THE HOLY GITA

Monday 30 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 09, VERSE 05, RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 09
RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET:
VERSE NUMBER 05
Text in Transliteration:
na cha matsthaani bhootaani pasya me yogam aisvaram
bhootabhrn na cha bhootastho mamaa ‘tmaa bhootabhaavanah
Text in English:
Nor do the beings dwell in Me, behold My divine yoga! Bringing forth and supporting the beings, My Self does not dwell in them.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
While truly reflecting the objects placed before it, a mirror ever remains unaffected by its function. Similar to this, Brahman has the divine yoga power to being forth the universe and the beings out of Himself. There is a grandeur, uniformity, precision, plan and purpose in projecting, preserving and withholding the universe. But Brahman is ever Himself, in the midst of this sport. He is unattached and unaffected by the phenomenon. Compare chapter seven, stanza twelve.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
yogam aisvaram: divine mystery. The explanation of the rise of the limited phenomenal universe out of the Absolute Godhead is traced to the power of the Divine. The Supreme is the source of all phenomena but is not touched by them. That is the yoga of divine power. Though He creates existences, God transcends them to such a degree that we cannot even say that He dwells in them. Even the idea of immanence of God is, strictly speaking, untenable. All existences are due to His double nature but as His higher proper nature is Atman which is unconnected with the work of Prakriti, it is also true that beings do not dwell in Him nor He in them. They are one and yet separate.
“The jiva or the embodied self, bearing the body and maintaining it, remains clinging to it by ahankara or self-sense. Unlike the Jiva, I, though bearing and maintaining all beings, do not remain in them, since I am free from ahamkaara or self-sense.” Sridhara.
The Gita does not deny the world, which exists through God and has God behind, above and before it. It exists through Him who, without the world, would yet be in Himself no less what He is. Unlike God, the world does not possess its specific existence in itself. It has therefore only limited and not absolute being. The teacher inclines not to pantheism which asserts that everything is God but to panentheism that denotes that everything subsists in God. The cosmic process is not a complete manifestation of the Absolute. No finite process can ever finally and fully express the Absolute, though this world is a living manifestation of God.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Brahman or the Self has no connection with any object as It is very subtle and attributeless and formless; and so It is unattached (Asanga). There cannot be any real connection between matter and Spirit. Saakara (an object with form) can have no connection with Nirakara (the formless). How could this be? “Devoid of attachment It is never attached.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad III. 9. 26) Though unattached, It supports all beings; It is the efficient or instrumental cause; It brings forth all beings but It does not dwell in them, because It is unconnected with any object. This is a great mystery. Just as the dreamer has no connection with the dream object, just as ether or air has no connection with the vessel, so also Brahman has no connection with the objects or the body. The connection between the Self and the physical body is illusory.
The Adhishthana or support (Brahman) for the illusory object (Kalpitam) superimposed on Brahman has no connection whatsoever with the qualities or the defects of the objects that are superimposed on the Absolute. The snake is superimposed on a rope. The rope is the support (adhisthana) for the illusory snake (Kalpitam). This is an example of superimposition or Adhyasa. (Cf. VII. 25; X. 7; XI.8)

Comments by the blogger:
In stanza 04 the Lord alluded to what he was going to say in stanza 05.
In stanza 04 the Lord says, “All this universe is pervaded by Me in My unmanifested form;” In My unmanifested form should be underlined. It is the fact that all this Universe is pervaded by Him only. But “in His unmanifested form;” just imagine what would happen if all this universe is pervaded by the Lord in His manifested form. First, it is not possible for He is infinite and the universe is finite and everything here is finite. So the Lord could not pervade the universe in His manifested form. Secondly, the purpose of creation, whatever be it, would get defeated. All the people would have tangible proof of the Lord’s existence. So there would not have been six darisanas in Hinduism. There would be only one darisan all over the world and that darisan would be saying the Lord Master is here and we should all behave ourselves. I think even that would not be necessary. Everyone would be a staunch devotee and would behave without having to say. Life here would be like that in the Heaven, where all the basic needs are satisfied automatically and the blessed people there spend endless time in glorification of the Lord. God’s scheme for the universe is not that it should be another Heaven-like place. The universe as such is known for all sorts of good and bad and subject to dvandwas or dualities. Thirdly there won’t be any procreation. Everyone would be living their life like angels and kama or desire would not tantalize them. Men and Women would consider each other as brothers and sisters because they would know that they are mini expressions of the Light that God is. Love-making would be considered by everyone as a sin happening between brothers and sisters. The very idea of creation, whatever be it, would get defeated if God was here in his manifest form. Just think of the Gopies or milkmaids whose love for Sri Krishna alone mattered to them in life!
This happened when Lord Shiva created Shabda Rishis (Nine Saints) at the beginning and expected them to procreate. But they all, the nine of them, indulged in deep meditation for ages without being conscious of the passing of time. It was only then God realized that Rishis or saints would not have kama or desire. only if men and women have kama or desire for each other and everything in this world, there would be procreation.
This is why, friends, the lord pervades the world in His unmanifested form. Then some would say there is God and some would say there is no God. And people were also steeped by the Lord in illusion. This led to the ignorance. We forgot that we are God’s individual expression. So only we get desire and want to indulge in various works and jobs and earn money and want to enjoy life in the way God expects human beings enjoy life. This is God’s plan for the universe. And He wants to see who all would be able to see Him and Feel Him in His unmanifested world and worship Him despite a rat race for material comforts instead of Spiritual comforts.
Now come to the stanza 05; the Lord rephrases what he said in stanza 04; having said “all beings exist in Me, but I do not abide in them” in stanza 04, in stanza 05 He comes clean and puts the matter beyond all doubts. For He says in stanza 05, “Nor do the beings dwell in Me” It is the truth, isn’t it. Do we live in Him? except for Saints and Sages, we generally and consciously do not dwell in Him. As Swami Chidbhavananda states, God is like the sea and we are waves, we owe our existence but we don’t contain the sea, that vast expanse, and sheet of a water body. Again the Swamiji says, the mirror reflects whatever is put in front of it, but it does not undergo any modifications.
But in the later part of the same stanza (05) the Lord says, “Bringing forth and supporting the beings, My Self does not dwell in them!” Friends, don’t you feel this is the echo of the stanza 04? If you have any doubt, you go through the stanza carefully and what I have written above.
There need be no doubt that it is the Lord who brings forth us and he dwells in his unmanifested form in us and the universe.
And this is His divine Yoga!        

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 09, VERSE 04, RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 09
RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET:
VERSE NUMBER 04
Text in Transliteration:
mayaa tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakata moortina
matsthaani sarva bhootaani na chaa ‘ham teshv avasthitah
Text in English:
All this universe is pervaded by Me in My unmanifested form; all beings exist in Me, I do not abide in them.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
As waves take their origin from the sea and sport on it, all beings from Brahma down to a blade of grass take their origin in Brahman and rest on Him. As the sea is not contained in the waves, the unmanifest Brahman is not contained in the manifest beings. He is infinite while these are all finite.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
See VII. 12.
This whole universe owes its being to the Transcendent Godhead and yet the forms of this universe do not contain or express Him adequately. His absolute reality is far above the appearance of things in space and time.   

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Avyatamoorti is Para Brahman or the Supreme Unmanifested Being invisible to the senses but cognisable through intuition. All beings from Brahma, the Creator, down to the blade of grass or an ant, dwell in the transcendental Para Brahman. They have no independent existence. They exist through the Self which is the support for everything, which underlies them all.
Nothing here contains It. As Brahman is the Self of all beings, one may imagine that It dwells in them. But it is not so. How could it be? How can the infinite be contained in a finite object? Brahman has no connection or contact with any material object, just as a chair or a table has contact with the ground or a man or a book. So it does not dwell in those beings. That which has no connection or contact with objects or beings cannot be contained anywhere as if in a vessel, trunk, room or receptacle. The Self is not rooted in all these forms. It is not contained by any of these forms just as the ether is not contained in any form though all forms are derived from the ether.
All beings appear to be living in Brahman, but this is an illusion. If this illusion vanishes, nothing remains anywhere except Brahman. When ignorance, the cause of this illusion disappears, the very idea of the existence of these beings also will vanish.
In verses 4 and 5 the Lord uses a paradox or an apparent contradiction: “All beings dwell in Me and yet do not dwell in Me; I do not dwell in them”. For a thinker there is no real contradiction at all. Just as space contains all beings and yet is not touched by them so also Para Brahman contains everything and yet is not touched by them. Even Mulaprakriti, the source or womb of this world, is supported by Brahman. Brahman has no support or root. It rests in Its own pristine glory.

