THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 13 VERSE 32 KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 32

KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA:

TEXT IN TRANSLATION:

yathaa sarvagatam saukshmyaad aakaasam no ‘palipyate

sarvatraa ‘vasthito dehe tathaa ‘tmaa no ‘palpiyate

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN TAMIL:

yathaa = as: sarvagatam = the all-pervading: saukshmyaat = because of its subtlety: aakaasam = ether: na = not: upalipyate = is tainted: sarvatra = everywhere: avasthitah = seated: dehe = in the body: upalipyate = is tainted.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

As the all-pervading Akasa is not tainted, by reason of its subtlety, so the Self-seated in the body everywhere, is not tainted. 

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Solidity, liquidity, gaseity—water is in all these three states. Among them, its vapour state defies being dirtied because of its subtlety. The sky is the subtlest among the five elements. It, therefore, remains untainted by the others. Finally, there is nothing subtler than is nothing to taint Him.

The sky is all-pervading. Bodies such as the planets are not able to cut and cleave it in parts. Parallel to it the Chit-akasa or Brahman is all-pervading. The physical forms of beings do not and cannot cleave Him. He is neither attached to the bodies nor is tainted by them.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Jnana and ajnana, good and evil, dharma and adharma—dualities such as these do not gain access to Brahman who is beyond them and unaffected by them.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Ether pervades everything. All are immersed in it. There is no point whereunto ether does not penetrate and pervades and yet it is not tainted by anything. Even so the Self pervades the whole body and the whole world. Being subtler than the body the Self is never tainted by it or anything else. It is unattached and actionless. It has no parts or limbs. So virtuous and vicious actions cannot contaminate the Self. It is ever pure and stainless.

Comments by the blogger:

Among the five elements, the sky is the subtlest one.

There is a Upanishadic account that before the creation of this Cosmos the Lord went into meditation. That He created the Prana or the essential Life-force or Energy and the Sky. God further thought that they would create the Cosmos for Him!

Thus the basis for the whole world is the conglomeration of Prana and the Sky!

Take anything or article, and divide the same continuously till the irreducible atom remains. Of course, we can’t reduce or divide the atom. If the atom is magnified so that it becomes as big as a circus tent, all the atomic particles, its nucleus forming the electron and neutron all these would be magnified to resemble in size a single mustard seed! So when you get this mustard seed what does remain in that magnified atom, that is, the circus tent? Well, there is nothing but the Ether! Just imagine! In an irreducible atom or matter, almost all the space is filled by nothing but the Ether! Now go back to that Upanishadic account as to how God created the World; well, God created Prana and the Sky and out of them the whole world came into existence! And the Upanishads came into existence several thousands of years from now! Since the atom is the basic personality of every being and non-being here, the ether and the energy form our Personality!

So the Ether is the subtlest among the five elements, Ok?

And the Ether or Sky pervades the whole world. everything here is filled pervasively by the Ether!

But, in spite of its subtlety, the Ether is nothing but one of the elements forming the basic ingredients of the Whole World. The Atman in our body is a minute portion of God, the Creator. And the Atman inheres the whole of our body. But it is not stained by any actions done by the body. And this Atman is nothing but God!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 13 VERSE 31 KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 31

KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

anaaditvaan nirgunnatvaat paramaatmaa ‘yam avyayah

sareerastho ‘pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Having no beginning and possessing no Gunas, this Supreme Self, imperishable, though dwelling in the body, O Kaunteya, neither acts nor is tainted.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

A thing that is created has a beginning. But Brahman is the one Reality that is not created. He is therefore having no beginning. All productions of Maya (Illusion) are the components of the three Gunas which are subject to transformation. For this reason, the things made up of the Gunas are perishable. Brahman being Nirguna or beyond the Gunas, is imperishable. In His equanimity vibration is impossible. In other words no karma takes place in Him. He being the One without a second, there is nothing to taint Him.

