THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 07, JNANA VIJNANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND REALIZATION, VERSE NUMBER 12

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 07

JNANA VIJNANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND REALIZATION:

VERSE NUMBER 12

Text in Transliteration:

Ye chai ‘va saattvikaa bhaavaa raajasaas taamasaas cha ye

Matta eve’ti taan viddhi na tv aham teshu te mayi

Text in English:

And whatever beings are of Sattva, of Rajas or of Tamas, know them to proceed from Me; still I am not in them, they are in Me.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Prakriti or Nature constituted of the three categories—Sattva, Rajas and Tamas—has its origin and sustenance in Iswara. But it is not like the curd coming from milk. Just as a piece of rope appears as a snake in twilight, the Lord puts on the appearance of Nature through his inscrutable Maya. The rope, the original stuff, does not depend for its being on snake the assumed reality; but the seeming snake depends for its existence on the rope, the reality. To put it in another way, the unreal snake is a superimposition on the real rope. Similarly, the world of the three Gunas is a superimposition on Iswara. This power of appearing as the Prakriti is inherent in Him. This is the meaning of ‘I am not in them, they are in Me’.

The goal of human life is to transcend the perception of the universe and to get fixed in the vision of Iswara. (In chapter two, stanza forty-five and in chapter nine stanzas four and five this point is variously dealt with)

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

A holy man used to smile seeing the colours produced by the chandelier in a lamp. He smiled because the seeming universe is as untrue as these colours.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

The author rejects Saamkhya doctrine of the independence of prakriti. He asserts that everything constituted by the three gunas is in no sense a self-dependent essence independent of God, but springs from Him alone. While He contains and comprehends all, they do not contain and comprehend Him. This is the distinction between God and His creatures. They are all informed by the Divine but their changes do not touch the integrity of the Divine. He is not subject to any one else, while all things are subject to Him.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

This is a world of the three Gunas, Viz., Sattva(purity),Rajas (passion) and Tamas (inertia). All sentient and insentient objects are the aggregate of these three qualities of Nature. One quality predominates in them and the predominant quality imparts to the object its distinctive character or definite properties.

In the gods, sage, milk and green gram, Sattva is predominant. In Gandharvas (a class of celestials), kings, warriors and chillies, Rajas is predominant. In demons, Sudras, garlic, onion and meat, Tamas is predominant.

Though these beings and objects proceed from Me. I am not in them; they are in Me. I am independent. I am the support for them; they depend on Me just as the superimposed snake depends on the rope. The snake is in the rope, but the rope is never in the snake. The waves belong to the ocean but the ocean does not belong to the waves. (Cf. IX.4 and 6)

Comments by the blogger:

The prakriti or Nature is composed of the three gunas, Satva(Purity of vision), Rajas(passionate action) and Tamas(inert action). When the three gunas are in perfect equilibrium, there is no life or beings in the world. When the equilibrium is disturbed, life begins.

At the time of kalki avatar, the whole beings go back into Brahman. Then there is perfect equilibrium here. But this gives credence to the Samkhya philosophy who say the prakriti is independent of God. But the Saivite Philosophy is that though God created the world, He is independent of the universe and the beings. But the Jivans or beings are subject either to the Lord or the prakriti. The Jeevans cannot have an independent staying force. They must either dependent on God (Pathi) or the prakriti (Pasu). That makes the prakriti everlasting. But this Saivite stand is different from the Samkhya philosophy which gives absolute credence to the prakriti.

But Lord Krishna says everything, by way of gunas, comes out of Him, whether we speak of the prakriti or Nature or the Jeevatmas or Beings, and nothing can have an independent stay.

But, when Man, who is also the creature of tri gunas or three tendencies, acts in a particular way that has little effect on the Lord. How? The Delhi rapists’ act cannot make God become inferior or the Vedic Sages’ acts could not add to Him and become superior.

While every guna comes out of Him only, the gunas and the beings with the gunas are dependent on and subject to Him. He is independent and that independence is absolute.