Bg 15.5
nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā
adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ
dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṁjñair
gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat
Bg 15.6
na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ
yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama
Translation
5. Free from pride and delusion, victorious over the evil of attachment, dwelling constantly in the Self, their desires having completely retired, freed from the pairs-of-opposites --- such as pleasure and pain --- the undeluded reach that Goal Eternal.
6. Nor does the Sun shine there, nor the moon, nor fire; to which having gone they return not; that is My Supreme Abode.
Commentary
Philosophy, in India, is something to live and to practise. Ultimately, it is fulfilled only when we come to experience its goal. It is natural, therefore, that in our scriptures and spiritual text-books, we find a wealth of instructions and elaborate discussions on the theories of Perfection. This stanza is a typical example of the detailed instructions supplied to guide the adventurous seekers trying to follow the "path." Five conditions are explained herein which are nothing but certain disciplines, adjustments, and re-education of the vehicles of life; and Krishna concludes that those who have accomplished these shall reach the Divine experience and live a life enjoying a sense of supreme fulfilment.
FREE FROM PRIDE AND DELUSION --- Both these qualities of pride and delusion indicate a false, exaggerated estimate, of one-self and of others. Erroneous estimate of one's own importance is called pride and it brings about an enormous amount of heavy responsibilities upon oneself to maintain it. There is no time thereafter to cultivate oneself, or to seek knowledge, or to get truly educated. Similarly, error in judgement regarding things and beings, happenings and situations, in the world outside, is called DELUSION. It makes us live in a false world of our own imagination without actually facing the immediate problems around us, as they really are.
WITH THE EVIL OF ATTACHMENT CONQUERED --- To live in the flesh, seeking our life's fulfilment only in the joy derived from our contact with the sense-objects in the world around us, is to live in the outer layer, cheating ourselves entirely of life's deeper possibilities. Such an ignorant fool gets extremely attached to the objects of the world, and once this attachment has grown, all his attentions in life will be irresistibly turned towards those objects. Shackled by them, ever dancing to their rhythm of change and destruction, he comes to lay waste his powers, without ever realising the nobler purpose of the Life-Divine.
EVER DWELLING IN THE SELF --- Detachment from the world-of-objects is never possible without attaching ourselves to something nobler and diviner. The human mind-intellect-equipment can exist only in the positive contemplation of some object. It cannot remain in a void of not contemplating anything. For example, from tomorrow onwards, let us determine NOT to think of a bald-headed man, let us say, as soon as we wake up; it is absolutely certain that the following morning, the very first thing which we will remember will be a bald-head. But supposing we give the mind a positive point to contemplate upon, "Narayana-Narayana," we shall find that the mind has totally avoided the thought. In the same way, in order that the mind may not have the evil attachment in it, it should live in a spirit of contemplation upon the Self.
THEIR DESIRES COMPLETELY AT REST --- Desire is the function of the intellect. When the intellect desires, the mind starts contemplating upon the desired objects; as the desire, so the thoughts. Therefore, the intellect should be disciplined not to desire the finite joys arising out of the ephemeral sense-objects of the world. When the desires have ended, the mind becomes still.
RELEASED FROM THE PAIRS-OF-OPPOSITES, LIKE PLEASURE AND PAIN --- When the body comes in contact with a sense-object, it is the mind that comes to experience, as it were, the final result of the contact as pleasure or pain. Once the mind starts recognising this pair, then it is natural for it to revolt against 'pain' and instinctively seek 'pleasure.' Unfortunately, in this mad onrush of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, there is no stability, for the very things that constituted joys yesterday, prove to be sources of sorrow today. To cater to the whims and fancies of such an unsteady entity is to barter away our chances to bring about any cultural unfoldment in ourselves.
And the stanza concludes by a positive and optimistic declaration, having in its force and style, the vehemence of a commandment, when it says, "THE UNDELUDED REACH THAT GOAL-ETERNAL." Consciousness expressed through Matter-vehicles is the miserable man, torn by his own stresses and strains; and the same Consciousness, gathered from these vehicles and experienced as such, is the Divine moment of Infinite realisation.
