THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 14 VERSE 03 GUNATRAYA VIBAHGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DIVISION OF THE THREE GUNAS

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 14

VERSE NUMBER 03

GUNATRAYA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DIVISION OF THE THREE GUNAS:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

mama yonir mahad brahma

     tasmin garbham dadhaamy aham

sambhavah sarvabhootaanaam

     tato bhavati bhaarata

SANSCRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

mama = my: yonih = womb: mahat brahma = germ: dadhaami = place: aham = I: sambhavah = the birth: sarva bhootaanaam = of all beings: tatah = thence: bhavati = is: bhaarata = O Bharata:

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

My womb is the Mahat Brahma (Prakriti); in that I place the germ; thence,  O Bharata, is the birth of all beings.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANANDA:

The Prakriti is called Mahat Brahma, the four-faced entity. He is constituted of the three Gunas. He is the material cause of everything movable and immovable. Whatever is manifest as the universe with its multitudinous beings is He; and His unmanifest state is immensely more. For this reason he is known as the Mahat Brahma—the great entity. All pervsiveness is His.

A seed is sown in the soil. In this act, the seed is the germ and the soil, the womb. In a baby’s coming into being, its mother and father function as the Prakriti and the Purusha respectively. This act takes place in a macrocosmic scale too. In the great womb of the Prakriti the germ of aatma chaitanya is embedded. The blissful union of the Kshetra and Kshetrajna takes place in this way, leading to the coming forth of Hiranyagarbha, the cosmic embodied being. And the countless Jeevaatmaas are none other than the rays radiating from this cosmic being. The Jivatman is also called the Kshetrajna because of his being endowed with the faculty of understanding. Variations and grades in the Jeevaatmaas are all due to the limiting adjuncts (Upaadhis) caused by desires which are all born of ignorance. Consequently the Jivatmans are all of infinite aptitudes and temperaments.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN

If we were merely products of nature, we could not attain life eternal. This verse affirms that all existence is a manifestation of the Divine. He is the cosmic seed. With reference to this world, He becomes Hiranyagarbha, the cosmic soul. Shankara says: “I unite the kshetra with the kshetrajna, giving birth to Hiranyagarbha, hence to all beings.” The Lord is the Father who deposits in the womb which is not-self, the seed which is essential life, thus causing the birth of every individual. The world is the play of the Infinite on the finite. See note on II, 12. The author here adopts the theory of creation as the development of form from non-being, chaos or night. The forms of all things which arise out of the abysmal void are derived from God. They are the seeds He casts into non-being.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

My womb is the great Nature. The cosmos is evolved out of His Nature. Nature is called the great Brahma for She is the resting place of the five subtle elements and also the Mahat (cosmic mind). She is called the great Brahma, because through Her the whole manifestation takes place.

All changes arise out of this great Nature. So She has got the name Mulaprakriti or Primordial Nature or the original principle. From the point of view of the Unamanifest She is called Avyakta. The Vedantins call Her Maya (illusion). The Sankhyas call Her Prakriti.

This Prakriti is called great because She is greater than all Her effects. This Nature made of the three qualities, is the material cause of all beings. As She is the source or cause of all Her modificastions and also nourishes all the modifications with Her energy, She is called Brahma.

I place in it (the Mahadhrahma) the embryo of life; then all beings begin to come to life therefrom. In the great Brahman or Nature I place the germ or the seed for the birth of Hiranyagarbha; and the seed gives birth to all beings. The birth of Hiranyagarbha or Brahma (the Creator) gives rise to the birth of beings. The Primordial Nature is like the clay. She cannot create the forms Herself. She gives birth to Brahma Who creates all beings just as the potter creates various forms from the clay. I am endowed with the two Saktis, viz, the superior and the inferior Natures (Cf. VII. 4 and 5), the field and its knower. I unite these two (the Spirit and the matter). The individu soul comes under the influence of the limiting adjuncts, viz., ignorance, desire and action. On account of ignorance (Avidya), the individual soul forgets his  original divine nature, gets himself entangled in the meshes of desire (Kama) and action (Karma ), and revolves in the wheel of birth and death. The individual soul turns towards ignorance without knowing his own true divine nature. The Jiva (individual soul) being overpowered by ignorance and the modifications, forgets its pristine purity and moves in various forms.

The Primordial Nature or the Unmanifested is a dark matrix with infinite potentialities. It is not a substance.  Sound and energy are in an undifferentiated state in It. The whole world gets involved into It during the cosmic dissolution. There is no relationship of substance or quality between It and the three Gunas. The qualities are the Mulaprakriti and the latter is the former in a state of poise or equilibrium. This manifested world of the three qualities is compared to a twisted rope of three colours, viz, white, red and black. Each colour represents a Guna. Sattvic is white, Rajas is red and Taas is black. The three are not in a state of equilibrium in the manifested world.

Water and the seed coming in contact with the earth produce sprouts which grow into trees. In the womb of Nature, the seed develops into the eightfold elements—earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and egoism.

