Introducing Purushottama Yoga - Chapter 15, the cornerstone of Gita

CHAPTER XV
The Supreme Spirit

In this section consisting of the concluding six chapters of the Geeta, there is, as all through the Geeta, a systematic development of ideas and a logical building up of the theory that the ever-changing, finite world of multiplicity is but a PROJECTION on the Infinite, and that the endless painful experiences are all caused by our own MIS-APPREHENSION OF REALITY. In the Thirteenth Chapter, the World-of-Matter and the Realm-of-Spirit were beautifully described and brought within our intellectual comprehension. The Field-of-Experience (Kshetra), and the Knower-of-the-Field (Kshetrajna) were clearly pictured and it was shown that the "Knower-of-the-Field" minus the "Field-of-Experience" is the Pure Awareness, at once Infinite and Permanent.
In this chapter the Geeta acharya discusses the nature of the Spirit in all its implications. In terms of the known alone can the unknown be indicated. The world of the known is the manifested objects of perception, emotions and thoughts. "No effect can be without a cause," and all effects sustain themselves in their own material cause. Basing his arguments upon this logical fact, the Divine Charioteer helps us lift our minds from the known phenomena to the unknown Noumenon.

With reference to the perishable, finite world of constant change, the Spirit is defined, in this chapter, as the Imperishable, Infinite, Changeless Factor, which is at once the substratum and the nourishment for the imperfect world-of-plurality. The Infinite is thus defined as the Imperishable (Akshara) with reference to the perishable (Kshara) equipments-of-Matter. After thus indicating the antithesis of change as changelessness, He will explain how the Experiencer of the changes, which are infinite in variety, is even something other than that which we know as the CHANGELESS. This Unconditional Eternal Factor, is called by the Geeta as the Purushottama.

In the concluding lines, Lord Krishna assures Arjuna that He has given out this greatest secret: "HE WHO WITHOUT CONFUSIONS, KNOWS ME THUS AS THE PERSON SUPREME, KNOWS ALL; AND WITH HIS WHOLE BEING DEVOTEDLY WORSHIPS ME." In short, this chapter is one of the rarest pieces of literature available in the world, that so directly indicates the Infinite. For the beauty and brevity of the stanzas in this chapter, no other portion even in the Geeta can stand a favourable comparison. In India, from the ancient days onwards, this chapter has been recited before taking food as a prayer by the Brahmins.

|| Chapter - 15 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta

Human Behaviour - A General Theory

In an expansive mood, I recently came up with a general theory of human actions, choices, aspirations and prayers.

I think my action always falls into one of three categories, at least as a dominant descriptor. So I am always either surviving, relating, or creating.

,When I walk on the road, I am in surviving mode, especially watching out for oncoming traffic, potholes and pits, garbage dumps and dogs.

Of course, at that time, if I am walking with a friend, especially someone I like very much and whose company I don't get much of, I am relating to him/her first and foremost. Then only comes surviving the travails of walking on the road.

When I am at a party, I am mostly relating. If I am called to introduce my friend to the audience, I go into the creating mode. I am not implying that I am making up tales, but that I am verbalising and communicating to the audience in a way that best describes my friend and our friendship, and there is an element of creativity in it.

So I am always primarily in one of three modes. But consciously, I am choosing my mode because I am actually experiencing "being". In other words, I can do any of these three only when I am consciously being.

What if I am thoughtlessly acting, sleepily passing time, and actually mindlessly moving about? Either by choice or by a kind of mental inertia, I am then choosing to be not in the "being" mode. Then this discussion is actually irrelevant.

As I grow and evolve, I start becoming better at each of these three actions, by a kind of conscious effort. I survive illness, hardship, emotional turmoil, and environmental challenges, better. I relate to people better, by being more centred in them and their welfare. I go beyond my immediate selfish ends and think and act for a larger social purpose.

I create better, too. I get trained, or become more efficient in doing what I like, as a creator.

I start enjoying in the next stage my being, in its essence, with an innate sense of well-being. My need to defend against perceived or non-existent threats goes down. I can relate even to strangers, and become a more vibrant, positive, member of the social circle. People start enjoying my company. It seems that my being is enriched by my relating.