THE GOAL IS AGAIN CLEARLY SPECIFIED THUS:
Consecutively, in the two previous stanzas, it was repeatedly asserted that the goal sought in spiritual life is one, "HAVING ATTAINED WHICH THERE IS NO RETURN EVER." The very same idea, that Perfection gained is an irrevocable fact and that there is no more any fear of return to the natural stupidities of a limited ego-centric life, is being emphasised in this stanza also. Repetition is a method of emphasis in all scriptural literature. No doubt, this method is not used everywhere. Wherever logic is available, ideas are nailed in by logical reasonings. but there are realms, into which the teacher alone has admission in the beginning and not the student-class, and therefore, the Rishis had no other go but to repeatedly assert for our acceptance, the nature and condition of the unknown experience of the Infinite.
This glorious State-of-Perfection is the Goal which almost all stanzas in the Geeta consistently indicate and though it is an Absolute State, here an honest attempt is being made to describe It in terms of finite phenomena.
NEITHER SUN, NOR MOON, NOR FIRE ILLUMINES THAT --- Herein are enumerated almost all the sources-of-light, blessed by which the physical eyes experience vision. To see a thing is to know it; and in order that the organ-of-vision might use its power of seeing, it is not only sufficient that objects are in front of the sense-organ, but they must also be bathed in light. In the medium of light alone can the eyes see forms and colours. Again, not only do the eyes perceive; but the ears pick up sounds, the nose the smell, the tongue the tastes, and the skin the touch. Each instrument perceives its objects. Even this is not all. We can perceive our feelings and also our ideas. The 'light' in which we thus perceive all our sense-objects, all our emotions, and all our thoughts, is the Light of Consciousness by which alone we become AWARE of all our experiences.
This Light of Consciousness cannot be illumined by the gross sources of light available in the world outside, such as the Sun, the Moon or the Fire. In fact the very light of the Sun, or the Moon, or the Fire is an 'object' of our Consciousness; we are constantly conscious of it. An OBJECT of perception cannot illumine the SUBJECT that perceives it --- the SUBJECT and the OBJECT cannot be at any time one and the same. The AWARENESS by which we come to experience all our life's joys and sorrows is the Eternal Self, and to realise that Consciousness is indicated as the Supreme Goal by the Geeta.
THAT IS MY SUPREME ABODE --- This State of Consciousness into which we can rise on transcending the agitations of the mind and intellect is described here as the Abode of the Divine, the Dwelling Place Supreme, wherein we can confidently make an appointment with Truth and "meet" the Infinite!
Utilitarians as we are, certainly all seekers will doubt whether the experience of Truth is worth having at such a tremendous effort. Is there not a risk of our falling back into our present confusions and getting deluded by a finite pain-ridden world of plurality? This fear is allayed and the seekers are assured, for the third time continuously in this stanza, when Krishna qualifies, "MY SUPREME ABODE" as one "TO WHICH HAVING GONE NONE RETURNS."
It is an experienced fact that when one has mastered a knowledge, it is almost impossible for one to make any more mistakes in it; to a great musician, to sing deliberately out of tune, in disharmonious notes, is as difficult as it is for a beginner to sing correctly. Having known a language, to talk ungrammatically is as difficult as it is for the illiterate to talk correctly. If, in the imperfect world of imperfect knowledge, a cultured man, educated and artistic, cannot easily fall back to the levels of the uncivilised and the illiterate, how much more must it be an impossible act for the Perfect to come back and fall into the earlier confusions which are created by 'ignorance'!
This is one of the rarest stanzas in the religious literature of the world which, in so simple a style, has indicated, so exhaustively, the Unconditioned-Pure-Self, the Infinite-Reality. In Hinduism, it has always been emphasised that there is a continuity of existence after death and an individual continues his biography in a new embodiment under a new set of environments. The individuality, thus undergoing experiences of birth and death repeatedly, is called the Jiva, or the embodied-self. This Jiva is the Eternal Light of Consciousness, playing upon, and SEEMINGLY conditioned by, the subtle-body, constituted of the mind-intellect equipment.
In short, death is only a phenomenon, wherein a given subtle-body changes its physical-equipment, seeking 'fresh fields and pastures new' for its expression and expansion. This process is not the reaching of the Infinite; for, 'MY ABODE' IS THAT 'WHEREIN HAVING GONE THERE IS NO RETURN.'
