Gita
essays 27
In verse 6 of chapter 15,
Lord gives a very important definition of Brahman, based
on the upaniṣadic mantra, occurring in Kathopaniṣhad (2-2-15) as well as Mundakopaniṣhad
(2-2-10), that says “The sun
does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings—not to
speak of this fire. He shining, everything shines after Him. By His light all
this is lighted.” In
this chapter Lord, as His Higher Self of Para
Prakrithi says “Neither does the
sun illumine there, nor the moon, nor the fire;
Attaining this Brahman, one does not return to samsara again—“. implying that samsara nivritthi is complete
and total when one gets established in Brahma Jnanam. The sun, moon, fire themselves cannot
illumine Brahman, as Brahman is “light of all lights” (13-18) and in Its light
only everything else shines. With this
glorification of Brahman, Lord starts describing Brahma Swarupam to Arjuna. Later in the course of this description itself,
Lord Himself will say “That light
which, residing in the sun, illumines the whole world, that which is in the
moon and in the fire - know that light as Mine”.(15-12)
In verses 7 to 15 Lord Krishna points
out that Brahman alone appears or
manifests in the form of the Jagat and
Jiva in the world. Brahman has no parts and is not visible
but in its manifestations as various entities it appears divided like pot
space, room space etc. Although space is one entity it looks divided as room
space, pot space etc. Same way Brahman
manifesting in various mediums appear to be divided in them Brahman
is described as sat, chit, anantham. In non-sentient matter It manifests with Sat aspect alone and in sentient bodies It
manifests with both Sat and Chit
aspects. So Lord declares that it is a
part of Himself that manifests as the Jiva,
individual soul, in each body. The Jiva enjoys the world of objects through
sense organs and mind. Brahman, the pure Consciousness, never directly
illumines any object but when reflected upon mind and intellect It becomes
Intelligence in which the sense objects become illumined. The Jiva, using the mind along with sense
organs, enjoys the sense objects such as sound, touch, taste, smell etc. It is Brahman conditioned by mind and
intellect that is Jiva and this Jiva takes various bodies from time to
time. These physical, mental and intellectual expressions gives the body its
individual personality and together is called subtle body. At death the subtle body departs from the
gross body taking with itself all faculties -senses, mind and intellect - as
the wind takes away the scent from its source i.e. flowers, leaving the gross
body inert as dead body. Though the Self
is the nearest and comes most easily within the range of one’s consciousness,
still the ignorant and deluded do not see the Self because of their complete
subservience to the sense-objects. But
those with the inner eye of knowledge behold the Self as entirely distinct from
the body.
After describing about
Brahman’s manifestation as Jiva, Lord proceeds to describe in four
verses starting from verse 12, Brahman’s manifestation as Jagat, Jagat standing for
achetana prapancha. He quotes only a few instances as the
representative of all. Instances quoted by Him are
1) The
light in the sun, the moon, and the fire in verse 12
2) Capacity
in the earth to sustain life and nourish it in verse 13
3) The
digestive fire that aids assimilation of food, and the subjective warmth of
life in living beings, in verse 14
4) The
mental faculties of knowledge, memory etc. and the authorship and content as
well as the knowledge of the Vedas in verse 15.
Lord says that the very light emerging
from the sun which illumines the whole world, light coming from the moon and
the fire are all manifestations of Him, the Infinite Consciousness. The
manifestations are different because the equipments are different just as the
same electrical energy manifests in a bulb, in a fan and in a heater in
different ways.
Consciousness expressed through the sun is sun-light, through
the moon is moon-light and through the fuel is fire. Yet all these are manifestations of the one Brahman
only. The same Consciousness while expressing through the earth manifests as
the potential fertility of the soil, its life-sustaining capacity, its mineral
wealth etc. The sun, the moon and the fire are the sources of energy in the
world and that which gives them all the capacity to give out energy is the
Consciousness only. Consciousness functioning through the moon nourishes the
plant life through moon-light. Pure Consciousness that functions as Life Force
manifests as digestive fire (Vaisvanara) which assimilates food. This
digestive power assimilates food in four ways through masticating, swallowing,
sucking and licking. The power in the digestive system that helps us to swallow
the food, assimilate it and eliminate the wasteful by-products is nothing but a
manifestation of the Lord as Life force.
From Brahman,the Pure Consciousness alone all memory, knowledge and
forgetfulness come to us. A capacity to forget is an essential requisite for
acquiring new knowledge because unless the imperfect knowledge is thrown out
new knowledge cannot be assimilated. This Infinite Consciousness is the one
common factor that has been glorified in all the Vedas and to realize this is
the fulfilment of existence. Since the
very essence of Vedas is that Consciousness which is the Ultimate Reality,
everything else is a projection upon it. The seeker who listens to the Vedas,
who reflects upon their wisdom and who finally experiences the fulfillment of
his life is also considered as nothing other than Consciousness. Lord Krishna
states that one need not make any pilgrimage seeking this Divine Power for He
is seated in the hearts of all only. The
heart here does not mean the physiological heart but it is the peaceful joyous
mind settled in tranquillity capable of concentrating on the higher
inspirations like love, tolerance, charity etc.
Lord Krishna now
divides the whole creation into three parts; kshara purusha, akshara purusha
and uttama purusha. Kshara purusha and akshara purusha are the material aspects
of creation; as matter is viewed in two states as two manifestations. One is the visible and tangible manifest
matter, kshara purusha and another is the invisible and intangible unmanifest
potential form of matter which is nature in its
primordial state, akshara purusha, also called Maya. Kshara purusha and akshara purusha are Lord’s
lower or inferior nature. Both of them together
constitute what we have seen as prakrithi
in chapter 13. There is a third part which is not inert, and is
beyond matter in all forms and it is the knower of matter in all forms. It is
the witness of matter in all forms and it is chaitanya tatvam which Lord Krishna calls uttama purusha. The word uttama means the greatest, utkr̥ṣta tama uttama. Pure Consciousness is called uttama because matter cannot exist
independent of Consciousness, whereas Consciousness can exist independent of
matter, and Consciousness alone lends existence to the matter. The uttama
purusha of the 15th chapter is the para prakrithi of the 7th chapter, Kshetrajna or Jeyam of 13th chapter. Lord Krishna says that uttama puruṣha or puruṣhothama
is His real and higher nature, His superior nature. Purushothama
does not refer to any particular form of God but it refers to formless,
attributeless chaitanyam, nirguna nirvishehah chaitanyam. Whoever knows
this Purushothama Iswara, he becomes
omniscient and totally fulfilled. This self-fulfillment is called moksha.
Lord ends this chapter by telling
Arjuna that this is the most secret science which He has specially
imparted to Arjuna, so that Arjuna can gain self-fulfillment, knowing this.
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