According to Shri Krishna our true nature--Spirit--is ... (a field of pure consciousness)

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Chapter II of the Bhagavad-Gita: " The Yoga of Understanding "

 

Sanjaya said:

Lord Krishna spoke these words

To Arjuna whose eyes were tearful and downcast,

And who was overwhelmed

With compassion and despair.

 

Krishna said:

How has the dejection

Come to you at this juncture?

This is not fit for an Aryan

It is disgraceful,

And it does not lead one to heaven, O Arjuna.

 

Do not become a coward, O Arjuna,

Because it does not befit you.

Shake off this weakness of your heart

And get up (for the battle), O Arjuna.

 

Arjuna said:

How shall I strike Bheeshma and Drona,

Who are worthy of my worship,

With arrows in battle, O Krishna?

 

It would be better, indeed,

To live on alms in this world

Than to slay these noble gurus,

Because, by killing them I would enjoy

Wealth and pleasures stained with blood.

 

Neither do we know

Which alternative is better for us,

Nor do we know

Whether we shall conquer them

Or they will conquer us.

We should not even wish to live

After killing the sons of Dhritaraashtra

Who are standing in front of us.

 

My heart is overcome by the weakness of pity,

And my mind is confused about Dharma.

I request You to tell me, decisively,

What is better for me. I am Your disciple.

Teach me who has taken refuge in You.

 

I do not perceive that gaining an unrivaled

And prosperous kingdom on this earth,

Or even lordship over the gods will remove

The sorrow that is drying up my senses.

 

Sanjaya said:

O King, after speaking like this to Lord Krishna,

The mighty Arjuna said to Krishna:

I shall not fight, and became silent.

 

O King, Lord Krishna, as if smiling,

Spoke these words to the despondent Arjuna

In the midst of the two armies.

 

Krishna said:

You grieve for those who are not worthy of grief,

And yet speak the words of wisdom.

The wise grieve neither

For the living nor for the dead.

 

There was never a time when I, you,

Or these kings did not exist;

Nor shall we ever cease to exist in the future.

 

Just as the Atma acquires a childhood body,

A youth body, and an old age body during this life,

Similarly Atma acquires another body after death.

The wise are not deluded by this.

 

The contacts of the senses with the sense objects

Give rise to the feelings of heat and cold,

And pain and pleasure.

They are transitory and impermanent.

Therefore, endure them, O Arjuna.

 

Because the calm person,

Who is not afflicted by these feelings

And is steady in pain and pleasure,

Becomes fit for immortality, O Arjuna.

 

There is no nonexistence of the Sat

And no existence of the Asat.

The reality of these two

Is indeed certainly seen by the seers of truth.

 

Know That, by which all this is pervaded,

To be indestructible.

No one can destroy the indestructible.

 

Bodies of the eternal, imperishable,

And incomprehensible soul

Are said to be perishable.

Therefore, fight, O Arjuna.

 

The one who thinks that Atma is a slayer,

And the one who thinks that Atma is slain,

Both are ignorant,

Because Atma neither slays nor is slain.

 

The Atma is neither born

Nor does it die at any time,

nor having been it will cease to exist again.

It is unborn, eternal, permanent, and primeval.

The Atma is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.

 

O Arjuna, how can a person

Who knows that the Atma is indestructible, eternal,

Unborn, and imperishable,

kill anyone or cause anyone to be killed?

 

Just as a person puts on new garments

After discarding the old ones,

Similarly Atma acquires new bodies

After casting away the old bodies.

 

Weapons do not cut this Atma,

Fire does not burn it,

Water does not make it wet,

And the wind does not make it dry.

 

This Atma cannot be cut, burned, wetted, or dried up.

It is eternal, all pervading,

Unchanging, immovable, and primeval.

 

The Atma is said to be unmanifest,

Unthinkable, and unchanging.

Knowing this Atma as such you should not grieve.

 

If you think that this (body) takes birth

And dies perpetually, even then, O Arjuna,

You should not grieve like this.

 

Because, death is certain for the one who is born,

And birth is certain for the one who dies.

Therefore, you should not lament over the inevitable.

 

All beings, O Arjuna, are unmanifest

Before birth and after death.

They are manifest between birth and death only.

What is there to grieve about?

 

Some look upon this Atma as a wonder,

Another describes it as wonderful,

And others hear of it as a wonder.

Even after hearing about it no one actually knows it.

 

O Arjuna, the Atma that dwells in the body of all (beings)

Is eternally indestructible.

Therefore, you should not mourn for any body.

 

Considering also your duty as a warrior

You should not waver.

Because there is nothing more auspicious

For a warrior than a righteous war.

 

Only the fortunate warriors, O Arjuna,

Get such an opportunity for an unsought war

That is like an open door to heaven.