Comments by the blogger:
This universe is pervaded by the Lord in his transcendental form. This universe means both sentient and insentient, both beings like man and beast, and the objects like earth and articles man makes from earth. This is reason enough to love all the beings, human beings, and the beasts. When our love for our family extends to our neighbours and we pray for them, there is some insouciant beauty in it. But if we consider the whole village, town or city we live in and love all of the human beings and pray for them, our heart and understanding of life and things expand. But only when we transcend borders and love the whole of the humanity of the world, our heart and understanding of things expand exponentially.
Love for all the beasts is not the same as love for the vegetarian food only. For vegetables also have life and the plants they are plucked from have life, and when the vegetables are plucked from the plants they suffer pain. So vegetarianism is not applauded and recommended for yoga practitioners because the beasts have life and vegetables have no life; since what we eat predominantly determines our guna or tendency and also have a say in our temperament, it is so good to be a vegetarian. Digestion is easy and longevity of life also is assured. Health reasons also recommend the vegetarian food.
We should make our love envelope all the world or universe. We would be pleasantly shocked when our heart expands to involve the whole universe. We can love our family alone and be small and puny little men and women or love the whole universe and be the lover of God who pervades the whole universe.
The second part of the verse, “All beings exist in Me, but I do not abide in them” may appear difficult to understand. The Lord is the efficient cause of the Universe. The whole cosmos is scintillating with His intelligence. From this cosmic intelligence, we may borrow, whether we are the believer in God or not. We need not adore the Lord to borrow from the cosmic intelligence. Some scientists are believers in God while some are non-believers. Some poets are believers, while some poets take pride in denying the very existence of God. But all the scientists are able to borrow from this cosmic intelligence. All poets are able to borrow from the same intelligence and write good poetry. Like the practitioner of yoga need not necessarily be a Hindu, a scientist, a scholar, a poet, etc, need not necessarily be a believer. Everyone can borrow from the cosmic intelligence. For some people like geologists and scientists, the answer to a geological or scientific question has come in their dreams. Even we have answers, sometimes if not always, for our problems in dreams. All this is possible because of the cosmic intelligence. The law of coincidence also has its roots in this theory. When we think hard about a problem or a conundrum in life, whether it is big or small, and are not able to solve the problem, if we train our mind on some other matter or if we take rest and sleep for a while, the answer would flash in our mind. Or the answer would come through what we read in the papers or what our friends say and thus the answer would come to us coincidentally. All this is because of the Cosmic Intelligence. This is proof enough that the Lord pervades this universe, and He is the efficient cause of the Cosmos and that the cosmic intelligence is for all, believers and non-believers, to help out of a bottleneck in one’s exertion.
The law of evolution should involve the borrowing from this cosmic intelligence.
“But I do not abide in them” is easy to understand. We and the universe are finite. The infinite cannot be held within the finite. But when one man realizes Self he becomes one with the Brahman even while living here. In such persons, for example, Sri Ramakrishna and his disciple Vivekananda, God would abide even though they live like any other ordinary man or woman.    

          

Saturday 28 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 09, VERSE 03, RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 09
RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET:
VERSE NUMBER 03
Text in Transliteration:
asraddahaanaah purushaa dhrmasyaa ‘sya paramtapa
apraapya maam nivartante mrtyu samsaara vartmani
Text in English:
Men devoid of Sraddha for this dharma do not attain Me, O oppressor of the foes, but return to the path of the mortal world.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
A fish on land, that does not know that there is water within its reach has to suffer necessarily. Men who do not know and who do not care to know of moksha-dharma or the path of deliverance have no alternative to being repeatedly born in this world of transmigration and transitory pleasure. For want of sraddha they suffer as destitutes.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
The sovereign knowledge is the identity of Krsna, the Incarnate Lord, with Brahman the source of all. Final illumination will dawn on us if we worship the Incarnate with this knowledge. The direct contemplation of the Absolute is more difficult. Because Arjuna is a man of faith, he is taught this secret. The faithless who do not accept it, do not gain release but return to birth again. The faith demanded is the faith in the reality of saving wisdom and man’s capacity to attain it. The first step to grow into the freedom of the Divine is faith in the Godhead in us, which supports our being and action. When we surrender ourselves to that inner Divine, the practice of yoga becomes easy.  

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Arjuna asks, “O Lord, why do people not attempt to attain this knowledge of the Self when it can be easily attained, when it is the highest of all things, and when it gives the greatest benefits? All should certainly attain this knowledge.” The Lord replies, “O My beloved disciple, people have no faith in this Dharma or knowledge and so return to the path of this world of death. Even if they strive with help of the means of their own imagination they cannot attain Me as they are not endowed with the right means prescribed by the scriptures.”
Dharma means law, religion, knowledge of the Self.
This faith is not mere intellectual belief in the statement of another. It is unshakable firm inner conviction that the knowledge of the Self alone can give one supreme peace, immortality and eternal bliss. It was this strong and unflinching faith of Sri Sankara that goaded him to leave his mother and take shelter under the kind protection of his Guru Sri Govindapada for attaining this knowledge which is the “supreme purifier, intuitional, according to righteousness, very easy to perform, and imperishable”. It was the strong faith of Lord Buddha that induced him to have that iron determination which he expressed in these words, “I will not budge an inch from my seat till I get illumination”. Faith goes hand in hand with fiery determination.
The Lord has eulogised the knowledge of the Self in the first two verses by the positive method (Vidhi Mukhastuti). The benefits of obtaining knowledge of the Self are described in the first and the second verses. This is Vidhi Mukhastuti. The disastrous effects that result from not obtaining the knowledge of the Self are described in the third verse. This is Nishedha Mukhastuti.
The greedy, lustful and sinful persons who are the followers of the philosophy of the flesh, who lead the life of the demons, who worship the body taking it to be the Self, and who have no faith in the knowledge of the Self, do not reach Me. They do not even possess an iota of devotion which is also one of the paths that lead men to Me. They remain in the path of the world of death which leads to hell and the lower births of animals, worms, etc.

Comments by the blogger:
The Lord of Gita addresses Arjuna as Parantapa, which means, O oppressor of the foes or enemies. Here our enemy is a singular lack of shraddha, an abiding faith. This means that Arjuna should slay the lack of faith. I would say the Lord addresses us through Arjuna. For he has enough shraddha right from the moment he surrendered his all at the feet of the Lord and begged Him to show the right way. That happened in the second Discourse itself. Now we are in the ninth Discourse. This Discourse itself is because Arjuna does not cavil and he has accepted the meanings given to his seven doubts or questions put by him at the beginning of the Seventh Discourse. So there is no question of Arjuna’s not having the faith or shraddha.
The Lord speaks to us through Arjuna. He wants us to be like Arjuna who is an oppressor of foes or enemies. The Lord of Gita wants us to oppress and kill the lack of faith in the Dharma He is going to teach presently!
But we are not men devoid of faith. We have full faith in the Lord’s power to deliver.
But we are a bit worldly too. So we will have to return back to earth.
Swami Sivananda says in the concluding paragraph that the greedy, lustful and sinful persons who are the followers of the philosophy of the flesh remain in the path of the world of death which leads to hell and the lower births of animals, worms, etc. And this would be the fate of the rapists of Nirbhaya, the ISI folks, and such animals in the shroud of men and women. We are faithful readers of the Holy Gita and even otherwise we haven’t committed any sins contemplated by the Swamiji in the last paragraph.
We, I mean, the majority of us will return back to earth after spending long years in swarga or Heaven and come back here blessed with births in good families so that we can pick up the Gita thread from where we will have left off. There need be no doubt about this. Obtaining lower births like animals and worms, etc are simply not for us.
But it would be fine if we are not too selfish and too greedy. I am sure none of us is that way.

          

Friday 27 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 09, VERSE 02, RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 09
RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET:
VERSE NUMBER 02
Text in Transliteration:
Raajavidyaa raajaguhyam pavitram idam uttamam
Pratyakshaavagamam dharmyam susukham kartum avyayam
Text in English:
The sovereign science, the sovereign secret, the supreme purifier is this; directly realizable, in accord with dharma, very easy to practise and imperishable.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The public road is called raaja-paatha. The yoga common to all religions is called raaja-yoga. Similarly Brahma-jnana which is the birthright of all is called raaja-vidyaa. All are entitled to it and they are wending their way to it knowingly or unknowingly. If so, can all get at Brahma-jnana as unfailingly as all are able to procure food for the body? No, the impure in heart cannot have access to it. The purity of the mind is the criterion for it. They alone shall inherit this Divine Treasure who are perfectly pure at heart. But those that have not yet refined the mind, those that are given to cavil and such like defects will not be able to grasp it even. To them it is the sovereign secret. This science is a sealed book to them. As water cleanses the body, Brahma-jnana cleanses the Jivatman (human beings) of his fallen state and reinstates him in Brahmanhood. The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. Brahma-vidyaa is therefore the supreme purifier.
A man who wakes up from a dreadful dream brushes aside his agony as a mere fiction of his mind. The mundane life itself is a misery-laden prolonged dream from which the Brahma-jnani wakes up into the bliss of Reality. Thenceforth his life gets fixed in Truth. Therefore it is bound to be in accord with dharma. Self-knowledge is the home-coming of the Jivatman, and so it is very easy to practise. There is a possibility of a thing easily obtained being easily lost also. But Brahma-jnana being one’s Original State, is never lost any more than the man losing himself. It is imperishable.   

