Aplogies for the long break, which was caused by a whole lot of personal/family activities. Now I am back in the saddle!
Bg 13.29
samaṁ paśyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam īśvaram
na hinasty ātmanātmānaṁ tato yāti parāṁ gatim
Bg 13.30
prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ
yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāraṁ sa paśyati
Bg 13.31
yadā bhūta-pṛthag-bhāvam eka-stham anupaśyati
tata eva ca vistāraṁ brahma sampadyate tadā
Translation
29. Indeed, he who sees the same Lord everywhere equally dwelling, destroys not the Self by the Self; therefore, he goes to the Highest Goal.
30. He sees, who sees that all actions are performed by PRAKRITI alone, and that the Self is actionless.
31. When he (man) sees the whole variety-of-beings, as resting in the One, and spreading forth from That (One) alone, he then becomes BRAHMAN.
Commentary
Vedanta preaches not so much the negation of the world, as the re-evaluation of things, beings and happenings constituting the world. Generally we perceive our own pet ideas and emotions, coloured by our unsteady understanding and changing emotions. To see the world, not through these equipments, but with the clear eye of wisdom, is to recognise perfection and bliss, divinity and sanctity in the very drab and dreary world of today, amidst its very sorrows and ugliness. Erroneous perception of the Reality, through maladjusted equipments, is the perception of the world, which, in its turn is throttling the individual perceiving it.
When the Pure Consciousness looks upon Itself through the refracting medium of matter envelopments, It perceives, as it were, a world-of-plurality, and the pluralistic world grins and dances, whistles, shrieks and howls --- ever ugly, stinking and sweating --- according to the maddening changes that take place in the very equipments (FIELD) through which the ego (KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD) happens to gaze. To re-discover the spiritual Reality, the Supreme Lord, in and through this horrid welter of change and sorrow is to end all our agitations and unprofitable aims and exertions, "FOR HE SEES THE LORD DWELLING IN EVERY PLACE ALIKE." Such an individual, in his own experienced wisdom, no more suffers from sorrow or fear. When the post is realised, the dread created by the ghost is ended.
HE DESTROYS NOT THE SELF BY THE SELF --- Earlier the Lord has explained when exactly the self becomes the enemy of the Self (VI-5 & 6). Whenever the lower ego-centric individuality is not available for sure guidance by the Higher-Principle-of-Wisdom in ourselves, the lower becomes our enemy. When a vehicle is no more under our control, it will cease to be of any service to us and becomes, as it were, an engine of destruction. Similarly, when the lower in us is not available for the guidance of the Higher, the former turns out to be an enemy of the latter. And in an individual who recognises and experiences the one Parameshwara that revels everywhere, the lower cannot fight against or shadow any longer the glory of the Higher.
THEREFORE HE GOES TO THE HIGHEST GOAL --- The true nature of the Self remains undiscovered due to the non-apprehension of Reality (ajnana), or due to the mis-apprehension (mithya jnana) arising out of the non-apprehension. The non-apprehension of the one Parameshwara everywhere, makes an individual act in the world in a way which renders him incapable of appreciating the glory of the Self in all other living beings. Thus, he becomes a source of sorrow to the community of living beings around him. The non-apprehension (ajnana) creates a veil because of which, not only do we not recognise the one Eternal Divine everywhere, but we also identify ourselves with the body and the mind, and behave as though they alone are real; in consequence, sensuality, materialistic pursuits, and selfish satisfactions become the only worthwhile objects or pursuits in our life, which we destroy for ourselves and others. The state an individual gains when both these, non-apprehension (ajnana) and mis-apprehension (mithya-jnana) are ended, is that Absolute experience, the experience of the Highest Goal, and therefore, "HE GOES TO THE HIGHEST."
INDIVIDUALS ACT DIFFERENTLY, AND THEREFORE, THE PARAMESHWARA, PLAYING BEHIND EACH INDIVIDUAL MUST BE A SEPARATE SELF. TO CONTRADICT THIS CONCEPT OF PLURALITY IN THE SELF, IT IS SAID:
If a caravan of motor vehicles, manufactured by different companies, with different horse-powers, at different periods of history, is put on the road, the performance of each vehicle will be unique. We cannot conclude therefrom that the petrol in each vehicle is of different typical potencies. The same electrical energy illumines different electric bulbs, manifesting different intensities of incandescence at different points. The electricity is one; the petrol is one; and yet the performance of the cars and the light manifested in the bulbs are different from equipment to equipment because of the very quality of the equipments. This analogy can explain the wonderful idea expressed in this stanza.
PRAKRITI ALONE PERFORMS ALL ACTIONS --- Matter is the equipment that orders the types of action that should manifest. If the mind is bad, the life expressed through it will also be bad. All actions are according to the types of desires entertained by the intellect. Thus, in the presence of Spirit, the "equipments" (Prakriti) function, and the Self (Atman), functioning in the "Field," called the "Knower-of-the-Field" (Purusha), acts in the world outside. When the "Knower-of-the-Field" leaves the "Field," there is no more any activity in the "Field," nor is there any activity for the Self Itself.
