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!
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