Chapter XIII

\

ADHYAAY XIII

KSHETRA KSHETRAGNYA VIBHAG YOGAM

Introduction

This chapter discusses the nature of relation between the Aatman and the body and Purusha and Prakriti.  The next few chapters discuss the Prakriti and the three Gunas in Prakriti.  Moksha or liberation from the bindings of Prakriti is discussed in the final eighteenth chapter.  Shri Krishna announces an easy way to Moksha in the 66^th shlokam of the 18^th chapter, the last words He spoke in The Gita.  This shlokam may be termed as the Crown of the Gita.

The root word for Kshetra is destruction or change.  The body of lives is known by the word Kshetra.  The word is also used to denote field.  The seed is sown in the field.  That grows as crop and is then harvested.  Likewise, the Jeeva regards the body as its own and sows seeds of Karma in that.  It has to take the rsultant harvest.  The Jeeva gets caught in the cycle of death and birth.  Like the cycle of seed-crop-seed, so is the cycle Karma-karmaphala or fruits of karma-Karma again and to do Karma and to experience its fruits, the jeeva has to take birth again and again.  Hence the body, a cause of Karma (seed) and fruits of Krma (crop) is called the Kshetra (field).

Kshetragya is the one who knows Kshetra.  So long as one is bound with the body, it can not be known.  It can be known only by detaching and being away from the body.  Knowing that Kshetra and Kshetragya as different from each other;  that the Kshetra is lighted up by the Kshetragya;  that Gunas and Karmas are of the Kshetra;  that the Kshetragya is beyond Gunas and Karmas;  snapping the attachment with Gunas and Karmas thereby snapping the bondage of Kshetra or Prakriti and linking with the Paramaatman and attaining Moksha;  these are the subjects dealt in detail in this chapter.

The book is like a crutch.  Legs are essential for walking.  Walking only with the crutches, without legs is impossible.  Crutches may support the legs, to some extent, in walking.  That is all.  Similarly, Self-experience is must for Understanding.  Books may help understanding the self-experience.  Great truths can be grasped, realized without books, solely on basis of self-experience.  But, nothing can be understood without self-experience, solely with the help of books.  The book helps, to some extent, in understanding the self-experience.  That is all.  (Understanding is not mere intellectual exercise.  Realization and putting into practise is understanding.  That which has reached the brain but has not come into practice is nothing more than an on-paper plate of food, not useful to satiate hunger.)  Shall we enter the chapter?...

-\-

श्री भगवानुवाच -

इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रं इत्यभिधीयते |

एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः ||१||

Shree Bhagawaan said:  Oh Son of Kunti!  This body is called Kshetra, and he who knows it is called Kshetragnya by those who know of them (Kshetra and Kshetragnya).

(XIII - 1)

The pair Deha and Dehina, mentioned in the second chapter is called Kshetra and Kshetragya here.  This chapter is an elaboration of these two words.

Idam is a crucial word.  Idam is ‘it’.  It denotes the inert.  That which can be pointed out is ‘it’.  If there is an object which could be pointed out, which could be shown, there has to be one, different from ‘it’, who can see that.  We call the other lives as ‘that bird’, ‘this dog’, ‘this tree’, etc.  But, we call the body ‘me’.  This is ‘me’, we say pointing at the body.  The truth is that the body also is ‘it’.  The word shareeram itself means that which gets destroyed every moment (shru himsaayaam).  We hold two types of shareera, sthoola shareera and sookshma shareera (the gross and subtle bodies).  The body that we see is constituted of the five basic elements, the earth, water, fire, air and space.  This is also called ‘Annamaya Kosham’ or the bag made of food.  This is under constant destruction.  Hence this is ‘it’.

Manomaya Kosham, Pranamaya Kosham and Vigyaanamaya Kosham are the subtle bodies.  (Manas, Prana and Buddhi).  These too are subject to change and destruction.  Hence, these too are ‘Idam’.  (Kosham is a bag or sheath).

Kshetra is that which changes every moment.  Kshetra also means an agricultural field.  Just as seeds are sown in the field and crop harvested, the body is regarded as ‘me-mine’ and seeds of Karma sown by the Jeeva.  Just as a crop is harvested according to the seed sown, the jeeva takes another body to harvest the fruits of Karma.  The body is called Kshetra (field) as it traps the Jeeva in birth-death and birth again, a cycle similar to the cycle of ‘seed-crop and seed again’.

The Aatman gets trapped as it forgets that this body is ‘idam’ and regards it instead as ‘Aham’.  One who knows the Kshetra this way is Kshatragya.  That which is ‘Visible’, ‘percievable’, the ‘it’ is Kshetra.  One who sees it is Kshetragya.

-\-

क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत |

क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तत्ज्ञानं मतं मम ||२||

Oh descendant of Bharatha!  You also know Me to be the Kshetragnya in all Kshtras.  The knowledge of Kshetra and Kshetragnya is considered by Me to be the knowledge.

(XIII - 2)

‘Matham Mama’ or this is My opinion’, says Shri Krishna.  “Knowledge about Kshetra and Kshetragya is real knowledge.  This is My opinion”.  This has always been a unique nature of Shri Krishna.  He is qualified to declare a categorical statement.  Yet, He says ‘this is My opinion’.  Towards the end of the Gita, He says, “I have revealed the most secretive knowledge to you, as you are My beloved.  Now, you may do as you wish”.

“The Kshetragya staying in the bodies of all lives in creation is Me”, says Shri Krishna.  All the bodies, the Kshetras are part of Nature or Prakriti.  The Kshetragya, who knows this as such is quintessence of the Paramaatman.  There are three aspects to ‘knowing’; the knower, that which is known and the instrument assisting in knowing.  The world and the objects therein are known by eyes, ears and other senses.  The senses are known by the manas.  Manas is known by Buddhi.  The buddhi is known by Aham.  Aham is extremely subtle.  The Light which knows Aham is Kshetragya.  Shri Krishna says, ‘Know that the Kshetragya in all the lives is Me’.

“You regard yourself as the body.  You regard the body is yours.  However, regard yourself as Me.  Regard Me as yours”.  By regarding as body, you regard yourself as different from Me.  You are My quintessence.  By regarding the body as yours, you regard the body as different from the Prakriti which also is wrong.  The body is part of nature or the Prakriti”, says Shri Krishna.

There are many areas of knowledge.  Languages, arts, mulititudes of talents, various branches of science are some.  None of these helps in realizing the truth.  Only that is Knowledge, which helps in realization that ‘I am a drop of Paramaatman, not the body’.

-\-

तत्क्षेत्रं यच्च यादृक् च यद्विकारि यतश्च यत् |

स च यो यत्प्रभावश्च तत्समासेन मे शृणु ||३||

What the Kshetra is, what its properties are, what are its modifications, what effects arise from what causes, and also, who He is and what His powers are, hear that from Me in brief.

(XIII - 3)

‘Tat Kshetram or That Kshetram’, He says.  ‘That’ may mean the Kshetram that was mentioned in the first shlokam.  ‘That’ may have been used to emaphasise that Kshetram is different from, separate from you.  That which was indicated by the word Idam in the first shlokam, is being referred to as ‘Tat’ here.  ‘Listen to detailed explanation of Kshetra and Kshetragya’, says He.  The constitution of Kshetra (5^th and 6^th shlokam), its creation, destruction and attributes (6^th, 19^th and 26^th shlokam) are explained.  ‘Sah’ (He) in the second line denotes the Kshetrgya’.  The Kshetram is indicated by the word ‘Tat’ to express its inertness and the Kshetragya is indicated by the word ‘Sah’ (He).  The Kshetragya is discussed in the 20^th, 22^nd, 31^st, 32^nd and 33^rd shlokams.

All our Dharmik texts discuss Prakriti, Jeevatma and Paramaatman.  The mutual relationship between these three is discussed in this chapter.

The Gita is a conversation.  In any conversation, the listener has to keep his ears open and be alert.  The eagerness to listen has to be alive.  We start a story with the words, ‘Let me tell you an interesting war story’ or ‘I’ll tell you a thrilling anecdote from the life of Chatrapati Shivaji’.  This is an effort to arouse interest in the listener.  Shri Krishna is doing the same.

-\-

ऋषिभिर्बहुधा गीतं छन्दोभिर्विविधै: पृथक् |

ब्रह्म सूत्रपदैश्चैव हेतुमद्भिर्विनिश्चितै: ||४||

(This truth) has been sung by Rshis in many ways, in various distinctive chants, in passages indicative of Brahman, full of reasoning, and convincing.

(XIII - 4)

Descriptions of Kshetra and Kshetragya by Rshis, are found in detail in Shastras, Puranas and Smritis.  Other terms like Sat – Asat, Nitya – Anitya, Shareeram – Shareeri, Deham – Dehee, Jada – Chetana, have been used for Kshetra – Kshetragya in these texts.  This idea has been spoken in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra.  “Nothing I say is born out of my own thinking.  All these have been discussed in an elaborate way in various other texts by many others”.  Just compare this with the prevalent state of affairs.  One teaches particular method of Pranayama all over the world and has built a huge corporate establishment.  He claims to have discovered that and registered patent in his name.  If anyone in the world dares to breathe in the way he suggests, he will have to pay a fees for the same.  How much of his earnings is he going to pay to Patanjali Rshi?  There is one more who loves to call self as Maharshi and he uses all the Upanishadik ideas and stories, but claims to have discovered a scientific spiritualism.  He and his disciples also fondly carried a hope to be awarded with Nobel Prize for the same.  Many of the present day management Gurus invariable hand out the ideas of the Gita and the storie of the Puranas in their motivational programmes and earn big name and huge amounts of money.  None of these acknowledge that the Vedas and the Gita are the source for their lecture material.  Their falsehood is not exposed merely because none in the audience has read the originals.

We humans have a weakness of leaving the idea being spoken and hold on to the speaker, either in esteem or in scorn.  Shri Krishna wants to save Arjuna from getting trapped in this.  Hence, He insists that this Idea is not My original one and has been repeated again and again in the Vedas, Puranas, Shastras and Smritis.

-\-

महाभूतान्यहङ्कारो बुद्धिरव्यक्तमेव च |

इन्द्रियाणि दशैकं च पञ्च चेन्द्रिय गोचरा ||५||

इच्छा द्वेष सुख्ं दुखं सङ्घातश्चेतना धृति |

एतत्क्षेत्रं समासेन सविकारमुदाहृतम्त ||६||

The great Elements, Egoism, Intellect, as also the Unmanifested (Moola Prakrithi), the ten senses, and the one (mind), and the five objects of senses;

desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate, intelligence, fortitude, - the Kshetra has thus been briefly described with its modifications.

(XIII – 5, 6)

Avyaktam here denotes the unmanifested Original Nature.  The Vedanti calls that Maya.  Brahma, when operating through the Maya is the creator or Ishwara.  The same when operating the bodies to satiate Vasana, is called Jeeva or Ahankara.

Buddhi, here denotes the cosmic Buddhi also known as Mahat. This is the faculty of discretion that ponders on good and bad, right and wrong.

Ahankara is the cosmic Ahankara.  The feeling, ‘I am’ expressed through the five basic elements is Ahankara.  The Prakriti, Buddhi and Ahankara are the powers of Ishwara.

Mahabhootas are five.  Prithvi (earth), Jala (water), Vayu (air), Agni (fire) and Akash (space) are the five basic elements in creation.  These are in every bit in creation.

Dasha Indriya or Ten sense organs. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and the skin are the five organs of knowledge and the hands, legs, throat, excretory and the genital organs are the five organs of action.  These are the organs for functioning of Prakriti.

