THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 13
VERSE NUMBER 04
KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND KSHETRAJNA:
TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:
rrshibhir bahudhaa geetam chandobhir vividhaih prrthak
brahmasootrapadais chai ‘va hetumabhir vinischitaih
SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:
rrshibhih = by Rishis: bahudhaa = in many ways: geetam = sung: chandobhih = in chants: vividhaih = various: prthak = distinctive: brahma sootra padaih = in the apt words indicative of Brahman: cha = and: eva = even: hetumadbhih = full of reasoning: viniscitaih = decisive:
TEXT IN ENGLISH:
This has been sung by Rishis in many ways, in various distinctive chants, in passages indicative of Brahman, full of reasoning and convincing.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The sages have fully utilized the sciences and arts for the revelation of Truth, which remains unaffected by the passage of time. The value of Truth does not go down for its being clothed in imperfect language. But the Rishis have taken care to expound it in the most refined and appropriate language. The precision of expression has been augmented by them with music. Accurate language is by itself appealing to the intellect. When music is combined with it, the joint appeal to the head and the heart becomes doubly effective. Music is by itself very powerful and fascinating to all beings. Wild and venomous beings are easily tamed by it. Emotion is awakened and refined by music. Bliss has sanctified both of these instruments, literature and music, by utilizing them for conveying the divine message.
Literature and music become lop-sided when Harnessed exclusively for the cultivation of emotion. The sages have avoided that defect by balancing it with rigid reasoning which is another powerful instrument to arrive at Truth. The reason that is consistently followed, leads to clarification and conviction.
Emotion devoid of reason lands one in mere sentimentalism, in which many an unwary, credulous and mediocre devotee lands himself. Clarity of understanding and firmness of action cannot be expected of such a namby-pamby one. Again, there is the other one given to dry and dreary intellectualism, devoid of any sweet touch of life. But a balanced personality is that in which love and understanding are well knit together.
SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Sage Narada was endowed with a penetrating intellect and an all-absorbing divine love. Devotees ought to evolve after his pattern.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
The Gita suggests that it is expounding the truths already contained in the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutra or the aphorism of Brahman, later systematized by Badarayana. The Vedic hymns are called cchandas or rhythmical utterances.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Many sages (such as Vasishtha) have talked about it (the true nature of the field and its knower) since ancient times. The ancient hymns, such as the Rig Veda have explained this in various ways.
The word Brahma Sutras refers to the Vedanta Sutras written by Vyasa or Badarayanachariya in order to reconcile the mutually contradictory passages in the Upanishads. A study of the Brahma Sutras is very necessary in order to comprehend the esoteric significance of the Upanishads. The Brahma Sutras in the third Pada of the second chapter deal with the Sarira or kshetra (body).
The true nature of the field and its knower has also been taught in the Brahma Sutras which deal with Brahman such as Atmanyevopasita (only as the Self, let a man meditate on It.) Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.7).
They are full of reasoning, convincing and decisive. There is no doubt in the words or passages that treat of Brahman.
Comments by the blogger:
Sri Krishna has described Vedas as containing much that is decisively dealing with life here. He even has cautioned the practitioner of various forms of Yoga to not lose their minds in the flowery language of the Vedas. He has also said to Arjuna that for a realized Brahmana Vedas are not important; He even likens the use of the Vedas to a well when everywhere there is inundation. The well water has no use to a person when there is a flood! So He cautions all the readers of Srimad Bhagavad Gita to not put all their faith in the Vedas for they chiefly deal with obtaining wealth and long age to enjoy the wealth on the earthly plane and after death the enjoyment of sensual pleasures in the Heaven! He is not afraid of being mistaken for an entity who speaks in self-contradictory statements. Sri Krishna expects a fine sense of balance and purity of the mind in the readers of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. So He has no problem in bringing to our mind that the Vedic and the Upanishadic hymns of high poetical nature contains much about the Absolute Brahman. The language of the Vedas and the Upanishads are certainly poetic and flowery. Even the English philosopher, Carlyle, in his lectures under the caption ‘The Sesame and the Lilys’ that it is always a wonder how all the highly elevated thoughts about Truth is given by sages and saints in a language which is not at all appealing to all, but to the discerning reader the language will have full meaning.
So somehow or other great thinkers and seers write uniformly in a poetic language about the Absolute Truth. And the most ancestral hymns known to Man are the Four Vedas! Of course, there is much in the Vedas that pander, shall we say, to the worldly needs of human beings. Here Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’ words could be cited which will bring clarity to the mind: when one of his visitors had asked as to why the Paramahamsa did not take any steps to bring in the economically poor persons and teach them the Scriptures the great Sage replied that he did not take any steps to bring Meditation and Worship of God to the poor because one cannot bring one’s mind to dwell on the Absolute God until on empty stomachs!
But the Vedic period was an economically sound one. The Aryans settled near the holy rivers and brought the vast plateau of land to agriculture. They were the owners of a great many cattle, the important mark of one’s wealth in those days, and the lands they cultivated contained virgin soil and as such very productive. The Vedic Aryans were very well off economically speaking and there was much rest beside the respite as the Great Himalayas stood like a sentinel between the Aryans and the other peoples of the rest of the world. Life was an unending pleasure. During the non-agricultural season, there was much time for spiritual enquiry and for all sorts of fine arts. As agriculture was a flourishing calling, with numerous cattle heads the Aryans in those days enjoyed life on all its facets and dimension.
So there was much time for them to cogitate on basic questions like: ‘where did the universe come from, and how? If there is a Creator, what is He like? What is the relationship between the created and the Creator? What happens to us when we die? Do we exist after our death? Did we exist before our birth? (taken from the book on Hinduism by Srimat Swami Bhaskarananda of Sri Ramakrishna Math, America)
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Apart from purely worldly things and references and hymns in the Vedas, there are much about the basic questions quoted above. Brahman, the Absolute and the Ultimate Spirit, is the God of the Vedas. And all the Maha Vakyas or Great Sentences are found in the four Vedas. ‘Thou art That’ ‘I am Brahman’ are the two of them. So undoubtedly the early Aryans have dwelled in depth about the divine origin of Human Beings. We are not sinners as the Christians would strive to make us believe. We are of the divine origin and we are forgetful of that. This is owing to our ego which makes us think of us as the body. So only is the universe. For a soul who has realized God there could be no Universe and only God and the practitioner is/are real!
If the Vedas are important for the above-said reasons, the Upanishads, which deal with the esoteric philosophy not readily understandable like the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, are even more poetic than the Vedas. Moreover, there is much which is solely for a few individuals whereby the Absolute Truth is couched in poetic language in every mantra.
So we need not take the Vedas for granted and think they deal only with this world to the exclusion of all other high-flown things and ideas. Lord Krishna Himself has mentioned about them. So the ancient Rishis and Saints, according to Sri Krishna, have delt with the Truth which is Brahman only who have sung about the Truth in many ways, in various distinctive chants, in passages indicative of Brahman, full of reasoning and convincing!
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