Gita Satsangh: Swami Dayananda: Part V: Gita Chapter VII Conclusion

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

Poojya Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the founder of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam

studied under the guidance of Swami Chinmayanandaji and he is a great

Vedantin. Swamiji's commentary and explanation are from the Advaita

Philosophical point of view. Let me take this opportunity to thank

Swamiji for granting permission to post his Homestudy Gita Notes to

the list. The Gita Homestudy Gita Notes along with chanting of the

entire Gita verses are available at

Arshavidyagurukulam.(.http://www.arshavidya.org/)

 

Part V: Gita Chapter VII Conclusion

 

 

KNOWLEDGE OF ISVARA AS BOTH EFFICIENT AND MATERIAL CAUSE

When a given phenomenon, like the sun, is looked upon as Isvara,

Isvara is considered the material cause, upadana-karana. This is the

adhibhuta vision of Isvara. When Isvara is considered as the efficient

cause, the nimitta-karana of the sun, etc., it is the adhidaiva

vision. These are the two levels — Isvara as the nimitta-karana is

adhidaiva, and as the material cause is adhibhuta.

These people know Isvara as also adhyatma, which was pointed out in

the previous verse. Adhyatma is also Brahman. That is, they see

themselves as Brahman. Then what is left out? Nothing! Everything is

Bhagavan. The world is Bhagavan; all the devatas are Bhagavan; your

physical body and mind and senses together called adhyatma and

pratyagatma are all Bhagavan. This is one way of saying everything is

Bhagavan. Nothing else is there here in this universe other than

Bhagavan.

Therefore, the Lord says, `Those who know Me in this form are

non-separate from Myself.' First, you recognise Isvara as paroksa,

that is, you understand that this entire jagat is Isvara. Then

afterwards, you internalise the whole thing and understand, `my own

body, mind, senses are all Bhagavan. And the consciousness,

pratyagatma, behind this body-mind-complex is the truth of Bhagavan.

Those who are yukta-cetasah — yuktam ceteh yesam te, meaning those

whose minds do not have any inhibiting factors — know Me like this

even at the time of travel, death. There is a belief — which can not

be supported with any great logic — that what kind of course the

departing soul takes depends on what the final thought of the person

was when he or she was dying. That is why in India, there is a custom

of naming people with the names of the Lord. A person dying is likely

to call out his son by name and if that is the name of the Lord he

will be reminded of Bhagavan and that would give him a good gati.

But it is not easy to remember the Lord at the time of death. Unless

all one's lifetime one has lived a life keeping the Lord in mind, it

is not possible. The thought of Narayana will not come even if one has

named his son as Narayana. He will tend to use some diminutive of the

name and never remember Bhagavan. Even a great upasaka is not going to

remember his upasya at the time of death because his attachment to his

own children etc., is so much that he will remember only those things.

Or he will think of his omissions and commissions and will be riddled

with guilt and hurt. Unless a person is very mature, it is not easy to

have the thought of the Lord at the time of death.

While this is so, the Lord says, `If you know Me there is no such

problem. Whether it is at the time of death or not there is no

question of your losing sight of Me — vismaranam nasti. Because

without knowing the Lord, it is a question of narayana-nama-smarana,

remembering the name of Narayana; but here it is narayanasya

tattva-jnana, knowing the truth of Bhagavan as myself. Here there is

no ignorance of Bhagavan at all. The knowledge that `I am Narayana —

narayanah aham' is not subject to vismarana, forgetfulness. Ignorance

can not come back. Even if a person goes into a coma, that does not

really create ignorance. The mind may not function and the mind may be

incapable of responding to the external world but the ignorance gone

is gone. It can never come back.

Therefore, Bhagavan says, `prayanakale api mam viduh — even at the

time of death they know Me.' This is the meaning of the word api in

this statement. At the time of death even though there is generally

visamarana for most people including the upasakas, the jnanis do not

have this vismarana. When they are alive and well in the body and mind

with strong commitment they put forth adequate and proper effort to

know Bhagavan — mam viduh. How do they know? They know that all that

is here is Bhagavan — idam saravam aham asmi iti viduh,

sadhibhuta-adhidaivam sadhiyajnam mam viduh

And also they know that Bhagavan, who is in the form of all this, is

not separate from themselves. That is, they know the Lord who is in

the form of all this as themselves — sadhibhuta-adhidaivam sadhiyajnam

mam (Isvaram) atmatvena viduh. And they know this even at the time of

death when generally there is vismrti. This is because there is no

smrti-apeksa, dependence on memory for this knowledge unlike the

knowledge of other things in this world. Self knowledge is not to be

remembered; only self ignorance has to go. This is because the self is

always evident. Therefore, he says these people who are yukta-cetasah,

and do not have any inhibiting factor that prevents the knowledge,

know Me even at the time of death.