Ekam.  Ekam denotes the manas.  Gochara are the objects, sound, sight, taste, smell and touch (Shabda, Roopa, Rasa, Gandha, and Sparsha) being chased by the senses and the manas.  The group of all these twenty four elements constitute the Kshetram.  Tat Kshetram (That Kshetram denotes the cosmic Kshetram, source of our individual bodies.)  Idam shareeram is this body, the individual body.  Our body is but part of TatKshetram, the cosmic Prakriti.

He is also presenting the order in creation.  Buddhi from Maya, Ahankara from Buddhi, the Pancha Maha Bhoota (Five basic elements) from Ahankara, the senses orgnas, manas and the objects from the Pancha Bhoota, that is the order of creation.

He discusses the defects arising as a result of the Kshetragya’s entanglement with the Kshetra.  Icchaa is desire.  Wanting an object, a person or a situation is desire.  At the back of almost all the sins in the world, is a desire.  Similarly, behind every moment of grief experienced by man stands a desire.  When the desire is curbed, anger on the person, object or the situation responsible for the curb, rises in the mind.  Anger leaves behind a subtle but lasting emotion in the mind.  That is called Dwesha.  The favourable impact on Manas, pleasant emotions arising in the Manas as a result of worldly experiences is Sukha.  The opposite ones, unfavourable impact or emotions disliked are Duhkha.  These four emotions are impermanent and oscillating.  The body, a product of combination of the twenty four aspects mentioned above, is Sangaatah.  The body is subject to continuous change and destruction.  The Prana Shakti or Life force in the body is Chetana.  It is continuously deminishing.  It is quiet and steady while the mind is in Sattvika mode and excited, rapid is Rajasik mode.  Thus, Chetana is also subject to change and destruction.  The Chetana is that capable of experiencing emotions and Jada, incapable.  This capacity being impermanent, makes Chetana changeable and destructible in this regard too.  Dhruti is the ability to be steadfast or determination.  This too changes depending on the state of mind, time and situation.  Mind which holds on to Dhairya in one moment is not so in another adverse moment.  The mind fixes on a good, elevating thought one moment, but switches on to a viscious thought at a later moment.

He explained the cosmic Kshetra in the fifth shlokam and in the 6^th shlokam, he dwells on the emotions arising in the individual human body.  He concludes with a statement that this, destructible and defective, is the Kshetram.  That is, the individual body and Cosmic Kshetra are one.  The body and the world are not different, but one.  The one who sees this Kshetragya.  The Kshetragya sees this and snaps his bondage with the world, the body and reaffirms his relationship with the Parmaatman.  The illusionary bond with ever-changing world is snapped and ever-existent bond witht the Eternal Paramaatman is strengthened.

-\-

अमानित्वां अदम्भित्वं अहिंसा क्षान्तिरार्जवम् |

आचार्योपासनं शौचं स्थैर्यमात्मविनिग्रह: ||७||

Humility, unpretentiousness, non-injury, forbearance, uprightness, service to the teacher, purity, steadfastness, self-control...

(XIII - 7)

In the next five shlokams (7^th to the 11^th), He is listing a few means, means to help us in snapping the bond we established with the body and the world.  These are Gyaana and anything else is Agyaana.  Let us see these one by one.

Amaanitvam:- Not regarding self as great, special is Amaanitvam.  The seeker, the traveller on the path of Adhyaatma tends to think of self as ‘I am respectable’, ‘I qualify for appreciation’.  Education (I know the Gita by heart);  position (I am the senior most in the Ashrama);  quality (I bathe in cold water the whole year, my tongue has never spoken a lie);  body (I can sit eight long hours in dhyana);  varna (I am Brahmin);  ashrama (I am a sanyaasi);  any such thing becomes a basis for him to consider self as special.  ‘Me being special or superior, naturally have a right to be appreciated and applauded’.  All these are considerations of one who is bound with the world, the inert.

Amaanitvam could be developed by looking for superior qualities and specialities in others and through proximity to great personalities.  Proximity with men of greater Gyaana, Tapas and Vairagya weeds out the defects in us.  It is a once-in-a-lifetime fortune to gain proximity to such great personalities.  Easier option is to try and look for a sprkling quality, a special capability in ordinary people around us.  There is no need for explicit appreciation.  Vision that sees specialities in others is more important.  They should be heartily respected for the special quality they possess.

All the Shankaracharyas, mathadhipatis of almost every sampraday and sanyaasis of renown participated in the inaugural conference of Vishva Hindu Prishad at Prayag in 1966.  It was a pleasant surprise for onlookers to see all of them seated on one dias and declaring in one voice that, ‘Untouchability is sin.  It is not sanctioned by texts.  It is so heinous that if it is not a sin, then there could be no sin in the world’.  The success of this conference of Sadhus and Sanyaasis was solely due to Amaanitvam of Shri Guruji Golvalkar.  Knowing the greatness of each sanyaasi, Shri Guruji heartily gave the respect and regard due to him and humbly made every possible arrangement for him.  Despite the fact that this huge conference was possible only due to the organized effort of thousands of volunteers of the organization headed by him, Shru Guruji was not seated on the dias.  He bowed down at the feet of every sanyaasi, held his hand and humbly led him to the dias.

Adambhitvam:- Dambha is to flaunt.  To pose as if to possess that which is not, to exaggerate is dambha.  To flaunt wealth through lavish spending is dambha, no doubt.  There are other types too.  One who carefully decorates his forehead with religious mark when going out to meet a religious personality flaunts his religiosity;  The boss, usually foul-mouthed while dealing with his employees, flaunts his ‘kindness and affectionate nature’ on the day when a sadhu visits his office;  The miser flaunts his generosity by handing over a ten-rupee note to the beggar when in company of friends;  The shabbily dressed tries to clean up himself and his room on knowing that the boss is visiting his house;  flaunting one’s simplicity and humility in front of sannyaasi;  getting up early and performing household duties on arrival of guests to flaunt his ‘brisk nature’;  flaunting one’s language ability;  wiping off the religious mark for fear of being heckled;  eating non-vegetarian food and consuming alchohol to gain appreciation of colleagues;  all these are Dambha.  Absence of dambha is Adambhitvam.

Only the ones who regard the world as real, the ones who give importance to the world and its opinions, the ones who are bonded to the world need to show off.  The one who is bonded to the Paramaatman is not concerned about the unreal certificate offered by the world.

Ahimsa:- Inflicting pain, grief or trouble through speech, action and thought is Himsa or violence.  Himsa could be inflicted by self or through someone else.  Direct or indirect support to violence is also violence.  When all these three are eliminated, then it is Ahimsa.

There may be three reasons for harming others, Krodha, Lobha and Moha.  Uprooting a plant because its thorn hurt you;  attacking a dog with stones, just because it frightened you by its sudden bark on a lonely and dark way;  rioting, arson, looting, and killing based on religious fanaticism, caste prejudices, class-ego, etc. are violence due to Krodha.  Agriculture based on poisonous insecticeds, chemical fertilizers;  stimulating more milk, eggs and flesh by the use of chemicals, boosters etc;  stealing, snatching, burglary, abduction, betrayal, corruption etc. are violence born out of greed or Lobha.  Violence caused to protect, nourish anything that is regarded as ‘my own’ (house, property, vehicle, children, etc.) due to infatuation is Moha-induced.

Those who inflict violence on others, avoid violence in places like temples, cremation ground.  They avoid violence on some specific persons like the Brahmin, cow, Sanyaasi women, etc. and on specific days like their own birthdays, death anniversary of their parents, religious festivals, etc.  There can not partial Ahimsa.  Avoiding all the above mentioned forms of violence is Ahimsa.  ‘Ahimsa Paramo Dharma’ or Ahimsa is the greatest virtue.  It is also lauded as Mahavrata or the greatest discipline.

Man’s bondage with the body as ‘me-mine’ is the chief reason for Himsa or violence.  Man does realize pain when an organ on his body is inflicted with injury.  As he regards self as different, he does not realize pain of others.  Hence, he does not hesitate to cause injuries to others.  The moment he is drawn to the Paramaatman and is able to see Him in all the lives, violence in him disappears and Ahimsa blossoms.

Kshanthi:- If not inflicting violence on lives is Ahimsa, heartly forgiving the harm they might inflictearing on us is Kshanthi.  The stronger and more gripping the bond with Kshetra, the more difficult it becomes to bear pain in body.  As Kshanthi develops, the ability to bear pain and readiness to forgive the one causing the pain increases, the faster bond with Kshetra loosens and disappears.

Others harm you without any reason and you have the power and ability to retaliate, yet if you can forgive him heartily, that is Kshanthi.  Not wishing him punishment, difficulties now or in future, here, elsewhere or in the next world too is Kshanthi.  While chewing, the teeth sometimes bite the tongue;  while working, the finger sometime pricks the eye;  What do we do?  Do we seek punishment to the teeth or the finger?  We know both are our own organs.  We stand apart from both, the harming and the harmed, i.e. we do not take sides.  Similarly, one should apply Viveka and regard everyone as our own, as extension of ‘me’.  Or, should hold on to the Paramaatman and regard ‘self’ as being beyond harm, injury and pain.  That is when Kshanthi blossoms in heart.

Aarjavam:- Absence of difference between the real and the visible or apparent.  Transperancy.  For the crooked, thought is one and speech another, suggestion is one and intention is different.  Aarjavam is straight thinking.  Simple mind.  (In fact, the very name Arjuna means one without comlexities).  Aarjavam is desired at all the three levels, body, mind and speech.  Bodily Aarjavam is ‘not wanting to make-up’, simplicity in clothes, non-rigid postures, etc.  Love and compassion without trace of conspiracy, wickedness, jealousy, hatred are indications of Aarjavam of mind.  Kind, affectionate, well-intentioned and simple words and absence of heckle, abuse, crudity and bitterness is aarjavam in speech.

When there is conscious effort to differentiate self from others, to regard as superior, action, speech and thought turn crooked.  Turning towards Him nourishes Aarjavam.

Acharyopasanam:- Service to the Teacher is Acharyopasanam.  The one who educates and shows the right path is Acharya.  Service to him, undoubtedly will benefit.  But, here ‘Acharya’ denotes the jeevan-mukta, the one who has realized the Paramatattva.  Falling flat at his feet and bowing to him;  honouring him;  fulfilling the righteous demands of his body; etc. are Acharya Upasanam.  These are all mere physical service.  Service to the physical is sufficient for the one still entangled in the physical world.  As the Acharya has transcended the physical plane, real Upasana to him is to cause transformation in own life, in tune with his Bhavana.  Mere ‘falling at feet’ will not do.  Kanchi Paramacharya asks us not consume coffee and wear silk.  His words do not fall in our ears yet we fall at his feet!

We do not like to receive anything from others.  We regard this as being below our dignity.  If it becomes inevitable, we try to repay it at the earliest and get rid of the debt.  We ask for direction.  Some one on the road helps us.  We say thanks and feel we have repayed.  The teacher who teaches us knowledge and skills to enable our successful life in this world can be paid back in coins and gold and the account closed.  But, all that we received from the Guru, the Acharya is not ‘repayable’.  That has transformed our vision and the life.  And he does not desire coins and gold.  Humility, surrender, total surrender, allowing his thought, his bhavana to ‘rule’ us is the only option available to us.

Shoucham:-  Purity.  Bodily as well as psychic purity.  We try to clean the body with the help of water and earth (soap).  The body itself is constituted of earth.  Hence, it is essentially impure.  Gradually, we realize the futility of our efforts to purify the body and the need to purify the Manas.  Our attachment with the body deminishes.  Earning money through ethical, pure ways as per the demands of Varna;  absence of falsehood and wickedness;  partiking of pure food; etc. nourish inner purity.

Sthairyam:- Stability.  Absence of oscillations.  Firmness that the Paramaatman is my ideal.  The one ascending the mountain has to grip firmly rooted rocks.  The rails have to be on firm ground for the train to forget bumps and run smoothly.  Gripping the stable can ensure stability.  Everything in this world is subject to change, instability and destruction.  Stability is impossible if one holds on to the worldly things.  The Feet of Paramaatman is the Only stable existance.  It is beyond changes and destruction.  The Manas attains Stability by holding on firmly to His Feet.