Similarly, when I rest after joyfully creating something, it is less of an ego-trip and more of a sense of being a part of a beautiful whole.

Do you see where I come from?

In the next post, I will talk about my choices, aspirations, and even prayers in these three modes.

Concluding Chapter 14: February 23, 2017

Bg 14.26

māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

Bg 14.27

brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham amṛtasyāvyayasya ca
śāśvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya ca

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 
guṇatrayavibhāgayogo nāma caturdaśosdhyāyaha

Translation

26. And he, serving Me with unswerving devotion, and crossing beyond the GUNAS, is fit to become BRAHMAN.

27. For I am the Abode of BRAHMAN, the Immortal and the Immutable, of everlasting DHARMA and of Absolute Bliss.

Commentary

Being a practical text-book of religion, the Geeta is never satisfied by giving mere philosophical discourses. Every discourse, after explaining a definite aspect of our philosophy, prescribes immediately a way of training by which the imperfect can aspire to be and ultimately achieve Perfection.

HE WHO SERVES ME WITH UNSWERVING DEVOTION --- Love for God is called "devotion." Our minds revel readily and with pleasure wherever there is love. Our entire nature is fed by our thoughts, and, as the thoughts, so the mind. To contemplate steadily upon the Infinite Nature of the Self is, ultimately, to become the Self, and thus end our limited, mortal ego.

Contemplation upon the nature of the Lord in all sincerity and intensity cannot be maintained effectively at all times. As we are today, we are not capable of maintaining the mind in a state of meditation all the time. Therefore, Krishna, knowing this weakness of man, advises a practical method of maintaining this thought for a longer period of time through the process of dedicated service (seva). That all work, if intelligently undertaken in a spirit of dedication and service, can be readily converted into a worship, has already been explained in Chapter-III. This clearly and evidently shows that mere devotion to the Lord is not enough. The Gita Acharya expects his devotees to bring religion from the Pooja-rooms and temples to the fields of their every-day-life of activities and in all their contacts with others around.

Such a practice of constant God-awareness and dedicated service removes the agitations of the mind and tunes up the inner instrument for a more efficient flight through meditation. Tamas and Rajas get more and more reduced, and thereby the proportion of Sattwa in the seeker's subtle constitution increases. And such a seeker "IS FIT TO BECOME BRAHMAN." Such an individual who has gained a wealth of Sattwa in his inward composition will discover in himself a greater ability and poise during his meditation. The re-awakening to the consciousness of the Self cannot then be very far off.

Here, it is said that the seeker is fit for becoming Brahman. To realise Brahman is to become Brahman, to realise the waker, is to become the waker.

HOW CAN THE SAGE HIMSELF BE BRAHMAN? LISTEN:

In describing the Yoga of Devotion and its ultimate goal, the Geeta has already indicated: (XII-8) "YOU SHALL NO DOUBT LIVE IN ME THEREAFTER"; and the devotee, under the inspiration of his love, will forget himself as a separate individual, and his mind will merge with his point-of-contemplation, the Lord. In the previous stanza, we were told, "HE WHO SERVES ME WITH UNSWERVING YOGA-OF-DEVOTION", will steadily transcend his identification with his Matter-envelopments. To the extent the ego dies, to that extent the experience of the Divine can manifest. To retire from waking is to enter the hall-of-sleep; and while one is dozing, one is walking further and further away from the realm-of-wakefulness and proportionately entering the peaceful abode-of-sleep.

To leave completely one plane-of-Consciousness, is to enter entirely into another plane of Consciousness. The waker himself totally becomes the DREAMER and the DREAMER knows no waking-state. The DREAMER ends his dream when he either wakes up to the world or slides into the joys of peaceful slumber. There is no transaction across the frontiers of these distinct planes-of-Consciousness.

