VERSE NUMBER 25 OF SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE

HOLY GITA

CHAPTER TWO

SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE

VERSE NUMBER 25:

Text in Transliteration:

acyak to ‘yam achintyo ‘yam avikaaryo ‘yam uchyate

tasmaad evam viditvai ‘nam naa ‘nusocitum arhasi

Text in English:

   This atman is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable and immutable. Therefore, knowing it as such, you should not grieve.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Atman cannot be perceived by any of the senses; and whatever does not come within the ken of the senses is necessarily unmanifested. It is very hard to conceive of a thing that cannot be perceived. Atman is therefore said to be unthinkable. The four elements—air, fire, water and earth—can be sensed. They are seen to be undergoing modifications; as such they are mutable. But the element Akasa undergoes no modification. It is ever in its original state. Like Akasa, Atman is ever in Its original state. It is therefore said to be immutable. Elemental Akasa is insentient and Atman or Chitakasa is sentient; in every other respect they are identical. Both being partless they remain immutable. It ill-becomes one to grieve over the immutable.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

 Right through it is purusha of the Saamkhy that is described here, not the Brahman of the Upanishads. The purusha is beyond the range of form or thought and the changes that affect mind, life and body do not touch him. Even when it is applied to the supreme Self, which is one in all, it is the unthinkable (achintya) and immutable (avikaarya) Self that is meant. Arjuna’s grief is misplaced as the self cannot be hurt or slain. Form may change; things may come and go but that which remains behind them all is for ever.

COMMNTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The Self is not an object of perception. It can hardly he seen by the physical eyes. Therefore, the Self is unmanifested. That which is seen by the eyes becomes an object of thought. As the Self cannot be perceived by the eyes, It is unthinkable. Milk when mixed with buttermilk changes its form. The Self cannot change. The Self cannot change Its form like milk. Hence, It is changeless and immutable. Therefore, thus understanding the Self, thou shuldst not mourn. Thou shouldst not think also that thou art their slayer and that they are killed by thee.

Comments by the blogger:

Arjunan’s problem is with the body. Sri krishna’s teaching is about the Self. Arjuna’s nerves shrink from having to slay the bodies of the kith and kin. The Lord says you’re just slaying the bodies. And the bodies and they are not identical. They have come only in this incarnation as with these bodies. You don’t know the various shapes they have taken through the sojourn or incarnations. But I know. And they are pure spirit, as you are. You too are not this body. So knowing thus the truth about the perishable nature of the bodies, don’t hesitate to slay them. Their Self can never be slayed and the Self is immutable, indestructible, inconceivable and eternal. So you’re just slaying what is essentialylly subject to mutation. Even if you don’t kill them, they have already courted bodily death by their acts and standpoints. So don’t hesitate. And don’t despair. None can put an end to their Self.

Buy putting forth time and again the truth about the immutable and ever-lasting Self, the Lord tries to assuage the despondency of Arjuna. Except a few of the opposite army, like Bhishma and Drona, most of them have courted murder and being slain by the wickedness. And the pitamaha and the acharya took the stand fully conscious of the consequences. Indeed if Arjuna were to impart Bhishma or Drona of his despondency, they would have laughed and said, “come on, play the game. The game is almost to be over. At the time of delivery of the ball, Arjuna has stopped in his stride, and asked the Lord, how can I send down a scorching delivery that deflects outside the off stump and beguile my own kith and kin. How can I send down the doosra. How can I bounce the ball, what if something untoward happens to their bodies. This is the kind of question for a born warrior like Arjuna to have asked. But no one can blame him for his nobility of the soul. Despite all the wickedness exhibited by his cousins he has that human milk of kindness. But nobility of this nature is like a same nation’s player’s despondency in the IPL cricket match to find in the opposite team, and having to send him down a leg cutter to fetch his wicket. If fetching the wicket is the rule of the game, then go for it, the Lord say. If they lose their wicket now, they will come to play a sixer of your delivery in the next match. The wicket in the present match is the body, which is perishable, but the fitness and form and eligibility and mental power and character and concentration of a batsman is his spirit, which cannot easily be slain. But these kinds of examples have their own inbuilt weaknesses. But the examples given by the incomparable Swami Chidhbhavananda and Swami Sivananda are fit enough to be memorized.