That destrudction to which the Brahma Jnaani’s body is exposed, does not affect him. The karma taking place in his body is not his. While the surface of the sea is all activity, its depth is all poise and peace. While the body of the Jnaani is active, he is supremely above action.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMASA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANADA:

What are the characteristics of Brahman? He is untarnished by the Gunas. There is no action or movement in Him. The question of going and coming does not arise in His case. He is stationary like the Mount Meru.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The Supreme Self is beyond Nature. Therefore It is without qualities. It is Nirguna. The activity in Nature is really due to its own qualities which inhere in it. The Supreme Self existed before the body came into being and will continue to be after its dissolution. It is eternally the same and imperishable.

Avyaya: That which is free from the changes of birth and death or appearance and destruction. That which has a beginning has birth. After the object is born it is subject to the changes of being (growth, decay, etc.) As the Self is birthless, It is free from the changes of state (existence, birth, growth, change, decay and death). As the Self is free from all sorts of functions It is Avyaya. Even if the reflection of the sun in the water moves, the sun does not move a bit. Even so the Supreme Self is not touched by the fruits of action as It is not the doer, as It is without the qualities of Nature, or limbs, indivisible, devoid of parts, without action, beginningless and unattached and causeless.

This Supreme Self is free from the three kinds of differences, viz., Sajatiyabheda, Vijatiyabheda and Svagatabheda-bheda. A mango tree is different from the fig tree. This is Sajatiyabheda. A mango tree is different from a stone. This is Vijatiyabheda. In the same mango tree there is difference between leaves, flowers and fruits. This is Svagatabheda. But the Supreme Self is one without a second. There is no other Brahman Which is equal to It. Therefore, there cannot be Sajatiyabheda in Brahman. This world is a mere appearance. It is a mere figment of our imagination. An  imaginary object has no independent existence apart from its substratum, just as the snake in the rope has no independent existence apart from its substatratum, the rope. Therefore, there cannot be Vijatiyabheda in Brahman. Brahman is inidivisible, partless, without qaualities, without form and without any limbs. Therefore there cannot be Svagatabheda in Brahman.

Brahman or the Supreme Self is beginningless. It is without a cause. It is self-existent. It is without parts. It is without qualities. Therefore Brahman is imperishable. As It is unattached, It is neither the doer nor the enjoyer. If Brahman also is the doer and enjoyer, It is no longer Brahman. It is in no way better than ourselves. This cannot be. Agency and enjoyment are attributed to the ego on  account of ignorance. “It is Nature that acts”. (Cf.V.14; XV.9)

Comments by the blogger:

Hinduism is criticised by religious scholars belonging to Christianity and Mohammedism chiefly for two factors. One of the reasons, as they see, is the belief in re-births and the second reason is the teeming number of Gods or gods Hindus worship right from the Vedic period.

So far as the transmigration of our Soul is concerned, we are taken for and belittled as highly and abjectly superstitious. That there is only one God and Hindus offer worship to any number of Gods or gods!

We, the Hindus, while offering worship to many a god or God, are not superstitious in nature. For us there are any number of ways and means to realise God, our Maker. Indeed someone has said that there are as many religions as there are people! Because Spirituality is a matter of unflinching Faith to start with. Also it is a most intimate and personal matter. We have Ishta Devata or Personal God! While I offer studious worship to Lord Lingeshwara, my neighbour might worship Lord Narayana and my friends might have Lord Shiva, Lord Vinayaka, Lord Muruga or Goddess Saraswati or Goddess Lakshmi. Some folks have Sri Hanuman as their personal God. And Hanuman Himself is a staunch follower of Lord Rama! When Nathuram Godse’s bullets pierced the chest of the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, he fell down  but till he breathed his last he was chanting in a weak voice, “Hey Ram” or “O, Rama” for countless times. Lord Rama was the personal God of Mahatma Gandhi.

We are not fools. But we and our forefathers are great wisdomatic people who saw God in a trembling blade of grass and  the towering trees like the Neem Tree and The Banion Tree! While we visit temples devoted to all the above-mentioned Gods and Goddesses, we have personal God to whom we can relate to easily.

In the Gita Sri Krishna says people come to Him from all sides! We are so developed in the Culture of the Atman that we can discern God in a tree, in an animal, in a holy man, etc., etc!