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Raajavidyaa, raajaguhyam: literally king-knowledge, king-sercret the greatest wisdom, the greates secret.
pratyakshaavagamam. It is not a matter for argument but is verified by direct experience. It is knowledge by acquaintance and not by description, hearsay or report. The truth is there shining by its own light, waiting to be seen by us, if the obstructing veils are removed. The Supreme is to be seen by one as one’s own self, through one’s developed and purified intuition. Cp. pratibodhaviditam
Kena Upanishad., II, 12.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
There is neither blind faith nor faith-mongering in this ‘royal science’. The truth, the sovereign secret, (the Self or the Absolute) can be directly realised by intuition or immediate perception. The science of the Absolute is the most splendid of all sciences. It is the science of sciences. Of sciences the highest, of secrets the most profound, of purifiers the supreme is this. The knowledge of Brahman is the best purifier. It reduces the roots of all karmas and all the Karmas themselves which have been stored up in the course of many thousands of births, into ashes in the twinkling of an eye. It destroys Avidya(ignorance) along with its effects. An expiatory act (Prayaschitta) cannot destroy all sins. It removes the effect of a single sin, only to some extent. Even if it is removed the effect of that sin remains in a subtle state in the mind and forces him to do sinful acts in his next birth. But the knowledge of the Self destroys quickly all the sins in their gross and subtle stats that are accumulated in the course of several thousands of births along with Avidya, their cause. That is the reason why it is a supreme purifier. The causal body of the Jiva( human being) is called Mula-Avidya (root-ignorance). The Avidya or the veil of ignorance that envelops the visible objects of this world is called Sthula Avidya or gross ignorance. The knowledge of the Self is not opposed to Dharma. It is the fruit of all actions done in many births without expectation of fruits. Further, the knowledge of the Absolute can very easily be attained. One may think that this knowledge will perish soon as it is easily obtained, when its effect is exhausted. It is not so. It is imperishable. It is everlasting. It shines for ever by its own Self-effulgence. He who has tasted this nectar even once becomes immortal. Therefore the knowledge of the Absolute is certainly worth acquiring. You will have to strive very hard to attain it anyhow in this birth, as it is very difficult to get a human birth. Strive hard every moment, for life is uncertain and the prize (final liberation) is great.

Comments by the blogger:
All beings including human beings move toward the Ultimate Reality, Brahman. Only most of us do not know of the fact or even if we knew, we are not always conscious of the fact. The beasts also are moving toward the Lord’s sachidhananda state or the state of everlasting bliss. The definitely don’t know the fact but are guided by instincts. Each and every one of us is like the beasts unknowingly moving toward the ultimate ananda or bliss. This bliss is not cloying. It lasts forever once attained.
In everything, we do we think of our comforts. If we build a house, we are very particular about the amenities of all kinds within our budget. Some people go for loans of various types to get their houses finished with every imaginable amenities. If we go on a tour, or even on an official tour to some exotic place, we think of our comforts. There is something called joining pleasure with work.
When we think of these comforts, we do not include those without which we can’t live. Such comforts like food and drink, slumber at night are called creature comforts. We share this along with the beasts. But every single item apart from creature comforts should come under the head of little bliss or ananda we are in constant search.
If we take a moment to think of our daily exertions, this will come to the fore and pleasantly shock us. From the small boys and girls who have finished their home works satisfactorily to adults like us who have fixed nice husbands for our girl children, every day-to-day exertion toward any goal, short term or long term, is filled with our searches for ananda or bliss.
Sri Ramana Maharishi would say that we are in search of a drug or some cure when we get a headache. Because we want to be rid of the splitting headache. Why, because we could remember the time when we did not have a headache! Like that, we are the children of that Light which is self-luminous and ever experiences bliss, and since we have come from there, we and the beasts are on constant search of that bliss, whether knowingly or unknowingly.
The Lord says the Sovereign Science He is going to teach us is a Supreme purifier. Once we attain that state, like Swami Sivananda says, all our past karmas are set at naught. It will never germinate again. This yoga cannot be taught at school. It can only be realized. But it is easy to practise, the Lord says. Because we all are, whether the Hindus, Muslims or Christians, capable of doing this and attain the everlasting bliss. There is no faith mongering in this. No one has to reveal his or her religious state to the master teaching this yoga. That is why Swami Chidbhavananda says, like the public road being called raja-patha and the yoga common to all the religions is called raja-yoga the Science of Brahma Knowledge is open to all irrespective of religious differences. This is the contribution of the Hindu Sages to the Mankind in general. Curiously, no Saint or Seer of Hinduism, who found truth in Its fullness even suggested that we should take this to others who are not Hindus. Probably it was because at that hoary time both Christianity and Mohammedanism did not exist. Only in Greece, Roam and Egypt Great Souls were in similar search of ananda or bliss of everlasting quality.  




          

Thursday 26 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 09, VERSE 01, RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 09
RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET:
VERSE NUMBER 01
Text in Transliteration:
               sree bhagavaan uvaacha
idam tut e guhyatamam pravakshyaamy anasooyave
jnaanam vijaanasahitam yai ynaatvaa mokshyase ‘subhaaat

Text in English:
                                 The Blessed Lord said:
To you who do not cavil, I shall surely declare this, the most profound knowledge combined with realization by knowing which you will be released from evil.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Mundane life itself is an evil, and ignorance is the basis of this transitory life. It is because of ignorance that man embraces evil and suffers from its consequences. Mere intellectual knowledge of Atman would not free man from misery. It requires to be combined with realization which is the real Brahma-jnana. The man of Self-knowledge alone is free from evil and its outcome, misery.
Cavil which is born of conceit and jealousy is a rotten disease of the mind that prevents man from rising in knowledge and wisdom. It robs him of divine disposition. Arjuna is no victim to this canker; he is all magnanimity and broad-mindedness. He is therefore eminently fit for the most profound knowledge combined with the realization.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
vijnaanasahitam, anubhavayuktam. Shankara. We take jnaana, however, as meaning wisdom and vijnaana as detailed knowledge. If the former is metaphysical truth, the latter is scientific knowledge. We have at our disposal these different and complementary means of obtaining truth, an intuitive as well as an intellectual expansion of the human mind. We must acquire wisdom and knowledge, penetration of reality and a profound grasp of the nature of things. The philosophers prove that God exists but their knowledge of God is indirect; the seers proclaim that they have felt the reality of God in the depths of their soul and their knowledge is direct. See III, 41; VI, 8.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Idam (this) alludes to knowledge of the Self.
Jnana: Theoretical knowledge of Brahman through the study of the Upanishads, also known as Paroksha Brahma Jnana.
Vijnana: Direct intuitive perception of Brahman or Atma-Sakshatkara, also known as Aparoksha Brahma Jnana.
This alone forms the direct means of attaining to liberation from evil or the bondage of Samsara, freedom from birth and death.
The knowledge of the Self is the most profound secret. It can hardly be described in words. It can be realized only through direct experience or spiritual intuition. Atma or Brahman or the self-luminous, eternal, Supreme Purusha is ever shining in the chambers of the hearts of men. Throughout the ages there have always been a few who have trodden the spiritual treasure of the precious pearl of the Self. Knowledge of the Self is the only direct means for attaining liberation. Karma Yoga purifies the heart and leads to the dawn of the knowledge of the Self.
Lord Krishna says, “O Arjuna, I shall teach you this profound secret knowledge combined with realization as you are free from jealousy”. From this, we can clearly understand that freedom from jealousy is an important qualification for an aspirant. Knowledge can only dawn in a mind which is free from all forms of jealousy which causes great distraction of the mind and produces intense heart-burning. Matsarya (malicious envy), Irshya (jealous of others’ prosperity or happiness) and Asuya (envious or indignant over the merits of another) are all varieties of jealousy. If you superimpose evil qualities on a virtuous man who really does not possess these qualities and speak ill of him, this is jealousy (Asuya). To behold evil or to look at a person with the fault-finding evil eye, and to see evil in him who is free from any kind of fault and who is virtuous is Asuya. Jealousy is only petty-mindedness. This is a modification of ignorance. It can be eradicated by enquiry of the nature of the Self and cultivating its opposite qualities, viz., nobility, broad and universal tolerance, magnanimity and large-heartedness.
To thee who does not carp or cavil: This implies that Arjuna was endowed with all the virtues of a disciple such as straightforwardness, self-control, restraint of the senses, the serenity of mind, discrimination, dispassion, etc. This is the Upalakshana (the truth alluded to where only a part is stated) and Asuya is the Upalakshaka (the hint which alludes to the Upalakshana).  
  
