THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 13, VERSE 07, KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 07

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

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

amaanitvam adambhitvam ahimsaa kshaantir aarjavam

aachaaryopaasanam saucham sthairyam aatmavinigrahah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

amaanitvam = humility: adambhitvam = unpretentiousness: ahimsaa = non-injury: kshaantih = forgiveness: aarjavam = uprightness: aachaarya upaasanam = service of the teacher: saucham = purity: sthairyam = steadiness: aatma vinigrahah = self-control.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Humility, modesty, non-injury, forbearance, uprightness, service of the teacher, purity, steadfastness, self-control;

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Humility is in evidence when the sadhaka does not think of himself superior to the others. Superiority-complex engenders conceit and contaminates the mind.

Modesty marks that aspirant, as its own, who does not think or speak of the merits in his activities. All excellences emanate from the Lord. Man’s laying claim to them is born of ignorance.

Non-injury is possible to him only who beholds all beings as the manifestations of the one Cosmic Being.

Forbearance is the act of not being affected by the wrong done to one by the others. An example illustrates this position. It happens that while a man speaks, his teeth hurt the lip inadvertently. For this reason the man does not think of knocking out the teeth, which are his own. He who seeks divine relationship with all, practises forbearance with those who wrong him knowingly or unknowingly.

Uprightness comes to him who harmonizes his thought, word and deed and who is intent on right conduct.

Service of the teacher is quite essential to the spiritual aspirant. An individual unconsciously imbibes the traits of the person whom he serves. By doing physical service to the teacher, the disciple gets into his holy dispositions.

Purity pertains both to the body and the mind. Bodily purity can be effected with the aid of the environment, air, water and sunlight. But purity of the mind which is more important and indispensable to spiritual life can only be effected by the mental discipline. That mind which eschews all sense-pleasures as poison gains steadily in purity.

Steadfastness is his who is not mindful of the time taken for self-culture. It may be that the sadhaka has to plod through a few births before he attains perfection in any one among the many virtues that remain to be acquired by him. Unswerving perseverance is needed to mould oneself in spirituality.

Self-control is the opposite of self-indulgence which dissipates the personality. Through rigid self-restraint, the sadhaka grows in godhood which is his original state.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

These are the qualities that constitute wisdom or lead to wisdom. These are the attributes of the man whose mind is turned towards the inner wisdom. If these characteristics are seen in a man in their entirty, you can infer that the knowledge of the Self has dawned in him.

Humility: It is the negation of vanity. It is absence of self-esteem or self-praise. The basis of pride is the consciousness of possessing something (wealth, knowledge, strength, beauty and virtuous qualities) in a larger measure than others. A proud man possesses at least something but a man of vanity possesses nothing and yet he thinks he is superior to others. Vanity is exaggerated pride. A humble man dislikes respect, honour and praise. He shuns fame and distinction. He never shows his knowledge, ability, prowess, etc. He never praises himself.

Absence of hypocrisy: Hypocrisy is the desire to appear what one is not. A Sannyasi has some virtues and a little theoretical knowledge derived from books. He pretends to be a liberated sage. This is religious hypocrisy. A man in whom this is absent is simple and modest. He never advertises his own virtuous qualities in order to get respect, name and worship from others. He will never sell his knowledge in order to achieve fame.

Ahimsa: Non-injuring of any living being in thought, word and deed. He who practises Ahimsa places his feet very carefully on the ground and avoids stepping on any living creature. If he perceives any living creature in front of him he stops and turns to the other side. His heart is full of compassion.

Kshanti: Forbearance, patience, forgiveness. This is a true symptom of knowledge. The man of wisdom puts up with everything. He is not affected a bit when others injure him. He never retaliates. He bears insult and injury calmly.

Arjavam: Straightforwardness. The man of wisdom is upright or straightforward. He does not hide anything. His thoughts and words agree. He speaks his mind openly to the people. He is as simple as a child in his speech. He has a heart as pure as crystal. He never cheats others.

Service of the teacher: Devotion to the preceptor, worship of the Guru; doing acts of service to him who teaches Brahma-Vidya or the means of attaining liberation. Acharya is the Master in whom the divine wisdom is embodied. Service of the Guru enables the aspirant to attain Self-realisation. The aspirant adores his Guru as Brahman, God Himself. He worships him as Lord Vishnu. He superimposes on him all the attributes of Brahman or Lord Vishnu. He realises Brahman in and through his Guru. This is the fruit of devotion to the Guru. For a student of Vedanta devotion to the Guru is absolutely necessary. Even for a correct understanding of the scriptures, the guidance of a Guru is necessary.

Purity is of two kinds, external and internal purity. External purity is cleansing of the physical body with earth and water. Internal purity is cleansing of the mind of the dirt of attachment, hatred and other passions, by the method of Pratipaksha Bhavana i.e., by cultivating the opposite positive virtues, and by the recognition of the evil in all objects of the senses.

Steadfastness: The aspirant never leaves his efforts on the path of salvation even though he comes across many stumbling blocks on the path. This is steadfastness or firmness. No meditation on Brahman is possible with a fickle mind.

Self-control is control of the aggregate of the body and the senses. The senses and the body which naturally run externally towards the sensual objects are checked and directed on to the path of salvation. No meditation is possible in a body wherein the senses are out of control and distract attention.

Comments by the blogger:

Kshetra means this body. The very first sloka or verse has explained what kshetra means. Then in verses five and six, we saw the qualities of the kshetra. And before kshetrajna is defined by Sri Krishna, this verse or sloka and some others deal with Wisdom or Knowledge which is the product of knowing the Kshetrajna. Sri Bhagavan puts forth certain qualities and qualifications belong to the Self-culture which are important to know the Kshetrajna.

Humility: Certain people are endowed with this trait. Only a great man will show this trait. Because the ego in us will not make us bend before the weak and deprived. Whatever we do and say if all these could be done and said with humility that would amount to a great boon from the gods. In front of the world, we must be humble. I am humble and reticent by nature. But this humility has not helped me in my profession. There who is humble to a fault will be taken for granted as an empty box. But I learned humility from the Jesuit Brothers in the six years I spent with them from the standard six to eleven. Humility is a great virtue, but a lawyer has to blow his own trumpet!

Modesty: We often should think of this Universe and the orderly way the teeming number of planets and stars and various heavenly bodies ‘behave’. If there should be the slightest change in their individual course there would be hell to pay! But this Universe has much that is great and beautiful and much that is not adorned by justice. A little lamb in the forest struts out of the bush its mother showed it and is attacked by a tiger! Is there any justice? Charles Darwin must have been a theist to start with. But his great discovery about the animal kingdom and Man’s origin made him lose his faith in the Holy Bible. There is much in the universe which cannot be explained away in terms of justice and poetic justice. Why? This world is imperfect. But ours is not the position to write a critique on the Creator. We do not even speak much about our own virtues and greatness. Even when we are appreciated for the right reason by others, it should not go to our head. We must be modesty personified. But we should practise modesty without wearing this virtue on our sleeves.  We should not become arrogant about our plus points and greatness. Our achievements should be laid at the feet of the Lord, our Maker, as a kind of sacrifice. But we have to practice modesty almost in secrecy in today’s world. We must become a great success in life and then show the world how modest we are. Then the world will approve of such a person. For others who have not made a spectacular success of this life, they must practise this virtue, modesty, without necessarily wearing the same on our sleeves.

Non-injury was followed to the last letter and spirit by our Mahatma Gandhiji and it stood him in good stead. Even when he went on a ‘pada yatra’ or pilgrimage to Tandi to gather salt against the White Man’s law imposing a tax on salt, the Mahatma observed non-injury. He did issue a stern order that the people walking with him to Tandi should observe non-injury. Thus even when they selected right places mostly among paddy fields the volunteers were made to clean up the grounds. And if they found any scorpions or snakes they must be captured and put away safely! In Gita, Sri Bhagavan says that He permeates the Universe. Even non-beings are filled with Him only. So if we think of that we could practise non-injury.