There are four classes of beings, viz., Jarayuja, Andaja,  Svedaja and Udbhijja. The Jarayuja is born of the placenta (viviparous). Human beings, cows, elephants, horses, etc., belong to this class. In this variety the five senses of knowledge exist. The Ajdaja is born of eggs (oviparous). In this variety the elements of wind and ether predominate. Lice come under the categtory of Svedaja: they are born of sweat. In this variety fire and water predominate. Trees that are born of seeds are classified under the head Udhijja: in this variety earth and water predominate. (Cf. VII.6: IX. 17; XV.7)

Comments by the Blogger:

This chapter is named as THE YOGA OF THE DIVISION OF THE THREE GUNAS. This earth is a conglomeration of the Three Gunas. This is one way of understanding the Cosmic Play by the Lord. Another way to understand the same is telling that the this Cosmos is made up of the coming together of The Five Elements, namely, the earth, the water, the fire, the wind and the sky. Both of them are true. It is just a matter of looking at the Nature from a particular point. The Truth is multi faceted. Shankara says the whole Nature is nothing but Maya or Illusion. The Saivism holds that this Cosmos is true, and the individual human beings are true and both have a different role to play; and they both are eternal and imperishable. That the Jivatmas or the Individual human beings, after their emancipation and freedom from the chain and the vicious cycle of birth and death, go up to live an eternal life in the Presence of God. Thus for the Saivaits the earth, the human beings who are capable of attaining emancipation and the Lord are eternal.

Thus the same Truth is perceived from different angles. In the Principal Upanishads the Creation of this Cosmos and all the beings are explained in different creative ways. Mostly the Creation of some one of the Five elements is said to be the first element God created and that element created this world  for God. There have been great thinkers ever since the Vedic Period holding that this world is a concret one so far as the Karma Kanda of the Rig Veda is concerned they alone matter in the final anaylisis and one should studiously perform various elaborste Sacrifices stipulated in the said Karma Kanda which will fetch for longish years in the heaven. So all that matters is the various kinds of joy and enjoyment. Thus unrelieved and continuous enjoyment of the riches of the heaven are the goal for human beings, as they understood the Vedas.

This is why in Srimad Bhagavad Gita we find some stanzas that categorically hold that the Practitioners of the Four Kinds of Yogas should not give much importance to the ornate words and passages of the Vedas, as there are much in the Vedas that are very worldly and exclusively materialistic  which are not condusive for a rigorous practice of various kinds of Yogas stipulated in the Gita.  

THE HOLY YOGA CHAPTER NUMBER 14, VERSE NUMBER 02, GUNATRAYA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE DIVISION OF THE THREE GUNAS

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 14

VERSE NUMBER 02

GUNATRAYA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DIVISION OF THE THREE GUNAS

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION

idam jnanam upaashritya mama saadharrmayam aagatah

sarge ‘pi no ‘pajaayante pralaye na vyathanti cha

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

idam = this: jnaanam = knowledge: upaashritya = having taken refuge in: mama = my: saadharmyam = unity: aagataah = having attained to: sarge = at the time of creation: api = also: na = not: upajaayante = are born: pralaye = at the time of dissolution: na = not: upajaayante = are born: pralaye = at the time of dissolution: na = not: vyathanti = are (they) disturbed: cha = and.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

They who, having devoted themselves to this knowledge, have attained to unity with Me, are neither born at the time of creation, nor are they disturbed at the time of dissolution.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The doll of salt consigned to the sea loses its assumed individuality and regains its natural state. Even such is the case with the Jnaani. He gets himself identified with Brahman, who is beyond the modifications of Prakriti. Transmigrations involving him in births and deaths do not trouble and tarnish him.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Boiled paddy does not sprout when sowed in the field. But the unboiled grain keeps on propagating. The man bathed in the fire of Brahma jnana is no more troubled with births and deaths. But the ignorant one cannot escape from that ordeal.                                                                                               

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Life eternal is not dissolution into the indefinable Absolute but attainment of a universality and freedom of spirit, which is lifted above the empirical movement. Its status is unaffected by the cyclic processes of creation and dissolution, being superior to all manifestations. The saved soul grows into the likeness of the Divine and assumes an unchangeable being, eternally conscious of the Supreme Lord who assumes varied cosmic forms. It is not svaroopataa or identity but only samaanadharmataa or similarity of quality. He becomes one in nature with what he seeks, attains saadrrsyamukti. He realizes the divine in his outer consciousness and life. Cp. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Mathew v. 48. Shankara’s view is different from this. He holds that saadharmya means identity of nature and not equality of attributes.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Having resorted to this knowledge they (the sages) are assimilated into My own nature.  They have attained to My Being. They have become identical with Me. They live in Me with no thought of “thou” or “I”. They go beyond birth and death. There is no birth for them when creation begins and there is no death for them at the time of dissolution. Having reached Me they attain eternity, immortality and perfection. Having become identical with Me through the attainment of the knowledge of the Self by practising the necessary means, they are neither born at the time of creation nor are they disquieted at the time of dissolution. Knowledge of the Self is eulogised by the Lord in this verse.

Comments by the blogger:

  

What indeed happens when a man or woman is freed completly from the birth-death compulsion to which ordinary mortals like us are subjected?

