THE HOLY GITA

Friday 1 March 2019

THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 13 VERSE 29 KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 13
VERSE NUMBER 29
KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA:
TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:
prakrrtyai ‘va cha karmaani kriyamaanaani sarvasah
yahh pasyati tathaa ‘tmaanam akartaaram sa pashyati
SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:
prakrrtyaa = by Prakriti: eva = alone: cha = and: karmaani = actions: kriyamaanaani = being performed: sarvasah = all: yahh = who: pasyati = sees: tathaa = so also: aatmaanam = the self: akartaaram = actionless: sahh = he: pasyati = sees.
TEXT IN ENGLISH:
He verily sees, who sees that all actions are done by Prakriti alone and that the Atman is actionless.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Heat and light are inherent in the sun. Even so Prakriti is inherent in Brahman. But on this account, Brahman undergoes no modification or pollution. Prakriti or Sakti is full of activities. The body of the Jnaani belongs to Prakriti. Activities, therefore, may go on to any extent in it. The supreme state of the Jnaani is in no way affected by it. He, the Atman is actionless, while the body which is seemingly his, is full of activities. He who intuits this is the enlightened one.

SRIMAT SWAMI  RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

I adore Him as Brahman, who is all Awareness unaffected by activities such as creation, preservation, and destruction. I adore He as Sakti, or Maya or Prakriti who carries on all these activities regularly in the proximity of the actionless Brahman.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

The true self is not the doer but only the witness. It is the spectator, not the actor. Sankarar says that there is no evidence to show that there is any verity in him who is non-agent, unconditioned and free from all specialties, as there is no variety in the sky. Actions affect the mind and understanding and not the self.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Nature is responsible for all activities. The Self is beyond all action. It is the silent witness only. He who experiences thus is the real seer or sage.
He who knows that all actions proceeding from the five organs of knowledge, the five organs of action, the mind and the intellect are prompted by Nature and that the Self is actioneless, really
sees. He alone sees. He who identifies himself with the body, the mind and the senses and foolishly thinks that the Self is the actor is an ignorant man. He sees only with the physical eyes. He has no inner eye of intuition. The sky remains motionless but the clouds move across the sky. Even so, the Self is actionless, but Nature does everything. The Self is destitute of any limiting adjunct. Just as there is no variety in ether, so also there is no variety in the Self. It is one homogeneous essence. It is free from any kind of characteristics. (Cf. III.27; XIV. 19; XVIII.16)

Comments by the blogger:
The Self or the Rig-vedic Atman is totally actionless. But all actions in the body happens because of the presence of the Self in the body. The Lord Himself has stated that all actions happen here on the earth because of his proximity. So when we hold that the Self is devoid of action of any kind, the body is full of actions. Likewise, the Universal Self or Intelligence is actionless. But owing to the proximity of the same all actions happen in the Prakriti.  Thus the Brahman is without any action.
Here there is room for doubts of all kinds.
One may ask that if the Self is totally actionless how to justify the previous utterances of the Lord of Gita that when we die our Atman or Soul discards this body as one would his or her old and tattered dress and enter into a new body? Is discarding our old body on behalf of the Atman or Soul an action in itself? And then it is said that the Atman or Soul, after our death, enters into a new body.  Is entering into a new body by the Atman or Soul an action in itself? Not only these, but it is also said in the Gita that the Atman or Soul takes a new body after our death and enjoys sensual pleasures through the senses of the new body! So it must be held that the Atman or Soul enjoys this world through the medium of our sense organs.  Then how could it be held that the Atman or Soul is devoid of all actions?
The above said questions might sound as very pertinent at the first flush, but a faithful study of the Gita teaches us that the Atman or Soul is actionless indeed! The very act of our death takes place when our individual Praraptha Karmas come to an end. When the end comes to us it just means there is no Praraptha Karma to be worked out in this innings on the plane of the world. But we have the unexpended accumulation of Karmas which have accumulated in the course of our many births in the past. Then there are the impressions of the mind in the form of wanting to enjoy many worldly things accumulated in the present birth! So, once death occurs the Atman or Soul, Intellectual, Mind and the Sub-conscious with their inexperienced wants and desires go to one of the Worlds as mentioned in my comments previously. In that Loka or the World, the Soul or the Atman’s proximity enables the Intellectual and the Mind and the Sub-conscious to enjoy for all the good things we did on the earthly plane before our death. When the enjoyment in that Loka comes to an end, the sheaths of the Soul, the Intellectual, the Mind and the Sub-conscious go along with the Atman or Soul into a new body and come back to this earth. In that the accumulated Karmas in many past lives known as the Sanchita Karma contribute some Karmas and the last thought that had occurred to us just before our death join together in the making of the new fund of the Praraptha Karma with which the Soul and the Mind and the Intellectual and the Sub-conscious return back to the earth’s plane to lead a brand new life!
So either way, the Atman or the Soul does not take any part in the Karma, either the present Praraptha Karma or the Sanchita Karmas of the past lives. But the proximity of the Soul or the Atman makes the Mind, Intellectual and the Sub-conscious to indulge in a new set of actions and activities and thus expend the Praraptha Karma. Either here in the World or in the Nether World the Atman or the Soul does not stain itself by indulging in any action!
Till our emancipation or God-realisation, the Soul with Its sheaths should come back time and time again to this World. But when we, at some birth, either through Yoga or Right actions devoid of any selfishness or desire to enjoy the fruits of the actions, we, our Atman or Soul do not return back to this World’s plane. With that, according to the Adhuaidha Philosophy, the Atman or Soul enters into God and become part and parcel of God. And according to the Saivism, the Atman does not mingle with the Maker of this World but exists in Heaven depending upon God. For the Saivism hold that the Atman or Soul had originally was in Heaven depending upon God. Then when It was sent to this world the same Atman or Soul exists depending upon the Prakriti or Nature or the Cosmos. Thus the very nature of the Soul or the Atman is Its dependence either on God in Heaven or the Prakriti or Nature or the Cosmos in this World. For the Atman or Soul cannot exist on Its own.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

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