Forbearance is a virtue principally by great souls like Mahatma Gandhiji. It is very difficult to withstand various acts of sadism perpetrated by the perverted persons and still practise this virtue. But this virtue will ultimately have a wonderful purifying effect in our Minds so we could come to have the necessary Gnana or Wisdom to get to know God. But it is easier said than done. My perverted persecutor, Viswanathan, has no justification to have played God to me and write my fate in this incarnation. He is an alloy of the Hunch-backed hag in the epic, Ramayana and Sakuni in Mahabharata! He has the traits of both. He is evil. His very life and lifestyle is nothing but pure evil. He is an evil genius. Some twenty years ago, he was driven out of his father’s house and had to spend a couple of years without any help from the family. He did not know where the next meal would come from. He was going from the proverbial pillar to the post. And he was always on the lookout for persons who might buy him a meal or some snacks. At this time  I gave him one thousand rupees. And I needed the money some six months later and giving him two full weeks I asked for the return of my money, Rs 1000. And when he tried to evade me, I fairly persecuted him. And at last, he obtained a loan from somebody and settled my accounts. And the knave never forgot that. All these things happened some twenty years ago. Now he is on a sound financial basis whereas I am going through from the pillar to the post. The principal reason is he only. He has been persecuting me ever since and I am not able to make money in any way. But I always try to not become angry with him. yesterday was a very bad day for me. The knave has made me lose the Google AdSense Ads. But even now I am not thinking in terms of getting square with him. I am nearly sixty. And I have practised forbearance especially in relation to my enemy, the fiend, Vishwanathan. I am a diabetic. I might live for several more years before I am put beneath the earth. I never even try in my mind and think of anything bad or awkward happening to him. This is indeed forbearance on my part.

Uprightness also is a necessity for a person desirous of attaining wisdom that will facilitate a person to know the Kshetrajna present in ourselves and this Universe.

Service of the teacher was considered in those days as a sine qua none for wisdom. Nowadays nobody has time to go to a Guru and learn from him the knowledge about Brahman. There are teachers who eye the girl students with a corrupt mind. How can one serve such unscrupulous teachers? This might have been a virtue in the olden days. Indeed it was the case when I was a student. My teachers were like gods and they lived only for our betterment. But times have changed.

The purity of the mind is one of the spiritual musts, so to speak. When the Mind is purified, we may get to know much about the design of this Universe. To know the plane of the Universe is to know its Creator. When the mind gets purified the filthy and crass materialism and such lifestyle will fall away from us. All virtues are possible when the mind is purified.

Steadfastness is a virtue that needs to be practised by the sadhkas or practitioners so that they might follow the spiritual course without swerving this or that way. In the Gita, Arjuna asks the Lord of Yoga as to the fate of a man who, having started on the path of Yoga, dies before the attainment of self-realisation. And Sri Krishna answers Arjuna that such a practitioner will go to the upper world after his death and spend a long time there to enjoy all the sensual pleasures before coming back to the earth’s plane. And when he or she comes back, he or she would have a very good place in the world. He or she would be born in a family of some Yogi and thus he or she could practise meditation from where he or she had left off in the previous incarnation.

Self-control is not an easy virtue to be followed by everyone. In this sensual world wherever we turn there is much to speak about self-indulgence. And ours is a time when Asia is ruled by the West. We dress like them and try to speak like them. We have to copy the Western world and it is an in thing for us. Today’s students have to fight against this highly materialistic world and still stay the course. There are many things, like cell phones, cinemas, computers, and you name it. In the midst of shameful materialistic lifestyle the grown-ups are leading, it is very difficult for the youths of the present day to not become a wastrel and addicted to the technology and materialistic lifestyle practised by their elders.       

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 13, VERSES 05 AND 06, KSHETRA AND KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSES 05 AND 06

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

THE TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION (of verse 05):

mahaabhootaany  ahamkaaro buddhir avyaktam eva cha

indriyaani dasai ‘kam cha pancha ee ‘ndriyagocharaah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

mahaa bhootaani = the great elements: ahamkaarah = egoism: buddhih = intellect: avyaktam = the unmanifested: eva = even: cha = and: indriyaani = the senses: dasa = ten: ekam = one: cha = and: pancha = five: cha = and: indriyagocharaah = objects of the senses.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

The great elements, egoism, intellect, as also the unmanifested, the ten senses and the one mind, and the five objects of the senses;

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION: (VERSE 06)

icchaa dveshah sukhm duhkham

     samghaatas chetanaa dhritih

etat kshetram samaasena

     savikaaram udaahrrtam

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

icchaa = desire: dveshah = hatred: sukham = pleasure: duhkham = pain: samghaatah = the aggregate: chetanaa = intelligence: dhrrtih = fortitude: etat = this: kshetram = field: samaasena = briefly: savikaaram = with modifications: udaahrtam = has been described.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate, intelligence, firmness—the Kshetra has been thus briefly described with its modifications.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The great elements. The ether, the air, the fire, the water and the earth—these are the elements constituting the infinite universe. In their gross form, they are not equally distributed everywhere. But in their subtle state, they permeate the whole universe. They are for this reason called the great elements.

Egoism. It is the cause of the five elements. The Self projects the non-Self and identifies Itself with it. This identification is egoism. When the Pure Consciousness thinks of Itself as the materialized consciousness, it is egoism. Intellect is the tattva or principle of determination. It is from this principle that egoism emanates. It is also known as the Mahat.

The Unmanifested is technically called avyaktam or moola prakriti. That which is in the unmodified state is the meaning of this term. This principle is the cause of buddhi or the intellect. These are all the powers of Iswara.

“Verily this divine illusion of Mine, made up of the Gunas is hard to surmount,” said the Lord in chapter seven, stanza fourteen. He also called them “My prakriti divided eightfold,” in the fourth stanza of that chapter.

The Ten Senses are the eye, the ear, the skin, the tongue and the nose forming a group known as the senses of knowledge—the Jnaana indriyaas. The external world is cognized and interpreted with the aid of these organs. The other group consists of five organs of action—karma indriyaas. They are the hand, the foot, the mouth, the anus and the genital organ.

The mind is the principle that thinks and doubts. It is therefore held as the aggregate of sankalpa and vikalpa. It functions as the background of all the ten senses. The demon Ravana with his ten heads is the personification of the mind functioning through the ten senses.

The Sense-objects are five in number. They are the taste, form or colour, touch, sound and smell, on which the senses feed and thrive.

The Samkhya school of philosophy is based on these twenty-four categories or principles technically known as tattvaas.

The Vaiseshika school of philosophy claims that desire, hatred, pleasure and pain mentioned here, to be the characteristics of Atman. But these are actually the modifications of the mind; they are the objects of experience; they are impermanent; they only reveal the nature of the Kshetra. As such they are classified with the Kshetra.

Desire is that form of mentation which seeks the repetition of the contact with the objects that seem agreeable to the senses.

Hatred is that mental state which seeks to avoid with revulsion those sense-objects which are disagreeable or painful.

Pleasure is an experience that pacifies the mind and promotes sattva guna.

Pain is mentation that is disagreeable and disquieting.

The Aggregate is the assemblage of the various parts of the body. A machine is assembled by fixing all its parts in their proper places. The best and the most marvellous organic machine is the human body. It's functioning at all levels is equally marvellous.

Chetana is intelligence or the power to reveal and interpret. A piece of iron that comes into contact with fire reveals the fire in its own way. Similarly, the capacity of the senses to imbibe and to reveal the characteristics of the Atma is the chetana or intelligence inherent in them. Since the body is being experienced and interpreted by this intelligence, it is classified as the Kshetra.

Dhrrti or firmness is the stamina to keep the body and senses fit and active. Left to themselves they get exhausted and drift into indolence. But the resolve that emanates from within infuses fresh energy and activity into them. This particular urge is called firmness. It gives longevity to the body. Since dhrrti is also an object of experience it is classified as the Kshetra. The items from ‘desire’ to the ‘firmness’ mentioned here, are the qualities or the modifications of the mind stuff.

The body is classified as the Kshetra in the first stanza. And it is exhaustively dealt with in these two stanzas.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Why do the devotees look after this body so carefully when it is actually a combination of things perishable? Nobody pays heed to an empty package. But people preserve carefully a paper box containing precious gems and jewels. In that manner, the devotees take care of the body due to its being the temple of the Lord. They cannot afford to neglect it. All human bodies are the treasure chests containing Iswara.    

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN: (for the 5^th verse)

These are the constituents of the field of Kshetra, the contents. The distinction between mental and material belongs to the object side. They are distinctions within the “field” itself.

The body, the forms of sense with which we identify the subject belong to the object side. The ego is an artificial construction obtained by abstraction from conscious experience. The witnessing consciousness is the same whether it lights up the blue sky or a red flower. Though the fields which are lit up may be different, the light which illumines them is the same.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN: (for the 6^th verse)

Even the mental traits are said to qualify the field because they are objects of knowledge.

The knower is a subject and turning of it into an object or a thing means ignorance, avidyaa. Objectivization is the ejection of the subject into the world of the objects. Nothing in the object world is an authentic reality. We can realize the subject in us only by overcoming the enslaving power of the object world, by refusing to be dissolved in it. This means resistance, suffering. Acquiescence in the surrounding world and its conventions diminishes suffering; refusal increases it. Suffering is the process through which we fight for our true nature.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA: (for the verse 05)

The field and its modifications are described in this verse. The twenty-four principles of the Sankhya school of philosophy are mentioned here.

Great elements: Earth, water, fire, air and ether are so called because they pervade all modifications of matter. The elements here referred to are the subtle, not the gross ones.

Egoism is the cause of the great elements. It is the self-arrogating principle. Intellect is determination. Buddhi is the faculty of determination. The cause of the intellect is the Unmanifested (which is the undifferentiated energy of the Lord). (Cf. VII.14: Daivi hyesha gunamayi mama maya duratyaya—This divine illusion of Mine, caused by the qualities, is difficult to cross over.) The above Nature is divided eightfold (Cf. VII.4).

The ten senses are the five organs of knowledge (ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose) so called because they enable the mind to get knowledge of the external world, and the five organs of action (hands, feet, mouth, anus and the generative organ), so-called because they perform actions.

The one: This is the mind. This is the eleventh sense whose function is thinking and doubting (Sankalpa and Vikalpa).

The five objects of the senses are sound, touch, form (colour), taste, and smell. These are the fivefold pastures of the senses.  

All the great elements, egoism, intellect, the senses and mind are all absorbed in the Unmanifested at the time of the cosmic dissolution.

The mind is Maya. The mind is Avidya (ignorance). The mind is at the root of all activities. It gives strength to desires, fosters fear and builds castles in the air. It confers force on egoism and stimulates aspirations. Every tendency has its origin in the mind. It augments passions, gives strength to hope and awakens the sense of duality. It increases ignorance and plunges the senses in the ocean of sense-objects. It creates distinctions and differences. It separates, divides and limits. It is a strong wall or an iron barrier that stands between the individual soul and the Absolute. It is this mind that has brought Brahman to the condition of the individual soul. It is the storehouse of error, cravings, doubt, delusion and ignorance. It is an ever-revolving wheel that generates thoughts. It is a miraculous thought-producing machine. It creates at one moment. It destroys at the next moment.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA (for the verse 6):

These principles form the frame or the skeleton on which the world of forms is built. All these are mental states and treated as properties of the body by the Sankhya school of thought. According to the Nyaya-Vaiseshika schools, these are the inherent qualities of the Self. The modifications have a beginning and an end. Only that which is unchanging can be the witness of these modifications. The knower of the field is unchanging. He is the witness of the field and its modifications.

Desire is a modification of the mind. It is an earnest longing for an object. It is a Vritti (thought-wave) born of Rajas which urges a man who has once experienced a certain object of pleasure to get hold of it as conducive to his pleasure when he beholds the same object again. This is the property of the inner sense. It is the field because it is knowable.

You enjoy a certain sensual object. The impression of this is produced in the subconscious mind. This impression is vivified or revived through memory or remembrance of the sensual pleasure. Then desire arises to enjoy the object again. Repetition of the sensual enjoyment intensifies the memory and desire. Renunciation of the objects and meditation thin out the impressions and the desires.

If anyone gives a description of the beautiful scenery of Badri Narayana or Mount Kailasa at once a desire arises in our minds to visit those places. If a man says that very good sweetmeats and mangoes are available in Bangalore, a desire to get these objects crops up in your mind. Therefore memory of sensual enjoyments and the hearing of the qualities of the sensual objects are the root causes of desires. Hope fattens the desires. Hope gives a new lease of life to desires. Desire excites the mind and the senses. Desire makes the mind restless.

An object which is sweet and pleasant to you at one moment produces the very reverse of that sensation at another moment. Every one of you might have had this experience. Objects are pleasant only when there is a longing for them. But they are unpleasant when there is no longing for them. Therefore desires are the cause of pleasure. If satisfaction arises through the enjoyment of the objects, pleasure will cease. If your mind is destitute of desires then you will always enjoy serenity, equanimity, balance or poise in spite of many obstacles or adversities. The foundation of desire is the love of sensual pleasures. Desires run along the path of your inclination, proclivity or tendency or taste. Desire is the fuel. The thought is the fire. If you withdraw the fuel of desire, the fire of thought will be extinguished like an oil-less lamp. The intellect becomes impure by association with desires.

Hatred is a modification of the mind. It is a negative one. It is a Vritti that impels a man who experienced pain from a certain object to dislike it when he beholds the same object again. Hatred also is field because it is knowable. The modification that arises in the mind when your desire is not fulfilled is called hatred.

Pleasure is agreeable, peaceful, made of Sattva. This is also the field because it is knowable.

Pain is disagreeable or unpleasant. It is also the field because it is knowable.

Sanghata: Aggregate, the combination of the body and the senses or the bundle of the 35 components of the body.

Chetana: Intelligence is a mental state which manifests itself in the aggregate just as fire manifests itself in a ball or iron. This is also the field because it is knowable. Chetana means consciousness and also the activity of the vital airs.

Dhriti: Firmness, courage, fortitude. It is a Sattvic modification of the mind. The body, the senses and the mind are sustained by firmness when they are depressed and agitated. The five elements are antagonistic to each other. Water destroys the earth. Fire dries up water. Water puts out the fire. Wind puts out a lamp (fire). Ether absorbs the wind. The five elements fight amongst themselves and yet they (that have a natural dislike for one another) dwell together quite amicably in the same body. Each element beautifully co-operates with the others in carrying on the common functions of the body harmoniously. Each element nourishes the other elements also with its own qualities. Dhriti is firmness or the power by which these fighting elements are held in union and harmony and kept in a state of steadiness and balance. This is also the field because it is knowable.

Desire and the other qualities that are spoken of in this verse stand for all the qualities of the mind. The field that is mentioned in the first verse has been dealt with in all its different forms in the fifth and the sixth verses.   

  

Comments by the blogger:

The elements are the basic ingredients with which the whole Universe is created. Our body itself is a conglomeration of these five elements. They are great because without them the Creation is impossible. Egoism or the “I” sense is the substratum of our knowing the universe as such. This “I” sense first deludes us the moment we are born. The child which is just six months old discerns between its mother and other guests coming to the house. It feels “this is my mother!” Without egoism, this identification of the child vis-a-vis its mother is not possible. Thus we can see egoism in itself is not a bad thing. Who are we? After all, we are deluded right from birth and we get ourselves smaller beings by identifying with our mother, father, sister and brother. Then the identification with the material things like the feeding bottle and bathing soap, etc. Only because of this egoism the world exists for us. The rose bloomed when there was no man in this world and dinosaurs were reigning supreme. But, since there was no being to appreciate the beauty and the pleasant perfume of the flower, went unnoticed! The rose is rose only because there are people like us to appreciate its properties. But for a discerning Man, the rose cannot be in existence. And without ego, the whole world would be less than nothing! Everything is possible, the child is born, it grows up into man/womanhood, the learned man absorbs everything about this world and wants to enjoy this world, all happens because of the ego. If we do not identify ourselves with this universe, creation would not have been possible. Before that identification, the ego helps us to identify ourselves with our bodies. Once that identification is complete then everything in this world becomes true. If we can shed our stout ego we can attain jivanmukti on this plane of existence itself.

The manifested universe is identified by us because there is an identification of our ego with our bodies. But we with the ego and the perishable bodies are of divine origin. We are made to forget that fact before we are sent out to this world’s plane. If Man could remember his divine origin, the world could not continue as such and only animals would be there to enjoy this world. Because the animals have no ego. They are lead by their instinct. But the fact of the matter is that we, all of us, have not only forgotten our divine origin but we are not aware that within this perishable body there is Self which knows no limiting adjuncts. Thus in this Universe, there is a Universal Self to which our individual Self lodged within us relates. But we are blissfully oblivious of this fact. But our Subconscious is in direct connection with the Universal Self. An archaeologist found a fossilized form of what he could tell an ancient fish that has long since become extinct. But unfortunately the half of the fish's form had been destroyed and the archaeologist got only the other half. But he wanted to see the full view of the fish. He thought long and fell asleep at night. The wonder of wonders, the full image of the fish came to be seen vividly in a dream! Immediately the man got up in the middle of the night and started to draw the full image of the fish! And the tailer’s needle also was invented in a dream. In this case, one man wanted to create a tailor’s needle after having devised the Sewing Machine for that purpose. But he could not see how the needle should be made to go through the cloth and come up once more to stitch the piece of cloth. After long cogitation, he went to sleep. And in his dream, he was captured by man-eating folks in a forest. They surrounded this man and they, singing a song, were poking crowbar-like lances toward the civilized man. With this act, the cannibals kept coming closer and closer around the civilized man and for a moment his eyes were drawn toward the tips of the lances. It was curious. Because each of the lances was having a hole at the tip! Immediately the man woke up from sleep and could not believe that the threatening cannibals’ lances and the holes constituted the exact answer for his sewing machine!