THE SELF IS ACTIONLESS (NOT ACTING) --- The Self is all-pervading, perfect and, as such, there is no desire in It. And where desires have ended, actions are impossible. In the Infinite, there is no action, and the very many reasons as to why there is no action in the Self, will be described presently (XIII-32).
He who is capable of recognising how his own vehicles function and realising that the Self in him is ever actionless, is alone the right perceiver, who is recognising and experiencing the "IMPERISHABLE AMIDST THE PERISHABLE." "HE SEES WHO SEES." The manifestations of individuals are different from person to person because of the differences in the composition and make-up of the various equipments (upadhis), and, when they are destroyed, all differences merge to express the one Infinite experience, the Supreme Lord.
WHILE EXPLAINING THE SELF, AS THE SOURCE-OF-ALL-BEINGS, THE LORD INDICATES THE STATE OF A MAN WHO CAN DECLARE THAT HE HAS HAD FULL EXPERIENCE OF THE INFINITE ONE:
A scientific investigation is complete only when the phenomenon intellectually analysed, is applied physically and brought within the limits of our observation.
When one has understood that the atoms are the physical units of matter, one must also realise at once that these atoms in different combinations of numbers and patterns create the world of infinite forms and qualities. Similarly, to know that the Self is the Ultimate Truth behind the names and forms, is, in itself, only a partial knowledge. The complete understanding of Life can arise only when we, at once, understand how from the Self the endless multiplicity of names and forms rise up and spread to become the Universe.
Just as in our understanding we can comprehend all the waves as inherent in the ocean, so too, a man of right understanding can recognise "THE SEPARATE EXISTENCE OF ALL BEINGS IN THE ONE." Once having understood the ocean, we do realise how the numberless waves rise from that one ocean; so too a man of right understanding also realises "THE EXPANSION OF PLURALITY FROM THAT ONE ALONE." Such moments of complete understanding, wherein the Man-of-Wisdom experiences the One Self within and without --- enveloping and embracing, penetrating and nourishing not only the depthless and the measureless Infinite, but also the superficial world of pluralistic names and forms --- are the sacred moments when he has "BECOME BRAHMAN."
The Self alone can recognise the Self. He who is recognising the one homogeneous Self, he who is experiencing that the Consciousness in him is one with the homogeneous-mass-Consciousness everywhere, and he who also understands how on his coming into the body awareness, the world-of-plurality throws the mantle of its magic upon the fair face of the Infinite and makes It look ugly with all its perishable names and forms --- such a person is of "True Wisdom" and "Right Perception." At that moment, he has himself transcended his own equipments and has come to identify himself with the One-Consciousness-everywhere.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
Bg 13.29
samaṁ paśyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam īśvaram
na hinasty ātmanātmānaṁ tato yāti parāṁ gatim
Bg 13.30
prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ
yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāraṁ sa paśyati
Bg 13.31
yadā bhūta-pṛthag-bhāvam eka-stham anupaśyati
tata eva ca vistāraṁ brahma sampadyate tadā
Translation
29. Indeed, he who sees the same Lord everywhere equally dwelling, destroys not the Self by the Self; therefore, he goes to the Highest Goal.
30. He sees, who sees that all actions are performed by PRAKRITI alone, and that the Self is actionless.
31. When he (man) sees the whole variety-of-beings, as resting in the One, and spreading forth from That (One) alone, he then becomes BRAHMAN.
Commentary
Vedanta preaches not so much the negation of the world, as the re-evaluation of things, beings and happenings constituting the world. Generally we perceive our own pet ideas and emotions, coloured by our unsteady understanding and changing emotions. To see the world, not through these equipments, but with the clear eye of wisdom, is to recognise perfection and bliss, divinity and sanctity in the very drab and dreary world of today, amidst its very sorrows and ugliness. Erroneous perception of the Reality, through maladjusted equipments, is the perception of the world, which, in its turn is throttling the individual perceiving it.
When the Pure Consciousness looks upon Itself through the refracting medium of matter envelopments, It perceives, as it were, a world-of-plurality, and the pluralistic world grins and dances, whistles, shrieks and howls --- ever ugly, stinking and sweating --- according to the maddening changes that take place in the very equipments (FIELD) through which the ego (KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD) happens to gaze. To re-discover the spiritual Reality, the Supreme Lord, in and through this horrid welter of change and sorrow is to end all our agitations and unprofitable aims and exertions, "FOR HE SEES THE LORD DWELLING IN EVERY PLACE ALIKE." Such an individual, in his own experienced wisdom, no more suffers from sorrow or fear. When the post is realised, the dread created by the ghost is ended.
HE DESTROYS NOT THE SELF BY THE SELF --- Earlier the Lord has explained when exactly the self becomes the enemy of the Self (VI-5 & 6). Whenever the lower ego-centric individuality is not available for sure guidance by the Higher-Principle-of-Wisdom in ourselves, the lower becomes our enemy. When a vehicle is no more under our control, it will cease to be of any service to us and becomes, as it were, an engine of destruction. Similarly, when the lower in us is not available for the guidance of the Higher, the former turns out to be an enemy of the latter. And in an individual who recognises and experiences the one Parameshwara that revels everywhere, the lower cannot fight against or shadow any longer the glory of the Higher.