But, like the  other two religions we mentioned above, the Vedopanishads speak of only one God! If there is a second God then there would be room for comparison and one would be greater than the other! But we have a tatva that allows us to worship the One and the Only God of the Universe through many forms! Sri Krishna says in Gita that even while human beings worship some lower beings or Devatas they worship Him only but in a wrong way. Surely they will evolve in future and in the course of many a rebirth!

Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman are both sacred and sacrosant. While all the Gods and Goddesses enumerated above come under the gategory of Saguna Brahman, the Only Maker is called Nirguna Brahman.   Saguna Brahman has attributes and characteristics etc., but Nirguna Brahman simply is devoid of any attributes or Name and Form or a beginning and an end. So we have no problem with worshipping the Only One God, the Nirguna Brahman through various Gods and Goddesses who belong to Saguna Brahman. Emancipation is assured even when we restrict our worship to the Saguna Brahman alone throughout our lives!

The next thing Hindus are criticised is our staunch belief in re-births and the Soul’s Transmigration.

When Mahaswami of Kanji was giving audience to a group of foreigners who were Bible readers and one of them put this very question to the Mahaswamigal! Why should there be so many births for our Soul?

Immediately our Mahaswamigal asked the foreigners to visit any maternity hospital that day and see all the children born that day and take note of the differences among them.

When the foreigners came to visit Mahaswamigal the next day  they faithfully reported to Mahaswamigal the differences among the newly born babies.

Then Mahaswamigal asked them why such disparities among the newly born children. He further elongated that while one child is beautiful one is ugly, when one is fair-complexioned the other is pitch dark in colour. While one baby is born into a rich family another one is born to a poor couple. When some babies are normal some babies could be physically or mentally challenged!

Mahaswamigal put the visitors just one simple question; “Why should there be so many differences among the innocent babies come into this world?”

This factor, Mahaswamigal reasoned, cannot be answered except by the theory of re-incarnation or re-births and the Transmigration of the Soul.

In this verse the Brahman who is spoken is about is Nirguna Brahman.

We can realise God by worshipping Saguna Brahman alone. This is the beauty of Hinduism.  

THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 13 VERSE 30 KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 30

KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

yadaa bhootaprrthagbhaavam ekastham anupasyati

tata eva cha vistaaram brahma sampadyate tadaa

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

Yadaa = when: bhoota prrthag bhaavam = the whole variety of beings: ekastham = resting in the one: anupasyati = sees: tatah = from that: eva = alone: cha = and: vistaaram = the spreading: brahma = Brahman: sampadyate = (he) becomes: tadaa = then.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

When he realizes the whole variety of beings as resting in the One, and is an evolution from that One alone, then he becomes Brahman.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The wave, the billow, the ripple, the tide, the breakers, the froth—all these modifications belong to the sea. The potentiality of the sea expresses itself in all these forms, which have no existence independent of the sea. In this manner, the inscrutable Mayaa Sakti inherent in Brahman manifests itself as the multitudinous beings resting on Brahman. Neither the beings nor the Sakti who is their root, is extraneous to Brahman. The knower of this truth becomes a Brahma Jnani.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The static Brahman and the kinetic Sakti are in fact one and the same. The Absolute Sat-chit-ananda Brahman is also the omnipotent, omniscient and all blissful Cosmic Mother. As fire and heat are one and the same, Brahman and Sakti are the same.

COMMENTARY NOTE BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

When the variety of nature and its development are traced to the Eternal One, we assume eternity. “He realizes the all-pervading nature of the Self, inasmuch as the cause of all limitation is absorbed into the unity of the Self.” Aanandagiri.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

A man attains to unity with the Supreme when he knows or realizes through intuition that all these manifold forms are rooted in the One. As waves in water, atoms in the earth, rays in the sun, organs in the body, emotions in the mind, sparks in the fire, so verily are all forms rooted in the One. Wherever he turns his gaze he beholds only the one Self and enjoys the bliss of the Self.

When he beholds the diversity of beings rooted in the One in accordance with the teachings of the scriptures and the preceptor, he realises through intuitive experience that all that he beholds is nothing but the Self and that the origine and the evolution of all is from That One alone. Compare with the Chhandogya Upanishad, 7.26.1.

