Guest guest Posted January 5, 2000 Report Share Posted January 5, 2000 Om, I have a question regarding two verses in the Gita. I have gone through some commentaries on them like Swami Chidbhavananda's , Gorakpur press etc but they all seem to differ. The slokas are the one's where Sri Krishna says that yogi who leaves his body during the bright fortnight of the moon , during the northern movement of the sun goes to liberation whereas the yogi who leaves the body during the southern passage of the sun or in the dark fortnight of the moon does not get liberated. What does this mean ? It is said that Sri Bhishmaacharya lay on his bed of arrows for so many days because he wished to die when the sun resumed its northernly course. I dont see the rational of this. Some commenataries say this paragraph refers to the prana energy going through the ida , pingala or Sushma channels. Some commenataries say that the whole verse is allegorical and refer to the bright passage as Jnana and the dark passage as Ajnana. Some other commentaries use the literal meaning (I think the Iskcon publication) that the jiva after dying meets with a solar deity or a lunar deity. Can anyone through "light" on this subject ? I find this the most mysterioius subject in the Gita. Sincerely, Anand A FREE web-based e-mail service brought to you by the PC World Technology Network. Get your FREE account today at http://www.myworldmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2000 Report Share Posted January 5, 2000 HariH Om Anand: First, I want to thank you for your enthusiastic and active participation in the discussions on behalf of Madhavaji and other moderators of the list. The two fortnight periods are known as Sukla and Krishna. The Sukla fortnight (white or bright) starts from Amavashya (New Moon) to Purnima (Full Moon). The Krishna fortnight (black or dark) is from Purnima to Amavashya. From the third week of March to the third week of September Sun light dominates and during the rest of the six months, the moon light dominates. Hindus believe that the Sukla fortnight during the six months of brightness is more auspicious and the soul liberated from the earth during those periods will not return back. The souls liberated during the rest of the time periods were believed to come back and take another birth. Now coming back to your question related to the Verses 24 and 25 of Gita Chapter 8: I believe that the only person who knows the answer is Lord Krishna (Brahman). Krishna himself declares in another verse: "I am the knower of the Truth." We the Jivas are quite imaginative and consequently create various interpretations to fulfill our ego. The light is always present and our problem is that we refuse to see! Let us stop here and take up questions related to individual verses during the Gita Satsang following the guidelines posted by Madhavaji. During the next weeks, our discussions should be on general topics focusing on the fundamental messages rather than on specific verses. Ram Chandran Anand Natarajan wrote: > > Om, > > I have a question regarding two verses in the Gita. I have gone through some commentaries on them like Swami Chidbhavananda's , Gorakpur press etc but they all seem to differ. The slokas are the one's where Sri Krishna says that yogi who leaves his body during the bright fortnight of the moon , during the northern movement of the sun goes to liberation whereas the yogi who leaves the body during the southern passage of the sun or in the dark fortnight of the moon does not get liberated. > What does this mean ? > It is said that Sri Bhishmaacharya lay on his bed of arrows for so many days because he wished to die when the sun resumed its northernly course. > I dont see the rational of this. Some commenataries say this paragraph refers to the prana energy going through the ida , pingala or Sushma channels. Some commenataries say that the whole verse is allegorical and refer to the bright passage as Jnana and the dark passage as Ajnana. Some other commentaries use the literal meaning (I think the Iskcon publication) that the jiva after dying meets with a solar deity or a lunar deity. > > Can anyone through "light" on this subject ? I find this the most mysterioius subject in the Gita. > > Sincerely, > Anand > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2000 Report Share Posted January 5, 2000 namaste, The verses, 8:24-27, no matter how interpreted, relate to the fundamental message in v. 27-line 2: " tasmaatsarveshhu kaaleshhu yogayukto bhavaarjuna .." Regards, Sunder ----Original Message Follows---- Ram Chandran <chandran advaitin advaitin Re: Gita Satsang: Wed, 05 Jan 2000 22:52:20 -0500 HariH Om Anand: First, I want to thank you for your enthusiastic and active participation in the discussions on behalf of Madhavaji and other moderators of the list. The two fortnight periods are known as Sukla and Krishna. The Sukla fortnight (white or bright) starts from Amavashya (New Moon) to Purnima (Full Moon). The Krishna fortnight (black or dark) is from Purnima to Amavashya. From the third week of March to the third week of September Sun light dominates and during the rest of the six months, the moon light dominates. Hindus believe that the Sukla fortnight during the six months of brightness is more auspicious and the soul liberated from the earth during those periods will not return back. The souls liberated during the rest of the time periods were believed to come back and take another birth. Now coming back to your question related to the Verses 24 and 25 of Gita Chapter 8: I believe that the only person who knows the answer is Lord Krishna (Brahman). Krishna himself declares in another verse: "I am the knower of the Truth." We the Jivas are quite imaginative and consequently create various interpretations to fulfill our ego. The light is always present and our problem is that we refuse to see! Let us stop here and take up questions related to individual verses during the Gita Satsang following the guidelines posted by Madhavaji. During the next weeks, our discussions should be on general topics focusing on the fundamental messages rather than on specific verses. Ram Chandran Anand Natarajan wrote: > > Om, > > I have a question regarding two verses in the Gita. I have gone through some commentaries on them like Swami Chidbhavananda's , Gorakpur press etc but they all seem to differ. The slokas are the one's where Sri Krishna says that yogi who leaves his body during the bright fortnight of the moon , during the northern movement of the sun goes to liberation whereas the yogi who leaves the body during the southern passage of the sun or in the dark fortnight of the moon does not get liberated. > What does this mean ? > It is said that Sri Bhishmaacharya lay on his bed of arrows for so many days because he wished to die when the sun resumed its northernly course. > I dont see the rational of this. Some commenataries say this paragraph refers to the prana energy going through the ida , pingala or Sushma channels. Some commenataries say that the whole verse is allegorical and refer to the bright passage as Jnana and the dark passage as Ajnana. Some other commentaries use the literal meaning (I think the Iskcon publication) that the jiva after dying meets with a solar deity or a lunar deity. > > Can anyone through "light" on this subject ? I find this the most mysterioius subject in the Gita. > > Sincerely, > Anand > ____ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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