Thus we can all relate with our deepest thought and yearning to the Cosmic Soul. If our quest is serious and we are after the answer for any problem deep enough for it to sink into our sub-conscious mind, we will definitely get an answer. This need not necessarily be through dreams but somehow the answer for the repeated query will come to us.

There are karma indiriya and jnana indiriya and they bind us to this otherwise illusory world. only through them, we enjoy everything in this world.

The mind is a great thing in Man. For other beings in the animal kingdom cannot be said to have endowed with this incomparable faculty though they might have lesser mind into which the instincts are stored. Human Mind is phenomenal in its operation. Mind can not only work, and exercise to have Sankalpa and Vikalpa, but it can oversee how it is working! Thus we do not have a mind which can work, but the mind can also, in a detached and objective way survey its very working! The mind is very subtle like the sky among the five great elements.

Sri Krishna is known for His power of harmonizing various Schools of Thoughts. He chides us not to be swayed by the dualities. At the same time harmonizes the apparently opposite ideas and Schools of Thought. He takes up the philosophy of the Samkhya School which holds there are 24 categories or tattvas.

According to Sri Krishna the Kshetra or this Field is capable of undergoing various modifications like desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate, intelligence and firmness.

Though our bodies are called by Him as kshetras, in its wider meaning kshetra means the entire Universe.

(My dear friends, I lost your confidence in me by writing about my enemies who have been torturing me for twenty years. And how I have been forced to leave the practice. In the last twenty years, I have had to go through innumerous kinds of mental torture. The latest in the series has come to my knowledge only today. Yesterday I had gone to see my daughter some 150 km away from our town. So I could not upload anything today. To make it up I was engaged in writing the whole day today. And at last, I went to see how much I have earned today. And a shock was in store for me. For the Google AdSense have taken away the Ads showing in two sites, namely, THE HOLY GITA, and MY RESOURCEFUL AUNT!. THE REASON THEY HAVE GIVEN TO UNDERSTAND IS THAT I HAVE BEEN INDULGING IN SELF-CLICKING! FRIENDS, THIS HURTS ME VERY MUCH. FOR I HAVE NEVER INDULGED IN ANY ACT OF SELF-CLICKING. NOT EVEN ONCE. BUT MY ENEMY, WHO IS A BROTHER ADVOCATE HAS DONE THIS TO ME. I AM NOT WORRIED ABOUT THIS TURN OF EVENTS, FRIENDS. ALL MY INITIATIVES HAVE BEEN SET AT NAUGHT IN THIS MANNER. FOR THE LAST TWENTY YEARS, HE, AND HIS NAME IS M.VISWANATHAN, HAS BEEN SETTING AT NAUGHT ALL OF MY INITIATIVES. ONE TANGIBLE EVIDENCE IS THIS THING, MY HAVING BEEN DISAPPROVED FOR A MONTH. THEY HAVE SAID Ads WILL BE SHOWN ONCE AGAIN IN THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY. AND IF THIS ACT OF SELF-CLICKING CONTINUES I WILL BE PERMANENTLY DISAPPROVED! THIS IS HOW I HAVE BEEN VICTIMISED BY VISWANATHAN AND HIS FRIENDS. I AM NOT ASKING FOR ANY HELP FROM YOU, FRIENDS. BUT I ONLY WANT TO GIVE YOU A PIECE OF HARD EVIDENCE THAT THIS VISWANATHAN, A BROTHER ADVOCATE, HAS  BEEN INDULGING IN THIS KIND OF THINGS FOR TWENTY LONG YEARS. I JUST WANTED TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU. HE HAS BUGS INSTALLED IN OUR HOUSE. THE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAVE HELPED HIM IN THIS MATTER. AND THE ELECTRICITY BOARD HAS PROVIDED FACILITIES WHEREBY HE CAN REGULATE THE FLOW OF ELECTRICITY TO EACH PLUG POINT IN MY HOUSE. WITH THE HELP OF THE BUGS, HE CAN READ MY BREATHING AND TELL IF I AM ASLEEP OR NOT! HE HAS BEEN SUBJECTING ME TO NOISE AND SOUND DISTURBANCES. TO CREATE THE SOUND DISTURBANCES DURING THE DAY, HE AND HIS MINIONS HAVE THE HELP OF THE STREET DOGS. IF I SLEEP OR TRY TO CATCH A FEW MINUTES’ SLUMBER, HIS BOYS WILL TEASE THE DOGS AND THERE WOULD BE DISTURBING NOISES AND DURING THE NIGHTS HE CAN MANIPULATE THE CEILING FAN UNDER WHICH I WOULD LIE TO PUT UP MY FEET AND BY REGULATING THE FLOW OF ELECTRICITY TO THE FAN, HE COULD CREATE NOISES OF ALL SORTS THROUGH THE CEILING FAN. NOTHING CAN BE HIDDEN FROM HIM. EVERY PIECE OF THE CONVERSATION IN OUR HOUSE IS BEING overheard BY HIM. You might ask, friends, how a single man could do all these things. No one will believe in me. I have been a victim for the past twenty years. He has been subjecting me to sound disturbances during the nights and days. So in the last twenty years, whatever sleep I have had is by courtesy to Viswanathan! Friends, this is not a full story of the studied and scientific persecution I have been subjected to. And I know I run the risk of revealing half-truths without telling you all the facts of persecution in the last twenty years. That was why you all were fed up with me and refused to follow me and to click somewhere on the Google AdSense Ads. To put you in the picture, I will have to write an autobiography. Otherwise, I can’t put all the facts and circumstances of innumerous acts of Persecution Viswanathan has subjected me. I know I run the risk of further alienating you all. But I write this to assuage my mortified soul. And LET ME PROMISE IN THE NAME OF LINGESHWARA, THE ULTIMATE GOD, THAT IT WAS NOT ME WHO INDULGED IN SELF-CLICKING. FOR MY COMPUTER-SAVVY FRIEND HAS PUT ME IN THE PICTURE AND HAS TOLD ME TO NEVER TRY TO INDULGE IN SELF-CLICKING FOR I WOULD RUN THE RISK OF LOSING THE AdSense Ads. I SWEAR IN THE NAME OF THE LORD THAT I HAVE NEVER INDULGED IN ANY ACT OF SELF-CLICKING. IN THE PAST I HAVE COME UP WITH NUMEROUS INITIATIVES TO EARN MONEY. ONE INSTANCE IS MY EFFORTS TO START AN ENGLISH COACHING CENTRE. THIS WAS SOME TEN YEARS AGO. BUT HE POSTED HIS MEN NEAR THE SPOKEN ENGLISH CENTRE TO DISCOURAGE THE PUPILS COMING TO MY CENTRE TO INQUIRE ABOUT THE FEE STRUCTURE. HE IS A HIGHLY RESOURCEFUL FIEND. AND IN THE LAST TWENTY YEARS, I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO TAKE UP ANY INITIATIVE. HE HAS BEEN THERE TO WRECK MY INITIATIVES. THUS I HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO IMPOVERISHED CONDITIONS. NOW I AM, I HAVE BEEN PLANING TO SELL THE ONLY IMMOVABLE PROPERTY, OUR HOUSE. I KNOW YOU CAN’T HELP ME IN ANY MANNER, FRIENDS. BUT I AM TELLING YOU THIS BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO BECOME A LAUGHING STOCK IF AND WHEN THE GOOGLE ADSENSE AUTHORITIES PERMANENTLY DISAPPROVE MY SITES FOR EXHIBITING ANY Ads. IN OTHER WORDS, I WANT TO EARN YOUR RESPECT! I LIVE IN ARANTHANGI, A TALUK TOWN IN PUDUKKOTTAI DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU. There are three courts in Aranthangi including the sub-court. But, owing to my enemy’s ways of robbing the sleep by producing sound disturbances, I have not been able to practise. I would write my autobiography some day in future so that you could understand my detractors’ acts of putting all my initiatives to earn money at nought. Friends, I did not know anything about the Google AdSense when I started to serialize my huge novel, MY RESOURCEFUL AUNT. I came to know about the way of earning a living through Google AdSense Ads through my friend who is computer savvy. By that time I had finished about six chapters of THE HOLY GITA blog. When I came to know there was a way to earn money, I wanted to make use of it. But even this has been set at nought by my fiend. Off and on I will write about him and his past and present actions, my friends. I may not be able to earn a living through my blogs, dear friends, but the Saturn Viswanathan can never make me stop writing to you, friends, about his various acts of persecution! This will be my solace! Now I have started to take his acts of persecution to the whole world. This he cannot stop!)  

   

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 13, VERSE 04, KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND KSHETRAGNA

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)

.

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!   

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 13, VERSE 03

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER  03

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

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

tat kshetram yach cha yaadrik cha yadvikaari yatas cha yat

sa cha yo yat prabhaavas cha tat samaasena me srrnnu

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

tat = that: kshetram = field: tat = which: cha = and: yaadrrk; = what like: cha = and: yaadrrk = what like: cha = and: yadvikaari = what its modifications: yatah = whence: cha = and: yat = what: sah = he: cha = and: yah = who: yat prabhaavah = what his powers: cha = and: yah = who: tat = that: samaasena = in brief: me = from me: srrnnu = hear.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Hear briefly from Me, what the Kshetra is, what its properties are, what its modifications are, whence is what; and who He is and what His powers are.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Naught exists and naught remains to be known outside the pale of the Kshetra and Kshetrajna. The  Vedas and the Vedanta philosophy are all directed to the enquiry into these two ultimate Realities. All the branches of knowledge that are so far revealed and that are yet to be revealed, that are conventionally divided into the sacred and the secular—all of them are engaged in explaining either the Kshetra or the Kshetrajna or both.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

I will tell you, O Arjuna,  what the field is, why the body is called the field, what are its modifications or changes; in other words what effects arise in it from what causes, to whom it belongs, whether it is cultivated or whether it grows wild.

That field refers to the field mentioned in verse 1.

Who He is: Who is that knower of the field? What are His powers (Prabhavas are powers such as the power of seeing, hearing, etc.) which originate from the limiting adjuncts (such as the eyes, the ears, etc.)? Do thou hear My speech which describes succinctly the real nature of the field and the knower of the field in all these specific aspects?

Arjuna, I am quite sure that thou wilt clearly comprehend the truth on hearing My speech.

The body is the field. The ten senses represent the ten bulls. The bulls work unceasingly day and night through the field of the objects of the senses. The mind is the supervisor. The individual soul is the tenant. The five vital airs (Pranas) are the five labourers. The Primordial Nature is the mistress of the field. This field is Her property. She Herself watches over the field vigilantly. She is endowed with the three qualities. Rajas sows the seed; Sattva guards it; Tamas reaps the harvest. On the threshing floor of Mahat-Tattva (the cosmic mind) with the help of the ox called time, She—Primordial Nature—thrashes out the corn. If the individual soul does evil actions, it sows the seeds of sin, manures with evil, reaps a crop of sin, and undergoes the pains of Samsara, viz., birth, decay, old age, sickness, and the three kinds of afflictions. If it does virtuous actions it sows the good seeds of virtue and reaps a crop of happiness.

Lord Krishna now speaks very highly in the following verse of the true nature of the field and the knower of the field in order to create interest in the hearer.

Comments by the blogger:

Sri Krishna is very fond of teaching Arjuna, who is an ideal student. Even if we take the verse number 0 as an interpolation, there is nothing wanting here. Sri Bhagavan Himself has come out with short and succinct explanation all about the field or Shetra and the Knower of the field, Shetrajna.

According to Sri Shankara, the Shetra as defined in verse 13-1- is dealt with more information. The word ‘tat’ means ‘that’ and that stands for the human body. Or it could be said, ‘this body’.

The very words, this body, has the connotation of changes or modifications in this body. That is, except for the knower of the field or the Shetrajna, everything about the human body is subject to constant changes. The moment a child is born the process of life goes on towards the death of the body. This is ineffable. The human body is perishable. But the knower of the field or Shetrajna is imperishable and eternal. Even though Shetrajna is imperishable and not subject to any modifications it (Shetrajna) completely depends on the perishable body or field. Only through the perishable body, the imperishable Knower of the Field can enjoy this world. It could sound like an irony that the Imperishable is dependent of the Perishable. This is the reason why we must give our body great care. Simply because it is stated by great people that the moment the child is born the travel toward death starts, this body should not be looked upon with a sneer. This perishable body is very important for us or for the Knower of the Field to work out the Praraptha Karma. Even great Saints are subject to this law! When a practitioner of Yoga attains mukti while he or she is living in this world, the saint is said to have attained Jivan Mukti. And the Practitioner is called a Jivanmukta. Even such Jivanmuktas are subject to that part of the Praraptha Karma that still needs to be worked out. But when a practitioner attains Jivan Mukti, all his or her ‘Sanchita Karma’ will get washed away or burnt in the fire of intense Yoga Practice. But even then, the Jivanmukta will have to work out the remaining Karma, Praraptha, which had given this life and station in the world for the Practitioner! Sri Ramakrishna had a cancerous boil in his forearm. He suffered for quite sometime before the attainment of Maha Samathi. So even Jivan Muktas need to work out the balance of the Praratha Karma and thus become free from the Pracrity or Nature and attain Eternity!

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 13, VERSE 02, KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE SHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 02

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

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

kshetajnam chaa ‘pi maam viddhi

     sarva kshetreshu bhaarata

kshetra kshetrajnayor jnaanam

     yat taj jnaanam matam mama

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

Kshetranam = the knower of the field: cha = and: api = also: maam = me: viddhi = know: sarva kshetreshu = in all the fields: bhaarata = O Bharata: kshetra kshetrajnayoh = of the field and of the knower of the field: jnaanam knowledge: yat = which: tat = that: jnaanam = knowledge: matam = is considered to be: mama = my.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

And know Me as the Kshetrajna in all Kshetras, O Bharata. The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetrajna is deemed by Me as true knowledge.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Prakriti and Purusha are called respectively as Kshetra and Kshetrajna—the non-self and the self. The former is insentient and the latter sentient. The Purusha identifies himself with the Prakriti and fancies that its characteristics are all his own. It is like the colur of a flower which seems transposed to a crystal kept near it. That Purusha is called a Jivatman who identifies himself with the Prakriti that he handles.

The Cosmic Intelligence is Iswara. While He appears to be imbued with the characteristics of the Prakriti, He is actually untouched by it. He is the Innermost Self in all beings. The individual souls and the universe have no existence independent of Iswara. He is there the Ksherajna in all the Kshetraas. Though containing everything in Himself, He is eternally free, pure and blissful.

Jnaana or Knowledge is the true understanding of both—the Kshetra and the Kshetrajna. The knowledge pertaining to the Kshetra is classified as Apara vidyaa or the lower knowledge and that pertaining to the Kshetrajna as Paraa vidyaa or the Knowledge Superior. To be well-versed and versatile in the Vedas, the aagamaas, grammar, rhetoric, and the branches of science and arts—all these come under the lower knowledge. Brahma jnaana or the Self-knowledge is the supreme knowledge. Enquiry commences with a diligent study of Nature and culminates in Brahma Jnaana. Secular knowledge bereft of the sacred is therefore incomplete. The former is the stepping stone to the latter. True knowledge consists of wisdom pertaining to the phenomenon and the Noumenon.

A Puranic story illustrates this point. Ganesa and Kartikeya are the sons of the Lord Siva. It was once put to these valiant sons that whoever returned first after surveying the entire Existence, would get as a prize a celestial fruit brought by the Sage Narada. No sooner was this announcement made than Kartikeya dashed abroad on his speedy peacock. The plumpy Ganesa pondered over the terms imposed, moved slowly but surely on his tiny vehicle of a mouse,  circumambulated his Father and Mother, and claimed the prize. But within a while came the younger brother also, successfully terminating his expedition. Both the brothers were wise in their own way. Kartikeya inquired into the manifest Prakriti and Ganesa into the Unmanifest Purusha. A harmonious combination of these two inquiries constitutes true knowledge. Knowing the one to the exclusion of the other is imperfect knowledge.

The scientific enquiry made by the modern man is a true search into the Prakriti. It has taken him very near the Purusha. As Kartikeya’s survey terminated in his coming back to the Divine, the scientist will very soon come to know that the manifest universe has its origin and sustenance in the Cosmic Intelligence.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

One is not termed as rich by one’s merely owning money. There are signs of one’s being rich. His house would be well lit in all the rooms. Whereas a poor man cannot afford to have many lights.

