Gita Satsangh Chapter 15 Verses 10 & 11

[Guest guest]

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 10 & 11

 

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

 

Utkraamantam sthitam vaapi bhunjaanam vaa gunaanvitam;

Vimoodhaa naanupashyanti pashyanti jnaanachakshushah.

10. The deluded do not see Him who departs, stays and enjoys; but they who

possess the eye of knowledge behold Him.

 

 

Sankara Bhashya

(Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

10. Persons who are diversely deluded do not see it even when it is leaving or

residing (in this body), or experiencing, or in association with the qualities.

Those with the eye of knowledge see.

 

Thus, the embodied soul, utkarmantam, when it is leaving the body-the body that

was assumed earlier; or sthitam, while residing in the (present) body; or

bhunjanam, experiencing sound etc.; or guna-anvitam, in association with, i.e.

identified with, the qualities called happiness, sorrow and delusion-even when,

under such conditions, this one comes very much within the range of cognition;

vimudhah, the persons who are diversely deluded as a result of their hearts

being forcibly attracted by the enjoyments of seen and unseen objects; na, do

not; anu-pasyanti, see. And the Lord regrets this saying, 'Alas! How sorrowful

this is!'

 

Those others, again, jnana-caksusah, who have the eye of knowledge,

[Jnana-caksuh means the scriptures supported by reasoning, which are the means

of knowledge.] who have the insight of under-standing which has arisen from the

valid means of knowledge, i.e., those having a clear vision; pasyanti, see this

one.

 

 

Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

 

10. Him, who departs, stays and enjoys, who is united with GUNAS, the deluded do

not see; but they do behold Him, who posses the " eye-of-Knowledge. "

 

It is true everywhere that a common man, though observing an object does not

fully and correctly understand it. The better understanding of things is always

reserved for the man of knowledge. Everybody can read a great piece of

literature, but a man of letters alone can come to comprehend and enjoy fully

the vision expressed in and through the artistic design of the piece. Only a

jeweller can really estimate the quality and worth of a jewel, even though all

can look at it. Everyone can hear music, but only a musician can judge and

experience the subtle beauties in a masterly recital.

 

Similarly, every one of us, so long as life resides in us, can perceive, feel

and think, and yet, it is only the " wise " man who can come to recognise and live

the Infinite Essence of Life Itself.

 

The Infinite Self is at all times present and never is there a time when It is

not. When LEAVING the body, the subtle-body is vitalised by the presence of the

Spirit. While the body is EXISTING, the Self is illuminating all experiences.

While ENJOYING the pleasures of life, it is the Light of Consciousness that

illumines for us all our mental experiences and our intellectual judgements. At

moments, our entire mental climate changes from peaceful calmness (Sattwa) to

riotous agitations (Rajas), or sinks into a dull inertia (Tamas), and all these

moments, whatever be the nature of the climate within, are experienced only by

the Light of Consciousness. And yet the unintelligent one perceives not this

Conscious Knowledge that is constantly making him aware of his moment-to-moment

experiences.

 

An average man is so much preoccupied with the details of experiences that, he,

clinging to his desires for enjoying the outer beauty of things and situations,

comes to overlook and fails to recognise the steady Light of Consciousness in

him, in the presence of which alone can any experience be ever possible. Those

who have got the necessary detachment from the minor details of the outer

field-of-experience alone come to recognise and live the joys of the Pure Self

--- the Subject.

 

This special vision available to the man-of-Perfection is called the

'EYE-OF-WISDOM' in the stanza. This is not any special inner organ as such; it

only represents an extra faculty that develops in the spiritual seeker, with

which he comes to perceive the deeper significances and subtler suggestions in

the superficially chaotic play of plurality. Those who do not have this

intuitive perception necessarily fail to have this vision of the play of the

Immortal Divine in and through the day-to-day activities and happenings. The

same idea is more artistically stressed by Sri Shankara elsewhere. This

'EYE-OF-KNOWLEDGE' cannot be developed unless the disciplines of Self-perfection

are properly practised. The subjective technique of self-integration (Yoga) can

be successfully brought about only when complete integration of personality at

the outer levels has taken place.

 

A FEW ONLY ULTIMATELY COME TO EXPERIENCE THIS SELF, WHILE OTHERS, EVEN THOUGH

STRIVING, FAIL TO HAVE THIS REALISATION. WHY?