FOR, I AM THE ABODE OF BRAHMAN --- The Self that vitalises the seeker's bosom is the Pure Consciousness, that is the same everywhere, "IMMORTAL and IMMUTABLE, ETERNAL and BLISSFUL." To realise the Self within, is to realise the Infinite Self. To taste a piece of cake is to taste all cakes of all times and for all times, because the KNOWLEDGE OF the taste of cake is ever the same. In the realm of experience, if a meditator apprehends the Self in him, he at once experiences the Omnipresence of the Self. As long as a pot exists, the pot-space is seen distinct from the space around. Once the pot is broken, the pot-space itself becomes the unbounded space in the Universe; similarly, when life's false identifications with the body, mind and intellect are broken down --- in short, when the ego is dead, the Awareness of the Infinitude rises up to flood the bosom with THE ETERNAL DHARMA AND THE UNFAILING BLISS.

Shri Shankara, in his extremely rational and analytical commentary, gives for this stanza three alternative interpretations, each one not contrary to the others, but each one elucidating more and more the philosophical contents of this verse. Shankara says "BRAHMAN IS PARAMATMAN, IMMORTAL AND INDESTRUCTIBLE. HE ABIDES IN ME WHO AM THE SELF (PRATYAG-ATMAN). THAT BEING THE SELF, ONE RECOGNISES, BY RIGHT KNOWLEDGE, THE IDENTITY OF THE SELF IN ONESELF AND THE SELF EVERYWHERE."

Shankara gives an alternative meaning to the verse: "IT IS THROUGH THE POWER (MAYA) INHERENT IN BRAHMAN, AS ISHWARA, THAT HE SHOWS GRACE TO HIS DEVOTEES. I AM THAT POWER IN MANIFESTATION, AND THEREFORE, BRAHMAN AM I."

Again, as another alternative interpretation, he suggests a third meaning which, as we said earlier, is not contrary to the former two suggestions, but, in fact, paints in greater detail, the beauty of the stanza and its contents. "BY BRAHMAN IS MEANT HERE THE 'CONDITIONED-BRAHMAN'; WHO ALONE CAN BE SPOKEN OF BY SUCH WORD AS 'BRAHMAN'... CONDITIONED-BRAHMAN ALONE CAN BE CONCEIVED OF IN THE FINITE INTELLECT, PERCEIVED BY THE MIND AND EXPRESSED THROUGH LANGUAGE AS A CONTRAST TO MATTER. Here the term Brahman only means Spirit as opposed in nature to inert Matter. Thus, Matter and Spirit, both factors conceived by the limited intellect, are limited and so finite objects of knowledge. But both are known by the Consciousness, the Supreme. Therefore "I, THE UNCONDITIONED AND THE UNUTTERABLE, AM THE ABODE OF THE CONDITIONED-BRAHMAN, WHO IS IMMORTAL AND INDESTRUCTIBLE."

The Illuminator is always different from the illumined. The "subject" is the knower, and the "object" is the known. Krishna, the Infinite, represents the Eternal Subject, and therefore, He is the Abode of all "objects," including the concept of the Self which is the Spirit that vitalises and gives a similitude of sentiency and appearance of activity to all the Matter-envelopments. The conditioned Brahman (sa-upadhika) rests upon the Consciousness that is aware of it, which is the Unconditioned (nir-upadhika) Brahman.

In the following chapter (XV-16, 17 and 18) it will be explained as the three Atmans: Anatman, Jivatman and Paramatman.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA , in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the fourteenth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF GUNAS
Om Om Om Om Om

Source: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Introduction to Chapter XIV

CHAPTER XIV
The Gunas-(THE THREE MOODS)

We have been told so far that the Spirit, functioning through Matter, brings forth the expression of an individual who lives his experiences in the world. It is very well known to students of science that the world-of-Matter is the same everywhere. The minerals, the liquids and the gases --- each true to its own properties, is the same everywhere. The spiritual teachers of all times have uniformly declared that the vitalising principle in Matter is the Spirit, and this Spirit is universally the same everywhere. It is all-pervading and eternally dynamic. In short, we are told that when the One Truth expresses through a world-of-Matter --- which is also homogeneously the same --- the varieties that constitute the Universe arise --- obviously, this contains in itself an uncompromising paradox.
The above idea, expounded exhaustively in the previous chapter, does not provide us with any explanation for the innumerable varieties that we meet with in the world. There are evident distinctions in nature between the kingdom of plant and that of animal, and the world of man. Even within each species we observe a variety of specimens; no two species express the same features, either physical or mental. There is no explanation for the endless varieties, if we accept the idea that the One Spirit, enveloped in the same Matter, could produce such a heterogeneous multiplicity.

