Commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Gita- Discourse 3.3 - Swami Krishnananda

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14/04/2020.
Discourse 3: The Second Chapter Begins – Sankhya Yogam -3.

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1.

#This wisdom that Arjuna seemed to lack, due to which he wrongly judged the situation that he was facing, is called sankhya, which is a well-known term in philosophical circles. 

##“You lack sankhya—that is, the wisdom of life. This is your malady and, therefore, everything that you have said is all a medley of chaos. Your arguments are not couched in a proper logical style, and your conclusions are not drawn from valid premises. Your premise itself is wrong. The premise is nothing but the report of the sense organs and the demand of the instinct, which is conditioned by love and hatred. From this you have to rise through sankhya.”

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2.

#There is a philosophical doctrine called Sankhya, which counts the categories which constitute this world. It is derived from the word ‘sankhya’, which means computerising, counting, calculating and methodologically coming to a conclusion as to the number of principles that constitute this world. What is this building? We look at it, and it seems to be a mass indivisibly presented before us. But it is not an indivisible structure. It is made up of small constituents—brick and mortar, and steel and whatnot. The world is not as it appears to the eyes; it is a whitewash that we see, as the inside bricks and the cement are not visible to the outer perception. 

##Sankhya goes deep into the categorisation of the principles of the universe, and starts its argument from the very consciousness that tries to make any investigation at all : 

*Who is it that is trying to make an investigation into the nature of the world? 

**Who is it that wants to know anything at all? 

***It is me. Now, what kind of me is it?

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3.

#Without going into further details of this complex subject, we may conclude that we are essentially consciousness. This consciousness is the chaitanya shakti, or the chaitanya purusha, which is indivisibly present, and not divisible under any circumstance. The Sankhya takes up the stand on the presence of an indivisible consciousness it calls purusha in its own terminology. 

##The essence of the matter is that consciousness is indivisible, and it cannot be cut into pieces. There cannot be a fraction of consciousness, because any assumption of it being possible to divide consciousness into parts would imply the introduction of a consciousness even to know that such a division has been made. Consciousness has to be there even between the two parts, which is to say that consciousness is everywhere. This is the fundamental principle beyond which we cannot go, and deeper than which there is nothing. 

*"Sa kastha sa para gatih (Kathopanishad - Chapter-1, Section-3, Mantram-11.) : This is the end and the substance of all arguments, whether philosophical or empirical." 

### But, Sankhya has a point in regard to our obstinate feeling that there is a world outside us. Even if a person is paranoiac and wrongly conceives things and sees things which are not there, it is not enough if we simply dub the person as sick. 

####A practical method has to be adopted in treating the mind and setting it right for the purpose of correct perception. So the world may be there in this manner or in that manner, that is a different matter. Our perceptions may be wrong, and we may not be able to understand the world correctly—granted. 

*"But what is it that we are seeing in front of us?"

To be continued ....

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