Gita Satsangh Chapter 13 Verses 29 through 31

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Dandavat pranams to all!Gita Satsangh Chapter 13 Verses 29 through 31To listen to Swami Brahmanananda of the Chinmaya Mission chanting this Chapter...

 

Samam pashyan hi sarvatra samavasthitameeshwaram; Na hinastyaatmanaa’tmaanam tato yaati paraam gatim. (29)29. Because he who sees the same Lord dwelling equally everywhere does not destroy the Self by the self, he goes to the highest goal.

Sankara Bhashya (Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

29. Since by seeing equally God who is present alike everywhere he does not injure the Self by the Self, therefore he attains the supreme Goal.

 

Hi, since; pasyan, by seeing, by realizing; samam, equally; isvaram, God, i.e., (by realizing Him) as described in the immediately preceding verse; who is samavasthitam, present alike; sarvatra, everywhere, in all beings;-what follows from seeing equally?-he na, does not; hinasti, injure; his own atmanam, Self; atmana, by the Self, by his own Self; tatah, therefore, as a result of that non-injuring; yati, he attains; the param, supreme; gatim, Goal, called Liberation.

Objection: Is it not that no creature whatsoever injures himself by himself? Why do you refer to an irrelevant thing by saying, 'He does not injure...,which is like saying, 'Fire should neither be lit on the earth nor in the sky,' etc.?

 

Reply: This defect does not arise, because it is logical with reference to an unenlightened person's ignoring the Self. For, all unillumined people ignore the very wellknown Self which is manifest and directly perceptible, and regard the non-Self as the Self. By performing righteous and unrighteous acts they destroy even that self which has been accepted, and adopt another new self. And destroying even that, they take up another. Similarly, destroying even that, they adopt another. In this way they destroy the self that had been accepted successively. Thus, all unillumined persons are destroyers of the Self. But that which is the Self in reality, even that remains as though destroyed for ever by ignorance, because of the absence of any benefit from Its presence. So, all unenlightened persons are, verily, destroyers of the Self.

 

On the contrary, the other person who has realized the Self as described does not injure in either way [i.e. either through superimposition or through non-super-imposition.] the Self by his own Self. Therefore he attains the supreme Goal, i.e., the result stated above comes to him.

 

Lest it be doubted that what was said in, 'seeing equally God who is present in all beings, he does not injure the Self by the Self, is improper with regard to the selves which are diverse according to the differences created by the variety in their own qualities and actions, the Lord says: [30]Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

29. Indeed, he who sees the same Lord everywhere equally dwelling, destroys not the Self by the Self; therefore, he goes to the Highest Goal.

Vedanta preaches not so much the negation of the world, as the re-evaluation of things, beings and happenings constituting the world. Generally we perceive our own pet ideas and emotions, coloured by our unsteady understanding and changing emotions. To see the world, not through these equipments, but with the clear eye of wisdom, is to recognise perfection and bliss, divinity and sanctity in the very drab and dreary world of today, amidst its very sorrows and ugliness. Erroneous perception of the Reality, through maladjusted equipments, is the perception of the world, which, in its turn is throttling the individual perceiving it.

When the Pure Consciousness looks upon Itself through the refracting medium of matter envelopments, It perceives, as it were, a world-of-plurality, and the pluralistic world grins and dances, whistles, shrieks and howls --- ever ugly, stinking and sweating --- according to the maddening changes that take place in the very equipments (FIELD) through which the ego (KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD) happens to gaze. To re-discover the spiritual Reality, the Supreme Lord, in and through this horrid welter of change and sorrow is to end all our agitations and unprofitable aims and exertions, "FOR HE SEES THE LORD DWELLING IN EVERY PLACE ALIKE." Such an individual, in his own experienced wisdom, no more suffers from sorrow or fear. When the post is realised, the dread created by the ghost is ended.