The explanation for the observed variety of experiences in life, has been indicated in haste in the earlier chapter. (XIII-22). "The Purusha, seated in Matter, experiences the gunas born of Matter." This, no doubt, gives us a truly scientific explanation as to why the same Spirit, when expressed through Matter, manifests Itself differently from expression to expression.

When the same Ganges water is poured into a hundred different bottles, each one will look different from the other, not because the waters are different but because of the shape and colour of each bottle. They are but qualities of the bottles, belonging to the glass-material of the bottles, and when the same sacred water is seen through the coloured bottles, the properties of the bottles get super-imposed upon the contents: the blue-water, the yellow-water, the red-water, the green-water etc. Similarly, the One Eternal Principle expresses Itself in the various matter equipments as different individuals, even though the elements that constitute Matter are one and the same everywhere --- due to the "gunas born of Prakriti."

The term guna, used in the dialectics of the Geeta, indicates not the 'properties' of a material but the 'attitude' with which the mind functions. The psychological being in everyone of us comes under the influence of three different "climatic conditions" prevalent in our bosom. These three are called the gunas: Unactivity (sattwa), Activity (rajas) and Inactivity (tamas).

These three, in different proportions, influence the mental and the intellectual caliber of every individual and these influences provide the distinct flavour in each personality. All three are always present in every bosom, but from man to man their proportion slightly differs; hence the distinct aroma in the character, conduct and behaviour of each individual.

The Geeta, being a discourse upon the Science-of-Self-perfection, has to be extremely logical in the development of the theme. We have been watching how, from chapter to chapter, the theme has been evolving, very systematically. Ideas hinted at in a previous chapter are taken up one by one in the following chapters for a thorough treatment and an exhaustive investigation. Dozens of fresh, regulated ideas are supplied at the right time to facilitate perfect digestion and right assimilation for the student's understanding. In the context of the theme-development in Geeta, this is the most appropriate occasion when the seeker must know precisely what are the nature and behaviour of these gunas. In the exhaustive discussions in this chapter we are introduced to each one of these gunas.

The three gunas function within each one of us, and therefore, each seeker must know the art of subjectively diagnosing them in himself. Diagnosis is generally accomplished through the observation of symptoms manifest in the patient. Symptomatic treatment is one of the methods of medical treatment. In this chapter. certain symptoms are enumerated by the Geeta-acharya and they indicate the preponderance of one or the other of the gunas in an individual.

Thus, a careful study of the chapter provides us with the secret capacity of detecting within ourselves the most powerful tendency that rises up to rule our mental life at any given moment. A seeker, who is sensitive enough to recognise the various influences under which he is forced to function from time to time in the world outside, will be able to discard all wrong impulses, immoral tendencies, unethical urges and animal passions, and keep himself safely balanced in righteous living, in self-control and in serene purity.

This chapter is an exhaustive hand-book of instructions explaining the working of the subtle body and providing us with some tips as to how we can re-adjust ourselves when the inner mechanism gets choked up and starts misfiring. If a man, totally ignorant of the behaviour and nature of the machine under the bonnet, were to drive a car wishing to make a long pilgrimage, he may not have a very pleasant journey if and when the engine starts mis-behaving. On the other hand, if he be an experienced driver, knowing the nature and behaviour of the engine, he can immediately stop the car, open the bonnet, readjust the machine and drive on towards the goal.

Many a seeker ends his brilliant and promising spiritual career because, on his way to self-perfection, he develops "engine trouble," and, not knowing why his mind behaves in the peculiar fashion, he gets victimised by lust or passion and suffers from the sorrows of his spiritual fall. A knowledge of this chapter assures us of a steady progress on our path, as it introduces us to the secret methods of the mind on all occasions. This chapter is very important for all seekers.

|| Chapter - 14 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta