Bhagawad Gita Ch2. Verses: 16-18 [Swamy Chinmayananda]

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FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS ALSO, IT IS PROPER THAT YOU SHOULD

ABANDON YOUR GRIEF AND DISTRESSING DELUSION AND SHOULD CALMLY

ENDURE HEAT AND COLD, ETC. FOR:

 

nAsato vidyate bhAvo nAbhAvo vidyate sataH

ubhayor api dRSTo 'ntas tvanayor tattvadarSibhiH 2.16

 

16. The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the Real; the truth

about

both these

has been seen by the Knowers of the Truth (or the Seers of the Essence) .

In Vedantic literature, the Real and the Un-real are very scientifically

distinguished. These two

categories are not considered as indefinables in our ancient scriptures;

though

they do not

declare these to be definables. The Rishis have clearly indicated what

constitutes the REAL and

what are the features of the UN-REAL. "That which was not in the past and

which

will not be in

the future, but, that which seemingly exists only in the present is called

the

un-Real." In the

language of the Karika, "That which is non-existent in the beginning and in

the

end, is

necessarily non-existent in the intermediate stages also; objects, we see,

are

illusory, still they

are regarded as real."

Naturally, the Real is "that which defies all changes and remains the same

in

all the periods of

time: past, present and future." Thus, in an ordinary example, when one

misunderstands a post in

the dark to be a ghost, the ghost-vision is considered unreal as compared to

the

post; because,

the hallucination cannot be permanent and it does not remain after the re-

discovery of the post.

Similarly, on waking up from our dream, we do not get anxious to provide for

our

dream-

children; because, as soon as we wake up, we realise that the dream was

unreal.

Before we

went to bed, the dream-children were not with us, and after waking up, our

dream-children are

no more with us; thus we understand and realise that our dream-children,

whom we

loved and

tended as real during our dream, are, in fact, unreal. By significance,

therefore, the Real is that

which exists at all times: in the past, the present and the future. The post

is

relatively real --- it

was, it is and it will be.

The life in our matter envelopments, we know, is finite, inasmuch as every

little experience, at all

the three levels of our existence --- among the objects, with our

sentiments, in

the company of

our ideas --- in finite. The body changes at every moment; the mind evolves

and

the intellect

grows. All changes, evolutionary movements and growths, are indicated by a

constant-death of

their previous state, in order that the thing concerned may change, evolve

or

grow. The body,

the mind and the intellect are ever-changing in us, and all of them,

therefore,

according to our

definition, cannot be Real.

But is there a Real entity behind it all? In order that change may take

place,

no doubt, a

changeless substratum is necessary. For the waters of the river to flow, a

motionless river-bed

must exist. Similarly, in order to hold together the millions of experiences

at

the levels of our

body, mind and intellect, and to give us the experience of a synchronised

whole

--- which we

call life --- we must, necessarily, have some substratum, changeless and

real,

which is common

to all three.

Something in us remains, as it were, unchanged all through our changes,

holding

the vivid

experiences together as a thread holds the beads in a necklace. On closer

analysis, it becomes

clear that it can be nothing other than the Self in us, the Pure Awareness.

Experiences that have

come under one's awareness do not constitute any vital aspect of one's own

Self;

life is the sum

total of experiences that have been devised by the touch of one's

illuminating

Consciousness. In

childhood, I was conscious of my childhood-life; in my youth, I was

conscious of

my youthful

life; and in my old age, I am again conscious of my present experiences. The

Consciousness

remaining the same, endless experiences came under it, got illumined and

died

away. This

Awareness by which I become conscious of things in my life --- because of

which

I am

considered as alive, but for which I will have no more existence in this

given

embodiment ---

"That" Spiritual Entity, Eternal and All-Pervading, Unborn and Undying, the

One

Changeless

Factor, is the Infinite in me. And this Atman is the Real.

Men of knowledge and wisdom have known the essence, the meaning and the

implication of

both these: the Self and the non-Self, the Real and the Unreal, which in

their

mysterious

combination constitute the strange phenomenon called the world.