One viewpoint is, as Dr.S.Radhakrishnan puts it succinctly, that the completely emancipated Souls attain to immortal life, having become freed from the yoke of the Time—the past, present and future—and partake of the attributes of God, the Creator of the Cosmos. This way the emancipated Souls shed the worldliness and go up to the loka or nether world to live a never-ending life of Pure Spirits in the presence of God. They don’t simply merge into God. This is important and should be noted and understood against the Philosophy of Sri Shankara who holds that men and women in the worldly life become, after their emancipation, one with God and merge into Him. But the other view is that the  individual expressions of the Spirit who have shed the compulsion of having to take re-births as human beings and suffer the onslaughts of the Illusion of this world become individual beings and live in Spirit in the presence of God forever.

Goutama, the Buddha did not have any faith in the existence of God. He was neither a  theist nor atheist; he simply refuses to talk about God, the Creator of the Universe as we know and understand. When asked to tell his views about God, the Buddha simply said he did not know anything about God as we understand and that he was not bothered about God. Though agreeing with the essence of the Vedas and the Upanishads, the Buddha said he did not know anything about God and he did not want to enquire about God. The Buddha agreed with the Hindu belief in re-incarnations and the soujourns of Man, the Soul, between the earthly life after being born and other-worldly life after death. He indeed preached that Man is helplessly sent back to the earthly plane to work out the accumulated Karma over the past births and thus Man has to take numberless re-births before his complete emancipation and liberation from having to be born and come back to the earthly plane again and again. Reincarnation is fundamental to Hinduism. The Buddha agrees with this belief. He says that the Desire is the reason for Man’s misery. That Desire goads Man toward unending actions and accumulate Karma again and again on the earthly plane. The man starts his journey toward complete emancipation only when he gives up Desire. But Man has to indulge in constant actions on the plane of this Earth. So Man has to live his repeated earthly life without selfish desires. Thus Gautama, the Buddha agrees with the main and fundamental teaching of The Holy Gita! We should not forget that Bhagavad Gita had come into being several thousand years before the birth of the Buddha. The Buddha also preached that Man must indulge in constant and never-ending actions on the plane of the Earth without any selfish deires in the fruits of His actions. Thus Man must reduce, birth after birth, the bundle of Karma and thus at some stage all His karma shall have been exhausted and Man will become freed even like the Buddha from having to take any more birth.

But what will happen to the completly emancipated Soul? Here The Buddha denies the existence of God or just does not worry about God, and says when a man becomes a free soul and attains to immortality, he goes to the  world of immortal souls and live there forever.

Thus Gautama, the Buddha is neither theist nor atheist, but an Agnoist. He says he knew nothing about God’s existence and he did not lose anything because of his ignorance. It should be remembered that the Buddha’s reaction came in the background of sheer materialism practised by the  Priestly community among the Brahmins or Arians. The teachings of The Bhagavad Gita and the other Upanishads were forgotten in favour of the relentless pursuit of shameless materialism by the priests who conducted various Sacrifices recommended in the Vedas. And these elaborate Sacrifices cost the moon. The populace of that times found it life-threatening to not pay heed to the avaricious priests’ words who recommended various Sacrifices which posed an unbearable monetary problem. Even the Rajas of those times found it a Herculian task to successfully conduct a Sacrifice. Huge quantities of gold coins and hundreds of cows had to be given to Brahmins as gifts prior to the conduct of Sacrifices. Thus the only community that thrived in those days belonged to Brahmin community or Arians. For every act of daily and day-to-day activities, various Sacrifices were prescribed. If you wanted rain you had to conduct a sacrifice. If you wanted to avoid a deluge you had to conduct various sacrifices. If a householder wanted a son to carry on his lineage, he had to conduct Sacrifices which would almost cost all the savings of the poor man. Even great merchants and rich men found it hard to go on conducting Sacrifices. As an offshoot of this culture of Sacrifices paralysing superstitions were spread by the Priests. It was a perfect time for the birth of a fearless reformer. And Lord Buddha footed the bill. He neither accepted the existence of God nor denied the same. Instead, he said that he did not want to search for God. And this did not posit any loss or harm to him. He just wanted his followers to be ridden of selfish desires of all kind and do their allotted karma. This would purify the practitioners’ mind and after death, he would come back to this earthly plane with the enabling karma that would goad him strait away toward the prescribed pursuit of doing his swadharmic (self-ordained) duty in life without having a stake in the result.

Here in this verse Sri Bhagavan says that whoever got the knowledge he is going to elaborate will attain unity with Him!

Well, Sri Shankarar’s interpretation of this verse is that, after earning the emancipation through real Knowledge about Him and His Cosmic Form, such great souls would literally enter into Ishwar and become one with Him.