THEREFORE HE GOES TO THE HIGHEST GOAL --- The true nature of the Self remains undiscovered due to the non-apprehension of Reality (ajnana), or due to the mis-apprehension (mithya jnana) arising out of the non-apprehension. The non-apprehension of the one Parameshwara everywhere, makes an individual act in the world in a way which renders him incapable of appreciating the glory of the Self in all other living beings. Thus, he becomes a source of sorrow to the community of living beings around him. The non-apprehension (ajnana) creates a veil because of which, not only do we not recognise the one Eternal Divine everywhere, but we also identify ourselves with the body and the mind, and behave as though they alone are real; in consequence, sensuality, materialistic pursuits, and selfish satisfactions become the only worthwhile objects or pursuits in our life, which we destroy for ourselves and others. The state an individual gains when both these, non-apprehension (ajnana) and mis-apprehension (mithya-jnana) are ended, is that Absolute experience, the experience of the Highest Goal, and therefore, "HE GOES TO THE HIGHEST."
INDIVIDUALS ACT DIFFERENTLY, AND THEREFORE, THE PARAMESHWARA, PLAYING BEHIND EACH INDIVIDUAL MUST BE A SEPARATE SELF. TO CONTRADICT THIS CONCEPT OF PLURALITY IN THE SELF, IT IS SAID:
If a caravan of motor vehicles, manufactured by different companies, with different horse-powers, at different periods of history, is put on the road, the performance of each vehicle will be unique. We cannot conclude therefrom that the petrol in each vehicle is of different typical potencies. The same electrical energy illumines different electric bulbs, manifesting different intensities of incandescence at different points. The electricity is one; the petrol is one; and yet the performance of the cars and the light manifested in the bulbs are different from equipment to equipment because of the very quality of the equipments. This analogy can explain the wonderful idea expressed in this stanza.
PRAKRITI ALONE PERFORMS ALL ACTIONS --- Matter is the equipment that orders the types of action that should manifest. If the mind is bad, the life expressed through it will also be bad. All actions are according to the types of desires entertained by the intellect. Thus, in the presence of Spirit, the "equipments" (Prakriti) function, and the Self (Atman), functioning in the "Field," called the "Knower-of-the-Field" (Purusha), acts in the world outside. When the "Knower-of-the-Field" leaves the "Field," there is no more any activity in the "Field," nor is there any activity for the Self Itself.
THE SELF IS ACTIONLESS (NOT ACTING) --- The Self is all-pervading, perfect and, as such, there is no desire in It. And where desires have ended, actions are impossible. In the Infinite, there is no action, and the very many reasons as to why there is no action in the Self, will be described presently (XIII-32).
He who is capable of recognising how his own vehicles function and realising that the Self in him is ever actionless, is alone the right perceiver, who is recognising and experiencing the "IMPERISHABLE AMIDST THE PERISHABLE." "HE SEES WHO SEES." The manifestations of individuals are different from person to person because of the differences in the composition and make-up of the various equipments (upadhis), and, when they are destroyed, all differences merge to express the one Infinite experience, the Supreme Lord.
WHILE EXPLAINING THE SELF, AS THE SOURCE-OF-ALL-BEINGS, THE LORD INDICATES THE STATE OF A MAN WHO CAN DECLARE THAT HE HAS HAD FULL EXPERIENCE OF THE INFINITE ONE:
A scientific investigation is complete only when the phenomenon intellectually analysed, is applied physically and brought within the limits of our observation.
When one has understood that the atoms are the physical units of matter, one must also realise at once that these atoms in different combinations of numbers and patterns create the world of infinite forms and qualities. Similarly, to know that the Self is the Ultimate Truth behind the names and forms, is, in itself, only a partial knowledge. The complete understanding of Life can arise only when we, at once, understand how from the Self the endless multiplicity of names and forms rise up and spread to become the Universe.
Just as in our understanding we can comprehend all the waves as inherent in the ocean, so too, a man of right understanding can recognise "THE SEPARATE EXISTENCE OF ALL BEINGS IN THE ONE." Once having understood the ocean, we do realise how the numberless waves rise from that one ocean; so too a man of right understanding also realises "THE EXPANSION OF PLURALITY FROM THAT ONE ALONE." Such moments of complete understanding, wherein the Man-of-Wisdom experiences the One Self within and without --- enveloping and embracing, penetrating and nourishing not only the depthless and the measureless Infinite, but also the superficial world of pluralistic names and forms --- are the sacred moments when he has "BECOME BRAHMAN."
The Self alone can recognise the Self. He who is recognising the one homogeneous Self, he who is experiencing that the Consciousness in him is one with the homogeneous-mass-Consciousness everywhere, and he who also understands how on his coming into the body awareness, the world-of-plurality throws the mantle of its magic upon the fair face of the Infinite and makes It look ugly with all its perishable names and forms --- such a person is of "True Wisdom" and "Right Perception." At that moment, he has himself transcended his own equipments and has come to identify himself with the One-Consciousness-everywhere.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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