Aatma Vinigrahah:- The restrained manas.  The term Aatma is being used here to denote Manas.  The Manas functions through the senses.  The eye sees.  The ear hears.  The nose smells.  The essence of the objects of world enters the inner world through the senses.  As a result, thoughts arise in the Manas.  The waves of innumerable thoughts stay in the Manas as sankalpa (desire or contempt).  These torment the mind.  Rigorous and continuous practice detaches the manas from the worldly objects and the manas gradually is restrained.

-\-

इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यं अनहङ्कार एव च |

जन्म मृत्यु जरा व्याधि दु:ख दोषानुदर्शनम् ||८||

The renunciation of sense-objects, and also absence of egoism;  reflection on the evils of birth, death, old age, sickness and pain...

(XIII – 8)

Indriyartheshu Vairagyam: - Detachment of the senses; Senses losing all interests in their respective objects.  The senses will relate with the objects and attain worldly gains.  But, any attachment with the objects, desire for the objects, attraction towards the objects is absent.

The senses should attain Vairagya with the help of Viveka.  ‘The attraction for the worldly objects and pleasures is the prime reason for all the sins and crimes in the world’.  ‘How do we plunge in His charm if we remain fixed to the objects?’  ‘Knowing the Ultimate is impossible so long as we are turned towards the world’.  ‘Millions of kings and affluent, who did not leave any sensual enjoyment unexperienced, have come on this earth.  They also died and their bodies digested by the soil.  What is the great achievement of those who enjoy all the sensual experiences compared to those who never experienced, the poor who can not afford the objects, the sannyaasis who rejected these sensual experiences, etc.?’  Applying Viveka and introspecting on these lines should help in blossoming of Vairagya.

Anahankara: - Absence of ‘me’.  Ahankara rises its head even in childhood.  The ‘me’ seems to have disappeared in sleep.  But, the first thought arising on waking up is ‘me’, ‘I am’.  The ‘me’ attaches itself with the body and says ‘I am body’ and ‘I do’.  As years roll on, it attaches itself with name, caste, actions, thoughts, knowledge, objects, places and so many other aspects and gets trapped in the cycle of birth-death.  The ‘me’ travels far on the spiritual path.  It requires great effort to shirk it off.  It is the last to be eliminated.

The vanity born out of the attachment with body and other gross objects is first to be eliminated.  The attachment with actions is snapped and the vain-ego that ‘I do’ is eliminated.  The subtle ahankara that ‘I know’ is the next to go.  The last to go is the ‘I am’ or ‘I exist’ and then there is nothing else but Paramaatman.

Janma Mrutyu Jaraa Vyaadhi duhkha doshaanu darshana :-  ‘See these always and everywhere.  That is Gyaana’, says Shri Krishna.  What is to be seen?  Birth, death, old age and disease and the pain and defects in these are to be seen.

We search for the reasons for our grief in the outer world.  The other men, the environment, systems around us, objects, and such other things are designated to be the reasons for our unhappiness.  Shri Krishna wants us to turn our sight inward.  ‘The only reason for my unhappiness in me’.  Grief today is crop from the seed I sowed in the past’.  ‘My own actions in the past, immediate or long back, are The reasons for all the unhappiness I experience’.  The beauty is that unhappiness disappears as soon as the sight is turned from the external world to self.  The between self and the temple of Gyaana is instantly reduced.

Birth is woeful.  The experiences to be undergone before birth is painful.  Hanging upside down, submerged in foul-smelling fluid for nine long months, roasted in the heat of her body, pricked and bitten by lakhs of microbes in her body, subjecting her to pain beyond words, oh! It is true.  Birth is woeful.

‘Jaatasya hi dhruvo mrutyuh’ ‘anything that is born has to die’, He said (II - 27).  A new-born, will he be educated?  Will he eran money?  How much?  Will he be an entrepreneur?  Will he marry?  Will he beget children?  How many?  Will he be happy?  Nothing is certain.  The only certainty is that ‘he will die one day’.  Death is also woeful.  ‘Grief of separation from persons regarded as ‘my people and my beloveds’;  grief of leaving all the wealth earned with great difficulties the whole life, all the objects so passionately accumulated;  grief of having to leave behind the body pampered through out the life;  suffocating breath, tormenting pain, blabbering speech, misty and confused memory, Surely Death is woeful.

Jaraa or old age.  Is that less woeful?  Woe of fading away of youthfulness and its appendages, song, dance, play, speed, sex etc.;  tired and exhausted body, unable to enjoy worldly experiences because of failing senses inspite of an active and demanding mind;  unclear thoughts like the hill road in a foggy morning;  fear struck and unenthusiastic mind like the Sun hidden by clouds;  wobbling speech in sound similar to that of a motor with worn out rubber belt;  woe of having to rely on others for every petty need;  woe of being neglected as the others are all plunged in their own worlds and have no time for this old man;  oh!.. Jaraa or the old age also is miserable.

Vyadhi or disease, of course is woeful.  Fever and sickness for few days is miserable, but not Vyadhi.  Vyadhi is the chronic problem arising out of imbalance in Vaata, Pitta and Kapha.  The pain and sufferings in Vyadhi is kown to those who suffer.  Woe of disturbed and damaged body systems;  loss in appetite and sleep;  sufferings in the name of treatment;  woe of living the life on the bed for days, months and even years;  life does not stop nor does it allow to live;  Oh!  that is miserable.  Old age is woeful.

What is defect?  The relation we developed with the body and the Inert, the importance we attach to the inert, lifeless objects, our reliance on these objects for happiness, these are the defects.  Defects cause woes.  As the woes do not appear immediately after the defects develop, we do not realize the relation between these two.  We should see the defect, think about these, know these and shirk off vanity of body.

-\-

असक्तिरनभिष्वङ्ग: पुत्र दार गृहादिषु |

नित्यं च सम चित्तत्वं इष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु ||९||

Non-attachment, non-identification of self with son, wife, home, and the rest, and constant even-mindedness in the occurance of desirable and the undesirable...

(XIII - 9)

Asaktih: - Sakti is the taste or interest developed over objects, men, situations, happenings, etc.  Asakti is disinterest in all these.  Expectation of or desire for pleasure or favourable experience, pushes one to men or objects and binds him with them.  The bonds seems to be pleasurable.  The pleasure is transient and momentary.  This pleasure is cause for future pain (XVIII - 38).  Real happiness, Ultimate happiness is not in binding with the objects but in eliminating the desire to attach.  Asakti can be developed by keeping ever in mind the effects of bondage with objects and men.

Putra Daara Gruhaadishu Anabhishvangah: - Man gets infatuated and gets bound in the name of ‘my wife’, ‘my children’, ‘my house’, ‘my wealth’ etc.  Any occurance on them affects him both on physical and emotional plane.  A crack on the house wall and he says, ‘I am gone’;  Son dies and he wails that, ‘I am dead’.  Anabhishvanga is to be detached.  Do all the duties expected of you;  do everything in your power to make them comfortable.  But, do not expect any pleasure or favour or assistance from them.  Such an expectation binds.  There may be moments when you may have to receive service from them for their pleasure.  Do not allow that to stick to your mind.

Nityam cha sama chittatvam Ishta – Anishta upapattishu: - Not experiencing desire, happiness, pleasant feeling, or excitement when faced with events, men, objects, place and situation favoured and liked by mind;  Similarly, not experiencing pain, displeasure, contempt or demoralized feeling when faced with unfavourable happenings or men or objects or situations;  Stability and equilibrium of the mind;  Developing a conviction that these worldly things are for the service of the world, not self and binding with these is obstacle on the path towards the Paramaatman;  these are stepping stones towards attainment of equi- poise.

-\-

मयि चानन्य योगेन भक्तिरव्यभिचारिणी |

विविक्त देश सेवित्वं अरतिर्जनसंसदि ||१०||

Unswerving devotion to Me by the Yog of non-separation, resort to solitude, distaste for society of men...

(XIII - 10)

Avyabhicharini Bhaktih :- We find Shri Krishna using tough words on a few occassions in the Gita.  He has talked about ‘Ananya Bhakti’ (nothing or none else but Him) so many times.  Here, He mentions ‘Avyabhicharini Bhakti’.  ‘Vyabhichara’ is ‘not one but many’.  How does a vyabhichari (prostitute) think and act?  She contacts and relates with many for the sake of money.  She does not stay with one.  She runs after so many.  Avyabhichara is ‘bonding firmly with one’.  This helps in worldly affairs too.  One wanting to be in business should think, analyse and select one field for him.  He should step in and contine firmly in that line.  He will reap sure progress and benefits.  He will not lose peace, even if there is no growth.  The one allows himself to be scattered by running in so many directions is sure to be doomed.

‘Hold on to one Form and continue worship that’ (not getting disturbed by glorious descriptions of other Forms);  On the path of Dhyana, continue one practice, with dedication, not lured by glamorous campaign in favour of other ways;  On the path of Gyaana, firm and unswerving devotion to one Guru and go along with him in search of the Divine, instead of being diverted by worldly allurements;  these are all ‘Avyabhicharini.

Vivikta Desha sevittvam :- Be alone, seek solitude.  A devotee immersed in thoughts of the Divine or Swadhyaya, does not want to be disturbed and hence seeks to be alone.  To be alone does not mean mere physical loneliness.  In the developed western countries, space available for population is large.  Houses are well separated.  The rooms and space for individuals even inside a house are unconnected and separate.  People stand two or three feet apart in queues.  It is very rare to see a crowd.  Experience of loneliness is easily obtained there.  Yet, average man frequently says, ‘Leave me alone’.  Is this the loneliness meant by Shri Krishna?  Is this an indication of their seeking the Divine?

Detached mind, even in a crowd, is ‘Vivikta Desha sevittvam’.  Once I travelled to Jabalpur during my school days.  The bus stopped midway in a forest due to flooded road ahead.  I got down from the bus and walked alone into the forest.  I suddenly experienced a feeling of loneliness.  It was a flash and inexplicable.  What remained was a feeling that ‘I am alone in this world’.  The feeling continued when I continued my travel seated among a crowd of men.  I was unaware of those men around me.  One can be all alone even in a crowded market, if his mind is full.  The thing filling up mind need not be thoughts on the Divine.  It can be music, science, mathematics, and such other thing.  It should fill upthe mind, with no space for anything else.  In shlokam 69 of 2^nd chapter, He said, ‘that which is day for others is night for him and that which is night for others is day for him’.  Such a Muni can be alone in any crowd.

Solitude is essential for progress in Spiritual path.  Gautama Buddha remained alone, silent for twelve years.  Samartha Ramadas stayed alone in the forests for nine years in penance.  Swami Vivekananda who had lived an active life, spent three days in solitude on the rocks in the se in Kanyakumari.

Jana samsadi Arathih :- Not interested crowd.  This is slightly different from what was stated above.  Samsad is parliament.  Parliament is a place where the representatives talk about the people, about what they do or talk or think, how do they live, etc.  The rulers have to know these to be effective.  But, these are trash for spiritual seekers.  It is not that man indulges in unnecessary and unworthy acts and speech only in clubs, dance bars, casinos, cricket stadium and gambling dens.  He may be in a temple or in a spiritual discourse and yet be involved in petty talks or thoughts about others.  The urge to read a newspaper or see a news channel is also a trap to pull him down.  These are worthless for seekers.  But, getting away from this interest in society should not be on a suggestion by others.  This will happen as he progresses in his practice.

Interest or desire to be in places where Truth is being discussed, where the Paramaatman is being discussed, or desire to stay in company of men who are putting in efforts towards the Divine, is not bad.

