Panchajanyam hrsheekesah-chapter2 -Who is the real I

[Guest guest]

 Naasatho vidhyathe bhaavo naa bhaavo vidhyathe sathah, says Krishna.

What exists can never cease to exist and what does not exist can

never come into existence. This sounds like high philosophy but this

can be applied to our everyday life. Most of our  problems arise

because we imagine something to be real when it is not. We identify

ourselves with our body ,mind ,and intellect while the real `I' is

different from all these.

 

This can be verified through a simple exercise by trying to answer

the question Who am I ? The obvious answer would be ` I .am so and

so.' But that is only your name. You may say that I am father of so

and so or husband of so and so. But it is only your relationship.

Even when you say I am a professor or I am an intellectual, it only

denotes your professional and intellectual status. So, who are you in

reality ? We commonly speak about our body as when we say " My body

aches all over. " This proves that you are not your body. Similarly

when we use expressions like " My mind is upset " or " My intellect has

failed to grasp this " it is obvious that we are separate from our

mind and intellect.

 

 That the real self must be something different from our

body, mind, and intellect  we are able to perceive with no difficulty

at all .But there is another `I' which  we have to reckon with , and

that is our ego, which is the consciousness that I am.  Even this is

absent when we are in deep sleep because we are not aware of

ourselves then. But there is some entity who is aware of our

existence even at that stage which makes us say that we had a

sound sleep. This is the real `I' which is even different from our

ego .This is what Krishna calls avinaasi or sariri. Except that ,

everything else can be termed as transitory or antavantah.

 

 All our experiences, joy and sorrow, heat and cold etc are also

transitory ,which have to be endured. There is no stoicism involved

in this as we cannot fail to see that all our problems or

difficulties pass after some time whether we face them boldly or

cringe away in fear. That is what Krishna means when He says  that

all experiences are due to the contact of the senses with the sense

objects and they are fleeting and transitory aagamapayino anityaah

and advises Arjuna to bear with them patiently .They have nothing to

do with the real ' I 'which is the pure self, different from body

mind and intellect.

The real self is  thus shown to be different from body,

mind and intellect.  Krishna tells Arjuna that it is impossible for

him to kill anyone. Bhishma and Drona have existence beyond their

bodies which are only outer covering and when one dies he only sheds

off this body to acquire another as we discard our old clothes to put

on new ones.

  This sounds alright if death occurs at old age when the

body has become jeerna or old. But how can this analogy of discarding

old clothes and putting on new ones be applied when death occurs at

young age or childhood when the body cannot be termed as old? Jeerna

here means that it had served its purpose. A body is acquired for the

purpose of exhausting a particular karma and when the result of that

karma has been experienced, that body has served its purpose and

becomes jeerna. The residue of karma cannot be exhausted in that body

and hence it is shed to acquire a different one suited for the

purpose. So death is not something to be feared or grieved about at

any age

*

Now what is the nature of the real `I' ? Najaayate

mriyate vaa  kadhachit naayam bhootva bhavita va

na  bhooyaha .  Never is it born or dies nor does it have `being'

after it is born. Its nature is indicated as ajah, nityah, saswatah,

puranah . It is unborn ,eternal ,everlasting and ancient and is not

destroyed when he body is killed. When it could simply be termed as

permanent or eternal why does Krishna employs so many epithets? In

Sanskrit literature not a single word is tautologous but carries

different implications A thing may be unborn but it may have an end.

A classical example given for this in Vedanta is that of prior non-

existence or praagabhaava.

 

Before something ,say, a pot, is created, there was its non-existence

which is known as its praagabhaava. This can be termed as unborn as

it has no beginning. But it has an end when the pot comes into

existence .So it is not eternal or everlasting An example of

something which has a beginning but no end is what is known as

posterior non-existence or dwamsa. When the pot is destroyed it is

its dwamsa or destruction which has a beginning but no end. So it

is said to be born but deathless. .Nityah is eternal while saaswata

means without decay. The self which is the real `I' remains always as

it is .But it is also puraana ancient.

 

Hence the self or Atman cannot be destroyed by natural elements like

water fire etc., nor by destructive weapons sastra because it is

nithya and sarvagatah all pervading. Krishna uses two more

adjectives ,namely,sthaanu and achala ,steady and immovable. Again we

see that the words sthaanu and achala are not synonymous as the word

sthaanu denotes something stable like a tree which , however, may be

moving or chala. So the adjective achala is used to denote immobility

which is obvious of something that is all pervading as it has nowhere

it can move to.

 

Something that is eternal, immobile is commonly

understood to be a perceivable entity. But this is denied of the self

by saying that it is avyakta unmanifest .It is not something that

can be experienced through the senses. Perhaps that it could be

intellectually understood is also dismissed by the expression

achintyoayam  unthinkable or beyond the comprehension of the

intellect " . Therefore , " Krishna tells Arjuna , " You should not

grieve. "

Bhagavatgita is like milk which is easily digestible for

infants while Upanishads are like food for adults which is not so

easy to digest , which is why the former is called Dugdham gitamritam

mahat .Highest  vedanta is administered in easy doses by mixing it

with brutal commonsense.

 

For instance , after describing the nature of atman now Krishna comes

down to the mundane affairs and says " Even if you do not understand

the nature of the self and still think that people die when their

bodies are destroyed even then you should not grieve because

jaathasya hi dhruvo mrityuhu dhruvam janma mritasyacha. Death is

certain for those who are born and birth is certain for those who

die .What we understand as life is therefore a very small section of

the whole existence of which both the beginning and the end are not

perceived  except the middle , which we understand as the life of an

individual. So, says Krishna tatra kaa paridevana " Why lament about

it?

In accordance with the trend of the Gita , Krishna again

ascends the pinnacle of wisdom and says-Aascharyavat pasyati

kaschidenam aascharyavat vadati thathaiva chaanyaha ;

aascharyavatchainam anyahsrunoti srutvaapyenam veda nachaiva kaschit

Krishna explains that the self in incomprehensible.

 

Some see it as something of a wonder some speak of it as a wonder,

others hear about it as something wonderful, but even after hearing

about it no one understands. The rare ones who have experienced Atman

or Brahman view it as a great wonder in the sense that it is

something beyond perception, being  beyond the comprehension of the

sense organs. Among those, only few are able to tell others about

it , and when they do they refer to it as something wonderful

because it exceeds verbal description. Those who listen about it are

also wonderstruck on hearing about it and it is still more difficult

to find one who understands this as it really is.

 

Perhaps thinking that Arjuna may find all this perplexing , Krishna

lapses back to the worldly expression by reminding him that, being a

kshatriya, it is his duty to fight a righteous war as only a

fortunate few get this sort of an unsolicited opportunity. Krishna

further adds that if Arjuna turns away from such a duty not only he

will incur sin but also earn infamy, which is worse than death for a

hero like him The Mahaarathas like Bhishma will despise him while his

enemies like Duryodhana will ridicule him.

 

It will be interesting to note that both the wise and the wicked

have no doubts about what they want to do. Only the average man who

is averse to wickedness but lacks the courage to do good is

perpetually in doubt! Arjuna represents an average human being , that

is , people like us! So what Krishna tells next applies to all of us

whenever we are in a dilemma, to do or not to do anything.

 

He says , Sukhaduhkhe same kritva  laabhalaabhau jayaajayau tatho

yudhdhaaya yudhyasva, hinting at karmayoga which He is going to

elaborate in the subsequent chapter .Karmayoga is termed as selfless

action .This  path is praised by Krishna as being without pitfalls by

saying nehaabhikramanasoasthi pratyavaayo na vidyate because even a

little of karmayoga practised diligently produces result in the

form of freedom from the perils of samsara.

 

The essential condition for practising karmayoga is an

intellect directed towards one ideal with determination. Otherwise

thoughts run in all directions dragged by desires towards innumerable

goals. Such people even if they are well versed in Vedas look upon

the scriptural texts only as the gateway to heaven or to a better

life on this earth and exhaust their intellectual skills in flowery

speeches to prove their ends. That is why Krishna calls the Vedas as

being  traigunyavishayaaha and asks Arjuna to transcend the three

gunas because they are of as much use to one with  enlightenment

as a small reservoir of water , when the whole area is flooded

 

This can be construed in two ways .To an enlightened one the

karmakanda of the veda which is the ritualistic portion that

secures enjoyment in this world and the next is like water in the

well when the whole area is flooded. But if we take veda to mean the

entire scripture including wisdom of Upanishads it may be

interpreted thus: Even when the entire land is flooded the well can

contain only as much water as it can hold .So too one can comprehend

only as much as his intellect can grasp, which fact has been proved

by the controversies in interpreting the vedantic passages. This may

very well be the meaning of the term vedavaadharathaah.

 

Karmayoga or selfless action is now explained by Krishna

who says karmanyevaadhikarasthe maapaleshu kadachana , maakarma

palaheturbhooh maate sangoasthu akarmani " You have right over action

only and not the fruit of action. Your action should not be

motivated by desire for fruit ,nor should you be attached to

inaction. " Swami Vivekananda said `work for work's sake duty for

duty's sake' meaning that one should do work for its own sake and not

out of desire to get the result

 

..But the question is ,Will anyone do anything unless he wants the

result? Certainly not! There is nothing wrong in starting a work with

a specific result in mind but Karmayoga  consists in not getting

attached to the result. This is not as pessimistic as it seems to be

but sheer common sense. When we begin a work we cannot help fixing a

goal to achieve as otherwise we would not have started at all. But

once started we should concentrate on the action only without

worrying about the result constantly as the anxiety will reduce our

efficiency .On the other hand , if we put our heart and soul into the

work we are doing, the result will automatically follow, and even if

it does not, due to some factor on which we have no control, we will

not feel frustrated as we have already had the satisfaction from the

work itself .

 

This is what Swami Vivekananda meant by `work for work's sake.' To

give up the attachment to the fruit of action is Karmayoga as advised

in the Gita .It applies not only to the mumukshu,. one who aims for

realization but also to the man of the world ,wherein lies the value

of Gita The work which is assigned to you in this birth in accordance

with your karma is your duty that has to be discharged.

 

This is what Krishna means when He says Maa te sango astu

akarmani, " You should not give up work altogether. " This provides

the answer to the question " If I should give up the result why

should I act in the first place?

 

Then comes the question , " How should I act in order to follow the

path of Karmayoga? " Pat comes the answer Yogasthah kuru karmaani

sangam tyaktwaa. Sangam,  attachment towards the fruit of action

brings the attitude of samatwa in which one becomes neutral towards

success as well as failure, siddhi and asiddhi. So Krishna asks

Arjuna to have equipoise of mind. Skill in action lies in the

practice of Karmayoga Yogahkarmasu kausalam  endowed with which the

wise get free from shackles of birth and attain

immortality `Janmabhandhavinirmuktah padam gachchantyanaamayam.

 

When the mind gets free from delusion which is the cause of joy and

sorrow by wrong identification of oneself with the body there is no

more confusion of conflicting thoughts and the intellect comes to

rest, steady, and with no distractions, in the absolute reality and

one attains Samaadhi realization. Krishna has thus skillfully

maneuvred the conversation to a point in order to make Arjuna ask the

question Sthithaprajnasya kaa bhaasha. Then He starts the

description of the man of realization.