HE DESTROYS NOT THE SELF BY THE SELF --- Earlier the Lord has explained when exactly the self becomes the enemy of the Self (VI-5 & 6). Whenever the lower ego-centric individuality is not available for sure guidance by the Higher-Principle-of-Wisdom in ourselves, the lower becomes our enemy. When a vehicle is no more under our control, it will cease to be of any service to us and becomes, as it were, an engine of destruction. Similarly, when the lower in us is not available for the guidance of the Higher, the former turns out to be an enemy of the latter. And in an individual who recognises and experiences the one Parameshwara that revels everywhere, the lower cannot fight against or shadow any longer the glory of the Higher.

THEREFORE HE GOES TO THE HIGHEST GOAL --- The true nature of the Self remains undiscovered due to the non-apprehension of Reality (ajnana), or due to the mis-apprehension (mithya jnana) arising out of the non-apprehension. The non-apprehension of the one Parameshwara everywhere, makes an individual act in the world in a way which renders him incapable of appreciating the glory of the Self in all other living beings. Thus, he becomes a source of sorrow to the community of living beings around him. The non-apprehension (ajnana) creates a veil because of which, not only do we not recognise the one Eternal Divine everywhere, but we also identify ourselves with the body and the mind, and behave as though they alone are real; in consequence, sensuality, materialistic pursuits, and selfish satisfactions become the only worthwhile objects or pursuits in our life, which we destroy for ourselves and others. The state an individual gains when both these, non-apprehension (ajnana) and mis-apprehension (mithya-jnana) are ended, is that Absolute experience, the experience of the Highest Goal, and therefore, "HE GOES TO THE HIGHEST."

INDIVIDUALS ACT DIFFERENTLY, AND THEREFORE, THE PARAMESHWARA, PLAYING BEHIND EACH INDIVIDUAL MUST BE A SEPARATE SELF. TO CONTRADICT THIS CONCEPT OF PLURALITY IN THE SELF, IT IS SAID:

Prakrityaiva cha karmaani kriyamaanaani sarvashah; Yah pashyati tathaa’tmaanam akartaaram sa pashyati. (30)30. He sees, who sees that all actions are performed by Nature alone and that the Self is actionless.

Sankara Bhashya (Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

30. And he who sees actions as being done in various ways by Nature itself, and also the Self as the non-agent,-he sees.

 

And yah, he who; pasyati, sees, realizes; karmani, actions, those performed through speech, mind and body; as kriyamanani, being done, being accomplished; sarvasah, in various ways; prakrtya, by Nature-Nature is God's Maya consisting of the three qualities, as is said in the Upanisadic text, 'However, know Maya as Nature' (Sv. 4.10); by that Nature; eva, itself-not by the other [Not by the Pradhana of the Sankhyas, known otherwise as prakrti.] which transforms itself in the form of cause and effects such as Mahat etc.; tatha, and also; atmanam, the Self, the Knower of the field; as akartaram, the non-agent, devoid of all adjuncts; sah, he; pasyati, sees-he is the one who has realized the supreme Reality. This is the idea. What is implied is that there is no valid proof about differences in the Non-agent who is devoid of qualities and is unconditioned like space.

 

The Lord elaborates again in other words that very true knowledge: [31]Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

30. He sees, who sees that all actions are performed by PRAKRITI alone, and that the Self is actionless.

If a caravan of motor vehicles, manufactured by different companies, with different horse-powers, at different periods of history, is put on the road, the performance of each vehicle will be unique. We cannot conclude therefrom that the petrol in each vehicle is of different typical potencies. The same electrical energy illumines different electric bulbs, manifesting different intensities of incandescence at different points. The electricity is one; the petrol is one; and yet the performance of the cars and the light manifested in the bulbs are different from equipment to equipment because of the very quality of the equipments. This analogy can explain the wonderful idea expressed in this stanza.

PRAKRITI ALONE PERFORMS ALL ACTIONS --- Matter is the equipment that orders the types of action that should manifest. If the mind is bad, the life expressed through it will also be bad. All actions are according to the types of desires entertained by the intellect. Thus, in the presence of Spirit, the "equipments" (Prakriti) function, and the Self (Atman), functioning in the "Field," called the "Knower-of-the-Field" (Purusha), acts in the world outside. When the "Knower-of-the-Field" leaves the "Field," there is no more any activity in the "Field," nor is there any activity for the Self Itself.