Comments by the blogger:
The dictionary meaning of the word cavil in its verbal form is ‘to take objection at or find fault with in a petty-minded way’. Arjuna is free of this weakness. To a person who can’t tolerate the merits of another, this tendency to carp and cavil comes naturally. But the very name Arjuna means ‘the sinless one’. Then, the Lord Master Himself is teaching him the Gita. Then where is the room for petty-mindedness?
Even with regard to the Kauravas or Dhuryodhana and his brothers at whose hand Arjuna and his four brothers suffered much, Arjuna is not petty-minded. But, on the contrary, Arjuna is large-hearted enough to suffer intensely at having to slay them all! That is the greatness of his mind.
And the confusion and misery were short-lived, and they gave way to the steady teaching of the Lord about Atman and Its nature. Now He is going to teach Arjuna the Sovereign Science and Sovereign Secret unknown to others.
A teacher’s magnanimity is open only to a fit student who does not carp and cavil. Instead of doing that, Arjuna has lately put seven pregnant questions in the form of doubts to the Lord. And the Lord has answered all the questions in their order. And then, taking His disciple’s high merit into consideration, He comes forward to teach him further.
Even the most profound knowledge without combining with the practice will not lead to Liberation.
But I said in my comments for the last verse, chapter 08, that an intellectual understanding of the teaching will lead to liberation step by step (through many births and deaths).
I stand by that statement. But there might be among us many persons thirsty for direct knowledge apart from an intellectual cognizance of the same. Such souls are blessed indeed. And those free and great souls should not be discouraged or distracted. And such souls might take to the Yoga that is going to be described and taught in this chapter. But nobody, howsoever higher his or her knowledge might be, should delve into this science of Yoga and take to the practice without the supervision and guidance of a fit master.
Worldly life is considered as evil by the Lord. That is why He says, “by knowing which you will be released from evil.” We should keep this in mind while negotiating the daily activities or transactions of day-to-day life. Because by keeping this in mind, such of the self-complaisance that might have been harboured by us in the secret chambers of our heart, whether knowingly or unknowingly, about the high-worth of ourselves will be checked! In this way, we will have due knowledge about our worth in negotiating our daily life. This will free us completely from all petty-mindedness if any. I am saying this because the Lord calls this life as evil. He does not call those evil-minded persons’ lives as evil. That is, of course, pure evil. But even the magnanimous and broad-hearted persons among us must consider this life as evil because till we are chained to births and deaths we are away from God. That alone will make everything here evil.
But don’t lose heart.
The Lord is compassionate even to the real evil persons. Because the Self-Realization is their birthright! We human beings are blessed in that way. And the good and devout and magnanimous are doubly blessed. And the chanting of the Lord’s Name alone will give us human birth time and again. And we will and can only progress and thus the human birth is ensured. And it is the Law of the Lord’s Nature and Scheme of the Universe that we should only make further progress birth after birth by picking up the thread where we left off.
And one more thing: all the devout readers of the Holy Gita can be assured of a good human birth in a good family at the next time so as to take and pick up the Gita-thread from where we will have left off.
   






Wednesday 25 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 28, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 08
AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:
VERSE NUMBER 28
Text in Transliteration:
vedeshu yajneshu tapahsu chai ‘va
   daaneshu yat punyaphalam pradishtam
atyeti tat sarvam idam viditvaa
   yogee param sthaanam upaiti chaa ‘dyam
  
Text in English:
The yogi who knows this transcends the fruits of meritorious deeds attached to the study of the Vedas, sacrifices, austerities and gifts, and attains to the supreme primeval Abode.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
This chapter commenced with seven questions raised by Arjuna. And the Lord has answered all of them in order. He who understands the explanation understands “Akshara Brahman.” The regular chanting of the Vedas, the correct performance of the ritualistic Yajnas, the ardent doing of the austerities and the reverent payment of gifts are all meritorious acts conducive to the attainment of Svarga or heaven. But this high state also comes within the wheel of birth and death. On the other hand, an intellectual grasp of Akshara Brahman and attuning oneself to the attainment of Him steadily lead one towards that Supreme Goal. Blessed is the yogi that wends his way towards this primeval Abode.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
The states which result from the study of the Vedas, sacrifices, austerities and gifts are all lower stages to be passed over by the Yogi who soars beyond them to the final goal.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
The glory of Yoga is described in this verse.
Whatever meritorious effect is declared in the scriptures to accrue from the proper study of the Vedas, from the performance of sacrifices properly, from the practice of austerities—above all these rises the Yogi who rightly understands and follows the teaching imparted by Lord Krishna, and who meditates on Brahman. He attains to the Supreme Abode of Brahman Which existed even in the beginning (primeval), and is the first or ancient.
Idam Viditva: Having known this, Having known properly the answers given by the Lord to the seven questions put by Arjuna at the beginning of this chapter.
(This chapter is known by the name Abhyasa Yoga also)

iti srimad bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu brahmavidyaayaam yogasaastre sree krsnaarjuna samvaade aksharabrahma yogo naama astamo ‘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 eighth discourse designated:
THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

Comments by the blogger:
In Hinduism, there is a term, “prastanatrayam”. The Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita and The Brahma Sutra are called “prastranatrayam” that is, the important three authorities. The Bhagavad Gita too is an Upanishad. For all the Upanishads (they say there are 108 Upanishads) the Four Vedas are the authorities. The principal Upanishads are 14 in number. They are: Esopanishad, kenopanishad, kadopanishad, Prasna Upanishad, Mundaka Upanishad, Mandukya( Maandookya) Upanishad, Aitreya Upanishad, Taitiriya (Taitireeya) Upanishad, Chandokya Upanishad, Bruhadharanya Upnishad, Swetasvatra Upanishad, Kausheedahi Upanishad, Maha Narayana Upanishad, Maitrayani Upanishad.  Adi Shankara has written able commentaries on the first 10 Upanishads.
So these Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita and The Brahmasutra are the three authoritative Scriptures for Hinduism. Any writing or saying that is not in consonance with these three works (Prastanatrayam) must be discarded as invalid.
For all the Upanishads, the Four Vedas are the authorities in the sense they all came into being only to explain one or several aspects of the Vedas.
The Fourteen Upanishads mentioned above arose out of the concerned Veda as given below:
Out of Rig Veda arose Aitreya Upanishad and Kausheetahi or Kausheetaki Upanishad.
Out of Yajur Veda arose Esopanishad, Kadopanishad, Taitireeya Upanishad, Bruhadharanyaka Upanishad, Swetaasvatara Upanishad, Maitrayani Upanishad, Maha Nayana Upanishad.
Out of Sama Veda arose, Kenopanishad and Chandokya Upanishads.
Out of Adharvana Veda arose Prasna Upanishad, Mundaka Upanishad and Mandukya Upanishad.
Still, Sri Krishna speaks in terms not so glamorous whenever he speaks about the Vedas. He has said that for a Brahmin who has understood the Brahman the use of the four Vedas would be the same as a well in a place inundated by water!
Like this wherever the Lord of Gita refers to the Vedas, He never forgets to say, “Don’t aspire for the swarga or the Heaven as the fruits of the recitation of the Vedas and performing sacrifices enshrined in them.”
However, this is to the merits of the Hinduism. It is like the grandson who knows everything about the modern gadgets teaching his grandfather on the use of them exhorting him to give up his old-time and old-fashioned ideas! The grandfather would not get offended. On the contrary, he would take pride in his grandson’s knowledge.
Knowledge of the Brahman is the superior knowledge.
Here Swami Chidbhavananda’s words should be noted. He says an intellectual understanding of the Knowledge of Brahman as taught by the Lord in this chapter would lead one toward a realization of the same.








Monday 23 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 27, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAMAN

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 08
AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:
VERSE NUMBER 27
Text in Transliteration:
Nai’te srtee paartha jaanan yogee muhyati kaschana
Tasmaat sarveshu kaaleshu yogayukto bhavaa ‘rjuna
Text in English:
Knowing these two paths, O Partha, no yogi is deluded. Therefore, O Arjuna, be steadfast in yoga, at all times.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
As living the embodied life is a constant process, the practice of yoga also should be an interminable effort. All the activities in life may be transformed into the several aspects of yoga. In doing so the yogi pursues the path of light.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
In whatever direction the ship may sail, the needle of the compass in it ever points to the north. Similar to it, let the mind of the devotee be ever fixed on the lotus feet of the Lord, irrespective of his occupation.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Whatever work you undertake, do not lose the thought of the Eternal.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Knowing the nature of the two paths and the consequences they lead to, a Yogi never loses his discrimination. The yogi who knows that the path of the gods or the path of light leads to Moksha (gradual liberation), and the path of darkness to Samsara or the world or region of birth and death, is no longer deluded. Knowledge of these two paths serves as a compass or a beacon light to guide the Yogi’s steps at every moment. He strives to stick to the path of light.
     
