Gita Satsangh Chapter 14 Verses 3 & 4

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Dandavat pranams to all!

 

Gita Satsangh Chapter 14 Verses 3 & 4

 

To listen to Swami Brahmanananda of the Chinmaya Mission

chanting this Chapter...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn3Hro5Ib4U & feature=channel_page

 

To listen to Meena Mahadevan of KailashMusic

chanting this Chapter...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9FyEwbZAOs

 

Mama yonirmahadbrahma tasmin garbham dadhaamyaham;

Sambhavah sarvabhootaanaam tato bhavati bhaarata.

 

3. My womb is the great Brahma; in that I place the germ; thence, O Arjuna, is

the birth of all beings!

 

Sankara Bhashya

(Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

The Lord says that association of this kind between the field and the Knower of

the field is the origin of all beings: (2)

 

3. My womb is the great-sustainer. In that I place the seed. From that, O scion

of the Bharata dynasty, occurs the birth of all things.

 

Mama, My own Maya, i.e. Prakrti consisting of the three qualities, which belongs

to Me; is the yonih, womb [Here Ast. adds 'karanam, cause' (-off all the

creatures).-Tr.] for all the creatures. Since it (Prakrti) is great (mahat) as

compared with all its effects, and it is the sustainer (brahma) [Prakrti is

brahma since it permeates all of its own products.-A.G.] of all its own

transformations, therefore the womb itself is qualified as mahat brahma.

Tasmin, in that, in the womb which is the great-sustainer; aham, I, God,

possessed of the power in the form of the two aspects, viz the field and the

Knower of the field; dadhami, place, deposit; garbham, the seed-the seed of the

birth of Hiranayagarbha, the seed which is the cause of the birth of all

things-; i.e., I bring the field into association with the Knower of the field

who conforms to the nature of the limiting adjuncts, viz ignorance, desire and

activity.

 

Tatah, from that, from that deposition of the seed; O scion of the Bharata

dynasty, bhavati, occurs; sambhavah, the birth, origination; sarva-bhutanam, of

all things, following the birth of Hiranyagarbha.

 

Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

THE LORD NOW PROCEEDS TO EXPLAIN, IN WHAT WAY THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN THE

" KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD " AND THE " FIELD " TAKES PLACE, AND HOW THE UNION COMES TO

BREED OUR ENDLESS SORROWS:

 

3. My womb is the great BRAHMAN (MULA PRAKRITI) ; in that I place the germ; from

which, O Bharata, is the birth of all beings.

 

MY WOMB IS THE GREAT BRAHMAN (MULA PRAKRITI) --- Krishna, the Pure

Consciousness, is trying to explain the " One-Womb " from which the entire

Universe has arisen. On many occasions, in our discourses, we had stopped to

explain how the One-Consciousness, identifying with various layers of Matter,

manifests Itself as different entities, with different potentialities. A Prime

Minister is also a voter --- just a single voter under the constitution of the

country. But a Prime Minister's powers are a million times more than any average

voter can ever hope to have. This omnipotency is gained by his OFFICE, because

the voter in him has been successful in identifying himself with the " heart " of

the majority of voters.

 

The Supreme, identifying Itself with the subtle Vasanas in an individual,

becomes an individualised " Ego. " If any one of us (as a single voter) can

renounce his limited tendencies and identify himself with the total thought-life

of the Universe (the total aspirations of the Janata), the Consciousness that

identified Itself with 'total mind' (the individual who identifies himself with

the majority of voters) becomes the Ishwara (Prime Minister).

 

In the stanza, in the language of Vedanta, it is said that the total-Vasanas of

the world, meaning the " total-causal-body, " is the " Womb, " which gets

impregnated by the Lord. When life functions as the " total-causal-body, " it

becomes dynamic and expresses itself as the " total-mind-intellect "

(Hiranya-garbha).

 

It has already been explained that the Light of Consciousness conditioned by the

mind and intellect-reflected in the mental pool of thought --- is the

sense-of-ego, the individuality, manifest in each of us. The total potential

factor, from which the world-of-matter emerges, is termed as Nature ---

Prakriti. The Prakriti then is called the 'Great Cause,' because it embraces the

entire Universe which is but its effect. Again, from Nature, the entire Universe

has arisen and the Universe of names and forms is nourished and fattened by the

very source which has given birth to it. Therefore, the total nature is termed

here, as elsewhere in Vedanta, as the Great (Mahat)-Brahma, the

total-mind-intellect-equipments.

 

IN THAT, I PLACE THE GERM --- This total potential Nature is the virgin " Womb, "

in which, when the shaft of Consciousness penetrates, the Light of Awareness

that consequently plays in it, is Its act of impregnation.