The human body is the tabernacle of the Lord. It should not be kept in the darkness of ignorance. It should be lit with the lamp of wisdom. When you illumine your heart with this lamp, you will behold the benign Lord there. Jnana can be gained by one and all. There are in the human temple two entities—the little Jivatman and the great Paramatman. The former is dependent on the latter. As the electricity from the same source illuminates all the houses, the Paramatman gives light to all the Jivatmans. The Divine Knowledge illumines your body, yourself and the Paramatman in you, all at once.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Shankara holds that the Supreme Lord seems to be samsaarin, by reason of the cosmic manifestation, even as the individual self appears to be bound by its identification with the body. The Fall, according to the Christian doctrine, is the forgetting of the image of God within man, which is freedom and lapsing into the external, which is a necessity. Man, essentially, is not a part of nature but is spirit that interrupts the continuity of nature.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The fields are different but the knower of the field is one. The individual souls (Jivatmas) are different but the Supreme Soul (Paramatma) is one. Wherever there is mind, there are life-breath, egoism and the individual consciousness or reflected intelligence side by side. He who has the sense of duality will take birth again and again. This delusion of duality can only be removed by knowledge of the identity of the Self and Absolute. “I am happy”, I am miserable”, “I am the doer of this action”, and “I am the enjoyer of this experience”—these are the experiences of all human beings. Therefore the individual soul is bound to Samsara and is subject to pleasure and pain, and the individual souls are in different bodies. But, the Supreme Soul is free from pleasure and pain. It is not bound to Samsara. It is eternally free. It is one without a second.

If there is only one individual soul in all bodies all should have the same experience at the same time. If Rama suffers from abdominal colic, Krishna also should experience the pain at the same time. If John experiences joy, Jacob also should have a similar experience. If Choudhury is stung by a scorpion, Banerjee also should suffer from the pain. But this is not the case. When Rama suffers, Krishna rejoices. When John is jubilant, Jacob is depressed. When Choudhury suffers from the sting of a scorpion, Banaerjee is enjoying his breakfast. Fields are different, bodies are different, minds are different and the individual souls are different from each other. But the knower in all these fields is one. Pleasure and pain are the Dharmas (functions) of the mind only. The individual soul is, in essence, identical with the Supreme Soul.

The knower of the field or the Self is not affected by pleasure and pain, virtue and vice. He is the silent witness only. Pleasure and pain are the functions of the mind. They are ascribed to the Self through ignorance. The ignorant man regards the physical body as the Self. He is swayed by the two currents of likes and dislikes, he does virtuous and vicious actions and reaps the fruits of these actions, viz., pleasure and pain, and takes birth again and again. But the sage who knows that the Kshetrajna or the knower of the field or the Self is distinct from the body is not swayed by likes and dislikes. He identifies himself with the pure, eternal Absolute or the Supreme Self and is always happy and ‘actionless’, though he performs actions for the welfare of humanity.

The disease of Timira (partial blindness) which causes the perception of what is contrary to truth pertains to the eye but not to the man who perceives. If the disease is removed by the proper treatment he perceives things in their true light. Even so, ignorance, doubt, pleasure and pain, virtue and vice, likes and dislikes, false perceptions as well as their cause belong to the instrument (the mind) but not to the silent witness, the knower of the field, the Self.

In the state of liberation wherein there is the annihilation of the mind, there is no ignorance and the play of the two currents of likes and dislikes does not exist there. If false perception, ignorance, pleasure and pain, doubt, bondage, delusion, sorrow, etc., were the essential properties of the Self, just as heat is the essential property of fire, they could not be got rid of at any time. But there have been sages of Self-realisation in the past like Sankara, Dattatreya, Jada Bharata and Yajnavalkya who possessed extraordinary supersensual or intuitional knowledge, who were free from false perception, doubt, fear, delusion, sorrow, etc. They were not conscious of Samsara but they had perfect awareness of the Self. Therefore, we will have to conclude that the Self is ever free, pure, perfect, eternal and that ignorance inheres in the instrument (the mind) and not in the Self.

Ignorance born of Tamas acts as a veil and prevents man from knowing his essential nature as the Existence-knowledge-Bliss Absolute. It causes the perception of what is quite the contrary of truth and causes doubt or non-perception of truth. As soon as knowledge of the Self dawns these three forms of ignorance vanish in toto. Therefore these three forms of ignorance are not the tributes of the Self. They belong to the mind, the organ of the instrument. The mind is only an effect or a product of ignorance.

The wheel of Samsara or the world-process rotates on account of ignorance. It exists only for the ignorant man who perceives the world as it appears to him.

There is no Samsara for a liberated sage. Any disease of the eye cannot in any way affect the sun (the deity presiding over the eye). The breaking of the pot will not in any way affect the ether or space in the pot. The water of the mirage cannot render the earth moist. Even so, ignorance and its effects cannot in the least affect the pure, subtle, attributeless, formless, limbless, partless and self-luminous Kshetrajna or the Self. Ignorance does not touch the Self. (Cf.X.20; XIII.32; XVIII.61)

Comments by the blogger:                

What is knowledge? What is ignorance?

The true knowledge, according to Sri Krishna, is that whereby one understands the fields and the knower of the fields. Fields are the bodies in the limited sense and the Prakriti or Nature in the wider sense and the Knower of all the fields is Iswaran.

“The scientific enquiry made by the modern man is a true search into the Prakriti” says Srimat Swami Chidbhavananda, “It has taken him very near the Purusha...the scientist will very soon come to know that the manifest universe has its origin and sustenance in the Cosmic Intelligence.”

There has been much improvement in understanding the atom. The man has found out the God Particles. The God Particles appear to have no form of their own but give shape to other things. They give mass to the atoms. The man has found out that God particles are the reason for the atoms’ coming together to make things like the earth and various things of worldly nature.  When Man’s quest ultimately leads to a fair understanding of the Atom on the one hand, and the triplication of the Big Bang and Man’s relentless search to imitate the big bang so that Man could understand the beginning and nature of the Universe on the other, Man shall have arrived at what is called by Sri Krishna in this sloka or verse as the true knowledge. 

And when Man understands the origin of the Cosmos and the nature of the Prakrity or Nature not to mention Man’s true knowledge and understanding of the God Particles, Man shall have attained an exact knowledge. The personality of the world, the Universe, or Matter is the personality of the irreducible atom. Even during the later part of the 1940s, the atomic bombs were produced. Man found out the tremendous manifestation of Energy in the splitting up of the Atom. Now the world is poised to knowing the complete nature of the Atom. The understanding and a fair amount of knowledge about the Big Bang will lead Man towards the knowledge which has been dealt with in the exalted poetic language in the Principal Upanishads! (We will deal with all the 14 Upanishads in great detail once the Commentaries on Srimad Bhagavad Gita is over). There are, in all, 108 Upanishads. But only a handful of them have been designated as the Principal Upanishads, and it will not be out of place to note here that Sri Shankarachariya of the 8^th Century A.D. has commentated on these Upanishads: thus the Principal Upanishads are: Isha, Kena, Katha, Mundaka,  Mandukya (Maandookya), Aitareya, Taittiriya, Chhandogya, Prshna, Shvetashvatara and Brihadaranyaka.

In the Upanishads there are ‘Vidhyais’. Vidhyais are said to be more than a hundred. But what has come down to us are only 32 Vidhais. We will deal with the Vidhais also. And then we will go to the Brahma Sutras.

We can be assured that the Scientific Man’s last attainment will have been achieved when Man fully understands the Big Bang, the God Particles, etc., and when Man describes through various theories about the Practically Scientific Knowledge Man attained in an exquisite language, it will sound as though they were taken out of the above-said Upanishads! Or their language will sound as though taken out of the pages of the Principal Upanishads!

Vedantic Knowledge and modern scientific knowledge, and the way in which they will be related will validate the poetic language of the above-said Upanishads.

The Sadguru Juggivasudev has written in his Math’s or the Isha Yoga Centre’s Magazine, ‘Kaattupoo’, that when he had gone to the US, he had explained the principles of the Atom and thus Atomic Bombs in the Vedic and Vedantins’ language to a great scientist and the said Scientist stated that if what Vasudevji said could be re-told in Scientific Language, there would be a revolution! But, since the Sad Guru’s language was poetic than scientific the scientific world would not come forward to be lead by what he was saying!

Let us hope that a time will come when our Vedopanishadic Seers had understood the Prakriti or Nature fully and completely and their knowledge was the true Knowledge as held in this sloka or verse!