I have one problem with this interpretation. If what Sri Shankarar utters is true, then we will have no existence in bliss outside of God, for we will have attained oneness with Him. Then what is the meaning of our striving against His Maya or Illusion birth after birth, death after death? For countless reincarnations is spent in our slow progress of liberation from the pulls and pressure of this Illusory world. We strive like anything. We shed tears. God’s illusion trips us up birth after birth and we have had to stand up and walk again on the path of righteousness. How much we have had to struggle! Right from the beginning, according to Sri Bhagavan’s words in Gita, we were pure spirits only and not human bodies with which His illusory power makes us identify with. That is the first thing or false step we take the moment we are born. Then we cultivate relentless desire to enjoy this world. And these desire-born activities bind us to this worldly life for still more re-births. What a waste of time and struggle! We were Spirits only before we were sent down to this world. Once sent down to this material world, we become desirous of getting the whole world under our say-so. We are made to forget our godly status prior to our first birth. We, birth after birth and death after death, strive and dig and dig like an Australian miner. All our energies of mind and body are focussed to activities on this earth, quite forgetting our elevated status. We commit horrendous commissions and omissions in the wake of our relentless pursuit after bliss. We even commit murder and all other types of sins and thus enchain ourselves to life on this earthly plane. It is very difficult for us to become tired of this world and start to strive for spiritual excellence. But that is only the beginning. Once we turn our attention to the spiritual side, this world redoubles its power and efforts to get us demoralized and it is an effort at every puny step we take toward the spiritual side. Even great Saints mourn about their inability to fight a manly war against the redoubled pulls of this material life and the constant vigil they have to have against the attractions of this worldly life in order to be able to stay in the spiritual path. if that be the case with great saints like Manikkavasakar, could one ably and fully describe puny little selves like us and the thankless war we have to wage against the thraldom of the materialistic world?

And what for all these painful struggles spread over numberless re-births? If we are only going to enter into Ishwar and become part and parcel of Him with no independent existence, what about all the struggles and miseries we encounter for teeming number of times birth after birth? How many tragedies we court in our pursuit of the material world? Could all these struggles through teeming number of re-births be put aside without any accounting?

All our struggles and tragedies and miseries we court in our pursuit of materialistic life could be  explained only if we could have an independent existence in the holy presence of God.

In the second chapter of Bhagavad Git, the Lord tells Arjuna, “There was no time when you and I and these Rajas were not in existence and there shall be no time we will cease to exist.” We should never forget the import of this world. Every man and woman, after all the struggles in this material world, at the end of the Spiritual day, will become pinpoints of eternal life in pure Spirit, of course, in the presence of the Lord our God.

      

THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER NUMBER 14 VERSE NUMBER 01 GUNATRAYA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DIVISION OF THREE GUNAS

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 14

VERSE NUMBER 01

GUNATRAYA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DIVISION OF THE THREE GUNAS

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION

sree bhagavaan uvaacha

param bhooyah pravakshyaami jnaanaanaam jnaanam uttamam

yaj jnaatvaa munayah sarve paraam siddhim ito gataah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH

param = supreme: bhooyah = again: pravakshaami = (I) will declare: jnaanaanaam = of all knowledge: jnaanam = knowledge: uttamam = the best: yat = which: jnaatvaa = having known: munayah = the sages: sarve = all: paraam = supreme: siddhim = to perfection: itah = after this life: gataah = gone.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

                                                                   THE BLESSED LORD SAID:

I shall again declare that supreme knowledge, the best of all forms of knowledge; by knowing which, all the sages have passed from this world to the highest perfection.

 

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The sages who have been blessed with Self-knowledge have nothing else to gain. And this supreme knowledge has already been explained. Still, it is again delineated from another angle. While Brahma jnaana is the easiest to acquire for those who have purified their minds, it is the hardest and the least understood for those whose minds are steeped in worldliness. It, therefore, requires to be presented in as many ways as possible. The votaries of Brahma jnaana are designated as Munis. Perfection is theirs to the extent they make progress in this knowledge. While the advanced Brahma jnaanis are ever perfect in themselves, their bodily existence often puts on apparent defects. The limits of the Kshetra ought not however to be imputed to the Kshetrajna or the self. But since this error is committed frequently, Self-knowledge requires to be expounded repeatedly, and in a variety of ways.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Knowledge pertaining to Iswara is the real knowledge. Branches of arts and science, logic, grammar—learning such as these usually confuse the understanding instead of clarifying it. Sacred books often function as shackles that prevent free-thinking. All learning is good if it can ever guide man Godward.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT  SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Further analysis of the field is made in this chapter.

In chapter XIII, verse 21, it has been stated that attachment to the qualities is the cause of Samsara or births in good and evil wombs. In this chapter, the Lord gives answers to the questions: “What are the qualities of Nature (Gunas)? How do they bind a man? What are the characteristics of these qualities? How do they operate? How can one obtain freedom from them? What are the characteristics of a liberated soul?”

All knowledge has no reference to the knowledge described in chapter XIII, verses 7 to 10, but it refers to that kind of knowledge which concerns sacrifices. That kind of knowledge which relates to sacrifices cannot give liberation. But the knowledge which is going to be imparted in this discourse will certainly lead to emancipation. The Lord eulogizes this knowledge by the epithets ‘supreme’ and “the best” in order to create great interest in Arjuna and other spiritual aspirants.

Having learnt this supreme knowledge, all the sages who practised Manana or reflection (Munis) have attained perfection after being freed from bondage to the body.

