THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 13, VERSE 14, KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 14

KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND KSHETRAJNA:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

sarvendriya gunaabhaasam sarvendriya vivarjitam

asaktam sarvabhrrch chai ‘va nirgunam gunabhoktrr cha

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

Sarva indriya gunna aab haasam = shining by the functions of all sense: sarva indriy vivarjitam = without the senses: asaktam = unattached: sarvabhrrt = supporting all: cha = and: eva = even: nirgunnam = devoid of Gunas: gunnabhoktr = experience of the Gunas: cha = end.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without the senses; Absolute, yet sustaining all; devoid of Gunas, yet, He experiences them.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The sunlight enables us to see colourful forms in their true perspective. It may be said that the sunlight reveals itself as the interpreter of all forms and colours. While apparently assuming forms and hues, sunlight is not in itself with form and colour. It is unattached to all these modifications, Chaitanya Atman, plays a role similar to that of the sunlight. Consciousness lights up the senses and aids them function in their respective wont. Brahman or the Absolute Awareness is also known as the Chidaakaasa. It is the substratum to the cinema pictures projected on it. The pictures do not get their colours from the screen, nor is the screen affected by those colours. Still the three Gunas are not in Brahman. All the same, Brahman aids the Gunas shine in their colours and characteristics. The awareness of the Gunas is possible because of the background of Brahman, who is all Awareness.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANADA

Both the aspects, that with form and that without form, belong to the same God. Faith in the one implies faith in the other. The fire and its heating property cannot be separated one from the other. The sun and the sunbeams are inseparable. Milk and its whiteness are inseparable. Similarly, Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman are one and the same. It is not possible to conceive of the one to the exclusion of the other.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

This verse makes out that the Supreme is the mutable and the immutable, the all and the one. He sees all but not with the physical eye. He hears all but not with the physical ear. He knows all but not with the limited mind. Cp. Svetaasvatara Upanishad., III, 19. “He sees without the eye, He hears without the ear.” The immensity of the Supreme is brought out by the attribution of qualities (adhyaaropa) and denial (apavaada).

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Brahman sees without eyes, hears without ears, smells without a nose, eats without a mouth, feels without skin, grasps without hands, walks without feet. “He is the unseen seer, the unheard hearer, the unthought thinker. Other than Him there is no seer, no hearer, no thinker. He is the Self, the Inner Ruler, the Immortal.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad III. 7.23). He is free from the qualities of Nature and yet He is the enjoyer of the qualities.

All the senses: The five organs of knowledge and the five organs of action, the inner senses, mind and intellect come under the term ‘all the senses.’ The organs of action and those of knowledge perform their functions in conjunction with the mind and the intellect. They cannot function independently. Therefore, the mind and the intellect are included in the term ‘all the senses’.

Brahman is transcendental and unmanifest, but It manifests Itself through the limiting adjuncts of the external and the internal senses. As It is destitute of the senses It is unattached and yet It supports all. It is the supportor substratum of everything. It is destitute of the qualities of Nature and yet It is the enjoyer of those qualities. Brahman is really mysterious.

This verse is taken from the Svetasvataropanishad 3.17. 

Comments by the blogger:

As Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said, all the Scriptures may be said to have been soiled by spittle! Because all the Scriptures have been and are still learned by heart and recited by human beings. While reciting the mantras and slokas and sutras of various Scriptural Texts belonging to Hinduism, the words and the resultant sounds thereof roll on the tongue and so they may be spoken of as stained by human spittle!

But the same is not the case with Brahman.

For no one has been able to describe what exactly is Brahman.

To say the Brahman has no hands, feet, mouth, skin, nose and ears and mind and intellect is not a good description of Brahman. He has nobody. So all the karmendrias and gnanedriyas cannot be ascribed to Brahman. Brahman is so very subtle that It cannot be formed in the human mind as an entity. There is nobody or senses for Brahman, the Ultimate Truth, Reality and God. Like that, Atman is also easy of explanation. But we may say the Atman in the individual human beings, the Universal Atman and Brahman are one and the same, and as such, Brahman cannot be described in terms of Atman. But in Srimad Bhagavd Gita both Atman and Brahman are described in a roundabout way and manner. Gita says that Atman is so subtle that It is smaller than an atom and so big and huge as the Universe. The Universe is the body of Brahman. He created this Universe from an atom of His Self. And the remainder is called Turiya, and It does not suffer any lessening because of the creation of this Universe. Gita further says that in Atman there is no action. That Atman cannot be cut with a knife, dampened by water, burnt by fire, etc., and Its station in the Human Body is called the Hirudhaya, which is different from the human heart. And Brahman also is described in a roundabout way. Sloka or Verse 13.14 says and describes Brahman as shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without the senses; Absolute, yet sustaining all; devoid of Gunas, yet, Brahman experiences them!

Brahman can be experienced if we purify our minds and then indulge in meditation for years together! But even after experiencing Brahman it is not possible to describe Brahman in human terms. Brahman acts through all the senses. Because of the proximity of Brahman all actions of the beings like Man and insentient things like the revolving and numberless planets in the sky are carried out. But Brahman has no senses. It is Absolute and does not know anything about the limiting adjuncts. Though Brahman is independent and depends on none or nothing, It sustains all the bodies of the planets and the earthly beings. The whole Universe revolves in Brahman, yet Brahman is so very subtle that It is minuter than an atom!