 

Thus vitalised by Life, the inert Prakriti becomes dynamised, grows and

manifests itself as the spectacular Universe. Hence it is said, " FROM WHICH IS

THE BIRTH OF ALL BEINGS. "

 

Every creative action owes its origin and progress to a tendency for it in the

artist. When this tendency in him becomes vibrant with a part of the life in

him, it becomes potential, struggles to express itself in terms of ideas and

feelings, and later on gets expressed in the particular medium of art chosen by

the artist. He may express it through colours, as in painting; through songs, as

in music; through stones, as in sculpture; or through words, as in literature.

But a dead artist can no more express anything --- even in terms of artistic

ideas or thoughts. The total Universe of ideas and tendencies (Vasanas), when

graced by Life, becomes vigorous and expresses as the Universe created.

 

The world of Vasanas, of ideas, of thoughts, and of actions, together

constituting the total Nature, is ever controlled and directed by the gunas, and

therefore, the three gunas are together called in Vedanta as Maya, the " cause of

the Universe. " Maya, expressed in the individual bosom, is called

'ignorance'(avidya). The 'ignorance'is, therefore, the microcosmic expression of

Maya, and the total " ignorance, " in its macrocosmic expression, is Maya. An

individualised EGO is under the control of avidya, while Maya is under the

control of Ishwara.

 

We are only to remember that we have been told already in the previous chapter,

viz., that the " Field " and the " Knower-of-the-Field " are the two aspects of

Nature (Prakriti), and both of them function on the same Substratum, the

Absolute Eternal Truth, the Lord Krishna Himself. The Supreme, functioning in

the " Field, " becomes the Enjoyer-of-the-Field, and therefore, the

" Knower-of-the-Field, " detaching from the " Field, " rediscovers himself to be the

Pure Absolute Consciousness.

 

 

Sarvayonishu kaunteya moortayah sambhavanti yaah;

Taasaam brahma mahadyonir aham beejapradah pitaa.

4. Whatever forms are produced, O Arjuna, in any womb whatsoever, the great

Brahma is their womb and I am the seed-giving father.

 

Sankara Bhashya

(Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

4. O son of Kunti, whatever forms are born from all the wombs, of them the

great-sustainer is the womb; I am the father who deposits the seed.

 

O son of Kunti, yah, whatever; murtayah, forms-that have their parts and limbs

integrated, which is characteristic of the formation of bodies; sambhavanti, are

born; sarva-yonisu, from all wombs-from the wombs of gods, manes, humans,

cattle, beasts, etc.; tasam, of them, of those forms; mahat brahma, the

great-sustainer, which exists as all the (various) forms; is the yonih, womb,

source. Aham, I, God; am the pita, father; bija-pradah, who desposits the seed,

the agent of impregnation.

 

Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

CONTINUING TO ELABORATE THIS SUBTLE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATTER AND SPIRIT, AND

EXPLAINING HOW THE ABSOLUTE IS THE UNCONTAMINATED AND EVER-VITALISING PRINCPLE

IN BOTH THE " FIELD " AND IN THE " KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD " :

 

4. Whatever forms are produced, O Kaunteya, in all the wombs whatsoever, the

great BRAHMA is their womb, and I the seed-giving Father.

 

IN ALL WOMBS the living world, infinite varieties of beings are born and

continue to live, and they are replaced at every moment by millions of new

births. If the whole Universe is looked at in one gaze, we find therein,

seething activities of new births. Everywhere, the birth of an organism is

nothing but an expression of Spirit through a given matter-envelopment. Thus

viewed, every Matter particle is the " womb, " which, when dynamised by the " Light

of Consciousness, " becomes a potential living being. Every expression of life is

Matter containing within its bosom a tiny spark of the Spirit.

 

Lord Krishna, as the Supreme Consciousness, Absolute and Infinite, declares here

figuratively: " I AM THE FATHER OF THE UNIVERSE, " who places the sperm-of-life in

the womb-of-Nature (Prakriti). A " Field, " in itself, has no existence without

the " Knower-of-the-Field " vitalising it. A steam engine, minus steam, is only so

much iron in that particular shape! But when steam passes through it, the engine

expresses its motive force and strength, and its particular ability, locomotion.

Similarly, the body-mind-intellect are only so much minerals unless

Consciousness expresses Itself, through it. No doubt, a bachelor, in himself,

can have no child to claim as his own, however potent he may be. He has to get

married and his seed is to be placed in the womb. The Spirit cannot express

Itself without the Matter. These ideas are summarised in this stanza when Lord

Krishna says that He is the Eternal Father, who impregnates the entire

world-of-Matter and arranges the play of life on the stage of the world.

 

The Geeta happened to be declared and written long before Christ, and therefore,

the Bible cannot claim, as some of us have been coaxed to believe, that the

great Fatherhood of God is a fact recognised ONLY by the Christian faith. At

best, we can say that it is an idea borrowed from earlier religions. The Hindus

did not over-emphasise this Father-hood of God, because, even though the idea is

quite poetic, philosophically, if cannot hold much water. But as later religions

found such ideas more easily digestible for the not-so-intelligent masses, they

seem to have borrowed them liberally.

 

to be continued...

 

 

 

Hare Krishna!!!