Itah: After this life; after being freed from this bondage to the body.    

Comments by the blogger:

Repetition is one of the beauties of Srimad Gita.

The same Truth is expounded from various angles. There is nothing as simple or uncomplicated Truth. The Truth in its purest form would if any of us is granted to experience for even a few minutes can easily and completely demoralize us. Man cannot put up with Truth. If a beautiful lady’s face is magnified to the level that each pore is developed to the size of a stalwart acne, we won’t and can’t put up with the ugliness of our True and Real outer self. Beauty is only skin deep is a gross understatement. There is no beauty in our outward personality. But there could be beauty in thinking and feeling. Beautiful books can be written. Shakespear is venerated for the beauty of his creativity. But we cannot find beauty in our external form. Does this mean that this body is useless? No! Man can only attain immortality and emancipation through the proper use of our physic and mind. Emancipation and Godliness are synonymous. This perishable body should be put to proper use. Yoga, for instance; we may employ this body and mind and intellect in a daily practice of Yoga. The result is a total emancipation. Total emancipation consists of all the beauties of the Atman. If this perishable body could lead to total emancipation then and only in that sense, this body can be viewed as beautiful.

Truth has many faces and shades and facets. The atomic particles can be viewed at once as a streak of light and a point of light. Then what is True? The streak of light or point of light? The streak presupposes the fact that there can be no point and the point of light presupposes that there could be no dots and streaks. An atom is the fundamental fact as to our personality and nature. There is nothing fixed inside the Atom. The personalities of streak and point are mutually contradictory and exclusive. When there is a point of light there is no streak and when there is a streak there is no point. One cancels out the other so that there is nothing fixed and perceptible and permanent about our body or physic! When the point and the streak of light cancel out each other, then our body has no permanent personality. We represent nothing and we only exist in the phenomenal void! Life is nothing but a passing, ever passing, show. Our body is an illusion. But this illusory body can lead us to permanent emancipation. To the extent, we are attracted by the worldliness we make expressway for more and more births. We come packed in this illusory body. It is disgusting to think that such illusory body and mind can lead us to utter slaves to our senses and this illusory world.   

Yet all knowledge is sacred; sacred in the sense they all ultimately lead to emancipation. We always, birth after birth, choose and select the most difficult way to attain emancipation: we become enslaved to our senses and the sense articles in the world. We experience all the worldly things and matter, birth after birth, and ultimately, after a trillion of re-births, turn to Yoga. Then we start to make great strides toward emancipation. And at one point of re-birth-time, we attain that immortality which is synonymous with total freedom from having to be born and sent back to this earth death after death and re-birth after re-birth.

This ineffable Truth must be couched in various words and expressions which is what Sri Bhagavan, Sri Krishna does in Bhagavad Gita. He exposes the totality of the illusion belonging to the life on the earthly plane and demonstrates, in the ultimate analysis, how the perishable body and the subtle mind can be put to the use of purchasing and exchanged for Freedom from this earthly life.

The four Yogas, namely, Karma Yoga, Bhagti Yoga, Gnana Yoga and Raja Yoga are so many Yogic Paths to manufacture our ultimate Emancipation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 13 VERSE 34 THE CONCLUDING VERSE OF THE CHAPTER

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 34

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

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

kshetra kshetrajnayar evam antaram jnaana chakshushaa

bhootaprakriti moksham cha ye vidur yaanti te param

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

Kshetra kshetrajnayah = between the kshetra and kshetrajna: evam = thus: antaram = distinction: jnaana chakshushaa = by the eye of knowledge: bhoota prakriti moksham = the liberation from the prakriti of being: cha = and: ye = who: viduh = know: yaanti = go: te = they: param = the Supreme.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

They who perceive with the eye of wisdom this distinction between the Kshetra and Kshetrajna and the deliverance of being from the Prakriti, they go to the Supreme.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The doctor has to understand first the nature of the disease and the peculiarities of the patient before he could effect a radical cure.   If either the ailment or the ailing person be not properly known, the treatment becomes ineffective to that extent. More earnest and more accurate ought to be the study of the Kshetra and Kshetrajna by the spiritual aspirant. The distinction between these two has to be clearly understood. Above all, the development of the intuitive faculty by means of a co-ordinated and devotionally tuned spiritual life is most  imperative. For, the divine eye alone opens up the vista of Truth. Mere book learning leads the aspirant nowhere. Whereas the intuitive knowledge makes him consonant with the Reality. The dream and the delusion of the earth-bound life is transcended. That Brahman is the Eternal Verity is realized in samaadhi. The Prakriti appears and disappears on the substratum of the Purusha. The goal of the Jivatman is not to get entangled in Prakriti, but to make use of it with an attitude of detachment and gain reunion with the  Paramatman.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANADNA:

It is easy to say that the world is Maya—a delusion. But do you know the  implication of this statement? It is like burning the camphor which leaves no residue. It is not like burning the fuel which leaves the ash behind. True spiritual pursuit leads the sadhaka or Practitioner into Samadhi in which the Jagat and the Jiva are eliminated. All relative existences vanish leaving behid Brahman, the Absolute.