-\-

अध्यात्म ज्ञान नित्यत्वं तत्वज्ञानार्थ दर्शनम् |

एतज्ज्ञानं इति प्रोक्तं अज्ञानं यदतोsन्यथा ||११||

Constant application to spiritual knowledge, understanding of the end of true knowledge;  this is declared to be knowledge, and what is opposed to this is ignorance.

(XIII - 11)

Adhyaatma Gyaana Nityattvam: - Thinking ever on Spiritual Knowledge.  With a clear convicion that the only goal is reaching and becoming one with Him, the Spiritual Knowledge, to the extent grasped, should be pondered consistently.  Suitable books be read and lectures listened essence grasped.  In due course, the mind will be full of thoughts on Him and will ever be engaged in these.  Worldly activities continue, but the inner vision will not be towards the world.  Thought, speech and even dreams will be expression of this state of mind.

Tattva Gyaanartha Darshanam: - This state comes hand-in-hand with the above stated state.  The vision too, becomes in tune with the thoughts filled in mind.  Eyes may go any where.  It is only the Paramaatman, who is visible everywhere.

This is real Gyaana.  Anything else is Agyaana or ignorance.  Gyaana is not mere education and stuffing the brain with meaningless information.  The essence of all that was learnt, whatever remains rooted in the mind, is Gyaana.  If the twenty elements described above are blossom within as a result of education, then that education can be said to be real education.  That is Adhyaatmik education.  In the tenth chapter, He had said, ‘I am Adhyaatma Vidya among the various streams of education’ (X - 32).  Any education, however costly, providing high salaries, is not education if it fails to produce these elements in the personality.

-\-

ज्ञेयं यत्तत्प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वाsमृतमश्नुते |

अनादिमत्परं ब्रह्म न  सत्तन्नासदुच्यते ||१२||

I shall describe that which has to be known, knowing which one attains to Immortality, the beginningless supreme Brahman.  It is called neither Being nor Non-being.

(XIII - 12)

What is to known (Gyeyam) through the Gyaana attained as mentioned in the previous five shlokams?  Shri Krishna explains in the next six shlokams.

Anaadi: - Annadi is That without Aadi or beginning.  Anything which appears has to disappear.  Anything born has to die.  Anything begun has to end.  That which is the cause for appearance and disappearance, birth and death, beginning and end, has no beginning or birth.  All these appeared from That;  existed on That and will end and disappear into That.  That does change and Exists always.

Param Brahma: - The creator is also known as Brahma.  The Brahma presiding over creation also has a life period, after which he has to end.  There are umpteen Brahmas who created the innumerable number of worlds.  That is Param Brahma, the ultimate Brahma or Brahma of Brahmas and is the Cause for creation of Brahmas.

Na Sat na Asat uchyate: - That can neither be called Sat, nor Asat.  The calling is done by speech (Vaani).  That is beyond description of Vaani.  The Buddhi determines if anything is Sat or Asat.  Buddhi can determine the aspects related to manas or senses.  That is beyond the regime of Buddhi.  Buddhi itself is empowered by That.  So, Buddhi can not know That.

Absence of Asat is Sat.  When you call It Sat, Asat bhava comes along.  Hence, It can not be called Sat.  Absence of Sat is Asat.  Hence, It can also not be called Asat.  We have day and night.  Night is absence of day and day, absence of night.  Day and night are due to the Sun.  But, where is day and night in the Sun?  Sun is ever bright.  There is no night.  When there is no night, naturally there is no day too.  Similarly, That is Nitya or ever existing.  Hence, there is no asat bhava.  When It is not Asat, It is neither Sat.

-\-

सर्वतःपाणिपादं तत्सर्वतोsक्षिशिरोमुखं |

सर्वतःश्रुतिमल्लोके सर्वमावृत्य तिष्ठति ||१३||

With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere in the universe, - That exists pervading all...

(XIII - 13)

The experience of Paramaatman by a devotee is being described by Shri Krishna here.  That has eyes, ears, mouth, Head, hands and legs everywhere.  Anything may be offered to anyone, anywhere.  The Paramaatman’s hands are there to receive.  His hands are ready to receive, even if the offering is at mental plane.  The devotee may fall at any place, His Hands are there to hold him.  The devotee may humbly worship anything or any one, His Feet are there to receive the worship.  He may be in any corner of the world, The Paraman’s eyes are there to see the devotee.  His eyes are there even at the depth of devotee’s mind to see his thoughts hidden there.  Naivedya offered with Love and devotion is received then and there by His mouth.  The devotee’s benevolent thought, even unexpressed, are seen, heard, received and responded to by the Paramaatman’s eyes, ears, head and arms, present everywhere in all the directions.  He fills up every space.  The Purusha Sukta describes Him as ‘Sahasra Sheersha Purushah, Sahasraaksha Sahasra Paada’.  He pervades all the space with thousands of His eyes, ears, heads, and arms and legs.

Light travels faster than sound.  The Grace of God travels faster than light.  The elephant devotee Gajendra called and Shri Narayana appeared instantly to rescue him.  Dushasana tried to disrobe her and Draupadi raised her hands and called ‘Achyuta’.  The very moment, Shri Krishna came to her help her.  He did not come Himself to the court of the Kauravas.  His Grace came through the unending supply of sarees.  It continued to come until Dushasana got exhausted and fainted.  Duravasa sent by Duryodhana, came with his thousand disciples to the forest during the exile term of the Pandavas.  Draupadi merely thought of Shri Krishna and He was instantly there at her doorsteps to help her.  How was that possible?  Shri Krishna’s abode is the Vaikuntha.  Where is Vaikuntha?  It must be far off.  His abode on this earth was Dwarika and that too was far off.  That He is in every cell in this creation is also true.  He is Omnipresent, presnt in every direction.  We must think of Him.  We must call Him with Shraddha and Bhakti bhavana.  He will appear the very same moment, right in front of us.

The Vishva Roopa Darshan seen by Arjuna in the thirteenth chapter was such.  The previous shloka gave description of Nirguna-Niraakara Parabrahman.  Here, we get description of Saguna-Niraakara Paramaatman.  That is to be known.  The Paramaatman pervades every place, every life in the world.  The one who knows this, does not get trapped in the world, even while being in it, even while living a visible worldly life.

-\-

सर्वेन्द्रिय गुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम् |

असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च ||१४||

Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet, without the senses;  absolute, yet, sustaining all;  devoid of Gunas, yet, their experiencer...

(XIII - 14)

Shri Krishna had said in the previous shlokam that the Paramaatman is with thousands of ears, eyes, faces, hands and legs.  Now He says, ‘He does not have sense organs’.  Both statements are true.  The Paramaatman does not have a body, with limbs and senses.  Body and the senses are products of Prakriti.  Prakriti itself is a product of Paramaatman.  (Prakriti – Mahat tattva – Ahankara – Panchamaha bhoota – body , manas and senses – shlokam 5).  Prakriti can not create the creator.  He is beyond Prakriti.  He remains even after all these creations of Prakriti perish.  When He descends on this earth as an Avatara, He takes a body but Prakriti is in His Control.

He does not have the senses as are known to us.  But, He listens to the voice of a devotee.  He tastes the Naivedya (offerings) without a tongue like ours.  Wherever we may be, we are lways visible to Him.  He may not have the arms as we know, but can hold us and prevent our fall.  He may not have a voice, but still can talk to us.  Our senses receive their respective powers from Him.  How do these function?  The eye is there and the object.  That does not ensure visibility of the object.  The eye must have the power to see and there has to be light on the object.  The eye and the object belong to the Prakriti and hence are Jada or inert.  Light on the object and the power of the eye are from Him.  Eyes see out of His ‘light’.  Ears hear out of power vested by Him.  The senses, though part of Prakriti, function out of the powers attained from Him.

He has no attachment, but sustains all.  The Sun holds all the objects with His light, but remains detached from all these.  The sea hold all the waves, but is not attached to those.  The Paramaatman, sustains every life in the wolrd.  He is not attached to any of these.  He Loves all.  His Love reaches all and sustains them.

The Gunas are also part of Prakriti.  Hence, the Paramaatman is beyond the Gunas.  He is devoid of Gunas.  But, the One who experiences Gunas is Him.  He is the Bhokta of the Karma, the result of Gunas.

-\-

बहिरन्तश्च भूतानां अचरं चरं एव च |

सूक्ष्मत्वात्तदविज्ञेयं दूरस्थं चान्तिके च तत् ||१५||

Without and within (all) beings;  the unmoving and also the moving;  because of its subtlety incomprehensible;  It is far and it is near...

(XIII - 15)

The inside and outside a clay pot is Aakash (space).  There is Aakash (space) in millions of pores in the clay pot.  The ignorant who can not see this feels that the sky is far off.  The sky is far off.  It is also near, very near.

There is a huge pile up of ice in the Arctic region of the earth.  Huge rocks of ice occupy every inch of the ocean there.  There is water in every bit of the ice rocks and water outside too.

We walk on the earth.  We think our bodies are separate and different from the earth.  In reality, the body, too is earth in different form, earth in the body, earth outside the body.

Waves rise in the sea.  These appear to be different from the sea.  But, waves are mere appearances, superficial phenomenon.  There is only water everywhere.  The waves rise and disappear at the surface.

Similarly, the Paramaatman, indestructible, remains in undisturbed Calm as the Unmanifested.  And, all the Forms, destructible, changeable, manifested in the Prakriti, also is the Paramaatman.  All the immobile lives, Achara (plants, trees, weeds, grass etc.are Him.  All the mobile lives, Chara (animals, birds, humans, aquatic lives) are Him.  Every cell in creation is His manifested Form.  The forms outside are Him.  At the same time, He is in every cell, in subtle form, as the source for all the powers bestowed therein.  The ignorant, plunged in the alluring worldly objects and pleasures, feels that He is at some space far off.  He is very near, inside us.  He pervades all over in the infinitely expanded Universe.  At the same time, He is very near too.

He called the Paramaatman Gyeyam (the one who can be known).  Now, He calls Him Avugyeyam (the one who can not be known).  Both the statements are true.  He is subtler than the ubtlest.  Hence, He can not be known by our senses and the manas and buddhi.  At the same time, He can be known as He is our real Nature.

-\-

अविभक्तं च भूतेषु विभक्तं इव च स्थितम् |

भूतभर्तृ च तज्ज्ञेयं ग्रसिष्णु प्रभविष्णु च ||१६||

Impartible, yet, It exists as if divided in beings;  It is to be known as sustaining beings, and devouring as well as generating (them).

(XIII - 16)

Tube light, bulbs, fan, television set, iron box, refrigerator, air-conditioner, hair drier, etc. are some of the so many electric operated instruments in our homes.  These vary in appearance and functions.  The results gained when they function are also various.  Electrical consumption by these are also different.  We may think that the electrical energies operating these are different.  No.  The electrical energy is one and the same.  There are no two types of energies, one for positive functions and the other for destructive ones.  The same energy rotates the fan, heats up the iron box, freezes the objects inside  fridge.  Cooking on the induction heater, washing clothes in a washing machine, cutting and grinding in a mixie, are all done by the same electrical energy.  It can destroy an iron object by melting and also give life to a broken object by welding.  It can save a child’s life in an incubator and also burn to ashes a dead body.

Similarly, the bodies of various lives are different.  The organs are of so many types.  We may call by a general name ‘eye’ but the eyes of lives are different.  Some have microscopic eyes, while others have telescopic eyes.  Some have protruded eyes and others hidden eyes.  Some eyes have a vision of 60 degrees and others have a 360 degree vision.  can see through darkness while others can not.  The Cause for all these various bodies with various functions is one and the same Paramaatman.  He appears to be split, but is inherently One.  He is the One who sustains all lives, destroys those and again causes their creation.  The Nature or Prakriti stands with all diversities.  Unifying force is Paramaatman.  When the ignorant (agyaani) sees the Prakriti, he sees differences and disparities.  He gets unhappy and angry.  The devotee turned to Paramaatman sees the One, the unifying thread behind all these disparities and differences.  To him who is immersed in it, the world appears to be full of injustice, disparities, high and low, rude and without any reason.  The devotee, immersed in the Paramaatman sees the world s a drama, a play.  Only the Paramaatman is visible to him as real.