Comments by the blogger:
In this verse, Arjuna is addressed by the Lord as “O Arjuna” and “O Partha”
Partha means the son of Pritha or Kunti. In other words, an average ordinary man born of the womb of a woman. Why Partha is used in the first part of the verse? Because Arjuna has not taken to the path of yoga consciously. That he is a  devotee and as such a Yogi of Devotion. But in the earlier chapter, the Lord wanted him to do Meditation and thus become a yogi. These two paths were not known to Arjuna till Lord Master delineated them. So he is called Partha.
In the second part of the verse, the incomparable disciple is addressed as Arjuna which means “the pure in nature” according to the list of names and their meaning given by Swami Sidbhavananda at the end of his book. The Lord means by Arjuna that “Since you are pure in mind you can practise what I am going to say. And that is “be steadfast in yoga, at all times.”
That apart, these two paths of light and darkness are paths of knowledge and ignorance. Therefore we are called upon to be pure in mind and that would make us steadfast in yoga, at all time. Here knowledge is yoga. The knowledge of the imperishable Brahman is Yoga. If we are steadfast in the knowledge of the Brahman, and the knowledge of the two paths we can be steadfast in yoga at all times.
Simple chanting of His or Her name and devotion of unflinching faith in Him makes us a Yogi. We should never forget that. The word Yoga is variously used in various contexts in Gita. If we can be called a Yogi in one context, that would be enough and it would be up to us then to be steadfast in that path of yoga. For example, if we are the Yogis of Devotion then we must be steadfast in that Yoga. We need not qualify as Yogi in all contexts the term is used.
Daily chanting of His or Her Name is the easiest way to be tethered to the Ultimate Almighty. Then daily prayer in the morning and the evening or night. Then development of a mentality whereby we get automatically see our Ishta Moorthy or Titular Deity alone in all beings and non-beings. This will do for us and will guide us throughout our life.
When a new situation arises we should rub it as gold articles are rubbed to the black stone, to find out if it is validated. This has been a long practice of mine. Since Hinduism is held by crippling superstitions, any belief should be compared with the teachings of the Gita. Devotion does not mean abject fear of God. That itself is a superstition. The Lord is our master and a father or mother. Abject fear of God would come between us and a pure and scintillating devotion. The devotee is a favourite son or daughter of God. So we must not entangle ourselves in superstitions. For example, I heard in a discourse of general nature by a lady that it is wrong to rub one foot over the other in washing the feet, and we should always use our hands to cleanse the feet. This was some ten years ago. I immediately rubbed the tatva or thought with the black stone, Gita in my mind. and I found out the discoursing lady was simply dishing out a rank superstition. Like that, in a TV speech a person was telling that in going to the temple, we should not stand in direct line to the idol. Because every devotee would be trying to shift their hardships over to the Lord through prayer and the Lord would simply be sending them out and if we happen to be standing in front of the idol, that persons hardships and miseries would come to fill our life! Compare this kind of everyday observation of superstitions with your knowledge of Gita and you would be able to tell if it was just a superstition or a considered thought worth following. Knowledge of Gita gives you the strength of character and an inner happiness and contentment. We need not treat others as low, and slight them because he or she is filled with the Lord only. But we are justified in the contentment and inner happiness that a knowledge of Gita gives.
So knowledge is strength and ignorance breeds FEAR!




Sunday 22 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSES 23, 24, 25 AND 26, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF IMPERISHABLE BRAHAMAN

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 08
AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:
VERSE NUMBER 23, 24, 25 and 26
Verse Number 23
Text in Transliteration:
yatra kale tv anaavrttim aavrttim chai ‘va yogainah
prayaataa yaanti tam kaalam vakshyaami bharata rshabha
Text in English:
Now I shall tell you, O the best of the Bharatas, the time in which the yogis depart never to return and also the time in which they depart to return.
Verse Number 24
Text in Transliteration:
agnir jyotir ahah sukla shanmaasaa uttaraayanam
tatra prayaataa gacchanti brahma brahmavido janaah
Text in English:
Fire, light, day-time, the bright half of the moon, and the six months of northern path of the sun, then going forth, the knowers of Brahman go to Brahman.
Verse Number 25
Text in Transliteration:
dhoomo raatris tathaa krshnah shanmaasaa dakshinaayanam
tatra chaandramasam joytir yogee praapya nivartate
Text in English:
Smoke, night, the dark half of the moon, and the six months of the southern passage of the sun, then going forth, the yogi obtains the lunar light and returns.
Verse Number 26
Text in Transliteration:
suklakrshne gatee hy ete jagatah saasvate mate
ekayaa yaaty anaavrittim anyayaa ‘vartate punah
Text in English:
The bright and the dark, these paths are deemed to be the world’s eternal paths; by the one a man goes, not to return, by the other he returns again.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA FOR THE VERSES 23 TO 26:

What is contained in these three stanzas (verses 24 to 26) is a matter for thought. The Jivatmas (the human beings) transmigrating through death pass along two paths known as devayaana and pitryaana. They are described as the path of light and the path of smoke respectively. The former is bright and the latter dark. The one leads the soul to regions higher and the other keeps him lingering and lagging long behind. A literal meaning of these stanzas leads us into a ludicrous impossibility. Fire and light are held to take the departing soul upward. There is no difficulty whatsoever in creating this favourable environment to a dying soul. If this situation ensures an upward progress, ethical and spiritual endeavours become superfluous, which is absurd. It is further stated that he who dies in the day-time progresses and he who dies at night lags behind. But day-time can easily be created to a dying soul in these days with the help of an aeroplane. This means that man’s spiritual progress depends on the physical amenities he is able to command, which is also absurd. The northern path of the sun is held auspicious because of its warmth and brightness to those living in countries to the north of the equator. But by air transport to Australia and South America during the southern path of the sun, a dying man on the northern hemisphere can be placed in a favourable situation for his taking to the path of light. The dark half of the moon is the only natural event which man cannot counteract. But reason revolts against the belief that the exit of man from the earth during one fortnight aids his upward march and that the other hinders it. The attainments of the departing souls also do not warrant this position. Man having conquered time, space and causation to a great extent, these factors in nature cannot in any way contribute to his taking to the path of light or that of smoke.
The two paths mentioned here are the allegorical expressions of the paths of knowledge and ignorance. The soul pursuing the path of knowledge gets progressively into the brilliance of Atman. That other soul which is steeped in ignorance stagnates and deteriorates. Death is the indicator of the attainments of a soul in the span of a life. As a lamp brightens up just at the last moment of its becoming extinguished, a man pursuing the path of knowledge gets into the clarity of awareness while leaving the body. The intensity of the awareness is compared with fire, light, day-time, the bright path of the sun. Contrary to it, the darkness of the ignorance in the other man becomes increasingly enshrouded as is mentioned herein. Blessed are they who pursue the path of light in their succeeding briths, till the goal is reached.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
FOR VERSE 25
Our dead ancestors (pitris) are said to live in the world of the moon and remain there till the time of their return to earth.
FOR VERSE 26
Life is a conflict between light and darkness. The former makes for release and the latter for rebirth. The author here uses an old eschatological belief to illustrate a great spiritual truth, that those who are lost in the night of ignorance go by the path of ancestors and are subject to rebirth and those who live in the day of illumination and tread the path of knowledge obtain release from rebirth.


COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
For Verse 23
I shall declare to you, O Prince of the Baratas, the time at which if the Yogis leave their body they will not be born again; and also when if they die they will be born again.
To return means ‘to be born again’.
For Verse 24
This is the Uttara-Marga or Devayana, the northern path of light, by which the Yogis go to Brahman. This path leads to salvation. It takes the devotee to Brahmaloka. The six months of the northern solstice is from the middle of January to the middle of July. It is regarded as the better period for death. There is a vivid description in the Chhandogya Upanishad, the Kaushitaki Upanishad and the Brahma Sutras chapter IV .3 and 4, ii 18 and 21.
“On the road beginning with light (the departed soul proceeds), on account of that being widely known.”
“Having reached the path of the gods he comes to the world of Agni (fire), to the world of Vayu (air), to the world of Varuna (rain), to the world of Indra (king of the gods), to the world of Prajapati(the Creator), to the world of Brahman.”
 “They go to the light, from light to day, from day to the waxing half of the moon, from the waxing half of the moon to the six months when the sun goes to the north, from those months to the year, from the year to the sun.”
“When the person goes away from this world he comes to Vayu ( air ). Then Vayu makes room for him like the hole of a wheel and through it he mounts higher. He comes to the sun.”
“From the moon to the lightning; there a person that is not human leads him to Brahman.”
Time is here used in the sense of path or the stage on the path. ‘Fire’ and ‘light’ are the deities who preside over time. ‘Day-time’ is the deity who presides over the day. The bright fortnight is the deity presiding over it. The ‘six months of the northern solstice’ is the deity who presides over the northern path.   
This is the path of illumination that leads to liberation.
The life-breaths of the liberated sages who have attained knowledge of the Self do not depart. They are absorbed in Brahman. The Jivanmuktas who attain Kaivaly-Moksha or immediate salvation or liberation have no place to go to or return from. They become one with the all-pervading Brahman.
Each step may mean a plane or state of consciousness or the degree of purity or illumination. The more the purity the more the divine light. There are bright objects throughout the course of the path. There is illumination or knowledge when one passes along this path. Hence it is called the path of light. After Bhishma was mortally wounded, he lay on the bed of arrows till the onset of the northern solstice and then departed from here to the Abode of the Lord.
FOR  VERSE 25
This is the Pitriyana or the path of darkness of the path of the ancestors which leads to rebirth. Those who do sacrifices to the gods and other charitable works with expectation of reward go to the Chandraloka through this path and come back to this world when the fruits of the Karmas are exhausted.
‘Smoke’, ‘night time’, ‘the dark fortnight’ and ‘the six months of the southern solstice’ are all deities who preside over them. They may denote the degree of ignorance, attachment and passion. There are smoke and dark-coloured objects throughout the course. There is no illumination when one passes along this path. It is reached by ignorance. Hence it is called the path of darkness or smoke.
FOR VERSE 26
The bright path is the path to the gods taken by the devotees. The dark path is of the manes taken by those who perform sacrifices or charitable acts with the expectation of rewards. These two paths are not open to the whole world. The bright path is open to the devotees and the dark one to those who are devoted to the rituals. These paths are as ‘eternal’ as the Samsara.
World here means devotees or people devoted to ritual.
Pitriloka or Chandraloka is Svarga or heaven.

Comments by the blogger:
Swami Sidbhavananda, Dr.S.Radhakrishnan and Swami Sivananda are of the same opinion with regard to the Verses 24, 25 and 26. After giving a detailed account of the relevant portions of the Brahma Sutra, Swami Sivananda says in his commentary to verse 24 says, “Each step may mean a plane or state of consciousness or the degree of purity or illumination. Dr.S.Radhakrishnan says, “The author here uses an old eschatological belief to illustrate a great spiritual truth,...” Swami Sidbhavananda says a literal interpretation of these three verses would lead to absurd results.
All the three agree that the great truth is clothed in allegorical expressions.
That said, I think it would be relevant here to say a few words about what I read in an article I read long back in “Reader’s Digest”.
There is something as clinical death. That is when a person is announced to be dead clinically in a nursing home by concerned doctors. There are occasions when some persons clinically pronounced to be dead come back to life and then lead a ‘normal’ and after their convalescent period!
The article I am speaking about dealt with many interviews with such persons who had been clinically pronounced to be dead by concerned doctors but miraculously came back to life.
All the persons interviewed agreed on one point and that was that they, after having been pronounced to be dead, went through a passage. They mean they were conscious of going through a passage. Some said the passage was dark. While others said the passage was filled with light. But all went through a passage. And at the end of the passage, they went to a place filled with light. And the light was not bright in terms we understand on earth. It was extra bright but they were not blinded by the light. They went with a shadow of their real-life form.
And all said in one voice that they were met by God who was made of extra bright light. Without oral words, a highlight of the important events was shown for the person’s benefit. In which all the major good and bad things he or she had done on earth were gone through. That there were even jocular moments with the Lord when the highlights were shown! And then it was decided by God that they had not exhausted the time given to them. And then they were given a good by and sent back. And when such clinically dead persons returned back from that bright spot, it was once again through a passage either of darkness or light.
The interviewees in this article belonged to various places and they were separately interviewed. When they returned back to the earth’s plane, there was a sharp intake of breath on the part of the “dead bodies” as per the accounts of personnel attending to them or around the place in the nursing homes.
So from this, we may conclude the three able Commentators are correct. That high spiritual truth is couched in the old eschatological belief.
Moreover, the Lord addresses Arjuna at the very start as, “O Best of Bharatas” in verse 23. There is much significance in that. You are, Arjuna, the best of the Bharats and you should be able to understand the truth couched in allegory. Because the Lord has called Arjuna in verse 22 as Partha, which means ‘son of Pritha or Kunti’ by which the Lord meant even an ordinary average man and woman born of a woman’s womb can understand that the Supreme Purusha is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone. He could have called Arjuna O Partha, or Mahabhahu.
No, He addresses Arjuna as “O Best of Bharatas” The Bharata race itself is the best on earth. And Arjuna is the Best of such Bharatas! So he could plow through the maze of beautiful allegory and arrive at the truth.
Somehow it has always been the custom of the Lord, and great writers that they would not state the great truth in simple and straight words. It is as though they expect the recipient to have the spiritual wherewithal to understand the allegorical truth. It is not the first time the Lord has used allegory in Gita and not the last. We shall see more such allegories in future.
He tests us. He tests our faith. It is as if He would not give it straight to the underserved!
So we should have shradha or Faith of singular nature in the Lord and His words. Otherwise, Gita could be a book of conundrums! But for those who are endowed with faith and devotion, the truth will not be far to seek.









Saturday 21 October 2017

A PUBLIC NOTICE

Dear Readers, Today is the maintenance day for the Local EB. Owing to the shut down I could not write anything today. Tomorrow I have a personal engagement. So I might not be able to write on Sunday too. But I will surely come up with a fresh posting on Monday. The resultant inconvenience is regretted.     

Friday 20 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 22, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 08
AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:
VERSE NUMBER 22
Text in Transliteration:
purushah sa parah paartha bhaktyaa labhyas tv ananyayaa
yasyaa ‘ntahsthaani bhootaani yena sarvam idam tatam

Text in English:
That Supreme Purusha, O Partha, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone within whom all beings dwell, by whom all this is pervaded.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Ananya bhakti is the devotion of non-separation. It is the outcome of the right understanding of the relationship between the Jivatman (or Human Being) and the Paramatman (or God). They are interrelated in the way in which the sea and the waves are interrelated. The waves do not have any existence independent of the sea. Similarly Jivatman (the Being) is no entity apart from Paramatman (God). He who understands this fact cannot help having unswerving devotion to the Lord. When the individuality of the Jivatman is forgotten in the absorption in the Lord, it is then the devotion of non-separation.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHKRISHNAN:
All forms are forms of the One Supreme; their worship is the worship of the Supreme; the giver of all rewards is the Supreme. Sridhara.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

All the beings (effects) dwell within the Purusha (the Supreme person, the cause) because every effect rests within its cause. Just as the effect, pot, rests within its cause, the clay, so also all beings and the worlds rest within their cause, the Pursha.  Therefore the whole world is pervaded by the Purusha.
Sri Sankara explains exclusive devotion as Jnana or knowledge of the Self.
Purusha is so called because everything is filled by It (derived from the Sanskrit root pur which means ‘to fill’) or because It rests in the body of all (derived from the Sanskrit root puri). None is higher than It and so It is the Supreme Person. (Cf. IX.4; XI.38; XV.6 and 7)

Comments by the blogger:
Even after the performance of Yoga of Meditation, devotion is needed for salvation. Unswerving devotion itself is a form of Yoga according to Gita. But the other three forms of Yoga are well and good. But whether it is Karma Yoga, or Jnana Yoga or Raja Yoga, in the ultimate analysis Bhakti Yoga or the Yoga of Devotion is important for Salvation.
This fact is brought singularly out by the Isaavaasya (Isvasya) Upanishad. In this Upanishad, 15th Mantra says, “The face of the Truth is disguised by the screen of golden light. Hey! The Sun God! I am meditating on the Ultimate Truth. I want to see that Truth, so, please set aside the screen!
So, after years of meditation, in order to see the Truth, even though one is standing on the threshold of the same, prayer to the Sun God is put forth so as to see the Truth, which is the Supreme God.
What I am striving to bring home is the point that there is nothing higher than Devotion. And Devotion, even irrational Devotion of the illiterates, is the ultimate necessity to see the Lord. There are so many persons who have seen God, in the form of their personal deity. K.P. Sundarambal and Thirumuruga Krubananda Variyar are two persons in the modern world who saw their titular deity, Lord Muruga, the second son of Lord Siva! They have recorded this fact for the sake of the posterity. And the only yoga they, the two singers, knew was the Yoga of Devotion!
And Swami Sidbhavananda speaks about Ananya Bhkti and Swami Sivananda speaks about Exclusive Devotion. Both the terms mean one and the same thing. One is in Sanskrit and the other is in English. So this Exclusive Devotion is necessary.
But you may say, “I have so many things to do before the day is out. How can I indulge in Exclusive Devotion?
Both the questions have been already answered by me umpteenth number of times.
Take to one Godhead or titular deity. Let it be Lord Narayana, or Lord Siva, or Devi. The thing is we must have an Ishta moorthy or titular God or Personal God or Goddess. And then, chant His or Her name always.
In the beginning, you would be chanting aloud. Then, after some time, it would become internalized. Thus you would always internally chant the Lord’s or Goddess’s Name except when you speak or read or sleep! And this is a Siddhi or Spiritual Accomplishment. Swami Sidbhavananda, in his commentary on Tiruvasagam in Tamil, says this Siddhi is known as Jaba Siddhi or spiritual accomplishment by prayer.
Possession is said to be nine points in Law.
Thus devotion is nine points in the Spiritual plane.


          

Thursday 19 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 21, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 08
AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:
VERSE NUMBER 21
Text in Transliteration:
avyakto ‘kshara ity uktas tam aahuh paramaam gatim
yam prapya na nivartante tad dhaama paramam mama

Text in English:
This Unmanifested is called the Imperishable; It is said to be the Ultimate Goal. Those who attain to It return not. That is my Supreme Abode.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Brahman is this Unmanifested Reality. It is designated in this way because It is incomprehensible and inaccessible to the mind, intellect and senses. It is further designated as the imperishable because of its being ever constant undergoing no modification whatsoever.
Prakriti also is called unmanifested when it is in pralaya or dissolution. It is then inaccessible to the mind, intellect and senses. But the difference between the two has to be borne in mind. Prakriti is ksharam, perishable while Brahman is aksharam, Imperishable. Beings involved in Prakriti continue to appear and disappear; beings that attain Brahman do not undergo these changes. Thy do not return. Brahman being the highest and constant abode for beings, It is called the Lord’s Supreme Abode.   

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
We escape from the cycle of birth and death or cosmic manifestation (prabhava) and non-manifestation (pralaya). Even to reach the status of the Indefinable Absolute whose status goes beyond the cosmic manifestation, we have to offer our whole personality to the Supreme. Even the supracosmic codition of the Eternally Unmanifested can be won through bhakti or devotion. By union with Him of our whole conscious being, we reach the perfect consummation. The supreme abode of the personal God, Isvara, is parabrahma, the Absolute: see also VIII, 2.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Para Brahman is called the Unmanisrested because It cannot be perceived by the senses. It is called the imperishable also. It is all-pervading, all-permeating and interpenetrating. Para Brahman is the highest Goal. There is nothing higher than It. This is the true non-dual state free from all sorts of limiting adjuncts. The attainment of Brahmaloka (the region of the Creator) etc., is inferior to this. Only by realising the Self is one liberated from Samsara. (Cf. XII.3; XV.6)

Comments by the blogger:
What is stated in verse 20 is rephrased here in verse 21 chiefly for the removal of doubts, and also to add an explanation.

Verse 20 makes it abundantly clear that beyond this unmanifested (i.e., prakriti or Nature), there is yet another Unmanifested Eternal Existence which does not perish even when all existences perish. Verse 21 states that this Unmanifested is called the Imperishable; It is said to be the Ultimate Goal. Those who attain to It return not. That is My(God’s or Brahman’s) Supreme Abode.

So with a declaration, the earlier verse is rephrased for the purpose of clarity.
There is a difference between the Unmanifested Nature or prakriti at the time of pralaya, and the Unmanifested Ultimate Reality to which once one goes to mingle with, there is no question of returning back to this earth’s plane. For this one should lose one’s naamaroopa or name and form or appearance. The attainment of Atman is the highest attainment and to offer it as oblation in the fire of devotion is called Atma Nivedhanam or offering of one’s Atman as the oblation. It is the highest form of sacrifice. And who sacrifices thus attains eternal beatitude like God Himself.
This is the chief difference, I have been telling time and again, between Hinduism and the two other major Religions of the world. The first difference is the doctrine of re-births. And then Man has it in himself to become God or part and parcel of God. This kind of salvation or emancipation is called by Shankara as Kaivalya Moksha or the attainment of oneness with the Lord and residing in His Supreme Abode.

In Mohammedanism and Christianity where only one birth is contemplated, the dead persons go to the Lord for the Judgement Day in their human bodies. That is why they inter or put the whole body beneath the ground in the cemetery. At the Judgement Day, the good ones will be given places in the Heaven and the bad ones will be tossed into Hell’s fire. They would be that way forever. There would be no hope of being scorched to death. Allah, the Great says every time one’s body is scorched new skin would be given to the sinners in the Hell and they would be living forever continuously being scorched. This, after giving only one chance to prove themselves. Men would be men and women would be women in the Heaven as well as in the Hell. Allah the Great says through the Prophet Mohammed, that the men in Heaven would spend their eternal life in grooves where rivers flow beneath the ground. The men and women in hell would be administered puss for a drink. While men would enjoy life in God’s Heaven with many wives! So women’s emancipation is not possible even there.

The world is an ocean and beings are tossed into it and they do not know their Godly antecedents. That is ignorance born of Lord’s illusion and because of that desire affects the embodied and that desire to enjoy this world gives rise to action which traps Man. So one chance only to prove one’s devotion to the Lord is the cruelest thing.

In the Hinduism, within the time of one Brahma(311,040,000,000,000 years), we can attain the oneness with God through a million of births and deaths, which is a process of gradual cleansing of the mind which is ensnared by the senses by always indulging in sense objects. This indulgence gradually becomes lesser and lesser as the rebirths go on taking place. And there is no guaranty for us to be born a man or a woman in the next birth. And after emancipation, we become one with the Ultimate Supreme which has no name or form. Whereas the worldly desires and enjoyments are contemplated for the men and women in God’s Heaven in the other Two Major Religions of the world! There is no chance of transcending the fleshy life and become God or part of Him.

Thou Art That is one of the three maha vakyas or important sentences in the Hindu Scriptures.


          

Wednesday 18 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 20, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 08
AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:
VERSE NUMBER 20
Text in Transliteration:
Paras tasmaat tu bhaavo ‘nyo ‘vyakto ‘vyaktat sanaatanah
Yah sa sarveshu bhooteshu nasyatsu na vinasyati
Text in English:
But beyond this unmanifested, there is yet another Unmanifested Eternal Existence which does not perish even when all existences perish.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
In the existence of things there are two phases—the relative and the absolute. Water exists as vapour, steam, mist, fog, snow and in several other states which are all perishing and perishable. These varying states, therefore, of water are all relative existences. But this substance as such persists in the midst of its modifications. It persists and in the midst of its modifications. Its persistence is its absolute existence and its perishing form and modifications, its relative existence. Similar to this, Brahma, the Creator and his Creation have their relative existences. But this substance as such persists in the midst of its modifications. Its persistence is its absolute existence and its perishing form and modifications, its relative existence. Similar to this, Brahma, the Creator and his Creation have their relative existence and absolute existence too. Their perishing nature is their relative existence. To enter into the unmanifested state even as the vapour does, is one phase of the phenomenal universe; to become manifest to the senses and intellect is its other phase. The manifest state and the unmanifest state of the universe and its beings come within relative existence. But there is an Absolute Existence which is Eternal and ever Unmanifest. It never becomes the object of perception. It is ever the Thing-in-Itself.
But what have we, as perishable beings, to do with It the Imperishable? The answer comes in the next verse.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
It is the Supracosmic Unmanifested which is changeless and eternal, in the midst of all changes. Two types of unmanifested are sometimes distinguished, an unmanifested (avyakta), into which all unredeemed beings enter, and the supercosmic avyakta, called also suddhatattva which is imperceptible to the ordinary mind into which the redeemed souls enter. The perpetual rhythm of day and night is on all cosmic beings which cannot last for ever. Beyond the cosmic process is the Supreme Unmanifested Brahman, the highest goal. Those who attain It pass beyond day and night.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Another unmanifested is the ancient or eternal Para Brahman who is distinct from the Unmanifested (Avyaktam or Primordial Nature), Who is of quite a different nature. It is superior to Hiranyagarbha (the Cosmic Creative Intelligence) and the Unmanifested Nature because It is their cause. It is not destroyed when all the beings from Brahma down to the ants or the blade of grass are destroyed. (Cf. XV. 17)    