WHAT THEN IS THAT WHICH IS EVER REAL? LISTEN:

 

avinASi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaM tatam

vinASam avyayasyAsya na kaScit kaartum arhati 2.17

 

17. Know That to be Indestructible by which all this is pervaded. None can

cause

the

destruction of That --- the Imperishable.

The REAL is that which envelops everything that exists, and which is the

very

stuff and

substance of all the worlds of perceptions, which we experience. Different

mud-

pots, each

different in form, shape and colour, may have different names according to

the

things they

contain or according to the purpose for which they are used. Though each of

them

has thus a

different name, yet, all of them are, we may say, enveloped by --- or

permeated

with one and

the same stuff, the mud, without which none of the pots can exist. From mud

they

came; in mud

they exist; and when they are destroyed, their names and forms shall merge

back

to become

mud. All the mud-pots are enveloped by mud which is the Reality holding the

world of mud-

pots together.

Similarly, the world of finite changes is entirely permeated through and

through

and enveloped

by the REAL, the Changeless. And Bhagawan adds that there is no possibility

of

this REAL,

even for a moment, ever getting destroyed, even by a fraction.

WHAT THEN IS THE UNREAL (ASAT) WHOSE EXISTENCE IS NOT CONSTANT?

LISTEN:

 

antavanta ime dehA nityasyoktAH SarIriNaH

anASino 'prameyasya tasmAd yudhyasva bhArata 2.18

 

18. They have an end, it is said, these bodies of the embodied-Self. The

Self is

Eternal,

Indestructible, Incomprehensible. Therefore, fight, O Bharata.

The physical forms, constituted of matter envelopments, are all perishable

equipments for the

indwelling-Self, which is the Eternal Factor, ever in Its nature,

changeless,

indestructible, and

incomprehensible. By the term EVER CHANGELESS, the Supreme is indicated as

Eternal

because the non-eternals, by their nature, must be ever-changing, change

being

the insignia of

the finite. Here, by using the two terms: Eternal (Nityah) and

Indestructible

(Anashinah), the

Lord is indicating that neither a total nor a partial destruction is

possible in

the Supreme.

By qualifying the Eternal as UNKNOWABLE it is not, in any sense, intended to

indicate that

the Supreme is 'unknown.' Here, the term 'unknowable' is only meant to

express

that it is not

knowable through the usual organs-of-perception. The sense-organs are the

instruments through

which the Consciousness beams out and in ITS awareness, objects get

illumined.

These

instruments of cognition, whether they be sense-organs, or the mind or the

intellect, are in

themselves, inert and can have their knowledge of perception only when they

are

dynamised by

the Consciousness, the Spark-of-Life. As such, these organs cannot make the

Consciousness

an object of their apprehension. Therefore, in terms of our most common

source

of knowledge

--- direct perception --- the Shastra says here that the Supreme is

'unknowable,' It being self-

determined (Swatah siddhah).

THEREFORE, FIGHT, O DESCENDANT OF BHARATA --- This is, really, not a command

to fight. A religion that is built upon the concept of extreme forgiveness

and

large-hearted

tolerance, as envisaged in the principle of "non-violence," could not have

raised a slogan of

chaos or revolutionary blood-thirstiness in its very scripture. Such an

interpretation is the

unintentioned mischief of a commentator, who does not read the Geeta in the

context of the

Mahabharata.

The words "Fight, O Son of India," means that it is a religious call to

every

Hindu to discard his

defeatist mentality and face, whole-heartedly and sincerely, the situations,

in

every given field of

his life, at every given moment of his existence. Active resistance to evil

is

the Krishna-creed in

the Geeta.

THE LORD NOW QUOTES TWO VEDIC MANTRAS TO CONFIRM THE VIEW

THAT GEETA SHASTRA IS INTENDED TO REMOVE THE CAUSE OF SAMSARA,

SUCH AS GRIEF AND DELUSION. "IT IS ONLY A FALSE NOTION OF YOURS,"

SAYS THE LORD, "THAT YOU THINK THUS: 'BHISHMA AND OTHERS, WILL BE

KILLED BY ME IN THE BATTLE; I WILL BE THEIR SLAYER'..." HOW?