Comments by the blogger:

The central theme of Oneness of the Source that is seen by the ordinary people as many in the world gets repeated beautifully. Mahatma Gandhi says that he simply loves this mode of teaching. So it is Brahman who comes here masquerading as many beings and for the uninitiated beings like many of us or the most of us, shall I say, the world appears as containing many beings who are complete in their individual form and name. But only the initiated can attain that esoteric wisdom that all indeed emanate from One Single Brahmic Source and thus all are one and the same Brahman. Doubtlessly the initiated must go through the spiritual life seeking Knowledge daily for hours together for countless years before attaining this Wisdom. Here the term REALIZES is important. It is not enough to just become clear in the mind about the Oneness of all the variety of beings as resting in Brahman, but one must REALIZE that all the teeming variety of beings of this world have one and the only one resting place or origin in the only Brahman. Mere forming of a good and stout and intellectual knowledge of this verse of the Holy Gita is not enough at all. It is a matter of seeking in the Spiritual world and field for countless days and months and years.

For example, Gautama, the Buddha left his palace as a young man and went through all forms of meditation before finding out the One type which suited him, and he persisted for countless years in practising this form of Yoga before he REALIZED  the fact as being the substratum of all the sorrows of the human beings; He REALIZED that it is avariciousness which is at the root of all kinds of human sorrows! It must be remembered that He, the Buddha came to the world well after some two thousand years of the time of Srimad Bhagavad Gita! Avariciousness, among other factors, is found as the root cause for all the human sufferings in the Gita! But this will not belittle the Yogic Efforts of Gautama, the Buddha who came to the same conclusion which was proclaimed by Sri Krishna to Arjuna thousands of years earlier.

The prodigious Mathematician, Ramanuja re-iterated and re-discovered many a mathematical theorem that had indeed been found out by other Mathematicians of the world! But Ramanuja’s efforts and his original genius cannot be belittled by that fact. Likewise, Gautama, the Buddha re-discovered the Upanishadic Wisdom exclusively in his own Yogic way.

What matters is the REALIZATION of the Truth individually by all the human beings that we all, the flower and fauna,  share but one Single Brahman as the source.     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

THE HOLY GITA CHAPTER 13 VERSE 29 KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 29

KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

prakrrtyai ‘va cha karmaani kriyamaanaani sarvasah

yahh pasyati tathaa ‘tmaanam akartaaram sa pashyati

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

prakrrtyaa = by Prakriti: eva = alone: cha = and: karmaani = actions: kriyamaanaani = being performed: sarvasah = all: yahh = who: pasyati = sees: tathaa = so also: aatmaanam = the self: akartaaram = actionless: sahh = he: pasyati = sees.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

He verily sees, who sees that all actions are done by Prakriti alone and that the Atman is actionless.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Heat and light are inherent in the sun. Even so Prakriti is inherent in Brahman. But on this account, Brahman undergoes no modification or pollution. Prakriti or Sakti is full of activities. The body of the Jnaani belongs to Prakriti. Activities, therefore, may go on to any extent in it. The supreme state of the Jnaani is in no way affected by it. He, the Atman is actionless, while the body which is seemingly his, is full of activities. He who intuits this is the enlightened one.

SRIMAT SWAMI  RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

I adore Him as Brahman, who is all Awareness unaffected by activities such as creation, preservation, and destruction. I adore He as Sakti, or Maya or Prakriti who carries on all these activities regularly in the proximity of the actionless Brahman.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

The true self is not the doer but only the witness. It is the spectator, not the actor. Sankarar says that there is no evidence to show that there is any verity in him who is non-agent, unconditioned and free from all specialties, as there is no variety in the sky. Actions affect the mind and understanding and not the self.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Nature is responsible for all activities. The Self is beyond all action. It is the silent witness only. He who experiences thus is the real seer or sage.