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā
adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ
dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṁjñair
gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat
Bg 15.6
na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ
yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama
Translation
5. Free from pride and delusion, victorious over the evil of attachment, dwelling constantly in the Self, their desires having completely retired, freed from the pairs-of-opposites --- such as pleasure and pain --- the undeluded reach that Goal Eternal.
6. Nor does the Sun shine there, nor the moon, nor fire; to which having gone they return not; that is My Supreme Abode.
Commentary
Philosophy, in India, is something to live and to practise. Ultimately, it is fulfilled only when we come to experience its goal. It is natural, therefore, that in our scriptures and spiritual text-books, we find a wealth of instructions and elaborate discussions on the theories of Perfection. This stanza is a typical example of the detailed instructions supplied to guide the adventurous seekers trying to follow the "path." Five conditions are explained herein which are nothing but certain disciplines, adjustments, and re-education of the vehicles of life; and Krishna concludes that those who have accomplished these shall reach the Divine experience and live a life enjoying a sense of supreme fulfilment.
FREE FROM PRIDE AND DELUSION --- Both these qualities of pride and delusion indicate a false, exaggerated estimate, of one-self and of others. Erroneous estimate of one's own importance is called pride and it brings about an enormous amount of heavy responsibilities upon oneself to maintain it. There is no time thereafter to cultivate oneself, or to seek knowledge, or to get truly educated. Similarly, error in judgement regarding things and beings, happenings and situations, in the world outside, is called DELUSION. It makes us live in a false world of our own imagination without actually facing the immediate problems around us, as they really are.
WITH THE EVIL OF ATTACHMENT CONQUERED --- To live in the flesh, seeking our life's fulfilment only in the joy derived from our contact with the sense-objects in the world around us, is to live in the outer layer, cheating ourselves entirely of life's deeper possibilities. Such an ignorant fool gets extremely attached to the objects of the world, and once this attachment has grown, all his attentions in life will be irresistibly turned towards those objects. Shackled by them, ever dancing to their rhythm of change and destruction, he comes to lay waste his powers, without ever realising the nobler purpose of the Life-Divine.
EVER DWELLING IN THE SELF --- Detachment from the world-of-objects is never possible without attaching ourselves to something nobler and diviner. The human mind-intellect-equipment can exist only in the positive contemplation of some object. It cannot remain in a void of not contemplating anything. For example, from tomorrow onwards, let us determine NOT to think of a bald-headed man, let us say, as soon as we wake up; it is absolutely certain that the following morning, the very first thing which we will remember will be a bald-head. But supposing we give the mind a positive point to contemplate upon, "Narayana-Narayana," we shall find that the mind has totally avoided the thought. In the same way, in order that the mind may not have the evil attachment in it, it should live in a spirit of contemplation upon the Self.
THEIR DESIRES COMPLETELY AT REST --- Desire is the function of the intellect. When the intellect desires, the mind starts contemplating upon the desired objects; as the desire, so the thoughts. Therefore, the intellect should be disciplined not to desire the finite joys arising out of the ephemeral sense-objects of the world. When the desires have ended, the mind becomes still.
RELEASED FROM THE PAIRS-OF-OPPOSITES, LIKE PLEASURE AND PAIN --- When the body comes in contact with a sense-object, it is the mind that comes to experience, as it were, the final result of the contact as pleasure or pain. Once the mind starts recognising this pair, then it is natural for it to revolt against 'pain' and instinctively seek 'pleasure.' Unfortunately, in this mad onrush of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, there is no stability, for the very things that constituted joys yesterday, prove to be sources of sorrow today. To cater to the whims and fancies of such an unsteady entity is to barter away our chances to bring about any cultural unfoldment in ourselves.
And the stanza concludes by a positive and optimistic declaration, having in its force and style, the vehemence of a commandment, when it says, "THE UNDELUDED REACH THAT GOAL-ETERNAL." Consciousness expressed through Matter-vehicles is the miserable man, torn by his own stresses and strains; and the same Consciousness, gathered from these vehicles and experienced as such, is the Divine moment of Infinite realisation.
