The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita - 4.3. Swami Krishnananda

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19/03/2020.
Chapter 4: The Struggle for the Infinite - 3.
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1.

#Anything that is finite materially or conceptually urges itself forward to overcome its finitude by an entry into another finitude, under the impression that when the finitudes join together they make the Infinite. That is why we love objects with the notion that two objects coming together will abolish the finitude of objects. 

*But that does not happen, because two finites do not make the Infinite.

##Even a million finites cannot make the Infinite, because the Infinite is a transcendent reality which cannot be described by characters that describe the finite, and it is not a quantity which can be measured by mathematical laws. 

*But our senses work through the space-time mathematics. The argument of logic is mathematical ultimately.

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2.

#While we are sunk in this mire of phenomenality and this abyss of muddled understanding, we try to entertain a spiritual aspiration, a desire to overcome the world, which is conditioned by the world. Our longing to overcome the finitude of the world, the finitude of life, is directed by the finitude of the world itself. We are moving in a vicious circle, a merry-go-round, coming to the same point again and again, never getting out of the ruts of things. 

*Arjuna’s arguments were arguments in a vicious circle. 

**We love God for a purpose which is connected with this world. The desire to transcend the world of sorrow and to overcome the finitude of bodily existence is at the back of love for the Infinite. 

***We appear to be longing for the Infinite for the sake of the justification of the finite, a confirmation of our longings which the senses regard as real. And social values, psychic and bodily values, become the conditioning factors of even the idea of God-realisation. 

*****We seem to be loving God for the sake of people, for the sake of the world of Nature, for the sake of our egoistic satisfactions. Arjuna, in a wondrous manner, desisted from the battle of life, which is nothing but a battle with the world of every kind of relationship, personal or otherwise.

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3.

#Now, the most difficult thing to understand is the significance of ‘relation’. 

##We are accustomed to this word many a time. “I am related to you, you are related to me, I am your brother, you are my brother.” This is a kind of relationship, indeed, but this is a way of talking and taking things for granted without knowing their true meaning. 

###A relation is difficult to understand because it eludes its connection with the two terms which it relates. If I am related to you, it is difficult for me to explain the meaning of this relation. The relation that we speak of remains merely a word with a grammatical sense, but no philosophical justification. It does not mean that I am identical with you when I say that I am related to you.

*If A is related to B, even in a most intimate manner, it will not follow that A is identical with B, because the difference between A and B is to be confirmed if there is to be a relation between A and B. 

**If A is not different from B, there cannot be relation, and the two will be one, and we would not be speaking of the two as if they are related. But if they are really different, there cannot, again, be relation. 

***Whether with difference or without it, there cannot be relation. And so relation remains an enigma before us.

To be continued ...

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