 

Yatanto yoginashchainam pashyantyaatmanyavasthitam;

Yatanto'pyakritaatmaano nainam pashyantyachetasah.

11. The Yogis striving (for perfection) behold Him dwelling in the Self; but,

the unrefined and unintelligent, even though striving, see Him not.

 

Sankara Bhashya

(Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

11. And the yogis who are diligent see this one as existing in themselves. The

non-discriminating ones who lack self-control do not see this one-though (they

be) diligent.

 

And some, however, yoginah, the yogis of concentrated minds; yatantah, who are

diligent; pasyanti, see; evam, this one, the Self under discussion; as

avasthitam, existing; atmani, in themselves, in their own intelligence. They

realize, 'I am This.'

 

Acetasah, the non-discriminating ones; akrta-atmanah, who lack self-control, who

have not purified themselves through austerity and control of the organs, who

have not desisted from bad conduct, who are not tranquil and are proud by

nature; na, do not; pasyanti, see; enam, this one; api, though; (they be)

yatantah, diligent-even though they be striving with the help of the valid means

of knowledge such as the scriptures.

 

With a view to speaking of the all-pervasiveness of the State and the fact of

Its being the substratum of all empirical dealings, the Lord speaks in brief

through the following four verses of the divine manifestations of that State

which the light of fire, sun, etc. do not illumine though they are the

illuminators of everything; and reaching which the aspirants of Liberation do

not return again towards mundane existence; and of which State the individual

souls, owing to their conformity with the diversity of limiting adjuncts, are

parts, just as spaces enclosed in pot etc. are 'parts' of Space:

 

Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

 

11. The seekers striving (for Perfection) behold Him dwelling in the Self; but,

the unrefined and unintelligent, even though striving, see Him not.

 

Those who are successful in their attempts at stilling their mind and cleaning

their intellect of its disturbing attachments and desires, come to recognise the

glory of the Self and experience Its Infinite Beatitude. But it is also true

that all those who mechanically put in plenty of self-effort (Yoga) do not

necessarily succeed. Hundreds are those who complain that though they were

regular in their spiritual programme for years, no appreciable amount of

self-development has come to them. One may wonder why this should be so.

 

This moot point is being answered here very logically. " THOUGH STRIVING, THOSE

OF UNREFINED MIND AND DEVOID OF WISDOM, PERCEIVE HIM NOT. " Two conditions are

unavoidable if meditation is to ultimately yield its promised result: (a) The

purification of the mind is generally defined as removal of agitations

(Vikshepa) created by one's false ego-centric attachment to sense-objects; (b)

Also, the intellect is to be tuned up properly to a correct understanding of the

nature of the Self, and thus all doubts of the misty mind (Avarana) that veil

its right perception are also to be removed through study, reflection and

practice. If these two adjustments are not properly accomplished, through

practice of devotion (Bhakti-Yoga) and service (Karma-Yoga), all attempts at

meditation in the " Path-of-Knowledge " can only end in failure.

 

In short, the stanza emphasises that those whose minds have not been properly

regenerated through practice of self-control of the senses, and who have not

renounced and abandoned their evil ways of looking at things from limited

ego-centric standpoint, whose pride has not yet been subdued --- such seekers,

however sincerely and ardently they may meditate, have little or no chance of

unfolding themselves into their diviner possibilities; THEY BEHOLD HIM NOT.

Though the Self is the nearest, and therefore, most easily perceivable, yet, all

do not see Him, because of their complete slavery to the enchantments of the

sense-objects.

 

So far the Self has been indicated as: (1) That, which cannot be illumined by

the known phenomenal sources of light, such as the Sun, the Moon and the Fire;

(2) That having reached which, none returns from that State of Perfection; (3)

That, of which the individual entities (Jivas) are as though only a part.

 

Hereafter, in the following four stanzas the Immanence of the Lord --- (a) as

the All-illumining Light of Consciousness, (b) as the All-sustaining Life, ©

as the subjective warmth of Life, in all living organisms, and (d) as the Self

in all the hearts --- is being described.

 

TO SHOW THIS VERY GOAL AS THE ESSENCE OF ALL AND THE REALITY BEHIND ALL THESE

EXPERIENCES, KRISHNA PROCEEDS TO GIVE A SHORT SUMMARY OF THE LORD'S IMMANENCE,

IN THE FOLLOWING FOUR VERSES:

 

to be continued...

 

 

 

 

 

Hare Krishna!!!