THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 13
VERSE NUMBER 27
TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:
samam sarveshu bhooteshu tishtthaantam paramesvaram
vinasyatshv avinasyantam yah pasyati sa pasyati
SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:
samam = equally: sarveshu = (in) all: bhooteshu = in beings: tishtthanatam = existing: paramesvaram = the Supreme Lord: vinasyatsu = among the perishing: avinasyantam = the unperishing: yah = who: pasyati = sees: sah = he: pasyati = sees.
TEXT IN ENGLISH:
He sees, who sees the Supreme Lord, remaining the same in all beings, the undying in the dying.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Parameswara is the Chit-aakaasa or Chidambaram or the Screen of Consciousness. It is the persisting Substratum. On this screen, the perishing pictures of the Jagat and Jivatman –the universe and the beings—appear and disappear. As the cinema screen remains ever itself while the projected pictures on it come and go, the Paramatmam is ever Himself unaffected and unmodified by the appearance and disappearance of the phenomenon. The Jnaani takes note of the background, Parameswara who provides apparent life and consciousness to the Prakriti clinging on to Him. In his vision, the universe is not independent of the Paramatman. Whereas to the ignorant man, the phantom of the universe seems real while the Paramatman remains unknown.
SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The sun is spreading his light equally everywhere and he is visible in all parts of the extensive world. Still, a small patch of cloud hides him from our sight. Similarly, Maya hides the all-pervading Brahman from our cognition. When the veil of Maya is removed the Sat-chit-ananda Brahman is cognized everywhere and in all beings and things.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
He who sees the Universal Spirit in all things sees and becomes himself universal.
“Never perishing when they perish.” If all things are in a continual state of evolutionary development, then there is no unchanging God. Bergson, for example, makes God wholly immanent in the world, changing as it changes. An evolving God who is conceived as a part of the process of development of the world will cease to exist when the universe ceases to move. The second law of Thermodynamics suggests a condition of eventless stagnation and perfect rest. An evolving or emergent God cannot be either the creator or the saviour of the world. He is not an adequate object for religious emotions. In this verse, the Gita assures us that God lives and endures even when the universe ceases to exist.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
He who beholds the Supreme Lord through the inner eye of wisdom, Him who is seated in all beings from the Creator down to the unmoving objects and Who is not destroyed even when all beings are destroyed, he is said to have realised the Self.
In different kinds of fire, the heat is the same. Gold is the same in the different form of ornaments. The light from many lamps is the same. So also in all living beings, the soul is the same. The soul or the Self is uniform everywhere. The Self is the same in ants, elephants, kings, beggars, saints and rogues.
The Self is indestructible; all living beings are perishable. It is the Supreme Lord when compared to the body, senses, mind, intellect, the Unmanifested Nature and the individual soul.
Birth is the root-cause of the Bhava-Vikaras or the modifications, viz., change, growth, decay and death. The other changes of state manifest themselves after the birth of the body.
The Supreme Lord is one and changeless as He is birthless, decayless and deathless. He is the one common consciousness in all beings. He sees rightly who sees the Supreme Lord as now described. He is a Jivanmukta. He has knowledge of the knower of the field or the immortal Self. He is the real seer or a liberated sage.
The sage alone sees properly on account of knowledge. The whole world sees erroneously on account of ignorance. He who is suffering from defective vision beholds many moons. He sees erroneously. But he who sees one moon only sees in the proper manner, correctly. Even so, he who beholds the one immortal indivisible Self in all beings really sees the Truth. He alone sees. He who sees many distinct selves erroneously does not really see though he sees. He is like the man who beholds many moons. (Cf. VIII.20)
Comments by the blogger:
So the Atman of the Rig-veda is undying in the dying. When the inner essence leaves the body, it is said the body has died. But nothing untoward happens to the Soul. It leaves the body and then takes another body through which it enjoys the World. Though the Atman in the individual being has no action for itself, It gets confused on account of Maya or Illusion of the Lord and identifies with the body. This is important for the worldly life of Man. It gives place to ahankara or the Iness or the Ego, but for which life on the earth is not possible. Real Atman is utterly actionless. When a man dies the body alone perishes; that is, the gross body alone decays and dies. Then the subtle bodies in the same shape as that of the gross body before death leaves the world to other Lokas or Worlds. Lokas or Worlds are innumerable. Nevertheless, Swami Bhaskarananda says, Hinduism speaks of fourteen lokas including this earthly plane (Bhoorloka). The Lokas, according to the Swamiji, are Satyaloka, Tapoloka, Maharloka, Janaloka, Svarloka, Bhuvarloka, Bhoorloka, Atalaloka, Vitalaloka, Sutalaloka, Rasaatalaloka, Talaatalaloka, Mahaatalaloka and Paataalaloka. These Lokas are different types of Consciousness only. Our life on the plane of the earth also is a case of Consciousness. Among these Lokas the first six are considered the higher lokas, and the last seven are considered the lower lokas. When the human body dies, the Atman or Soul leaves with several subtle sheaths; the subtle body or the astral body consists of the mind, intellect, sense organs, motor organs and vital energy.
The mind leaves with all the impressions and experiences of the being’s body and these impressions become part of the Sanchita Karma. The Sanchita Karma is the accumulated experiences and impressions of all the past lives of the particular individual. From out of these karmas and the thought the man experienced at the time of death gives rise to a new set of the Praraptha Karma and this is how the Praraptha Karma is formed. And according to the Praraptha Karma, the individual Self selects a body to work out the latest Praraptha Karma.
As we saw earlier, God’s inalienable part of Soul is present in all beings. So every one of us has the Supreme Lord dwelling in us. All human beings have the one and the only Soul! This notion and knowledge are peculiar to Hinduism. The Christians are addressed at Church Mass “Oh, Sinners!” According to their theology, all human beings are Sinners and they must bear the cross of this Consciousness in their heart of hearts. Mohammedanism is an offshoot of Christianity.
But, according to Hinduism, all human beings are the Possessors of God and as and when they individually realize the Atman or Soul, they become One With God! So theoretically speaking, we are all God indeed!
Who sees God in all human beings sees properly and whoever sees in the human beings the perishable body only sees improperly. His perception is grossly defective and untenable. Nothing could be far from Truth.
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