He is hypnotised by the dualities.  He lists the worldly objects and experiences and qualifies those as ‘pleasant and unpleasant’ ‘soothing and rude’, ‘sweet and sour’, ‘comforting and painful’, ‘high and low’, ‘beneficial and harmful’.  He desires the first of all these pairs and derides the other ones.  But, reality is that not one of these twins is without the other.  They come together.  Hence, he feels the world is full of disparities and injustice.  It appears to him as rude, ruthless.  It seems to be split.  He is unhappy and scorns at God when he receives the undesirable.  He sees Him as a violent, sadistic manipulator of the happenings in the world.  Defect is not in God, but in his own vision.  Benefit and loss, birth and death, elevation and fall, thorn and the flower, sweet and sour, protection and destruction are all worls of the One and Oly One Paramaatman.  These are all worls of the Prakriti, a manifestation of the Pramaatman.  He is in all these and He is beyond all these.  The devotee with correct vision transcends these dualities.  He has to, if at all he wishes to reach the Paramaatman.  Once he is tuned towards the Paramaatman, the whole world appears to be drama stage, a play field and a dance of shadows.

Most of the population in Christian countries, does not go to the Church.  Atheism and strange beliefs are widespread there.  Many cults, including worship of Shaitan, have grown.  The reason is a basic principle in Christianity.  It regards the God as a split Identity.  All the benevolent acts, all the favourable acts are performed by the God and all the ‘ugly’ acts, unfavouracble and supposed to be ‘gory’ acts are the work of Shaitan.  Benefits are sanctioned by God and losses by Shaitan.  Experiences in this world can not be explained in the light of this belief.  Atheism and blind beliefs, and growth of strange, sometimes wild cults are the results.  The best possible solution is ‘balanced attitude towards the dualities’ in world.

-\-

ज्योतिषामपि तज्ज्योतिः तमसः परमुच्यते |

ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं ज्ञानगम्यं हृदि सर्वस्य विष्ठितम् ||१७||

The Light even of lights, It is said to be beyond darkness;  Knowledge and the One thing to be known, the Goal of knowledge, dwelling in the hearts of all...

(XIII - 17)

Our body appears to be ‘luminous’, powerful.  ‘That’ is the reason for power, luminosity.  ‘That’ leaves the body and instantly the light, the power of the body is gone.  The senses shine out of the light from ‘that’.  The light fades as soon as ‘That’ leaves the body.  Buddhi shines with its sparkling capacity to know.  Again, this light is due to the Jeevatman and the buddhi fuses the moment ‘That’ is gone.  The sun lights up the world.  Even that loses its brightness and at the time of Pralaya.  ‘That’ is Light of all lights, ‘That’ lights up all these lights, ‘That’ remains as Light equivalent to a million suns.

Shri Krishna said, “That’ is Avigyeyam, One that can not be known” (shlokam - 15).  Here, He says “That is Gyeyam, that which can be known”.  Both these statements are true.  That can not be known through books, the senses and Mano-Buddhi.  That can be known through ‘self-experience’.  Wind can not be known through books, lectures and write-ups.  It has to be experienced and known by standing in the open.  Sweetness of sugar can not be known by attending seminars.  A pinch of sugar has to be put on the tongue and sweetness experienced.  Self-experience can be explained in so many words to others.  But, they have to know again only through self-experience.

If He resides in us, why can not we see Him?  He can be seen only when the veil of ahankara is removed.  The doer has to disappear and must change to the observer.  We regard ourselves as body.  We regard every action of the body as being performed by ‘me’.  Anything gained by the body, respect, position, name, honour and welcome, pain and pleasure, as gained by ‘me’ and become happy or sad.  He is seated inside.  He is the real ‘me’.  ‘I am this body’;  ‘I am handsome’;  ‘I am intelligent’;  ‘I hold a very powerful post’;  ‘I look after this family’;  ‘I bear the burden of looking after the interests of this society, this Nation’;  ‘I am a renowned artist’;  ‘I am a man of principles’;  ‘I have very noble character’; and many such unreal ‘me’ form a mist around and blind our vision.  Once this mist is eliminated and the vision is clarified, He becomes visible.

Many practices have been prescribed to effect disappearance of the ‘doer’ or change of the doer to a witness of his own act.  Detachment of self from the actions of the body, mind and intellect, or observing their actions as a third person or as a witness.  This practice is called ‘Preksha dhyana’ in Jain philosophy and ‘Vipashyana’ in the Bouddha religion.  In this, effort is to look at one’s walk, rest, thought, speech as if being performed by someone else.  Kartha bhava or the feeling that ‘I am the doer’ gradually vanishes.

-\-

इति क्षेत्रं तथा ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं सोक्तं समासतः |

मद्भक्त एतद्विज्ञाय मद्भावायोपपद्यते ||१८||

Thus Kshetra, knowledge, and that which has to be known, have been briefly stated.  Knowing this, My devotee is fitted for My state.

(XIII - 18)

Shri Krishna elaborates on Kshetram in shlokams 5 and 6, Gyaana in the shlokams 7^th to 11^th, and Gyeyam (Tht which is to known) in shlokams 12^th to 17^th.  ‘My Devotee who knows this attains My Bhava’, says Shri Krishna.  The basic requisite for attaining Parama Bhava is to know Kshetra and Kshetragya.  Without this, no other knowledge will reach to Him.  Once more, knowing is not reading these shlokams, not studying and understanding these, but realizing the truth from the depth of heart.

-\-

प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि |

विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रक्रुति सम्भवान् ||१९||

कार्य करण कर्तृत्वे हेतु: प्रकृतिरुच्यते |

पुरुष: सुखदु:खानां भोक्तृत्वे हेतुरुच्यते ||२०||

Know thou that Prakriti and Purusha are both beginningless;  and know thou also that all modifications and Gunas are born of Prakriti.

In the production of the body and the senses, Prakriti is said to be the cause;  in the experience of pleasure and pain, Purusha is said to be the cause.

(XIII – 19, 20)

Prakruti is Jada or inert and Purusha is Chetana.  Prakriti and Purusha are other words for Kshetra and Kshetragya.  Prakruti appeared from the Paramaatman.  There arose a desire in Paramaatman to act, to create.  He expressed Himself as Purusha.  Hence, Prakriti and Purusha also are Anaadi, without beginning.  The Gyeya, That which is to be known, explained in the shlokas 12 to 17 and Purusha mentioned here are the same.  That is non-deforming, non-changing, indestructible.  That has no attributes.  Change, destruction, deformation, attributes atc. are for Prakruti.  Pancha mahabhoota, Ahankara, Mahat, ten senses, manas, and the objects for five gyaanendriya, are all works of Prakriti.  The three basic Guna, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas are creations of the Prakriti.  Anything that is chngeable, destructible, deformable, is the work of Prakriti.  The defects like Icchaa-Dwesha (desire and contempt), Sukha-Duhkha (pleasure and pain), etc. are also works of the Prakriti.  The Purusha is beyond defects and attributes.

All those that are created are Karya.  The five elements Akasha, Bhoomi, Vayu, Jala and Agni (Mahabhoota) and the five objects for senses Shabda, Roopa, Rasa, Sparsha and Gandha, are Karya.  The instruments are Karana.  There are three types of Karana.  The external ones, the five organs of action (Karmendriya);  the subtler senses (the five Gyaanendriya are also called external karana);  the three antahkarana or the inner instruments Manas, Buddhi and Ahankara.  Gyanedriyas rule over Karmendriyas, the Manas over Gyanendriya.  The Buddhi rules over Manas and Ahankara over Buddhi.  The senses can not function without association of Manas, Buddhi and Ahankara.  The senses join with Manas to experience the objects.  The Buddhi analyses and classifies as beneficial and non-beneficial all the experiences of the senses and Manas.  Ahankara stands as witness on the suggestions of Buddhi.

When the Purusha binds Self with Ahankara, It starts regarding Self as Kartha or Doer of all the works of the Karanas and hence has to experience the effects of those acts too.  Happiness or pleasure is experience of favourable ones and the contrary is pain or grief.  The experincer is Purusha.  Inert Prakriti has no power to experience.

The experience of pleasures and pain is only due to the bondage the Purusha creates with the Prakriti.  The Purusha also seeks to disengage Self from Its own created bondage.  The urge for liberation is because It experiences pain and pleasure.  If there were no bondage, no experience of pain and pleasure, the aspiration for Mukti or liberation will not be there.  Prakriti remains in Its state.  The Purusha initiates the bondage with Prakriti.  There is a flower in a plant in forest.  That does not seek anything.  It remains there without any attributes.  It is neither beautiful nor ugly.  It is neither sweet smelling nor foul smelling.  There is neither pleasure nor pain, as there is none to experience.  This is status till a man sees th flower.  The Purusha, the man sees the flower, establishes a bondage with the Prakriti in it and attaches qualifications to it.  It instantly becomes beautiful, its scent becomes sweet smelling, the experience of interaction with it becomes a pleasurable one, all these for the Purusha.  The flower or Prakriti is unconcerned, as it is inert.  The flower blossoms in Prakriti.  The sense of beauty blossoms in the inner world of Purusha.  This experience in Purusha is not necessary for the flower to blossom.  But, the flower is essential for this feeling to blossom in the Purusha.  The Purusha transposes this shadow called ‘beauty’ inside Him on the flower.  And says, ‘I became happy.  The flower gave me pleasure’.  Similarly, there is no pain or grief too, in Prakriti.  Pain or grief appear only in the Purusha, when He binds Self with the Prakriti.

The Purusha, being an essence of the Paramaatman, in fact has neither pain nor pleasure.  These are defects and He is beyond defects.  He regards as happiness and pleasures.  He creates a virtual, an unreal feeling in Self, transposes that on the Prakriti and regards self to have experienced happiness and grief.  The Purusha thus is the One who experiences.

When struck with hunger, if the Purusha clarifies that the body is hungry and while dining, if He regards the body as eating the food for its hunger, then the Purusha does not become experiencer.  Similarly, when a disease strikes, if He takes it as a disease of the body not Me and does not grieve, then the Purusha is not the One who experiences.

-\-

पुरुषः प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुंक्ते प्रक्रुतिजान्गुणान् |

कारणं गुणसङ्गोsस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु ||२१||

Purusha seated in Prakriti, experiences the Gunas born of Prakriti;  the reason of his birth in good and evil wombs is his attachment to the Gunas.

(XIII - 21)

The Prakriti does not get entangled with the Purusha.  The Purusha on the other hand does get entangled in Prakriti.  We have a house.  The house never establishes a relation with those who stay in or own it.  There have been so many who stayed there in the past and there will be many who will stay there in future.  The house is not concerned.  But, the owner establishes a deep relationship, relationship - ‘this is mine’ with the house.  He worries a lot and is concerned about the state of the house.  A little crack on the wall, a small leak of rain water from the roof, and he gets upset.  If the house collapses, he collapses and faints.  We own a vehicle.  We passionately think about the vehicle and bind with it.  We lose our sleep if the vehicle gets a small dent on its body.  Does the vehicle shed tears when the owner’s leg is fractured?

Pain or pleasure is not in the objects but in the feeling we have for these.  The same feeling stimulates desire or scorn about those objects.  The sequence of such feelings leave an impression within called Vasana.  Our future birth is determined by the vasanas we carry (VIII - 6).  There are innumerable vasanas as there are objects.  The Bharatha Muni had eliminated all his vasanas except one about a deer calf.  He had to take birth as a deer in the next life.  If that was his status, what about us with so many vasanas?  How many more wombs are we to suffer in?

