॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Wednesday, 19 October 2022 III.27 - Bhagavan Kapila continues His spiritual instruction to His mother, Devahuti.
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Like me, you too will be struck by the concordance of instructions in this short chapter and the message of Bhagavan Sri Krishna in the Srimad Bhagavadgita. Many shlokas are so similar, using the exact words in many places. I share a scan of the entire chapter below for you to read and enjoy.
̨The cardinal idea in Sankhya philosophy is the eternity of Purusha and Prakriti, crudely translatable as spirit and matter. Without Purusha, there is no life. Without Prakriti, there is no creation. But what is the relationship between the two? What is meant by liberation?
Bhagavan Kapila explains.
Just as the sun, even when reflected in the rippling surface of the water, seems to shimmer and shake but is indeed constant and unaffected, the Purusha is immutable within Himself and can remain aloof from the forces of Prakriti. But in creation, he voluntarily gets caught up in Prakriti's play of the three Gunas, becoming the Jiva, and identifies Himself with the Guna-dominated existence of modifications, dualities and attachments. Thinking of "I" and "Mine", the Jiva (the conditioned Purusha) has to be reborn again and again to work out the accumulated Karma and Samskara. This cycle of birth and death and conditioned life every time is a dream-like experience for the unattached Atma who imagines he is bound and suffering the dualities just like the man thinks in his dream. The only way out for him is to make a real effort to get out of this bondage.
अत एव शनैश्चित्तं प्रसक्तमसतां पथि । भक्तियोगेन तीव्रेण विरक्त्या च नयेद्वशम् ॥
यमादिभिर्योगपथैरभ्यसन्श्रद्धयान्वित: । मयि भावेन सत्येन मत्कथाश्रवणेन च ॥
सर्वभूतसमत्वेन निर्वैरेणाप्रसङ्गत: । ब्रह्मचर्येण मौनेन स्वधर्मेण बलीयसा ॥
मन्यमानस्तदात्मानमनष्टो नष्टवन्मृषा । नष्टेऽहङ्करणे द्रष्टा नष्टवित्त इवातुर: ॥
T: "Thus the Jiva should by degrees withdraw the mind from the path of attachments. Intense Bhakti Yoga and the assiduous practice of self-abnegation will help in controlling the mind. Through the dedicated practice of Yoga with its components of Yama (self-control) and so on, combined with meditating on the Lord and listening to the stories of His avataras and Lilas, the mind will become regulated."
"Slowly, the sense of duality dissolves, making one free from love and hate towards individual beings. One should be balanced in one's response to all beings and things around, with abstinence from sex and other lower tendencies, and performing sincere service in one's chosen field (स्वधर्म) with all the power at one's command."
"Then what happens is similar to the case of a man who, in his dream, mourns any loss of fortune. But on waking up, the man is nonchalant because he now knows it was just a dream. Similarly. the Jiva will lose his sense of pain caused by material losses and setbacks in this world. Through this, the false ego is replaced by true self-awareness as the Witness or Seer."
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Devahuti has a pertinent question. Why and how does Prakriti ever release the Purusha from her clutches? After all, she wants the play to go on forever! Can the earth and its fragrance, water and its taste, and intelligence and consciousness, be ever separated mutually? Even if the Jiva thinks he is only the Witness, he will continue to be bound and experience life's dualities imposed by Prakriti! Is this not so? Can fear be got rid of by mere mental speculation? The cause of bondage seems thus irremovable!
Bhagavan Kapila loves this question and replies that the answer is to make one's work one's worship of the Lord.
श्रीभगवानुवाच
अनिमित्तनिमित्तेन स्वधर्मेणामलात्मना । तीव्रया मयि भक्त्या च श्रुतसम्भृतया चिरम् ॥
एवं विदिततत्त्वस्य प्रकृतिर्मयि मानसम् । युञ्जतो नापकुरुत आत्मारामस्य कर्हिचित् ॥
यदैवमध्यात्मरत: कालेन बहुजन्मना । सर्वत्र जातवैराग्य आब्रह्मभुवनान्मुनि: ॥
T: The Bhagavan spoke: "Combined with a pure attitude, performing ceaseless and intense devoted service through Svadharma to the Lord and revelling in His glories will establish a crystal clear understanding of what is eternal and what is transitory. A Jiva who has attained this understanding cannot be harmed by Prakriti. His exulting in his own pure Atma cannot be shaken. Engaged thus for long years, birth after birth, such an advanced seeker loses any craving for any enjoyments, even if it is the highest heaven of Brahmaloka."
मद्भक्त: प्रतिबुद्धार्थो मत्प्रसादेन भूयसा । नि:श्रेयसं स्वसंस्थानं कैवल्याख्यं मदाश्रयम् ॥
प्राप्नोतीहाञ्जसा धीर: स्वदृशाच्छिन्नसंशय: । यद्गत्वा न निवर्तेत योगी लिङ्गाद्विनिर्गमे ॥
T:" My devotee attains self-realization by My boundless compassion. He attains the most exalted state of Kaivalya, under My protection, which is the Atma's abiding destination. All his bonds and doubts are gone. When he leaves this body in such an exalted state, he does not return to the birth-death cycle ever."
"Mother, you have raised your question about insecurity and fear in this existence of bondage of the Purusha as Jiva under the force of Prakriti. Let me tell you that such a perfect soul as the Yogi I have described now has neither an attraction for mystical Siddhis (which are another way for Prakriti to extend her hold) nor does he have any fear, and even death cannot overcome him."
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