COMMENTARY NOTE BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

bhootaprakriti: the material nature of beings.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

They who know through the eye of intuition opened by meditation and the instructions of the spiritual preceptor and the scriptures, that the field is insentient, the doer, changing and finite, and that the knower of the field (the Self) is pure consciousness, the non-doer, unchanging, and infinite, and who also perceive the non-existence of Nature, ignorance, the Unmanifested, the material cause of being—they attain the Supreme. Through the attainment of Self-realisation or knowledge of the Self they are entirely liberated from the clutches or the influence of Maya (delusion) and ignorance. They do not assume any more bodies. They are not born again. They attain Kaivalya Moksha.

In accordance with the doctrine of the Sankhyas, bondage and freedom do not pertain to the Self because It is always unattached and It is the non-doer and non-enjoyer and also without limbs or parts. But on account of Its union with Nature, It assumes agency through superimposition. When ignorance is annihilated through the knowledge of the Self, Nature which is conjoined with the Self is liberated. Then She gives up Her play or dance in front of the Spirit. She has discharged all Her duties well for the sake of the enjoyment and the release (Bhoga and Apavarga) of the Purusha (Spirit). Therefore the Sankhyas declare that bondage and freedom are staes of Nature only. Some interpret that the Self is emancipated from the shackles of Nature and Her modifications.

(This chapter is known by the name Prakriti-Purusha-Vibhaga Yoga also).

Comments by the blogger:

The key words are deliverance from the Prakriti or Nature.

We all are bonded to the all-and-over-mastering Nature. Our bondage did not start from the birth in this innings or incarnation. It started long long back; we have come here to live on the plane of the Earth repeatedly as various animals and then as human beings. Our rebirths are numberless. And yet there is no guarantee that this would be our last innings. We have started to read the commentaries of Srimat Bhagavad Gita written by the three great masters.  This will surely ensure our coming back here to the Earth as Human Beings! There need be no doubt about. For Sri Krishna promises that those persons or Practitioners of various systems of Yoga recommended in the Gita, if they happen to die before the attainment of complete emancipation from the thraldom of this earthly life, they will certainly come back to the earth as babies of great people who are past masters in the practice of Yoga! What Sri Krishna tells Arjuna is an ineffable Promise for all the times to the whole of the Humanity irrespective of  religions and places of birth! For Sri Krishna assures Arjuna when the latter asks as to what will happen to those Practitioners of Yoga who happen to die  prematurely, that is, before the attainment of Complete Emancipation; after our deaths, we will definitely come back to the earth and start from where we left off in the present innings. This is true of all sorts and kinds of people of the World irrespective of boundaries like religion and geography. We, every one of the people of the world, will come to the earth’s plane repeatedly to work out the balance of Karma, which is called the Prarabtha, that is, that part of the accumulated fund of Karma to work out in the next innings or birth. So whether we believe in the reincarnations and migration of the Soul, we would come back to this earth after every death. And this chain of rebirths will continue till our accumulated funds of karma have been worked out. Yoga or the various systems of meditation are there only to precipitate and reduce the number of births or re-births, to be more exact. We all, all the people of the world will attain emancipation. But the question is as to in how many re-births we achieve the goal. If it would take a person, according to his accumulated funds of karma, a thousand re-births the four kinds of Yoga recommended by the Lord in Gita will reduce it to two-three re-births!  That is how effective is the practice of Yoga.

We all need to attain emancipation from the all-mastering Prakriti or Nature. For Nature has numberless things to enchain and ensnare us birth after birth to the worldly life. Nature has inexhaustible food for our senses and it is not an easy joke to  script our yogic path to get away from the enslaving Prakriti.    

We must be able to see sense and know and experience the distinction between the Field and the Knower of the Fileds. It is possible to achieve this goal in a few number of re-births through a relentless practice of Yoga.

iti sreemad bhagavadgitaasoopanishatsu brahmavidyaayaam yogasaastre sree krrshnaarjuna samvaade kshetra kshetrajna vibhaga yogo naama trayodaso ‘dhyaayah

In the Upanishad of the Bhagavad Gita, the knowledge of Brahman, the Supreme, the science  of Yoga and the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, this is the thirteenth discourse designated:

                      THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 13 VERSE 33 KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJ

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 33

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

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

yathaa prakaasayaty ekah kritsnam lokam imam ravih

kshetram kshetri tathaa krrtsnam prakaasayati bhaarata

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

Yathaa = as: prakaasyati = illumines: ekah = one: krtsnam = the whole: lokam =  world: imam = this: ravih = sun: kshetram = the field: kshetri = the Lord of the field: tathaa = so: krtsnam = the whole: prakaasayati = illumines: bhaarata = O Bharata:

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

As the one sun illumines this whole world, so does the Lord of the Kshetra illumine the whole Kshetra, O Bharata.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The sun that illumines the world is one without a second. Even so, the Paramatman who gives spiritual luminosity to the entire universe is one without a second. All beings great and small, high and low, get their consciousness from the same Source. While the sunlight falls equally on all things, the merits and demerits of those things do not affect the sun in any manner. In the same way, the presence of the Paramatman in the hearts of the multitudinous beings ever shines in its original glory. The purity of the heart of the saint does not increase the profundity of the glory of the Paramatman. Neither does the impurity in the heart of the wicked diminish or tarnish the luminosity of the Lord. He remains ever in His glory while providing life, light and love to all beings.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Brahman is like a luminous lamp. One may utilize the light of the lamp for reading holy books while another may make use of it for preparing false documents. It is from Brahman that all get their power of understanding. The various uses to which the intellects of the beings are put do not affect Brahman.    