This bondage with Prakriti is the reason for repeated birth and death of Purusha.  A change that elevates is good and that which degrades is bad.  The laws of Nature are common and universal.  Those laws can be used for elevation or fall.  The laws of gravitation and motion are put to use positively when the plane flies up.  Those very laws not applied properly or applied wrongly, the plane falls and crashes.  The laws governing take off, flying high and crash are not different.  These are one and same.  Application of laws by the Purusha are different.

The Paramaatman, the non-changing, non-deforming Paramaatman, the Paramaatman not accessible for pains and pleasures, the Paramaatman who is Light,dazzling light, Blissful Paramaatman.  How does He change into a tearful Purusha, a family man tossed around by pains and pleausres?  Shri Krishna explains here.  Boundless Paramaatman chooses a limited Kshetra and gets bound with it, to be a Kshetragya.  He attaches Self with that Kshetra, experiences all the worldly stimuli, gets infatuated with those experiences, forgets His Divine Sat-Chit-Ananda status, turns into an ordinary family man immersed deep in grief and tears.  This change is downward degrading one.  Which is the elevating change?  The next few shlokas elaborate.

-\-

उपद्रष्टानुमन्ता च भर्ता भोक्ता महेश्वरः |

परमात्मेति चाप्युक्तो देहेsस्मिन्पुरुषः परः ||२२||

And the Supreme Purusha in this body is also called the Looker-on, the permitter, the supporter, the experiencer, the Great Lord, and the Highest Self.

(XIII - 22)

The Paramaatman in Deha, is called Upadrashtaa or Anumanthaa or Bharthaa or Bhokta or Maheshwara, according to the various states He is in.  The seer, the onlooker, the witness is Upadrashtaa.  Only the detached can see.  The bonded can not.  He becomes the Bhokta.  He grieves or exults that the experiences are on him.  One plays a character of a drunkard in a drama.  He wears shabby clothes.  He has to take beatings and receive abuses of many.  He also uses abusive language.  But, he never regards self as a drunkard and feels guilty.  He, in fact enjoys the acts and dialogues of self and others.  Nothing remains in his mind once the screen fall.  The acts and dialogues do not leave any residual effect on his mind.

Sometimes, we see strange dreams.  Dogs chase and we turn into dog form and face them;  We fall and fall from hights and never touch the ground;  We leave for the exam hall and face so many hurdles and finally reach the hall at the end of the examination; and many such dreams.  Do these dreams bother or affect us once we wake up?  We laugh at the silliness in these dreams and forget them.  But, in wakeful state we hear the newspaper boy selling his magazine screaming, ‘Strange but true.  Child born with a tail’.  We instantly get excited and purchase the paper and discuss the silly news the whole day.  In a conscious state, not in dreams, we plunge into ocean of grief when the opportunity or the thing or the status we hoped to gain slips and never reaches us.  Pushed by grief, some start drinking, some others try to commit suicide.  Upadrashta is the one who sees life as if it were a dream or a drama and never allows the occurance in the world to attach with self or self to get attached with the occurance.

The one who grants permission is the Boss.  He is Anumanthaa, the Boss who gives permission, if we act under His permission, if we keep alive the awareness that I and Him within me are not different.  But, do we?  Do we act under His command?  Do we act with awareness?  No.  Most of us have thrown our ‘remote control’ on the street for any Tom, Dick and Harry to lift and operate it and make us dance to his wish.  Any thing upsets us, excites us, or depresses us.  An unexpected, sudden thunder shower, the humming sound of a mosquito, some petty object in someone else’s hands, words spoken by someone, actions of others, any petty thing is allowed to upset us.  We reduce our status to that of a football trapped under the feet of twenty two players, an errand boy in an office with many officers.  We become ‘slave’ to so many.  Instead, if only we could be a slave to the Only One, the only Boss, the real Self and work under His permission!!  He is ready, seated within, to become Anumanthaa.

The word Bharthaa also denotes a husband.  The husband fills up the house with essential articles and things.  He provides food.  He protects.  He sustains.  It is one thing for the wife to call me a Bharthaa and quite another for me to consider self as Bharthaa.  “Oh!  All these are dependent on me”,  “What will happen if I was not there”,  “They will realize my significance only on my death”, etc. etc. are the dialogues of those who start believing themselves to be the Bharthaa.  They regard their families, the organizations they work in, the temples or other social institutions they look after, as totally reliant on self.  They believe these will perish and will be doomed if ‘I am not there’.  How many millions have appeared on this planet?  They have lived and died.  The earth has not seen any significant effect of their arrival or loss on their exit.  Some have caused some changes.  But these changes refuse to last beyond a few decades or centuries.  Some may not consider self as Bharthaa of others, but almost all regard self as Bharthaa of the body they hold.  Residing in the body, He is the Bhartha.

The Bhoktaa is one who experiences the many stimuli of senses.  The self regards the experiences gained by the body, manas and Buddhi, favourable ones as pleasant and unfavourable ones as painful, as happening to self, regards self to be the Bhoktaa.  He is Maheshwara when he regards self to the boss and everything to be under his control.  He may be called in various names, the Paramaatman being in the Kshetra, is not.  All the above mentioned acts may be attributed to Him, but are not His.  He is beyond all these, while appearing to be in all.

-\-

यः एवं वेत्ति पुरुषं प्रकृतिं च गुणैः सह |

सर्वथा वर्तमानोऽपि न स भूयोsभिजायते ||२३||

He who thus knows the Purusha and Prakriti together with the Gunas, whatever his life, is not born again.

(XIII - 23)

The vasanas worn by the Jeeva is the reason for birth again and again.  The Vasanas of the one who has reaized the Truth, drop off and new Vasanas do not stick to Him.  Such a Jeeva is not born again.  The Jeeva remains in its Kshetrm, yet is not.  It is seen to be doing all works, yet does not do anything.  To know Purusha and Prakriti is to attain such a state.  The means to know Purusha and Prakriti is discussed in the next few shlokas.

-\-

ध्यानेनात्मनि पश्यन्ति केचिदात्मानमात्मना |

अन्ये सांख्येन योगेन कर्मयोगेन चापरे ||२४||

Some by meditation behold the Self in their own intelligence by the purified heart, others by the path of knowledge, others again by Karma – Yog.

(XIII - 24)

Dhyaana Yog was explained in sixth chapter.  Dhyaana is to turn the sight from outer world to the inner.  A secluded spot, away from the crowd is essential in the beginning.  Sitting unmoved in an erect posture is also essential.  With practise, these may become insignificant.  For the beginners, an object may be necessary for fixing the sight and thought.  That too may not be needed in due course.  The silencing of turbulance in mind and Darshan of the Light within in that thoughtless state is Dhyaana Yog.  The Light is always there.  It is shrouded in waves of thoughts, confusions, likes and dislikes, and other defects.  Dhyaana Yog is to eliminate the din and dust surrounding the Light.  Remain aloof from the worldly activities and practise Dhyaana on the Parama Tattva and thereby know the Tattva, know the world, differentiate the real ‘me’ from the regarded ‘me’.  Know That, realize That and finally be One with That.

Sankhya Yog was explained in the second chapter.  Viveka is the chief instrument in Sankhya Yog.  Knowing the Invisible from the visible, the Cause from the effect, Kshetragya from the Kshetra using Viveka, is the practice in Sankhya Yog.  Sankhya Yog is contemplating on experiences, weeding out Asat and knowing the Paramaatman, identifying with Him and finally being One with Him.

Karma Yog was explained in the third chapter.  Regard the Kshetra, (the body, manas, Buddhi, the senses, wealth, position, honour, name, fame, status etc.) as His.  Let actions be performed in the world with a clear understanding that all these are His actions and the fruits of these actions are also His.  Hence, dedicate all the fruits of all actions to Him.  Live with a firm conviction the He is the Only One, the world with all its forms is but His manifestation.  This is Karma Yog in essence.

The goal is one.  Roads leading to that goal are many.  This basic declaration of the Hindu is once again emphasised in this shloka.  This is not a superficial and opportunistic declaration.  This is a statement of Truth by Maharshis, who can look deep into the distant future, after deep deliberation and meditation.  We find in the Gita, Shri Krishna often repeating such glorious statements with firmness.

-\-

अन्ये त्वेवमजानन्तः श्रुत्वान्येभ्य उपासते |

तेऽपि चातितरन्त्येव मृत्युं श्रुति परायणाः ||२५||

Others again not knowing thus, worship as they have heard from others.  Even these go beyond death, regarding what they have heard as the Supreme Refuge.

(XIII - 25)

Shri Krishna is prescribing a simpler path for those who do not know these Margas.  ‘Follow the footsteps of the great’.  ‘Follow the Jeevan Muktas’.  This is approved by the shastras too.  The Veda is the guide, when one is confused about what is to be done and what to be avoided.  But, when Vedik knowledge is not accessible or when the confusion persists, lives of sadhus should be referred to and followed.  The lives of great men is Shastra.  Their lives is Dharma.  That is why there are more number of Ramayana, Mahabharatha and Bhagawata story telling than Veda-schools.

Those who are not introduced to the systematic Margas, can know Brahma, can know Prakriti and Purusha and be liberated from the cycle of birth and death, by following the words and actions of the saints with dedication.  This is Bhakti Marga.  Shraddha and Bhavana are important on this path.  Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was an ordinary priest in a Kali temple.  He had been trained in the Pooja system.  But, how was the bhavana with which he performed the pooja?  Once, the hands of the idol broke.  Knowers of Shastra recommended disposal of the idol and installation of a new one.  Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa asked the Rani who managed the temple, “Will you throw your son-in-law and get a new son-in-law, if he fractures his leg?”  For him, it was not a mere idol.  It as verily the Mother.  He conversed with the mother.  He cried before Her.  People infact regarded him as a lunatic in his life time.

-\-

यावत्सञ्जायते किञ्चित् सत्त्वं स्थावरजङ्गमं |

क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञ संयोगात्तद्विद्धि भरतर्षभ ||२६||

Oh Bull among the Bharathas!  Whatever being is born, the moving or the unmoving, know it to be from the union of Kshetra and Kshatragnya.

(XIII - 26)

There are two types of lives in creation.  Sthaavara and Jangama.  Grass, roots, plants, creepers, trees and other vegetation are Sthaavara or immobile.  Animals, birds, aquatic lives, insects, reptiles, humans, are all Jangama or mobile lives.  All these lives are products of union of Kshetra and Kshetragya.  Anything that takes birth, lives, deforms and dies is Kshetra.  Despite being in Kshetra, the Kshetragya has no birth, deformation or death.  Kshetragya knows the Kshetra.  The feeling of ‘mine’ Kshetragya establishes with the Kshetra is the bondage between the Kshetra and Kshetragya.  This bondage is the reason for lives to be born in various wombs.  Jeeva is not born once the feeling of mine is erased and the bondage snapped.  It is liberated from the cycle of birth and death.

-\-

समं सर्वेषु भूतेषु तिष्ठन्तं परमेश्वरम् |

विनश्यत्स्व विनश्यन्तं यः पश्यति स पश्यति ||२७||

He sees, who sees the Lord Supreme, existing equally in all beings, deathless in the dying.

(XIII - 27)

When you ask to see everything as equal, you know they are unequals.  Yes.  Lives are unequal.  Creation is full of inequalities and variations.  Differences based on the Gunas Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, differences based on mobility sthaavara and jangama, differences on shape, size, colour, capacities, etc.  All these differences are the plane of Kshetra.  The Paramaatman is equally seated in all these various lives.  Not as a small drop in small lives and large drop in bigger lives.  We might have classified lives higher and lower on the basis of their Guna, food, life span, utility etc.  Do the higher lives have ‘higher’ Paramaatman in them and the lower ones have ‘lower’ Paramaatman?  No.  The Only one Paramaatman is seated in all the lives.  He is seated in the lives as the Unifying chord.  He said, ‘I am seated in the Kshetra as Kshetragya’ in the second shlokam.  The same is repeated here when He says, ‘I am seated in all lives equally as Parameshwara’.

