THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 07, JNANA VIJNANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND REALIZATION, VERSE NUMBER 25

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 07

JNANA VIJNANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND REALIZATION:

VERSE NUMBER 25

Text in Transliteration:

naa ‘ham prakaasah sarvasya yogamaayaasamaavrtah

moodho ‘yam naa ‘bhijaanaati loko maam ajam avyayam

Text in English:

 I am not revealed to all, as I am veiled by yoga Maya. This deluded world knows Me not, the Unborn the Unchanging.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The magician throws a spell on his audience and keeps it in illusion in regard to his performance. But what seems a magic to the onlookers is not so to the kith and kin of the magician. The nature of his play is well known to himself and his own people. The Lord is the magician who has produced the magic of this world. Its nature is well known to Him only and His devotees.

The sun that cannot be hidden by anything seems to be covered by a patch of cloud; but that patch itself cannot be located except with the aid of sunlight. The originator of this cloud is none other than the sun. The cloud is the yoga maya (the yoga of illusion) concealing the sun. The Prakriti (Nature) made up of the three Gunas(tendencies or inclination) is the yoga maya of Iswara. As it has no existence apart from Iswara, it is held to be in yoga with Him; and because of its veiling capacity it is called Maya or illusion. Iswara (God) the akhanda sat cit aananda seems to be concealed by His yoga maya while actually He remains unaffected by it. Further He is sarvajna—the all-knowing one.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

yoga; Shankara means by it union of the three gunas; for Madhusoodana it is samkalpa or will.

The Supreme is not only in the world but beyond the world. We mistake Him for this or that limited form.

Cp. Bhaagavata: “O Lord, All pervading Supreme Self, Lord of Yoga, who is there in the three worlds who can penetrate Thy mystery, know where, when, in what manner and in how many forms Thou engages Thyself in sport? Only Pure Being is unmanifest, everything else belongs to the world of manifestation.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

I am not manifest to all the people, but I am certainly manifest to the chosen few who are My devotees, who have taken sole refuge in Me alone. I am not visible to those who are deluded by the three Gunas(tendencies or inclination) and the pairs of opposites, and who are screened off by this universe which is a manifestation of the qualities of Nature, My Yoga-Maya or My creative illusion. This veils the understanding of worldly-minded people. So they are not able to behold the Lord Who keeps Maya under His perfect control.

Yoga-Maya is the union of the three qualities of Nature. The illusion or veil spread thereby is called Yoga-Maya. The worldly people are deluded by the illusion born of the union of the three qualities. Therefore, they are not able to know the Lord Who is unborn and immutable.

This Yoga-Maya is under the perfect control of the Lord. Ishvara is the wielder of Maya. Therefore it cannot obscure His own knowledge,  just as the illusion created by the juggler cannot obstruct his own knowledge or deceive him. The illusion which binds the worldly people cannot in the least affect the Lord Who has kept Maya under his perfect subjugation. (Cf. VII.13; IX.5; X.7; XI. 8)

Comments by the blogger:

God is the great creative writer. He is a writer of mystery. He has written only one mystery. Prakriti or Nature and is the background for His novel. And we all are His characters.

The greatest creative writers never write to a set pattern. They have the loose plot or structure and some main characters. Then they start to weave their magic. Creativity can never be subjugated to a set pattern. The great writers give freedom to their main characters, and as and when they sit to write even they don’t know what they are going to write in that sitting. This happens only when the main characters are given a good freedom of choice.

The Lord can never ever be beaten in this art of writing a mystery novel. He has written only one mystery novel. And he is not afraid of giving His main characters full freedom and freedom of choice. We all are His Main Characters. Every single one of us are His Main Character. Just nobody, howsoever low he/she might be called or dubbed as non-characters of God or small characters. In Tamil and Hindi Films, item songs are shot. That item dance girl would have nothing to do with the main and even subplot of that film. But in God’s mystery film each and everyone is a main character. From saints to sinners everyone is equally important to the Lord. Saints and Sages are those who have been able to pierce the veil of the Lord.

He is not afraid of giving full freedom of choice to His characters. Each and every one of us can become a saint or sinner. The Delhi rapists of Nirbhaya too had their own freedom of choice. There are workers, agriculturists, shop owners, Professionals, Rapists, beggars, etc in His novel. Some people are adroit enough to not become victim to the prakriti and God’s yoga maya or yoga of illusion.

But God treats all His characters with equal importance. There is no bigwigs for Him. His mystery is the mystery that has endured from the time when the ape became a thinking Man and Woman. 99.99999% of his characters are not able to understand him. Each time we come to this world is an innings or a sitting of reading of God’s mystery novel. And each of us has read the novel by the Lord one million times. Still, we are unable to fully pierce His veil of magic.

But don’t lose heart. Losing your heart is as foul as killing or raping.

God has given us so many chances. And we are the choosers. If we really mean it we can call it a day for reading His mystery novel once more and become a saintly being.

Even otherwise, except the killers and rapists, everyone has got a fine chance of piercing the Lord’s mysterious veil. Even the killers and rapists have their own chance. But only in their cases, it will take forever, so to speak, to even understand the plot of the Lord’s mystery novel.  

{Dear Readers, apart from this blog, I’m also writing four more blogs:

myresourcefulaunt.blogspot.com

kaviriyinselvan.blogspot.com

raguramkarikalanandthetimemachin.blogspot.com

raguramramayanaforchildren.blogspot.com

Please strengthen my hands by visiting these sites also.}