THE SELF IS ACTIONLESS (NOT ACTING) --- The Self is all-pervading, perfect and, as such, there is no desire in It. And where desires have ended, actions are impossible. In the Infinite, there is no action, and the very many reasons as to why there is no action in the Self, will be described presently (XIII-32).

He who is capable of recognising how his own vehicles function and realising that the Self in him is ever actionless, is alone the right perceiver, who is recognising and experiencing the "IMPERISHABLE AMIDST THE PERISHABLE.HE SEES WHO SEES." The manifestations of individuals are different from person to person because of the differences in the composition and make-up of the various equipments (upadhis), and, when they are destroyed, all differences merge to express the one Infinite experience, the Supreme Lord.

WHILE EXPLAINING THE SELF, AS THE SOURCE-OF-ALL-BEINGS, THE LORD INDICATES THE STATE OF A MAN WHO CAN DECLARE THAT HE HAS HAD FULL EXPERIENCE OF THE INFINITE ONE:

Yadaa bhootaprithagbhaavam ekastham anupashyati; Tata eva cha vistaaram brahma sampadyate tadaa. (31)31. When a man sees the whole variety of beings as resting in the One, and spreading forth from That alone, he then becomes Brahman.

Sankara Bhashya (Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

 

31. When one realizes that the state of diversity of living things is rooted in the One, and that their manifestation is also from That, then one becomes identified with Brahman.

 

Yada, when, at the time when; anupasyati, one realizes-having reflected in accordance with the instructions of the scriptures and the teachers, one realizes as a matter of one's own direct experience that 'All this is but the Self' (Ch. 7.25.2); that bhuta-prthak-bhavam, the state of diversity of living things; is ekastham, rooted in the One, existing in the one Self; and their vistaram, manifestation, origination; tatah, eva, is also from That-when he realizes that origination in such diverse ways as, 'the vital force is from the Self, hope is from the Self, memory [smara, memory; see Sankaracarya's Comm. on Ch. 7.13.1.-Tr.] is from the Self, space is from the Self, fire is from the Self, water is from the Self, coming into being and withdrawal are owing to the Self, food is from the Self' (op. cit. 7.26.1); tada, then, at that time; brahma sampadyate, one becomes identified with Brahman Itself. This is the import.

 

Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

31. When he (man) sees the whole variety-of-beings, as resting in the One, and spreading forth from That (One) alone, he then becomes BRAHMAN. A scientific investigation is complete only when the phenomenon intellectually analysed, is applied physically and brought within the limits of our observation.When one has understood that the atoms are the physical units of matter, one must also realise at once that these atoms in different combinations of numbers and patterns create the world of infinite forms and qualities. Similarly, to know that the Self is the Ultimate Truth behind the names and forms, is, in itself, only a partial knowledge. The complete understanding of Life can arise only when we, at once, understand how from the Self the endless multiplicity of names and forms rise up and spread to become the Universe. Just as in our understanding we can comprehend all the waves as inherent in the ocean, so too, a man of right understanding can recognise "THE SEPARATE EXISTENCE OF ALL BEINGS IN THE ONE." Once having understood the ocean, we do realise how the numberless waves rise from that one ocean; so too a man of right understanding also realises "THE EXPANSION OF PLURALITY FROM THAT ONE ALONE." Such moments of complete understanding, wherein the Man-of-Wisdom experiences the One Self within and without --- enveloping and embracing, penetrating and nourishing not only the depthless and the measureless Infinite, but also the superficial world of pluralistic names and forms --- are the sacred moments when he has "BECOME BRAHMAN." The Self alone can recognise the Self. He who is recognising the one homogeneous Self, he who is experiencing that the Consciousness in him is one with the homogeneous-mass-Consciousness everywhere, and he who also understands how on his coming into the body awareness, the world-of-plurality throws the mantle of its magic upon the fair face of the Infinite and makes It look ugly with all its perishable names and forms --- such a person is of "True Wisdom" and "Right Perception." At that moment, he has himself transcended his own equipments and has come to identify himself with the One-Consciousness-everywhere.

 

to be continued...

Hare Krishna!!!