Tishthantam is ‘to be seated firmly’.  Lives grow and take birth in so many types of wombs.  Right from birth till death, these lives continuously change and deform.  No life remains unchanged even for a second.  But, the Paramaatman remains Unchanged seated right in the middle of all these changes.  Every life is dying and proceeding towards death every moment.  Man celebrates his birthday and feels he has grown by one year.  He has proceeded one step closer to death.  His life is shortened by one year.  That is the reality.  The Imperishable Paramaatman is seated firmly in all these ever-perishing lives.  The bodies continuously change and perish right from day one on this earth.  He is seated in unchanged and sees all the changes happening.

‘One who sees this sees.’  One does not see only with the physical eyes.  There are many interpretations for ‘seeing’.  One is seeing through the physical eyes.  ‘I can not see you.  The pillar hides you’.  Here we mean seeing by physical eyes.  There is another ‘seeing’ when the manas joins the eyes.  ‘I could not see as I was in grief’.  The manas, if involved in other emotions, disables the physical eyes.  ‘I was so full of rage that I could not see that he was my brother’.  This is seeing by manas.  Eyes are wide open, but Manas did not join the eyes.  ‘I could not see what he means.’  ‘I have been scratching my head and thinking for long.  Yet, I can not knoe who you are’.  This is seeing by Buddhi.  Eyes are open and can see him.  The Manas is also awake.  But, Buddhi is not able to recognize him.  The Gyaana Drishti is seeing in the eyes of knowledge.  It enables seeing of that, not seen by all other eyes.  ‘He only sees who has Gyaana Chakshu’, says Shri Krishna.  That is the only real seeing.  The external eyes can see only the gross, perishables, and Asat.  Gyaana Drishti sees the Only Real, the Ever-existing Truth.  Hence It is the only Eye.

The external instruments have also to be trained and tuned in the effort to attain Gyaana Drushti (eyes of Knowledge).  Their power to read the subtler signals should be devoped.  This is the sharpness of these instruments.  An eye is said to be sharp, not when it can see a bigger object in bright light but when it is able to see smaller onjects in lesser light.  The sharpness of the ear is when it can register softer sounds.  In my programmes with the students, I used to ask them to close their eyes and observe all the sounds around them.  The register all sounds, even the distant ones.  Rarely a student observes the sound of breath or heart beat.  The subtler power of the senses can be developed through practise.  Similarly, the Buddhi should also be trained for subtler sight.  The Buddhi gradually changes according to what it seeks often.  The Buddhi of the lazy also becomes lazy.  The Buddhi of a drunkard and a hot-tempered becomes unsteady and unable to decide even in normal conditions.  The Buddhi of the thief, policeman and lawyer becomes deceitful.  ‘How can you think of such crooked ideas?’ we ask.  That is due to a crooked buddhi.  The Buddhi applied to subtle, very subtle subjects becomes micro-sharp enough to grasp subtle subjects.  The senses, manas, Buddhi when delinked from world and applied on the subtlest – the Paramaatman, these become sharp and eye of Knowledge is also attained.

-\-

समं पश्यन् हि सर्वत्र समवस्थितमीश्वरम् |

न हिनस्त्यात्मनात्मानं ततो याति परां गतिम् ||२८||

Since seeing the Lord equally existent everywhere, he injures not Self by self, and so goes to the highest Goal.

(XIII - 28)

If a standing man grips a moving vehicle, he falls and hurts himself.  He even dies, if the vehicle happens to be a fast moving one.  If he holds a firm, deep-rooted pillar, he is steady and worriless.  The real nature of Aatman is stability, non-changeability, imperishability.  If It holds on to the Paramaatman, who also has the same attributes, It attains total peace.  On the other hand, if It holds on to the world, which is unsteady, moving, changing, perishing, he tumbles, falls and loses peace.

The Paramaatman is the steady, firm Pillar that can be held on to.  He is there at all times, all places, in all lives, in all situations, in all incidents and actions.  If holding on to Him is difficult, then there can be nothing called ‘easy’.  The world appears to be.  The lives, Sun, the moon, the incidents in the world, all appear to be real.  The feeling that ‘I am’ is alive in in deep sleep.  The sense of being, is Paramaatman.  He is.  He only is.  Everything else was not there yesterday, seems to be today and will not be tomorrow.  The bodies existing today will not be there after a hundred years.  Not only the bodies.  Everything in the world is appearing and moving towards destruction.  Everything here appeared at the time of creation (Srishti).  These appear to be in Sthiti and are going to disappear at the time of Laya.  The man who chases the illusion, that which appears to be but is not, that which is ever changing and running, is seeking nothing but doom.  The man, plunged in ignorance and delusion is on this track.  He wants to get that which is not there.  He wants to convert the temporary and transient into Permanent, Eternal one.

He regularly sees the old everywhere around him.  Yet, he strives hard to retain youth and prevent old age.  He studies in history lessons and also sees and hears that houses, cities and even countries are destroyed under the wheels of time.  Yet, he lays strong foundations and builds a ‘permanent’ house for himself.  He purchases and piles up stocks of chemicals, soaps, and other items advertized in the TV channels, to destroy the germs and bacterias in toilets, water, floor, clothes, hands, mouth, teeth, armpits and to kill mosquitoes, cockroches, flies and other insects.  He collects all types of insurance, mediclaims and ensures protection.  He undergoes all types of regular check-ups to detect any disease at the start.  Hiranyakashipu had piled up so many boons against death.  Yet, Narasimha found a hole in the boons and appeared from the pillar and killed him.  Similarly, death enters through a small hole left unplugged and the poor man with so many protective gears against death has to die at last.  Man loses his precious life in his efforts to give eternity to the surely perishable, temporary life.  On the other hand, the one who holds on to the Permanent, Imperishable Paramaatman attains Peace and Bliss.

Is the world not there?  The body?  It surely is.  Sweetness of a rasagull, dazzle of gold, smile of a child, youthfulness of lady, are all these non-existent?  Are these myths?  Don’t these lure and soothe the mind?  Are these not pleasant to the mind?  If Vasanas remain alive and not fully erased, philosophy becomes mere hypocritical words.  ‘Oh! what is gold?  It is mere earth in another form.’  ‘Oh! What is a woman’s body?  It is merely a bag of flesh, blood and filth.’  Gold is visible as gold, not as dust.  The vasana for it alive and kicking in the manas.  Woman’s body is visible as shapely, beautiful object, not as a bag of flesh and blood.  The attraction for it and desire in mind to embrace it has not faded.  Mere recital of poems of Pattinathaar or Kabirdas will not help.  Desire in manas has to go.  Vasanas have to vanish.  In that state, theses truths are realized automatically.  The Paramaatman is the only Eternal, Imperishable and the Truth.  Everything else is untrue, mythical and impermanent.  This has to be experienced and realized, not memorized.

-\-

प्रकृत्यैव च कर्माणि क्रियमाणानि सर्वशः |

यः पश्यति तथात्मानं अकर्तारं स पश्यति ||२९||

He sees, who sees that all actions are done by Prakriti alone and that the Self is actionless.

(XIII - 29)

Man starts blaming God whenever any unexpected disaster strikes his life.  He refuses to worship and even uses abusive words.  But, anything happening in the world is work of Prakriti, due to the changes occuring in It.  Actions, changes, deformations, are all works of Gunas and Gunas are of Prakriti.  The Paramaatman is without any Guna or attribute.  Hence, actions, changes and deformations are not due to Him and not in Him.  He has no actions.  As man regards self as the doer of actions, he experiences pangs and pleasures of changes and deformation.  When he sees the Purusha, being beyond actions, the moment he realizes actionless Parama, he detaches from actions and gets liberated from Prakriti’s bondage.  The Inert Prakriti does not know self.  It is known by someone separate from it.  Only That which stands aloof from Prakriti’s actions, changes and deformations can see and know It.  That is the Purusha, changeless, Imperishable.  One who is bound with Prakriti, knows self as Inert, Jada.  He never knows own real Nature.

Prakriti and Purusha are two separate;  Purusha is everywhere, yet stands detached;  all the actions, occurances, changes in the wworld are the world’s or Prakriti’s’  the Purusha is actionless, changeless,;  I am not the body, which experiences occurances and changes in the world, but I am the One who sees these occurances happening;  The Jeeva realizes above mentioned Truth, gets delinked from actions, snaps bondage with the world and unites with the Paramaatman.  Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa explains this beautifully.  “The world is a water pool.  A net called Prakriti is laid here to trap the fish called Jeeva.  There are four types of fish.  There are the Nitya Mukta, the ever liberated ones like Swami Vivekananda, who are never trapped.  There are the Muktas, who get trapped but strive valiantly to get liberated.  The third type are the Mumukshus who know and are unhappy that they are trapped and put in efforts with a desire to be liberated.  The fourth ones are the Moodha, the ignorant ones, unaware they are trapped.  They remain intoxicated, infatuated by the world and bound in the net.  There are two chief paths which lead to liberation.  The path of Gyaana.  Viveka is the strength in this path.  The Jeeva attains Gyaana and expands self using Viveka and anchors firmly to the Paramaatman.  The net is not large enough to trap the Gyaani.  The other is the Path of Bhakti or devotion.  In this Marga, the Jeeva regards Him as everything and surrenders.  The Bhakta becomes so small and humble and that it slips past the warp and weft of the net and is liberated.”

-\-

यदा भूतपृथग्भावं एकस्थं अनुपश्यति |

तत एव च विस्तारं ब्रह्म सम्पद्यते  तदा ||३०||

When he sees the separate existance of all beings inherent in the One, and their expansion from That (One) alone, he then becomes Brahman.

(XIII - 30)

Shri Krishna had said, “The Paramaatman pervades in every bit of the Kshetra.  He lights up and energizes everything in the Universe.”  Here in this shlokam, He says Kshetra appearing to be numerous is in fact an expansion of the Prakriti and are not different.

Verious idols made of clay appear different but are based on a single source, the earth.  These are produced in earth, stay in earth and ultimately merge into and disappear in earth.  These can be said to be extension of earth (clay).  Similarly, Kshetras appearing to be various and different are not so.  These are all based from the one Prakriti, mere extension of Prakriti.

The body of every life appears different.  Colour, size, shape, actions, thoughts and emotions in Manas and Buddi, are all different.  The body is constituted of five basic elements, earth, water, air, fire and space.  These are in (part of) Prakriti.  Is the earth in the body different from the Universal (Viraata) earth in Prakriti?  A portion of earth is taken to shape a pot.  That remains with the pot till the end of its life.  (On deeper analysis, this may be found to be untrue.  The pot slowly and continuously wears out to go back to mother earth).  Is it similar in our bodies?  Does the same portion of earth stay with my body throughout my life?  A little portion of the Universal earth enters the individual body of lives daily as food.  A portion of earth in the body goes out (the body wastes) to merge back into the Universal earth.  There is only Viraata earth.  That is in a cyclic motion entering into and getting out of all the bodies.  Imagine a huge circular earth, in continuous motion.  The billions of bodies of lives are in it.  The earth changes form as food to enter these bodies and again changes form as waste to come out of the bodies.  The Viraata earth is the only permanent entity.  Bodies are temporary ripple in it.  Similarly water in the body.  There is a Huge Circular Viraata Water in motion.  Drops enter the bodies daily as drunk water and drops come out of the bodies to be  one with the Universal water.  Similar is the system with air, fire and space.  Thus, only Prakriti or Viraata exists.