 

If you will not fight this righteous war,

Then you will fail in your duty,

Lose your reputation, and incur sin.

 

People will talk about your disgrace forever.

To the honored, dishonor is worse than death.

 

The great warriors will think

That you have retreated from the battle out of fear.

Those who have greatly esteemed you

Will lose respect for you.

 

Your enemies will speak many unmentionable words

And scorn your ability.

What could be more painful than this?

 

You will go to heaven if killed,

Or you will enjoy the earth if victorious.

Therefore, get up

With a determination to fight, O Arjuna.

 

Treating pleasure and pain,

Gain and loss, victory and defeat alike,

Engage yourself in your duty.

By doing your duty this way

You will not incur sin.

 

The wisdom of Saamkhya

Has been imparted to you, O Arjuna.

Now listen to the wisdom of Karma-yoga

Endowed with which you will free yourself

From the bondage of Karma.

 

In Karma-yoga no effort is ever lost,

And there is no harm.

Even a little practice of this discipline

Protects one from great fear.

 

Those who are resolute

Have only one thought (of Self-realization),

But the thoughts of the irresolute

Are endless and many-branched, O Arjuna.

 

The unwise who delight in flowery words

Stress Karma-Kaanda,

The ritualistic aspect of the Vedas, O Arjuna,

And say that there is nothing else

(except material enjoyment).

 

They prescribe various specific rites

For the attainment of pleasure and power

To those who are full of desires,

And hold the attainment of heaven

As the highest goal of life.

The rebirth is their fruit of action.

 

The resolute determination (of Self-realization)

Is not formed in the minds of those

Who are attached to pleasure and power;

And whose discernment is obscured by such activities.

 

The Vedas deal with the three states

Or Gunas of mind.

Become free from dualities,

Be ever balanced and unconcerned

With the thoughts

Of acquisition and preservation.

Rise above the three Gunas,

And be Self-conscious, O Arjuna.

 

To a Self-realized person

The Vedas are as useful as a reservoir of water

When there is flood water available everywhere.

 

You have Adhikaara over your respective duty only,

But no control or claim over the results.

The fruits of work should not be your motive.

You should never be inactive.

 

Do your duty to the best of your ability, O Arjuna,

With your mind attached to the Lord,

Abandoning (worry and) attachment to the results,

And remaining calm in both success and failure.

The equanimity of mind is called Karma-yoga.

 

Work done with selfish motives

Is inferior by far to the selfless service or Karma-yoga.

Therefore be a Karma-yogi, O Arjuna.

Those who seek (to enjoy) the fruits of their work

are verily unhappy.

 

A Karma-yogi gets freedom

From both vice and virtue in this life itself.

Therefore, strive for Karma-yoga.

Working to the best of one's abilities

Without getting attached to the fruits of work

Is called (Nishkaama) Karma-yoga.

 

Wise Karma-yogis, possessed with mental poise

By renouncing the attachment to the fruits of work,

Are indeed freed from the bondage of rebirth

And attain the blissful divine state.

 

When your intellect will completely pierce

The veil of delusion,

Then you will become indifferent to what has been heard

And what is to be heard (from the scriptures).

 

When your intellect,

That is confused by the conflicting opinions

And the ritualistic doctrine of the Vedas,

Shall stay steady and firm with the Self,

Then you shall attain Self-realization.

 

Arjuna said:

O Krishna, what is the mark

Of a person whose Prajna is steady

And merged in superconscious state?

How does a person of steady Prajna speak?

How does such a person sit and walk?

 

Krishna said:

When one is completely free

From all desires of the mind

And is satisfied in the Self by the Self,

Then one is called a person of steady Prajna, O Arjuna.

 

A person whose mind is unperturbed by sorrow,

Who does not crave pleasures, and who is free

From attachment, fear, and anger;

Such a person is called a sage of steady Prajna.

 

Those who are not attached to anything,

Who are neither elated by getting desired results

Nor troubled by undesired results,

Their Prajna is deemed steady.

 

When one can completely withdraw

The senses from the sense objects

As a tortoise withdraws its limbs,

Then the Prajna of such a person

Is considered steady.

 

The desire for sensual pleasures fades away

If one abstains from sense enjoyment,

But the craving remains.

The craving also disappears from the one

who has seen (or known) the Supreme.

 

Restless senses, O Arjuna,

Forcibly carry away the mind

Of even a wise person

Striving for perfection.

 

Having brought the senses under control,

One should fix one's mind on the Self.

One's Prajna becomes steady

whose senses are under control.

 

One develops attachment to sense objects

By thinking about sense objects.

Desire for sense objects

Comes from attachment to sense objects,

And anger comes from unfulfilled desires.

 

Delusion arises from anger.

The mind is bewildered by delusion.

Reasoning is destroyed

When the mind is bewildered.

One falls down when reasoning is destroyed.

 

A disciplined person, enjoying sense objects

With senses that are under control

And free from likes and dislikes,

Attains tranquillity.

 

All sorrows are destroyed

Upon attainment of tranquillity.

The intellect of such a tranquil person

Soon becomes completely steady.

 

There is neither Self-knowledge nor Self-perception

To those whose senses are not under control.

Without Self-perception there is no peace;

And without peace there can be no happiness.

 

The mind, when controlled by the roving senses,

Steals away the Prajna as a storm takes away a boat

On the sea from its destination, the spiritual shore.

 

Therefore, O Arjuna,

One's Prajna becomes steady

Whose senses are completely withdrawn

From the sense objects.

 

A yogi is aware of the thing (or Atma)

About which others are unaware.

A sage who sees is unaware

Of the experience (of sense objects)

About which others are aware.

 

One attains peace in whose mind

All desires enter without creating any disturbance,

As river waters enter the full ocean

Without creating a disturbance.

One who desires material objects is never peaceful.

 

One who abandons all desires

And becomes free from longing

And the feeling of 'I' and 'my'

Attains peace.

 

O Arjuna, this is the Braahmee or superconscious state.

Attaining this (state), one is no longer deluded.

Gaining this state, even at the end of one's life,

A person attains oneness with the Supreme.

 

Chapter XV - The Yoga of the Highest Vision

 

Krishna said:

They speak of the eternal Ashvattha tree

Having its origin above and its branches below

Whose leaves are the (Vedic) hymns.

One who understands this

Is a knower of the Vedas.

 

The branches spread below and above.

The tree is nourished by the Gunas;

Sense pleasures are its sprouts;

And its roots stretch below

In the human world causing Karmic bondage.

 

Neither its form nor its beginning,

Neither its end nor its existence

Is perceptible here on the earth.

Having cut these firm roots of the Ashvattha tree

By the mighty ax of Vairaagya or detachment;

 

The goal should be sought reaching

Which one does not come back; thus thinking:

In that very primal spirit I take refuge

From which this primal manifestation comes forth.

 

Those who are free from pride and delusion,

Who have conquered the evil of attachment,

Who are constantly dwelling in the Supreme Self

With all Kaama completely stilled, who are free

From the dualities known as pleasure and pain;

Such undeluded persons reach the eternal goal.

 

The sun does not illumine there,

Nor the moon, nor the fire.

That is My supreme abode.

Having reached there they do not come back.

 

Atma in the body is My eternal

Indivisible fragment indeed.

Atma gets bound due to superimposition

Or association with the six sensory faculties,

Including the mind, of perception.

 

As the air takes away the aroma from the source,

Similarly Atma takes the six sensory faculties

From the physical body it casts off

To the body it acquires.

 

The Jeevaatma enjoys sense pleasures

With the help of six sensory faculties:

Hearing, touch, sight, taste, smell, and mind.

 

The ignorant do not perceive Jeeva

Departing from the body, or remaining in the body

And enjoying sense pleasures by associating with the Gunas.

Those with the eye of knowledge can see.

 

The yogis striving behold Atma

Abiding in their heart; but the ignorant,

Whose intellect is not pure,

Do not perceive Him even though striving.

 

The light that coming from the sun

Illumines the whole world;

And which is in the moon, and in the fire;

Know that light to be Mine.

 

Entering the earth

I support all beings with My energy;

Becoming the sap-giving moon

I nourish all the plants.

 

Becoming the digestive fire,

I remain in the body of all living beings;

Uniting with vital breaths, the Prana and Apana,

I digest all four varieties of food; and

 

I am seated in the hearts of all beings.

The memory, knowledge, and the removal of doubts

And wrong notions by reasoning or in Samadhi come from Me.

I am verily that which is to be known by all the Vedas.

I am, indeed, the author of the Vedanta

And the knower of the Vedas.

 

There are two entities in this world:

The perishable and the imperishable.

All beings are perishable,

And the Atma is imperishable.

 

There is another supreme spirit

Called Ishvara or Paramaatma,

The indestructible Lord who pervades

The three worlds and sustains them.

 

I am beyond the perishable body,

And higher than the imperishable Atma;

Therefore, I am known in this world and in the Vedas

As Purushottama, or the Supreme Spirit.

 

The wise one, who truly knows Me as the Purushottama,

Knows everything and worships Me wholeheartedly, O Arjuna.

 

Thus this most secret science

Has been explained by Me, O sinless Arjuna.

Having understood this, one becomes enlightened

And one's all duties are accomplished.

 

This is the end of Chapter XV of the Bhagavad Gita

Entitled " Purusottama-Yoga, "

Or " The Yoga of the Highest Vision "

 

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