COMMENTARY NOTES BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

The knower of the field illumines the whole field, the entire world of becoming.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The Supreme Self is one. It illumines the whole matter from the Unmanifested down to the blade of grass or a lump of clay, from the ‘great elements’ down to ‘firmness’ or ‘fortitude’. (Cf. Verses 5 and 6). Just as the sun is one, just as the sun illumines the whole world, just as the sun is not tainted, so also the Self is One in all bodies, It illumines all the bodies, and It is not contaminated.

Comments by the blogger:

The Lord of the Kshetra or the field or the whole Cosmos lights up all in the Cosmos, whether it is sentient or insentient. This sentiment is repeated in the Gita; there is but one and Only Brahman. The only Brahman inheres in all the sentient and insentient in this Universe! Does it mean that Brahman is split into as many beings and non-beings that are in this Universe? Of course not! Like the only sun lights up all in this world, Brahman fills all beings and non-beings in this world. This Universal Consciousness is peculiar to Hinduism. And it is the correct understanding too. This whole Universe is said to be the body of Ishwar. Veda means to know; we think that there are only four Vedas. But it is not so. This whole world is Veda in as much as we become more certain once we get to know this. Like the idea of ‘Akand Bharat’ Hindus have a Universal Understanding. Nothing here is extraneous. Everything is filled fully with Brahma. But the Upanishadic saying is that this whole World comprises just a minute fraction of Brahman! And Brahman did not suffer any loss after creating this Cosmos. And Brahman that remains after the creation of the Universe is not a finite and incomplete Brahman, but He inheres as full as He had been before Creation. This is an Upanishadic saying. Hindus, some three thousand years back, found out all about Brahman and this World! No other religion has this complete understanding of the Ultimate Creator. And another thing is that Hindus acknowledge that there are many a path to One God, unlike other religions which insist on the one and their only version of God. Everyone must support their viewpoint and all the others who do not accept their version as one of the many versions are called infidels. Truth has many facets and it gives us different vistas depending upon the angle of our vision. This world or the Cosmos too has two facets: one is, it is very material and real. And the other view is that the World is just an illusion. For those who practise Karma Yoga and the Yoga of Devotion, this Universe is very much real. In this respect, Hindus’ understanding of the World is like the viewpoints of other religions like Christianity and Mohammadanism. But for those who practise Jnana Yoga or the Yoga of Knowledge, this whole Universe or World is just a beautiful thought by Brahman! This aspect or facet of Understanding is singularly absent in the two other religions referred to above.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

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!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 13 VERSE 31 KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 31

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

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

anaaditvaan nirgunnatvaat paramaatmaa ‘yam avyayah

sareerastho ‘pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Having no beginning and possessing no Gunas, this Supreme Self, imperishable, though dwelling in the body, O Kaunteya, neither acts nor is tainted.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

A thing that is created has a beginning. But Brahman is the one Reality that is not created. He is therefore having no beginning. All productions of Maya (Illusion) are the components of the three Gunas which are subject to transformation. For this reason, the things made up of the Gunas are perishable. Brahman being Nirguna or beyond the Gunas, is imperishable. In His equanimity vibration is impossible. In other words no karma takes place in Him. He being the One without a second, there is nothing to taint Him.

That destrudction to which the Brahma Jnaani’s body is exposed, does not affect him. The karma taking place in his body is not his. While the surface of the sea is all activity, its depth is all poise and peace. While the body of the Jnaani is active, he is supremely above action.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMASA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANADA:

What are the characteristics of Brahman? He is untarnished by the Gunas. There is no action or movement in Him. The question of going and coming does not arise in His case. He is stationary like the Mount Meru.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The Supreme Self is beyond Nature. Therefore It is without qualities. It is Nirguna. The activity in Nature is really due to its own qualities which inhere in it. The Supreme Self existed before the body came into being and will continue to be after its dissolution. It is eternally the same and imperishable.

Avyaya: That which is free from the changes of birth and death or appearance and destruction. That which has a beginning has birth. After the object is born it is subject to the changes of being (growth, decay, etc.) As the Self is birthless, It is free from the changes of state (existence, birth, growth, change, decay and death). As the Self is free from all sorts of functions It is Avyaya. Even if the reflection of the sun in the water moves, the sun does not move a bit. Even so the Supreme Self is not touched by the fruits of action as It is not the doer, as It is without the qualities of Nature, or limbs, indivisible, devoid of parts, without action, beginningless and unattached and causeless.