Comments by the blogger:
Verse 20 must be read, keeping in mind the verses 17 to 19.
According to verse 17, the Brahma’s day lasts a thousand yugas and his night also lasts another thousand yugas. Those who know this are the knower of the day and night.
According to verse 18, at the coming of the day all manifest beings proceed from the unmanifested or prakriti or nature, and at the coming of night they merge again in the same which is called the unmanifested. Dr.S.Radhakrishnan says this unmanifested is prakriti or nature.
According to verse 19, this multitude of beings, coming forth again and again, merge, O Partha, in spite of themselves, at the approach of night, and remanifest themselves at the approach of day.
So at the day of Brahma containing a thousand yugas, from the unmanifest or nature or prakriti all manifest beings proceed, and at the night of Brahma containing another thousand yugas, all the beings merge again in the unmanifested or prakriti or nature.
Now in the present verse (verse 20), the Lord distinguishes between this unmanifested prkriti or Nature and Himself. This is also unmanifested. But it does not change ever. It is the Para-Brahman and He remains forever unmanifested. In that Ultimate Being, every realized soul go to merge into forever. They never return back to this cosmic play of day and night.
But the other unmanifested, or prakriti or Nature is subjected to changes. At the dawn of the Brahma’s day, every being that has not yet realized its Self comes back to the plane of this earth. At the end of the day of Brahma, all the remaining beings who have not realized their Self go into prakriti or unmanifested state for a thousand yugas. But this unmanifested prakriti is different from the unmanifested Brahaman, into whom all the realized souls merge.
Only in the Hinduism, God does not identify himself with the creation of Beings and non-beings. It is left to the prakriti. All the beings and things are in the Lord, but the Lord Himself, ever supreme and independent, is not contained by the prakriti or Nature. This is unique to the Hinduism. Thus beings are separated from the Para-Brahman or the Ultimate Reality till they attain salvation. This is the correct way of seeing things. Because of the doctrine of rebirths, this uniqueness exists in Hinduism. The full credit goes to our Vedopanishadic Sages who have found the Truth in its fullness and declare it to the world for its benefit.
The other two major Religions consider life of a human being as a T20 cricket match. In which all the players must show their utmost power and prowess or perish forever, but the Hinduism sees worldly life of human beings as a million of trillion Test Matches, in which experiences are added up and weak points are noted and step by step removed, so that at the end of several million Test Matches a player attains his ultimate uniqueness and thus fulfils himself.



 (DEAR READERS, I WISH EVERY ONE OF YOU A HAPPY DEEWALI!)         

Tuesday 17 October 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 19, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 08
AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:
VERSE NUMBER 19
Text in Transliteration:
bhootagraamah sa evaa ‘yam bhootvaa-bhootvaa praltyate
raatry aagame ‘vasah paartha prabhavaty aharaagame
Text in English:
This multitude of beings, coming forth again and again, merge, O Partha, in spite of themselves, at the approach of night, and remanifest themselves at the approach of day.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Man’s free-will is a misnomer. Beyond a certain limit man has not got the freedom to keep awake or to go to sleep. He is a helpless creature of his own mind given to the modifications of wakefulness and sleep. Much more helplessly than this, the multitude of beings are dragged into creation or the manifest state when Brahma wakes up and they go into the unmanifested when he retires to sleep. The process of being revolved in this wheel of birth and death has to go on indefinitely, sometimes even through the life periods of a few Brahmas, until perfection is reached and mukti (emancipation) obtained.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
This periodic emergence and dissolution of all existences does not affect the Lord of all existences.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Avidya (ignorance), Kama (desire) and Karma (action) are the three knots that bind the individual to Samsara. Desire is born of Avidya. Man exerts to attain and enjoy the object of his desires. During this activity he favours some and injures others through the force of Raga-Dvesha (love and hatred or attraction and repulsion). Therefore he is caught in the wheel of Samsara or transmigration. He has to take birth again and again to reap the fruits of his own actions. He repeatedly comes forth and dissolves through the force of his own Karma.
The individual souls have lost their independence as they are bound by ignorance, desire and activity. Therefore they are subject to the sorrows, miseries and pains of this Samsara. In order to create dispassion in their minds and a longing for liberation in their hearts, and to remove the fallacious belief that a man reaps the fruits of what he has not done or that he does not reap the fruits of what he has done, the Lord has said that all creatures involuntarily come into being again and again at the coming of the day and dissolve at the coming of the night (on account of the actions or Karmas caused by desire born of ignorance)

Comments by the blogger:
We shudder at the statement by Swami Sidbhavananda when he says, “the process of being revolved in this wheel of birth and death has to go on indefinitely, sometimes even through the life periods of a few Brahmas, until perfection is reached and mukti or emancipation obtained.”
Now one Brahmas lifespan is given by Swami Sivananda in his commentary for the verse 17. According to Suryasiddhanta, as quoted by Swami Sivananda, one Brahma lasts for 311,040,000,000,000 years! SOMETIMES (mind you not always) the wheel of birth and death has to go on, EVEN THROUGH THE PERIODS OF A FEW BRAHMAS!
This should not dishearten us. Swami Sidbhavananda uses the words SOMETIMES and EVEN. So it does not apply to us. This must apply to heartless beasts like the Delhi bus rapists (the rapists of Nirbhaya).
There are serial killers. In history, we come across kings like Aurangzeb. And a year ago I saw a news bulletin then read about the youth who had raped and killed more than 20 young children. In a foreign country, a man of several children chose to rape one daughter repeatedly for years together and gave her as many as eight children! You might have come across the news. It was within ten years from today. And that man was not a psycho. He merely took an abnormal desire to one of his daughters. He had incarcerated the daughter in the basement. And he killed several children born of his daughter. On a couple of occasions, he killed children by burning the newborns in the stove. I tell you he was not a psycho. Because he had the sense to hide his face and head from being photographed at the time of being brought to trial. The Juries had a hard time in hearing various acts of repeated raping while the daughter was kept chained to a post in the basement!
There have been beasts like him in history. In this wise history of cruelty and wayward taking of life is being rewritten by the men and some women actively belonging to the ISI.
What about the terrorists who come across the border from Pakistan and kill innocent people in India? For the beasts among men, it will certainly take several Brahmas’ life periods. Because they will time and again come like beasts and each time they will increase the number rebirths by the hundreds.
Then what about persons like Hitler? He, one person, killed millions of Jews. Among them how many women, pregnant women, and small cute children were involved. All of them were killed in the gas chambers. Now, Hitler was no psycho in the sense he did not know what he was doing.
So such beasts among men and women would certainly go through several life periods of a few Brahmas. There is no other go for them.
For the majority of human beings, one period of Brahma should be more than enough. Especially the Hindus, who are and have always been in varying degrees of Bhakti Yoga (Yoga of Devotion) and Karma Yoga (Yoga of action). This does not mean other two major religions do not show and people belonging to them have got no way out of the wheel of birth and death. But they only and chiefly have got one form of yoga only and that is the yoga of Devotion. But they have created saints. The recent example is Mother Teresa. But their chief drawback is that their scriptural philosophy has not found the way into the heart of even the ordinary and unlettered men and women as in the case of the Hindu Religion. Here we have got Puranas, Epics, and Itihasas which have successfully brought the philosophy of the Hindu Scriptures to the last man and woman.
Swami Sidbhavananda says Man’s free-will is a misnomer. It is absolutely true so far as human beings are dragged into creation or the manifest state when Brahma wakes up and they go into the unmanifest state when he retires to sleep. Absolutely.
But during the day of Brahma we have a personal choice. So for 311,040,000,000,000 years when a Brahmas day goes on, we have personal choice. For example, I could take it easy as today being the eave of Deewali. But I have chosen to write all the blogs not only today but tomorrow also. But if today starts Brahma’s night we are helpless creatures and we would be dragged into the unmanifested stage. During the day of Brahma, we have the choice and therein the Lord’s greatness inheres and lies. He is the greatest mystery novel writer. Our deliberate choices may take us up the ladder and we could take to meditation and write gloriously our emancipation within a few rebirths! That would be a wonderful thing, wouldn’t be?
And Swami Sidbhavananda’s commentary to this verse should make us resolve firmly to become unflinching devotees of the Lord and since for the Kali Yuga, the means of emancipation consists in chanting the name of the Lord or Devi, we must take to it in real earnest.
And, dear readers, I have been writing that Darwin’s theory of evolution is a faulted one and the real evolution commences when the Universe comes into existence. So the revolution and the Big Bang must be included and accommodated within the period of Brahma’s lifespan, which is 311,040,000,000,000 years!
In this verse, the Lord addresses Arjuna as Partha which means the son of Pritha or Kunti. So it must be taken to mean every man and woman born of the womb of a woman must be subject to the inexorable way the multitude of beings are dragged into existence when Brahma wakes up and they go into the unmanifested or prakriti when he retires to sleep. Only the emancipated souls are exempted from this ineffable rule.