We must have seen ripples in water.  Ripples are but extension of water.  These are not separate from water, though they appear to be so.  The ripples appear in water, stay for a few moments in water and get dissolved and vanish in water.  The bodies are also such.  The bodies are but expansion of Prakriti.  They are not separate from Prakriti, though they appear to be so.  All the bodies are produced from Prakriti, stay in Prakriti for a short time and get destroyed and merge into the Prakriti.

-\-

अनादित्वान्निर्गुणत्वात्परमात्मायमव्ययः |

शरीरस्थोऽपि कौन्तेय न करोति न लिप्यते ||३१||

यथा सर्वगतं सौक्ष्मयादाकाशं नोपलिप्यते |

सर्वत्रावस्थितो देहे तथात्मा नोपलिप्यते ||३२||

Oh Son of Kunti!  Being without beginning and devoid of Gunas, this Supreme Self, immutable, though existing in the body neither acts nor is affected.

As the all pervading Akaasha, because of its subtlety, is not tainted, so the Self existent in the body everuwhere is not tainted.

(XIII – 31, 32)

The space was there in the beginning.  It is subtle.  Then came air, fire, water and earth, in that order.  These are gross.  The space pervades everywhere.  Everything rest in space.  Yet, Aakash is beyond all.  It does not attach with anything.  Likewise, the Aatman is everywhere but does not stick to the body.  In fact, the Aatman is also known as Chidaakash, the enlightened inner space.

What is needed, absence of attachment with the body or absence of sensitivity of the body?  If anyone has never used a chappal for his feet, his feet become hard and insensitive to stone or thorn pricks, hot roads.  Such a state is not spiritual growth.  To lie on bed of thorns or nails, to stand on one leg for years, to stand for years, with both hands raised, to stay alive only on water, to walk on fire, to lash self with blades or thorny whips, all these acts are not to be regarded as adhyaatmik.  The body can be made insensitive and inert to pain, with a little practise.  That is not greatness.

In fact, the spiritual man is sharp on his senses.  His awareness is so bright that even minute differences fail to escape his attention.  He also knows the chilling experience of an icecream, the enticing aroma of coffee.  His skin recognizes the harshness of a wooden cot without a bed on it and also the tender softness of foam beds.  His tongue can relish the aromatic taste of Basmati rice as well the strong smelling ration shop rice.  He enjoys the comforts of travel in a aeroplane.  He can experience with equal joy the travel in an overcrowded rail compartment.  He has no preferrances.  There is no desirous seeking of one and scornful avoidance of another.  Both are same for him.  Got my morning cup of tasty coffee today, that is OK;  A glass of hot water tomorrow, that is also OK;  and nothing the day after, that too is OK.  Slept on the wooden bench on roadside or railway station yesterday, OK;  spending the night today in a temple mandapa on a softer carpet, that is also OK;  May be spending the night tomorrow on a cosier bed in an air-conditioned room in a rich man’s house, that is also OK.  Today in Chennai, tomorrow in tiny village near Madurai, the day after in Johannesberg.  All ‘is’ same.  On foot, in a bullock cart, in the general rail compartment, in a posh car, in international airplane.  Everything is OK.

Such an experience can be had again and again is the life as RSS worker.  No, Opportunities to have such an experience arise often.  Let me narrate my own experience.  I worked in a slum area surrounded by a filthy canal on one side, fields on other three sides.  Once, I had been to a hut there late evening.  The mother offered me cooked vermicelli soaked in sour mango juice.  I some how managed to gulp a full glass of the unusual juice.  She asked me how it was.  I chose to remain silent.  She thought I liked it and served one more glass.  Not a drop more of it would cross my oesophagus.  I am brought up in a house where provisions are stocked for a whole month.  I asked for a spoonful of sugar.  I never knew they do not have ready stock.  She sent her son in the dark, across the canal to reach petty shop on the main road and buy sugar for half a rupee.  I was very much upset on knowing this and decided never again to note the taste while eating and never again to demand any correction in taste, if at all I noticed a shortcoming.  To help myself in this decision, I started a practise of discussing subjects other than food, while eating.

This is a trap or slippery rock on the path towards Divinity.  One has to be watchful in this.  Many stalwart sannyaasis and spiritual seekers have slipped here.  He studies spiritual subjects, usually a simple man.  But, after he developed as a speaker on spiritual subjects, and a busy one, he used to be upset if a motorcycle and a car, was sent to receive him at railway station.  The Sannyasi is well known teacher of Vedanta.  He has established big schools for teaching Vedanta philosophy.  He refused to come to school programme because an air-conditioned vehicle was not sent to fetch him.  Another speaker on Dharma used to be upset if he did not get ‘filter’ coffee in the morning.  There is pain or displeasure or contempt for one and desire or pleasure or comfort in the other.  Gradually, the manas starts avoiding the former and seeking the later.  Visiting a poor man’s dwelling or staying at a place with lesser comforts or friendship with someone who does not own a car etc. become rare occurances.  The man working for a lofty ideal, gradually turns a puppet in the hands of the rich.

-\-

यथा प्रकाशयत्येकः कृत्स्नं लोकं इमं रविः |

क्षेत्रं क्षेत्री तथा कृत्स्नं प्रकाशयति भारत ||३३||

Oh Descendant of Bharatha!  As the one Sun illumines all this world, so does He who abides in the Kshetra, illumine the whole Kshetra.

(XIII - 33)

“In my town, the Sun rises on the left side of my house.  In your town?”  I used to ask in my childhood.  The same Sun appears in all towns, why, in all countries, in all planets.  He lightens up hills, oceans, deserts, plains and vallies and every other place.  Unmindful of the place, His light is equal everywhere.

Our bodies are like a factory with many spectacular operations.  The three raw materials fed into the factory are food, water and air (oxygen).  Skin, muscles, fats, blood, serum, marrow, acids, mucus, cerebral fluids, digestive fluids like intestinal juice, bile juice, saliva, bones, teeth, nails, hair and so many other products.  Heart beats 72 times per minute;  blood keeps running continuously in 1 lakh kilometers long blood vessels;  lungs keep expanding and contracting 18 times in a minute to draw in air and expel the air;  lever and the kidneys purify blood and manufacture so many nutrients and chemicals useful to the body functions, round the clock;  food sent in by us periodically being digested by the coordinated effort of the mouth, teeth, saliva glands, the stomach, intestines biles, pancreas etc;  So many types of juices secreted and fed into the digestive track by glands;  Cells of blood components, namely the RBC, WBC, Platelets and plasma are produced in their millions in the bone marrow, spleen and kidneys;  there is simultaneous work of elimination of the wastes in the intestines, skin;  muscles expand and shrink continuously in the various organs according to the work proceeding there.  There is also the work of protection of the body.  Fight against external objects, building up immunity, production of antibodies, repair works to heal wounds, cuts etc.  The spectacular work of the senses sending in so many signals of their interactions with the external world goes on round the clock.  All these complex and subtle works in the body being organized, coordinated and helped by the millions of neurons in the brain;  energy required for all these actions being produced in trillions of cells;  More than the regular works, the body has to respond to the many stupid acts of the man like erratic food intake, drugs and alchohol consumption, worries, over work, excitement, depression etc.

None of these extra-ordinary potentials are possible in the inert Kshetra.  The body can perform all these functions only so long the Jeevatma resides in the body.  The inert is bestowed with these capacities by the Aatma.  The Aatman, a drop of the Paramaatman, lights up the Jada and makes it perform so many tasks.

Billions of human bodies, billions of bodies of other lives are all lit up by Him.  Then there are huge, magnificient works of the Panchamahabhoota going on in oceans, mountains, atmosphere, deep inside the earth, in other planets, in other galaxies, and many other works we have not known yet.  From micro to macro, every bit of the Kshetra is being lit by the Kshetragy.  Just like the catalyst in chemical rections, which does not directly take part but without which the reaction is impossible, He lights up the Prakruti and is the cause for all the works in Prakruti, yet stands away detached from everything.

-\-

क्षेत्र क्षेत्रज्ञयोरेवं अन्तरं ज्ञान चक्षुषा |

भूत प्रकृति मोक्षं च ये विदुर्यान्ति ते परम् ||३४||

They who thus with the eye of knowledge perceive the distinction between the Kshetra and the Kshetragnya, and also the emancipation from the Prakriti of beings, they go the Supreme.

(XIII - 34)

It is obvious that the Kshetragya and Kshetra are knit and entangled with each other.  We are bound with every bit of the body, with the manas, with every wave of emotion rising in the manas, with the Buddhi, with every thought arising in Buddhi.  We have been regarding all these as ‘me’.  It is very difficult to know Kshetragya-Kshetra, Me-Body, as different.  This is impossible to see, for the gross eyes.  Only the subtle, very subtle eye, the Gyaana Chakshu can see this difference.

Knowing is not memorizing.  It is neither an intellectual understanding.  Knowing in fact is living a based on what is known.  To divorce self, the Kshetragya from the Kshetra is knowing.  One who knows this way, unites with the Paramaatman.

There is the fork.  The fork lifts other utensils and objects.  It can lift anything that is different from itself.  It can never hold and lift itself.  I can see anything diffrent from myself.  If I see a thing, it has to be different from me.  The eye sees the world.  The eye sees the body.  The seer is eye.  The seen is the world, the body.  We may assume that the eye and the world are different.  On deeper introspection, we know that the seer also is the seen.  The manas sees the eye and other senses.  The seer is manas.  The seen are senses and the world (seen by the senses).  Now, we feel that the senses are part of the world (Kshetra) and manas is different.  On diving deeper in the world of introsoection, we know that the oscillations and hoppings of the manas are seen by the Buddhi.  The Buddhi now becomes the seer and the world, the senses and the manas are seen.  These are parts of Kshetra.  The Buddhi appears to be different.  On further introspection, we know the thought, analysis in Buddhi are seen by Aham.  Aham sees the suggestions by Buddhi.  Is Aham the Kshetragya?  ‘I am none among these’.  ‘All these are separate from me’.  The question ‘Who am I?’ forms the basis for Dhyaana system suggested by Shri Ramana Maharshi.  ‘I am not this’.  ‘I am not this’.  Eliminate one by oen and finally know Him and merge in Him.

The prime hurdle in Gyaana Marga is attachment and vanity of the body.  The Gyaana chakshu or the ‘Sight of Knowledge’ will open once the attachment with the body goes.  The reverse is also true.  The attachment with the body vanishes once the ‘eyes of knowledge’ open.  A house and the space around it is submerged in darkness.  Word spreads that spirits stay and move around there.  The frightened sees many objects and images moving there.  If only a brave man enters the house and lights it up, darkness and all the images vanish.  Light drives away darkness and all the fears associated with it.  A man on a dark path walks with caution and fear about obstacles, ups and downs, snakes, scorpions and other insects.  Once the path is lighted up, all the fears vanish.  Similarly, when attached with inert Kshetra, the dark, deforming world appears to be prevalent and dominant.  So many fears show up as a result.  Once attachment with Kshetra is snapped, and attachment with the Eternal, Bright, Imperishable Paramaatman is developed, then what remains is only Light, dazzling Light.

-\-

ॐ तत् सदिति श्रीमद् भगवद्गीतासु उपनिषद्सु ब्रह्म विद्यायां योग शास्त्रे श्री कृष्णार्जुन संवादे ‘क्षेत्र क्षेत्रज्ञ विभाग योगो’ नाम त्रयोदशोsध्यायः ||

Thus concludes ‘Kshetra Kshetragnya Vibhaaga Yog’, the thirteenth chapter in the grand dialogue between Shree Krishna and Arjuna, called the Shreemad Bhagawad Geetha, which is verily an Upanishad, elaborating on ‘The Divine Knowledge’ and also describing the ‘Way to Godhood’.

\\\\\ HARIH OM TAT SAT \\\\\