This Supreme Self is free from the three kinds of differences, viz., Sajatiyabheda, Vijatiyabheda and Svagatabheda-bheda. A mango tree is different from the fig tree. This is Sajatiyabheda. A mango tree is different from a stone. This is Vijatiyabheda. In the same mango tree there is difference between leaves, flowers and fruits. This is Svagatabheda. But the Supreme Self is one without a second. There is no other Brahman Which is equal to It. Therefore, there cannot be Sajatiyabheda in Brahman. This world is a mere appearance. It is a mere figment of our imagination. An  imaginary object has no independent existence apart from its substratum, just as the snake in the rope has no independent existence apart from its substatratum, the rope. Therefore, there cannot be Vijatiyabheda in Brahman. Brahman is inidivisible, partless, without qaualities, without form and without any limbs. Therefore there cannot be Svagatabheda in Brahman.

Brahman or the Supreme Self is beginningless. It is without a cause. It is self-existent. It is without parts. It is without qualities. Therefore Brahman is imperishable. As It is unattached, It is neither the doer nor the enjoyer. If Brahman also is the doer and enjoyer, It is no longer Brahman. It is in no way better than ourselves. This cannot be. Agency and enjoyment are attributed to the ego on  account of ignorance. “It is Nature that acts”. (Cf.V.14; XV.9)

Comments by the blogger:

Hinduism is criticised by religious scholars belonging to Christianity and Mohammedism chiefly for two factors. One of the reasons, as they see, is the belief in re-births and the second reason is the teeming number of Gods or gods Hindus worship right from the Vedic period.

So far as the transmigration of our Soul is concerned, we are taken for and belittled as highly and abjectly superstitious. That there is only one God and Hindus offer worship to any number of Gods or gods!

We, the Hindus, while offering worship to many a god or God, are not superstitious in nature. For us there are any number of ways and means to realise God, our Maker. Indeed someone has said that there are as many religions as there are people! Because Spirituality is a matter of unflinching Faith to start with. Also it is a most intimate and personal matter. We have Ishta Devata or Personal God! While I offer studious worship to Lord Lingeshwara, my neighbour might worship Lord Narayana and my friends might have Lord Shiva, Lord Vinayaka, Lord Muruga or Goddess Saraswati or Goddess Lakshmi. Some folks have Sri Hanuman as their personal God. And Hanuman Himself is a staunch follower of Lord Rama! When Nathuram Godse’s bullets pierced the chest of the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, he fell down  but till he breathed his last he was chanting in a weak voice, “Hey Ram” or “O, Rama” for countless times. Lord Rama was the personal God of Mahatma Gandhi.

We are not fools. But we and our forefathers are great wisdomatic people who saw God in a trembling blade of grass and  the towering trees like the Neem Tree and The Banion Tree! While we visit temples devoted to all the above-mentioned Gods and Goddesses, we have personal God to whom we can relate to easily.

In the Gita Sri Krishna says people come to Him from all sides! We are so developed in the Culture of the Atman that we can discern God in a tree, in an animal, in a holy man, etc., etc!

But, like the  other two religions we mentioned above, the Vedopanishads speak of only one God! If there is a second God then there would be room for comparison and one would be greater than the other! But we have a tatva that allows us to worship the One and the Only God of the Universe through many forms! Sri Krishna says in Gita that even while human beings worship some lower beings or Devatas they worship Him only but in a wrong way. Surely they will evolve in future and in the course of many a rebirth!

Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman are both sacred and sacrosant. While all the Gods and Goddesses enumerated above come under the gategory of Saguna Brahman, the Only Maker is called Nirguna Brahman.   Saguna Brahman has attributes and characteristics etc., but Nirguna Brahman simply is devoid of any attributes or Name and Form or a beginning and an end. So we have no problem with worshipping the Only One God, the Nirguna Brahman through various Gods and Goddesses who belong to Saguna Brahman. Emancipation is assured even when we restrict our worship to the Saguna Brahman alone throughout our lives!

The next thing Hindus are criticised is our staunch belief in re-births and the Soul’s Transmigration.

When Mahaswami of Kanji was giving audience to a group of foreigners who were Bible readers and one of them put this very question to the Mahaswamigal! Why should there be so many births for our Soul?

Immediately our Mahaswamigal asked the foreigners to visit any maternity hospital that day and see all the children born that day and take note of the differences among them.

When the foreigners came to visit Mahaswamigal the next day  they faithfully reported to Mahaswamigal the differences among the newly born babies.

Then Mahaswamigal asked them why such disparities among the newly born children. He further elongated that while one child is beautiful one is ugly, when one is fair-complexioned the other is pitch dark in colour. While one baby is born into a rich family another one is born to a poor couple. When some babies are normal some babies could be physically or mentally challenged!

Mahaswamigal put the visitors just one simple question; “Why should there be so many differences among the innocent babies come into this world?”

This factor, Mahaswamigal reasoned, cannot be answered except by the theory of re-incarnation or re-births and the Transmigration of the Soul.

In this verse the Brahman who is spoken is about is Nirguna Brahman.

We can realise God by worshipping Saguna Brahman alone. This is the beauty of Hinduism.