THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 13 VERSE 32 KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 32

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

TEXT IN TRANSLATION:

yathaa sarvagatam saukshmyaad aakaasam no ‘palipyate

sarvatraa ‘vasthito dehe tathaa ‘tmaa no ‘palpiyate

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN TAMIL:

yathaa = as: sarvagatam = the all-pervading: saukshmyaat = because of its subtlety: aakaasam = ether: na = not: upalipyate = is tainted: sarvatra = everywhere: avasthitah = seated: dehe = in the body: upalipyate = is tainted.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

As the all-pervading Akasa is not tainted, by reason of its subtlety, so the Self-seated in the body everywhere, is not tainted. 

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Solidity, liquidity, gaseity—water is in all these three states. Among them, its vapour state defies being dirtied because of its subtlety. The sky is the subtlest among the five elements. It, therefore, remains untainted by the others. Finally, there is nothing subtler than is nothing to taint Him.

The sky is all-pervading. Bodies such as the planets are not able to cut and cleave it in parts. Parallel to it the Chit-akasa or Brahman is all-pervading. The physical forms of beings do not and cannot cleave Him. He is neither attached to the bodies nor is tainted by them.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Jnana and ajnana, good and evil, dharma and adharma—dualities such as these do not gain access to Brahman who is beyond them and unaffected by them.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Ether pervades everything. All are immersed in it. There is no point whereunto ether does not penetrate and pervades and yet it is not tainted by anything. Even so the Self pervades the whole body and the whole world. Being subtler than the body the Self is never tainted by it or anything else. It is unattached and actionless. It has no parts or limbs. So virtuous and vicious actions cannot contaminate the Self. It is ever pure and stainless.

Comments by the blogger:

Among the five elements, the sky is the subtlest one.

There is a Upanishadic account that before the creation of this Cosmos the Lord went into meditation. That He created the Prana or the essential Life-force or Energy and the Sky. God further thought that they would create the Cosmos for Him!

Thus the basis for the whole world is the conglomeration of Prana and the Sky!

Take anything or article, and divide the same continuously till the irreducible atom remains. Of course, we can’t reduce or divide the atom. If the atom is magnified so that it becomes as big as a circus tent, all the atomic particles, its nucleus forming the electron and neutron all these would be magnified to resemble in size a single mustard seed! So when you get this mustard seed what does remain in that magnified atom, that is, the circus tent? Well, there is nothing but the Ether! Just imagine! In an irreducible atom or matter, almost all the space is filled by nothing but the Ether! Now go back to that Upanishadic account as to how God created the World; well, God created Prana and the Sky and out of them the whole world came into existence! And the Upanishads came into existence several thousands of years from now! Since the atom is the basic personality of every being and non-being here, the ether and the energy form our Personality!

So the Ether is the subtlest among the five elements, Ok?

And the Ether or Sky pervades the whole world. everything here is filled pervasively by the Ether!

But, in spite of its subtlety, the Ether is nothing but one of the elements forming the basic ingredients of the Whole World. The Atman in our body is a minute portion of God, the Creator. And the Atman inheres the whole of our body. But it is not stained by any actions done by the body. And this Atman is nothing but God!