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 13, VERSE 01, KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 01

Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga or The Yoga of the Discrimination of the Kshetra and the Kshetrajna

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

sree bhagavaan uvaacha

idam sareeram kaunteya kshetram ity abhidhiyate

etad yo vetti tam praahuh kshetrajna iti tadvidah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

sree bhagavaan uvaacha = Sri Bhagavan said:

idam = this: sareeram = body: kaunteya = O Kaunteya: kshetram = the field: iti = thus: abhidheeyat = is called: etat = this: yah = who: vetti = knows: tam = him: praahuh (they) call: kshetrajnah = the knower of the field: iti = thus: tadvidah = the knowers of that.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

The Blessed Lord said:

This body, O Kaunteya, is called Kshetra, the field; he who knows it is called Kshetrajna by the sages.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The literal meaning of Kshetra is that which is protected from perishing. The body of beings is called Kshetra because it is saved from destruction to which it is prone. The word Kshetra also means the field. It becomes increasingly productive to the extent it is improved. But its fertility provides scope both for the corn and the weed to thrive in it. Similarly in the field of his body, man reaps the fruits of his good and bad karma. The body is, therefore, the dharma kshetra of the Jivatman. There is an intelligent principle that not only resides in the body but also cognizes and governs it. The sages designate that discerning principle as Kshetrajna.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The human body may be compared to a pot. The mind, intellect and the senses are parallel to the water, rice and potato put into that pot placed on a hearth. Within a while, the pot gets heated and water boils the rice and potato. The contents then become too hot to be handled. This heat, however, belongs to the fire and not to the pot and its contents. Similarly, it is the Sakti of Brahman that enlivens the body, mind, intellect and the senses.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Prakrrti is unconscious activity and purusha is inactive consciousness. The body is called the field in which events happen; all growth, decline and death take place in it. The conscious principle, inactive and detached, which lies behind all active states as the witness, is the knower of the field. This is the familiar distinction between consciousness and the objects which that consciousness observes, Kshetrajna is the light of awareness, the knower of all objects. The witness is not the individual embodied mind but the cosmic consciousness for which the whole cosmos is the object. It is calm and eternal and does not need the use of the senses and the mind for its witnessing.

Kshetrajna is the supreme lord, not an object in the world. He is in all fields, differentiated by the limiting conditions, from Brahma, the creator, to a tuft of grass though he is himself devoid of all limitations and incapable of definition by categories. The immutable consciousness is spoken of as cognizer only figuratively (upachaaraat).

When we try to know the nature of the human soul, we may get to know it from above or from below, from the divine principle or the elemental nature. Man is a twofold, contradictory being, free and enslaved. He is godlike and has in him the signs of his fall, that is, descent into nature. As a fallen being, man is determined by the forces of prakriti. He appears to be actuated solely by elemental forces, sensual impulses, fear and anxiety. But man desires to get the better of his fallen nature. The man studied by objective sciences as biology, psychology and sociology is a natural being, is the product of the processes which take place in the world. But man, as a subject, has another origin. He is not a child of the world. He is not nature. He does not belong to the objective hierarchy of nature, as a subordinate part of it. Purusha or kshetrajna cannot be recognized as an object among other objects or as a substance. He can only be recognized as subject, in which is hidden the secret of existence, a complete universe in an individual form. He is not, therefore, a part of the world or of any other whole. As an empirical being he may be like a Leibnizian monad closed, shut up without doors or windows. As a subject, he enters into infinity and infinity enters into him. Kshetrajna is universal in an individually unrepeatable form. The human being is a union of the universal-particular. In his subjective aspects, he is not a part of a whole but is the potential whole. To actualize it, to accomplish the universality is the ideal of man. The subject fills itself with universal content—achieves unity in wholeness at the end of its journey. Man’s peculiarity is not the possession of the inward principle which impels the creative acquisition of a qualitative content of life. He has a unique quality, which is non-common. The ideal personality is unique and unrepeatable. Each person at the end of the road becomes a distinct, unrepeatable, unreplaceable being with a unique form.  

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Kshetra literally means ‘field’. The body is so called because the fruits (harvest) of actions in the form of pleasure and pain are reaped in it as in a field. The physical, the mental and the causal bodies go to constitute the totality of the field. It is not the physical body alone that forms the field.

He who knows the field and he who beholds it as distinct from himself through knowledge is the knower of the field or matter.

Those who know them: The sages.

Comments by the blogger:

 Mahatma Gandhi says, “Pandavas and Kauravas, that is, divine and demoniacal impulses, were fighting in this body, and God was watching the fight from a distance. Please do not believe that this is the history of a battle which took place on a little field near Hastinapur; the war is still going on. This is the verse we should keep in mind in order to understand the meaning of the phrase ‘dharmakshetra’.”

The Lord addresses Arjuna as Kaunteya which is significant; kaunteya means ‘O, son of Kunti’. This means that every man and woman born of a woman has this body, which is called as ‘kshetra’.

This is the first sloka or verse of Chapter 13 and the Lord means by the word ‘kshetra’ merely the human body. Sri Krishna wants to describe the difference from this body and the indweller of this body. This body is called a Kshetra and the knower of the body as Kshetrajna. Then the Lord describes in the subsequent Slokas or Verses that this word ‘kshetra’ must be taken to mean the body plus the entire universe.

By kshetrajna the Lord means, so far this sloka or verse is concerned, the knower of or one having the knowledge of the Kshetra. So these two, body and God make up jointly us, the human beings. We all have in us the Lord but we are at different degrees of understanding the indweller, the ‘kshetrajna’. According to Shankara who is also known as Adi Shankara, ‘kshetra’ stands for this body. Why? it saves the body from any injuries. But it is perishable. A paddy field gives us a rich harvest when the same is ploughed. Likewise, this body or Kshetra gives us the fruits of our Karma. And who knows this body from head to foot and has knowledge about this kshetra or body is called kshetragnan. According to Ramanujar, when the householder has the feelings like ‘I am a human being’ ‘I am fat’ ‘I am lean’ it is due to the confusion that the body and Atman are one and the same. But who knows the body as a state to the Atman because of the past Karma knows in reality what is meant by kshetra.  When one sees a thing like a pot has the feeling ‘I am seeing the pot’ , it is understandable... the body and the Atman are different from each other...In the verse 15-10 (that is chapter 15 verse 10) it is stated that ‘Those who are confused about the truth do not discern the Atman which exits from the body with the Three Gunas.  

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 13, VERSE NUMBER 0, KSHETRA KSHETRAJNA VIBHAGA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE KSHETRA AND THE KSHETRAJNA

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 13

VERSE NUMBER 0

Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga yoga or The Yoga of the Discrimination of the Kshetra and the Kshetrajna

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

arjuna uvacha

prakrrtim purusham chai ‘va kshetram kshetrajnam eva cha

etad veditum icchaami jnaanam jneyam cha kesava

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

prakrrtim = the Prakriti: purusham = the Purusha: cha = and: eva = even: kshetram = the field: kshetrajnam = the knower of the field: eva = even: cha = and: etat = this: veditum = to know: icchaami = (I) wish: jnaanam = knowledge: jneyam = what ought to be known: cha = and: kesava = O Kesava.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Arjuna said:

Prakriti and Purusha, also the kshetra and Kshetrajna, Knowledge and that which ought to be known, these,  O Kesava, I desire to learn.

COMMENTARY NOTE BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

This stanza is not found in all the editions of the Gita. Hence it is kept unnumbered.

COMMENTARY NOTE BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

This verse is not found in some editions. Shankara does not comment on it. If it is included, the total number of verse in the Bhagavadgita will be 701 and not 700, which is the number traditionally accepted. So we do not include it in the numbering of verses.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

In some of the books, you will not find this verse. If you include this verse also, the number of verses of the Bhagavd Gita will come to 701. Some commentators look upon this verse as an interpolation.

We have come to the beginning of the third section of the Gita. Essentially the same knowledge is taught in this section but there are more details.

This discourse on Kshetra (matter) is commenced with a view to determine the essential nature of the possessor of the two Prakritis (Natures), the lower and the higher, described in chapter VII, verse 4 and 5.

In the previous discourse, a descrition of the devotee who is dear to the Lord is given from verse 13 to the end. Now the question arises: What sort of knowledge of Truth should he possess? The answer is given in this discourse.

Nature is composed of the three qualities. It transforms itself into the body, senses and the sensual objects to serve the two purposes of the individual soul, viz., Bhoga (enjoyment) and Apavarga (liberation).

The Gita is divided into three sections illustrative of the three words of the Mahavakya or Great Sentence of the Sama Veda—Tat-Tvam-Asi ( That thou art). In accordance with this view, the first six chapters deal with the path of action or Karma Yoga and the nature of thou (Tvam-Pada). The next six chapters explain the path of devotion or Bhakti Yoga and the nature of That (Tat-Pada). The last six chapters treat of the path of knowledge or Jana Yoga and the nature of the middle term art (Asi-Pada) which establishes the identity of the individual and the Supreme Soul (Jiva-Brahma Aikyam).

Arjuna now wishes to know in detail the difference between Prakriti and Purusha(Matter and Spirit). He desires to have a discriminative knowledge of the difference between them.

