Gita Satsangh Chapter 15 Verses 8 & 9

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Dandavat pranams to all!

 

Tatah padam tat parimaargitavyam

Yasmin gataa na nivartanti bhooyah;

Tameva chaadyam purusham prapadye

Yatah pravrittih prasritaa puraanee.

Then that goal should be sought after, whither having gone none returns again.

Seek refuge in that Primeval Purusha whence streamed forth the ancient activity

or energy. (BG 15.4)

 

Gita Satsangh Chapter 15 Verses 8 & 9

 

To listen to Swami Brahmanananda of the Chinmaya Mission

chanting this Chapter...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HbuMyixulQ & feature=related

 

To listen to Meena Mahadevan of KailashMusic

chanting this Chapter...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO-zznmflEk & feature=channel

 

Shareeram yadavaapnoti yacchaapyutkraamateeshwarah;

Griheetwaitaani samyaati vaayurgandhaanivaashayaat.

8. When the Lord obtains a body and when He leaves it, He takes these and goes

(with them) as the wind takes the scents from their seats (flowers, etc.).

 

Sankara Bhashya

(Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

 

When (does it draw the organs)?

 

8. When the master leaves it and even when he assumes a body, he departs taking

these, as wind (carries away) odours from their receptacles.

 

Yat, when; isvarah, the master of the aggregate of the body etc., the individual

soul; utkramati, leaves the body, then he draws. Thus, the second quarter of

the verse is treated first for the sake of consistency. [When the soul leaves

the body, then it draws the organs (see previous verses) from that body. In

this way, the second quarter of the present verse is treated first, because

going to another body follows the leaving of the earlier one.-M.S.]

 

Ca api, and even; yat, when; it avapnoti, assumes a body other than the earlier

one; then, grahitva, taking; etani, these, the organs with the mind as their

sixth; samyati, he leaves, goes away totally [samyak, totally-without returning

in any way to the earlier body.-M.S.] Like what? In reply the Lord says: iva,

as; vayuh, the wind (carries away); gandhan, odours; asayat, from their

receptacles-flowers etc.

 

 

Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

 

8. When the Lord obtains a body, and when He leaves it, He takes these and goes

(with them) as the wind takes the scents from their seats (the flowers) .

 

When the Lord acquires a body, meaning, when the Infinite deludes Itself that It

is conditioned by the mind-intellect, It becomes the Jiva; and the Jiva takes to

itself various bodies from time to time and incarnates in different

environments, which are ordered by its own burning desires and aspirations, and

which are most suited for exhausting and fulfilling all its demands. From the

moment the Jiva enters a body till it leaves it, it keeps these sense faculties

and mental impressions at all times with itself. In fact, the 'subtle-body'

includes all these faculties.

 

At death, the 'subtle-body' permanently departs from the 'gross-body' which is

left inert. The dead-body, though found to maintain the shape of the very

individual, has no more any sense faculty or mental ability or intellectual

capacity, that it had expressed before. These expressions, physical, mental and

intellectual, were those which gave the body an individual personality-stature.

All these constitute the " subtle-body " , and the " gross-body, " bereft of its

subtle essence, is called the dead-body.

 

At the time of death, the 'subtle-body,' as it is described here, moves off

gathering unto itself all faculties, " EVEN AS THE WIND TAKES SCENTS FROM THEIR

RESTING PLACES " , a passing breeze is not at any time separate from atmospheric

air that is everywhere, and yet, when the breeze passes over a flower, or some

sandal-paste, or a scent-bottle --- which are all seats of fragrance --- it

carries with it the respective aroma. Similarly, the subtle-body, when it moves

out, carries along with it the senses, mind and intellect, not in any

gross-form, but as a mere " fragrance " of what all they had lived through, felt

in, and thought of. Thus viewed, the mind is nothing but a bundle of vasanas.

These vasanas can exist only in the Infinite Consciousness, and the Light of

Awareness illumining the vasanas is called the 'individual personality' ---

Jiva.

 

In this stanza the Jiva is called the Lord (Ishwara) only because the

'individual personality' is the Lord of the body, that orders, commands, and

regulates all its actions, feelings and thoughts. Just as an officer, on

receiving his transfer orders from the Government, packs up his belongings and

moves out of his residence for the time being, and having reached the new seat

of appointment unpacks and spreads out his furniture for his comforts, so too,

at the time of departing from the body, the subtle-body gathers itself from the

gross 'dwelling place,' and on reaching the new physical structure, it spreads

itself out again to use its faculties through that new " house-of-experience. "

These stanzas are really a summary of the Upanishadic declarations.

 

THIS SUBTLE-BODY, DESCRIBED IN THE PREVIOUS STANZAS ROUGHLY AS " THE FIVE SENSES

AND THE MIND AS THE SIXTH, " IS BEING EXPLAINED FURTHER IN THE FOLLOWING STANZAS:

 

Shrotram chakshuh sparshanam cha rasanam ghraanameva cha;

Adhishthaaya manashchaayam vishayaanupasevate.

9. Presiding over the ear, the eye, touch, taste and smell, as well as the mind,

he enjoys the objects of the senses.

 

Sankara Bhashya

(Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

Which, again, are those (organs)?

 

9. This one enjoys the objects by presiding over the ear, eyes, skin and tongue

as also the nose and the mind.

 

Seated in the body, it upasevate, enjoys; visayan, the objects-sound etc.;

adhisthaya, by presiding over; srotram, the ear; caksuh, eyes; sparsanam, skin,

the organ of touch; rasanam, tongue; eva ca, as also; the ghranam, nose; and

manah, the mind, the sixth-(presiding over) each one of them along with its

(corresponding) organ.

 

Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

9. Presiding over the ear, the eye, the touch, the taste and the smell, so also

the mind, He enjoys the sense-objects.

 

The Jiva through the equipment of the mind, enjoys the world-of-objects

available in the new environment, through the sense-organs of hearing, seeing,

touching, tasting, and smelling, which are expressed through their respective

organs of the ear, the eye, the skin, the tongue, and the nose.

 

The pure Light of Consciousness never illumines any object, because in the Pure

Light of the Infinite, there are no objects at all to illumine. It is only the

Light of Consciousness reflected in the mind-intellect that becomes the special

beam of light, the intelligence, in which alone the sense-objects become

illumined. That is why, very often, when we are thinking intensively on some

problem, even if some of our friends come in front of us and talk to us, we

neither see, nor hear them. The image of the object has already fallen on the

retina of the eye, and the sound of the speaker has made the necessary

vibrations on the tympanum of the ears, and yet, we see or hear nothing, because

the conscious mind is turned elsewhere. Therefore, using the mind along with

each sense separately, the individualised ego (Jiva) the

dweller-in-the-body-enjoys the sense-objects such as sound, form, touch, etc.

 

IF THE CONSCIOUSNESS WHICH IS ETERNAL AND PERFECT IS SO INTIMATELY PRESENT IN

EVERY EXPERIENCE OF MAN, HOW IS IT THAT WE, WHO ARE LIVING THROUGH VIVID AND

REAL EXPERIENCES AT EVERY MOMENT OF OUR EXISTENCE, FAIL TO RECOGNISE THIS DIVINE

PERFECTION, WHICH IS SO CONSTANTLY WITH US AT ALL TIMES AND EVERYWHERE? THE SELF

IS VISIBLE ONLY TO THE EYE-OF-KNOWLEDGE.

 

to be continued...

 

 

Hare Krishna!!!