him. Only a few understand Him. 

 

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

 

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