Commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Gita- Discourse 3.6 - Swami Krishnananda

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03/05/2020.
Discourse 3: The Second Chapter Begins – Sankhya Yogam -6.
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1.

#Prakriti, which is the objectivity of the purusha, that is, consciousness, is constituted of three properties, called sattva, rajas and tamas.

#Tamas is inertia, pure inactivity; rajas is dynamism, distraction and action; and sattva is balance and harmony.

#The permutation and combination of these three gunas are the very substance of prakriti.

##The redness of a flower is a quality of the flower, but the redness itself is not the flower, whereas the three strands of a rope are not the quality of the rope, the strands themselves are the rope.

##In the same way, the three gunas that are mentioned—sattva, rajas and tamas—are the very substance of prakriti, and they are the very essence of movement in this world.

##These three gunas, by permutation and combination, create a situation of transparency in the cosmos, and the indivisible consciousness gets reflected, as it were, in this transparency, which is suddha tattva. It is the beginning of the process of the creation of the universe.

##It is a dream condition, as it were, where sketches of the future creation are drawn on the canvas of the mind itself.

###Thus, from the point of view of Vedanta terminology, there is a coming down of consciousness, which is Absolute, to the state of Ishvara, Hiranyagarbha and Virat, or in the language of Sankhya, prakriti becomes mahat, and mahat becomes ahamkara.

###Up to this level, from the top level to the Virat, or from the level of consciousness to ahamkara, there is a universal awareness.

###Virat is universally aware. Hiranyagarbha and Ishvara are universally aware. Mahat is universally aware.

###The ahamkara that is spoken of in Sankhya parlance is not the egoism of the human individual. It is the Self-consciousness of the cosmos itself.

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2.

#Now, a tragic event takes place. 

#The one indivisible ahamkara, or Virat, gets divided into a three-partite state, as it were—the object, the subject, and the connecting link between the object and the subject. 

#These are known as the adhibhuta, adhyatma and adhidaiva. 

##Thus, we see there is a world outside on account of the division that has taken place, and we are set aside as subjects perceiving the object outside, not being aware that there is a connecting link between the object and the subject, which is called the adhidaiva. 

###Then there is a continuous solidification of this objectivity into tanmatras, called sabda, sparsha, rupa, rasa, gandha, and the five elements, called prithvi, apa, teja, vayu, akasha; and we have come down into the solidity which is this earth.

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To be continued ...

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