THE GOAL IS AGAIN CLEARLY SPECIFIED THUS:
Consecutively, in the two previous stanzas, it was repeatedly asserted that the goal sought in spiritual life is one, "HAVING ATTAINED WHICH THERE IS NO RETURN EVER." The very same idea, that Perfection gained is an irrevocable fact and that there is no more any fear of return to the natural stupidities of a limited ego-centric life, is being emphasised in this stanza also. Repetition is a method of emphasis in all scriptural literature. No doubt, this method is not used everywhere. Wherever logic is available, ideas are nailed in by logical reasonings. but there are realms, into which the teacher alone has admission in the beginning and not the student-class, and therefore, the Rishis had no other go but to repeatedly assert for our acceptance, the nature and condition of the unknown experience of the Infinite.
This glorious State-of-Perfection is the Goal which almost all stanzas in the Geeta consistently indicate and though it is an Absolute State, here an honest attempt is being made to describe It in terms of finite phenomena.
NEITHER SUN, NOR MOON, NOR FIRE ILLUMINES THAT --- Herein are enumerated almost all the sources-of-light, blessed by which the physical eyes experience vision. To see a thing is to know it; and in order that the organ-of-vision might use its power of seeing, it is not only sufficient that objects are in front of the sense-organ, but they must also be bathed in light. In the medium of light alone can the eyes see forms and colours. Again, not only do the eyes perceive; but the ears pick up sounds, the nose the smell, the tongue the tastes, and the skin the touch. Each instrument perceives its objects. Even this is not all. We can perceive our feelings and also our ideas. The 'light' in which we thus perceive all our sense-objects, all our emotions, and all our thoughts, is the Light of Consciousness by which alone we become AWARE of all our experiences.
This Light of Consciousness cannot be illumined by the gross sources of light available in the world outside, such as the Sun, the Moon or the Fire. In fact the very light of the Sun, or the Moon, or the Fire is an 'object' of our Consciousness; we are constantly conscious of it. An OBJECT of perception cannot illumine the SUBJECT that perceives it --- the SUBJECT and the OBJECT cannot be at any time one and the same. The AWARENESS by which we come to experience all our life's joys and sorrows is the Eternal Self, and to realise that Consciousness is indicated as the Supreme Goal by the Geeta.
THAT IS MY SUPREME ABODE --- This State of Consciousness into which we can rise on transcending the agitations of the mind and intellect is described here as the Abode of the Divine, the Dwelling Place Supreme, wherein we can confidently make an appointment with Truth and "meet" the Infinite!
Utilitarians as we are, certainly all seekers will doubt whether the experience of Truth is worth having at such a tremendous effort. Is there not a risk of our falling back into our present confusions and getting deluded by a finite pain-ridden world of plurality? This fear is allayed and the seekers are assured, for the third time continuously in this stanza, when Krishna qualifies, "MY SUPREME ABODE" as one "TO WHICH HAVING GONE NONE RETURNS."
It is an experienced fact that when one has mastered a knowledge, it is almost impossible for one to make any more mistakes in it; to a great musician, to sing deliberately out of tune, in disharmonious notes, is as difficult as it is for a beginner to sing correctly. Having known a language, to talk ungrammatically is as difficult as it is for the illiterate to talk correctly. If, in the imperfect world of imperfect knowledge, a cultured man, educated and artistic, cannot easily fall back to the levels of the uncivilised and the illiterate, how much more must it be an impossible act for the Perfect to come back and fall into the earlier confusions which are created by 'ignorance'!
This is one of the rarest stanzas in the religious literature of the world which, in so simple a style, has indicated, so exhaustively, the Unconditioned-Pure-Self, the Infinite-Reality. In Hinduism, it has always been emphasised that there is a continuity of existence after death and an individual continues his biography in a new embodiment under a new set of environments. The individuality, thus undergoing experiences of birth and death repeatedly, is called the Jiva, or the embodied-self. This Jiva is the Eternal Light of Consciousness, playing upon, and SEEMINGLY conditioned by, the subtle-body, constituted of the mind-intellect equipment.
In short, death is only a phenomenon, wherein a given subtle-body changes its physical-equipment, seeking 'fresh fields and pastures new' for its expression and expansion. This process is not the reaching of the Infinite; for, 'MY ABODE' IS THAT 'WHEREIN HAVING GONE THERE IS NO RETURN.'
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
No comments:
Post a Comment