HOLY GITA
CHAPTER TWO
SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE
VERSE NUMBER 17
Text in Transliteration:
avinaasi tu tad vidhi yena sarvam idam tatam
vinaasam avyayasyaa ‘sya na kaschit kartum arhati
Text in English:
Know that to be
verily indestructible by which all this is pervaded. None can effect the
destruction of the immutable.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMY CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Space is all pervasive
and infinite. Clouds appear all on a sudden in it; but their presence does not
cause division in space. It is possible for clouds to change in magnitude. But
akasa or space remains ever itself. Akin to Akasa, Awareness is the substratum
of the manifested universe, which appears and disappears. No addition or
subtraction can be effected in Awareness. It is the eternal witness.
COMMENTARY BY DR. S. RADHAKRISHNAN:
“tatam”, pervaded. See also VIII, 22, 46; IX, 4; XI,38 and
Maha Bharata, XII, 240, 20. Shankara uses “vyaaptam”
Not even Ishvara,
the Supreme Lord, can bring about the destruction of the Self. Its reality is
self-established, “svatassidha”. It is not unknown to anybody. The scriptures
serve to remove the “adhyaaropana” or superposition of attributes alien to the
Self and not to reveal what is altogether unknown.
Ramanuja means by “aatmatathva” the qualitative unity and
equality in the midst of numerical plurality.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMY SIVANANDA:
Brahman or Atma pervades all the objects like ether. Even if
the pot is broken, the ether that is within and without the pot cannot be
destroyed. Even so, if the bodies and all other objects perish, Brahman or the
Self that pervades them cannot perish. It is the living Truth, Sat.
Brahman has no parts. There cannot be either increase or
diminution in Brahman. People are ruined by loss of wealth. But Brahman does
not suffer any loss in that way. It is inexhaustible. Therefore, none can bring
about the disappearance or destruction of the Self. It always exists. It is always all-full and self
–contained. It is Existence Absolute. It is immutable.
The comment by the blogger:
Sri Krishna juxtaposes the non-self and the Self. In the
verse number 14 He says that the contacts of the senses with the objects which
cause heat and cold, pleasure and pain, have a beginning and an end. Here He
describes the nature of the Self. While non-self is a passing show and cannot
exist in itself without a perceiver the self can and always exists in itself.
So one should bear the pleasure and pain of this universe, He advises in verse
number 15. In verse number 16 the nature of the non-self and the self is
directly juxtaposed. And the present verse is a continuation of the juxtaposition, but in a different way;
here, Sri Krishna speaks only about the nature of the Self. It exists in
itself. No one can bring a mutation in it. While Swamy chidbhavananda cites the
case of the Akasa or space which does not get changed when it forms the basis
of all actions by other elements, Dr.S. Radhakrishnan cites the words of the
saints that even the Supreme Ishvara cannot bring about the mutation or
destruction of the Self. And, Swamy Sivananda invokes, “gatakaasam” or the
space within the mud pot. There is space within and without the pot. And when
the pot is broken, there is no mutation in the space. It exists as before. So
names and forms cannot bring about even one of the five elements, sky, and if
so, how could the quintessentially immortal Self can experience mutation.
So, Arjuna, by slaying the teachers and the pitamaha and the
kinsmen, you are only destroying the perishable body, which have to be
destroyed as per their own previous actions. It is purely a case of cause and
effect. But you cannot destroy their immutable soul which does not inhere in
the cause and effect universe as a dependent. It is ever independent of this
universe and it is Truth or Sat. That which is subject to change, like the
body, is “asat” and “untruth”. The untruth is just a passing show. The war has
come to you unsought and, you being a kshsatriya, is duty-bound to embrace this
opportunity and engage in this holy war which is going to be waged for the
destruction of the evil persons and upholding of the righteous ones. So,
indulge in your swadharma and slay their bodies, fully knowing it is their fate
manufactured by their own actions, and you can never slay their individual soul
which is an immutable “Sat” or “Truth”.
There is a story about this. Indeed it comes as a common man’s
ballad in Tamil; “Nanda vanathil or aandi/ Avan naalaaru maadhamaai kuyavanai
vendi/ kondu vandhaan oru thondi/ adhai koothaadi koothaadi pottudaithaandi!”
It can be roughly translated as follows: “There was a monk
in the park/ He brought a mud pot after begging the potter for four-six month/
Then the wandering monk started to dance with the mud pot and ultimately broke
it into pieces!”
The “aandi” or the wandering monk spent more than four
months ( naalaaru maadhangal= four-six months) in begging the potter for a pot.
There was no need for the wandering monk for a pot. He has no individual needs.
But he studiously begged for a free gift of the pot, and then danced with it in
intense ecstasy and ultimately tossed the pot on to the hard ground, because of
which the pot was broken into pieces! In actual fact, the ecstatic monk wanted
to demonstrate the space within and without does not suffer mutation because of
the broken pot. The space is not broken in to a hundred pieces like the new mud
pot. And if it were the case of one of the five elements of this perishable
universe, what would be the case of the Atman or Self or Soul? That was the
truth the wandering monk wanted to experiment with and demonstrate to the
onlookers. In which act the wandering monk attained ecstasy!
When it is said, even Ishvara or the Supreme Lord cannot
cause a destruction of the Self, it is a way of reinforcing a point. In actual
fact, this question would never arise. The Supreme Ishvar Has and Could Have NO
reason what so ever to cause mutation in the Sat or Self. So it must be taken
as an argumentative and demonstrational point, and should not be taken
literally. The supreme Lord Has No need to destruct the self. Sometimes some
questions could never be postulated. Even then it is often don both by the
believers and the non-believers. For example, some persons, the God-Deniers,
would argue that there are some things even God cannot do. Having said this,
they would say that suppose you do a thing on Friday, God cannot demonstrate
that you did it on Saturday! So there are some things even “your so-called God”
cannot do! Then how could you call him as an Almighty. This type of questions
will never arise. Because, this question is postulated within the parameters of
this changing universe which acts according to TIME! But to God there is no
Time Factor. Such limiting adjuncts are not suffered by the KALESHVARAN OR
KAALATHEESHWARAN. Kalam or Kala or Time
exists only for man and other beings and this universe, and never for God.
Likewise, time does not exist of the Sat or Self too.
These same types of empirical postulations are resorted to
by not only believers, but by the great saints like Swamy Vivekananda!
For, he says, if, after you have realized your self, you
become one with God, and so what God can do you could also do. For example, he
would argue, that if you want the sun to change its course, it should obey your
dictate! Because you are God!
This kind of argument is only to reinforce an empirical and
eternal point. But, once you become one with God, would you want to interfere
with the course of the sun or ask other planets that are rounding the sun to
change course? That is a million dollar question. Because becoming one with God
would tantamount to accepting His Great wisdom for this universe.
So only is the Tamil proverb to the effect; kandavar
vindilar and vindavar kandilar, which roughly translates as, “those who found
the Truth did not speak about It, and those speak about It did not find It!
And time exists in God. Beings also exist in God. God does
not exist neither in Time nor in Beings. In a different verse, Sri Krishna says
that the prakrity or Nature exists in Him and He does not exist in Nature. Time
is for us. Timelessness is one of His basic attributes. And the same is the case
of the individual Atman or Individual Soul or Self.
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