He who knows that all actions proceeding from the five organs of knowledge, the five organs of action, the mind and the intellect are prompted by Nature and that the Self is actioneless, really

sees. He alone sees. He who identifies himself with the body, the mind and the senses and foolishly thinks that the Self is the actor is an ignorant man. He sees only with the physical eyes. He has no inner eye of intuition. The sky remains motionless but the clouds move across the sky. Even so, the Self is actionless, but Nature does everything. The Self is destitute of any limiting adjunct. Just as there is no variety in ether, so also there is no variety in the Self. It is one homogeneous essence. It is free from any kind of characteristics. (Cf. III.27; XIV. 19; XVIII.16)

Comments by the blogger:

The Self or the Rig-vedic Atman is totally actionless. But all actions in the body happens because of the presence of the Self in the body. The Lord Himself has stated that all actions happen here on the earth because of his proximity. So when we hold that the Self is devoid of action of any kind, the body is full of actions. Likewise, the Universal Self or Intelligence is actionless. But owing to the proximity of the same all actions happen in the Prakriti.  Thus the Brahman is without any action.

Here there is room for doubts of all kinds.

One may ask that if the Self is totally actionless how to justify the previous utterances of the Lord of Gita that when we die our Atman or Soul discards this body as one would his or her old and tattered dress and enter into a new body? Is discarding our old body on behalf of the Atman or Soul an action in itself? And then it is said that the Atman or Soul, after our death, enters into a new body.  Is entering into a new body by the Atman or Soul an action in itself? Not only these, but it is also said in the Gita that the Atman or Soul takes a new body after our death and enjoys sensual pleasures through the senses of the new body! So it must be held that the Atman or Soul enjoys this world through the medium of our sense organs.  Then how could it be held that the Atman or Soul is devoid of all actions?

The above said questions might sound as very pertinent at the first flush, but a faithful study of the Gita teaches us that the Atman or Soul is actionless indeed! The very act of our death takes place when our individual Praraptha Karmas come to an end. When the end comes to us it just means there is no Praraptha Karma to be worked out in this innings on the plane of the world. But we have the unexpended accumulation of Karmas which have accumulated in the course of our many births in the past. Then there are the impressions of the mind in the form of wanting to enjoy many worldly things accumulated in the present birth! So, once death occurs the Atman or Soul, Intellectual, Mind and the Sub-conscious with their inexperienced wants and desires go to one of the Worlds as mentioned in my comments previously. In that Loka or the World, the Soul or the Atman’s proximity enables the Intellectual and the Mind and the Sub-conscious to enjoy for all the good things we did on the earthly plane before our death. When the enjoyment in that Loka comes to an end, the sheaths of the Soul, the Intellectual, the Mind and the Sub-conscious go along with the Atman or Soul into a new body and come back to this earth. In that the accumulated Karmas in many past lives known as the Sanchita Karma contribute some Karmas and the last thought that had occurred to us just before our death join together in the making of the new fund of the Praraptha Karma with which the Soul and the Mind and the Intellectual and the Sub-conscious return back to the earth’s plane to lead a brand new life!

So either way, the Atman or the Soul does not take any part in the Karma, either the present Praraptha Karma or the Sanchita Karmas of the past lives. But the proximity of the Soul or the Atman makes the Mind, Intellectual and the Sub-conscious to indulge in a new set of actions and activities and thus expend the Praraptha Karma. Either here in the World or in the Nether World the Atman or the Soul does not stain itself by indulging in any action!

Till our emancipation or God-realisation, the Soul with Its sheaths should come back time and time again to this World. But when we, at some birth, either through Yoga or Right actions devoid of any selfishness or desire to enjoy the fruits of the actions, we, our Atman or Soul do not return back to this World’s plane. With that, according to the Adhuaidha Philosophy, the Atman or Soul enters into God and become part and parcel of God. And according to the Saivism, the Atman does not mingle with the Maker of this World but exists in Heaven depending upon God. For the Saivism hold that the Atman or Soul had originally was in Heaven depending upon God. Then when It was sent to this world the same Atman or Soul exists depending upon the Prakriti or Nature or the Cosmos. Thus the very nature of the Soul or the Atman is Its dependence either on God in Heaven or the Prakriti or Nature or the Cosmos in this World. For the Atman or Soul cannot exist on Its own.