Comments by the blogger:

This sloka or verse might be an interpolation. But it is a great wonder that the Text of Bhagavad Gita has come down to us with only one interpolation. In the Holy Bible, there is an exhortation that it is a great sin to interpolate in the body of that Work, The New Testament. So this only goes to prove that there have been several interpolations in it. But in Bhagavad Gita we don’t have any such exhortations. It has just been two thousand and odd years since the New Testament came into existence! Thus we can be proud of the fact the Holy Gita Text has come down to us hardly with any interpolations. In the New Testament, someone of Jesus Christ’s Disciples asked Him if the Gospel could be preached to other people having other beliefs. And the answer from Jesus Christ is that like the dogs under the dining table get some crumbs of food that has fallen from the table, other people having other faiths and convictions may also be taught! Even as a high school days in De Britto High School where I got a copy of the New Testament from a Boarding student and read the Gospel many a time with great interest could feel and tell that Jesus Christ would never have described the people of other religions as dogs under the table. Because it ran counter to the core of the Holy Bible where Jesus Christ many times urges His Disciples to go around the world and spread His Message! Thus we can consider ourselves lucky and extra blessed that entire Text of Srimad Bhagavad Gita has come down to us in its original form. In this context I happen to remember what the Maha Swami of the Kanji Math, Chandrasekarenthira Saraswati replied when a group of Hindus urged the great Sage to give new interpretations to various Hindu Scriptures, “No, I am of the staunch opinion that the Hindu Scriptures have come down to us from the hoary past from great Sages and Seers and we should not interfere with them!”

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 12, VERSE 20, BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 12

VERSE NUMBER 20

BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

ye tu dharmyaamrrtam idam yathoktam paryupaasate

sraddadhaanaa matparamaa bhaktaas te ‘teeva me priyaah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

ye = who: tu = indeed: dharmayaamrrtam = immortal dharma: idam = this: yathaa uktam = as declared: paryupaasate = follow: sradda dhaanaah = endued with Sraddha: mat paramaah = regarding me as their supreme: bhaktaah = devotees: te = they: ateeva = exceedingly: me = to me: priyaah = dear.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

They, verily, who follow this immortal dharma described above endued with Sraddha, looking upon Me as the Supreme Goal, and devoted—they are exceedingly dear to Me.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI  CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Sraddha is the common factor to all the forms of spiritual practices. It is therefore linked here with the path of Bhakti or devotion. On the ground of his holding the Lord as the Supreme Goal, the devotee does not abandon work. He holds fast to the practice of dharma. Mukti and Immortality being the outcome of the practice of dharma, it is here equated with Immortality. It is also called the Sanatana Dharma. He who conforms to dharma never comes to grief or destruction. Being both an ardent devotee and a staunch practicer of dharma, he is the dearest to the Lord.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Bhakti is of two kinds—the Vaidika bhakti and the Prema bhakti. To conform to the injunctions in the Scripture, to chant the name of the Lord as many times as prescribed, to fast and pray to go on pilgrimage, to perform ritualistic worship with the aid of the enjoined materials—all these belong to the former kind. Earnest pursuance of these means leads the devotee ultimately into the latter, the Prema bhakti, in which there is no place for any kind of earthly attachment. The Bhakta gives himself over entirely to the Lord. This whole-hearted offering is graciously accepted by the Lord and the devotee becomes His own.

 PS: Srimat Swami Chidbhavananda:

The path of Karma in the first six chapters and the path of Bhakti in the second six get united here. In the following six chapters the path of Jnaana remains to get united with these two.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

sraddhadhaana: (those) with faith. Before the experience arises the soul must have faith, which carries with it consent of mind and life. For those who have experience, it is a matter of sight: for others, it is faith, a call or a compulsion.

When we see the One Self in all things, equal-mindedness, freedom from selfish desires, surrender of our whole nature to the Indwelling Spirit and love for all arise.  When these qualities are manifested, our devotion is perfect and we are God’s own men. Our life then is guided not by the forces of attraction and repulsion, friendship and enmity, pleasure and pain, but by the single urge to give oneself to God and therefore to the service of the world which is one with God.

PS: Dr.S.Radhakrishnan:

In the words of Tulsidaas:

“Grant me, O Master, by thy grace

To follow all the good and pure,

To be content with simple things:

To use my fellows, not as means but ends

To serve them stalwartly, in thought, word, deed;

Never to utter a word of hatred or of shame:

To cast away all selfishness and pride:

To speak no ill of others: To have a mind at peace,

Set free from care, and led astray from thee

Neither by happiness nor woe;

Set thou my feet upon this path.

And keep me steadfast in it,

Thus only shall I please thee, serve thee right.”

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The Blessed Lord has in this verse given a description of His excellent devotee.

Amrita Dharma: Amrita is the life-ging nectar. Dharma is righteousness or wisdom. Dharma is that which leads to immortality when practised. The real devotees regard Me as their final or supreme refuge.

A great truth that should not go unnoticed is that the devotee, the man of wisdom and the Yogi have all the same fundamental characteristic.

Priyo hi Jnaninotyartham (I am exceedingly dear to wise man) (VII.12) has thus been explained at length and concluded here thus, Te ativa me priyah (they are exceedingly dear to Me).

He who follows this immortal Dharma as described above becomes exceedingly dear to the Lord. Therefore, every aspirant who thirsts for salvation, and who longs to attain the Supreme Abode of the Lord should follow this immortal Dharma with zeal and intense faith.

iti sreemad bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu brahmavidyaayaam

yogasaastre sree krrshnaarjuna samvaade bhaktiyogo

naama dvaadaso ‘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 twelfth discourse designated:

                                                  THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

Comments by the blogger:

We have seen before about the saying, “If you take one step toward God, He takes ten steps toward you!”

Well, what is the requirement for salvation or emancipation is Sraddha or Faith in God. But the pulls of this illusory world will try its level best to get us astray. Nature is a great con man or woman! Sri Bhagavan Krishna calls the illusory pulls of this world as ‘mama maayaa!’ or in other words ‘My Illusion!’ So in the face of Maya close up we have no defence or we think nothing will save us and we have no choice and we should surrender our self to Maya. So faith in God must arise in us owing to the working out of our Prarabtha Karma. It is Prarabtha Karma which decides our status and position and rank in the society in each and every birth. Prarabtha Karma is the sum total of our Karma we were party to arise. There are other two types of Karma, Sanchita Karma and Agama Karma. Sanchita Karma is the accumulation of Karma in many incarnations and one small part of the accumulated Karma will join us in each birth and we have to work out both Prarabtha Karma and Sanchinta Karma in the current incarnation. On the other hand, Agami Karma is different from Sanchita Karma. We need not work out in one incarnation all the Sanchita Karma in this incarnation. Agami Karma is the karma which arises because of some of our actions and for which we immediately have to pay by working out in the current incarnation itself. Our Swadharma is determined by our Prarabtha Karma in the earlier incarnation. So the guna or attitude or character of a person in the present incarnation is determined by the sum total of the Prarabtha Karma in the earlier or previous incarnation. So Faith is a matter of Prarabtha Karma. If we worshipped God in whatever form in the preceding birth or incarnation, that facet of our character will roll out in the current incarnation so we will pay greater attention towards the attainment of Oneness with our Maker. This is how one person starts to pray to God and conduct himself as a devotee of stronger nature in comparison with one’s preceding birth or incarnation while another person questions with vigour the very existence of God! In the same family, one person is a God-fearing person and his or her brother or sister is fond of calling himself or herself as a Rationalist! So every devotee evolves through many an incarnation. So we all should have been a Rationalist in one incarnation or the other. This is why we cannot and should not disapprove of those who exhibit no faith in God. For the staunchest Rationalist will worship God in some incarnation. For everyone comes here to the earth’s plane for walking the path of any one of the four kinds of Yoga as described in Srimad Bhagavad Gita stoutly towards God realisation. All sensual pleasures are nothing but various rungs in the ladder and the uppermost rung signifies emancipation. This rule is the rule for all irrespective of one’s religious feelings and faith. All should come back here till total emancipation. Simply because one religion says there is only one chance for Man to work out his salvation it will not stop that man’s reincarnation! If there is only one birth as the two major religions of the world posit God would not have given such an illusory pull to Nature or Prakrity. The more you think along this logic the greater is the realisation that Man has to come back to the earth’s plane repeatedly and not one more re-incarnation but hundreds of incarnations till one arrives at self-realisation. If we have the faith of the kind as posited in verse 20 of this chapter so much better it would be to lose ourselves in glorifying and worshipping the Lord.