KNOWLEDGE, EVEN AT THE TIME OF DEATH, RELEASES

Finally what the Lord says with reference to the final moment also

means this: `Even those who only know Me at the time of death, who

gain this knowledge then, or those who have been living with this

knowledge and are not swayed from it right up to the time of death

because it is so clear, they know — prayana-kale api mam te viduh

yukta-cetasah. Those minds are united to Me, know Me, not just

remember Me, even at the time of death. There is no return for them.'

They are Brahman. When I am everything and everywhere, who is to

return, and from where? I can go to some place and return, if I am not

there already. If I am only here, then I can go to heaven and come

back. But heaven also is Me, the heavenly bodies are Me, all the

devatas are Me, all the angels are Me, all the celestials are Me. The

local world is Me, the sun, the moon and stars, the physical body,

mind and senses, are all Me because I am Brahman. Tell me now, who is

to go and where?

Thus those who know these five, i.e., adhyatma (pratyagatma their

innermost self, and the body-mind-sense-complex), karma in its

entirety, adhibhuta, adhidaiva and adhiyajna as Brahman, for them

their knowledge of the identity between themselves and Isvara stands

firm and unaffected even at the time of death. They were free living;

they are free when this body has fallen.

Thus ends chapter seven in which the tat-pada-vacya, the actual

meaning of the word tat which is the svarupa of Isvara and the

tat-pada-laksya, the implied meaning of the word tat, which is

Brahman, was explained. We have already seen in the first sa¶ka that

the tvam-pada-laksya, the implied meaning of the word tvam is also

Brahman. This is how the vakya, tat tvam asi is unfolded.

om tatsat. iti srimadbhagavadgitasu upanisatsu brahmavidyayam

yogasastre srikrsnarjunasamvade jnanavijnanayogo nama saptamo'dhyayah

Om tat sat. Thus ends the seventh chapter called jnana-vijnana-yoga in

the Bhagavadgita, which is the dialogue between Lord Krsna and Arjuna,

which is also brahmavidya and yogasastra.

We have to see what this Om tat sat means. Later Bhagavan himself is

going to say `om tat sat iti nirdesah.' Here in this statement all the

three words are in samanadhikaranya, that is they are in apposition.

It means this: what is Om, that, tat, is sat. Om is the name for

Paramesvara. Therefore, it is an invocation consisting of a single

syllable. Thus it is a bijaksara. Bijaksaras are actually words

consisting of a single syllable. Om is considered in the mantra to be

the bijaksara of all bijaksaras — bijaksaranam bijaksaram om. That is,

from it originate all the other bijaksaras. This is because Om is used

to invoke Paramesvara who is everything, i.e., all that was in the

past, all that is in the present, all that will be in the future —

bhutam bhavat bhavisyat, sarvam omkara eva, yat ca kalatitam tadapi

omkara eva.

Then there are other bijas that invoke various aspects of Paramesvara.

For example, the bijaksara hrim invokes the sakti of Isvara. Since

this sakti has the power to create or the power to destroy either of

them can be invoked by adding the appropriate bijaksara. Thus if you

want to invoke, Laksmi, you add a srim. Thus the mantra now would be

om hrim srim — Om stands for Paramesvara, hrim stands for the sakti of

Paramesvara and srim stands for Laksmi. Similarly gam stands for

Ganesa. Thus we have a variety of these bijaksaras and through these

we invoke an aspect of Isvara. Om is the source of all bijaksaras.

Thus it invokes Paramesvara. That is why it is added before every nama

invoking Isvara.

Omkara thus is the abhidhana, the name for the abhidheya, the named,

Brahman. Therefore, om tat sat, Brahman alone is sat. That is, Om is

that Brahman, which is jagat-karana, and tat, that, alone is sat,

satya, the truth of everything. A lot of words have been said and all

said and done, that Brahman alone is the satya-vastu, the truth of

everything. A lot of things have been said. They may or may not have

been said properly; they may or may not be understood properly.

Finally what is to be understood is om tat sat. Thus it marks the

conclusion.

This chapter is called the jnana-vijnana-yoga. This chapter has the

topic of jnana and vijna. The word jnana indicates that this chapter

has the knowledge of Paramesvara. The knowledge of what the tat-pada

stands for is the predominant topic of this chapter. The word vijnna

indicates that the knowledge is so complete that even at the time of

death there is no possibility of vismarana. Thus ends the seventh

chapter.