A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 8 - 6. Swami Krishnananda.
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Saturday, Deceember 04, 2021.6:00. PM.
A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 8 - 6.
Chapter 8 : The Stages of Yoga -6.
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A sacrament which is dedicated to the Supreme Being is brahm?rpa?a?. What you offer to the Supreme Absolute cannot be something that is external to you. That which is external to you does not really belong to you, so it cannot be offered. How will you give a gift of something which is not your property? What is really yours can be offered; then it becomes charity, a gift. That which is totally outside you is not your property, because of the fact it is outside. So any amount of material gift is no gift unless you yourself are also there as a part of the gift. Something of you has to go.
What you have to offer to the Supreme Absolute is Atman, and not anything material. Atman is offered to the Paramatman. The jiva consciousness is dedicated to the Universal Consciousness. You are offered, nobody else. You offer yourself in the altar of the great yajna of Universal Consciousness – brahm?rpa?a?. This is the greatest dedication that you can give to God. If God asks you, “What will you give me?” you cannot offer God some bananas or sweets because they are not your possessions. Only you are your possession. You have no right over anything in this world except your own self. Not even one needle can be your property, so the offering that you have to make to the Universal Being is only yourself. This is jnana yajna, the wisdom sacrifice, as it is so called. Into the flame of the wisdom of the all-pervading nature of God, you offer yourself in the consciousness of a practical annihilation of your individual existence.
When you offer something into the holy fire in a yajna or a sacrifice, you seem to be offering some substance – some material of ghee or rice, etc. But here in this wisdom sacrifice, what you offer is not some article from the world outside. It is a part of yourself. A little of yourself goes gradually with every little sense of belonging to the whole. This is brahma havir. Brahm?gnau brahma?? hutam: You offer yourself into the flame or the fire of God so that you get burnt into the ashes of a non-entity altogether.
Who is offering this? You are offering.
Who are you? Now another difficulty is placed before you. The offering is not made by you; it is made by itself, to which you are making the offering. It is offering itself to itself.
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The war of the Mahabharata is waged by the Universal Virat. It is not engaged upon by Arjuna, Bhima, the Kauravas.
kalo ’smi loka-kshaya-krit pravriddho (Gita 11.32) : meaning - “I have come to engage upon this great work.”
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Gita : Ch-11, Slo-32 :
'shri-bhagavan uvacha'
"kalo ’smi loka-kshaya-krit pravriddho
lokan samahartum iha pravrittah
rite ’pi tvam na bhavishyanti sarve
ye ’vasthitah pratyanikeshu yodhah."
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Translation :
śhrī-bhagavān uvācha—the Supreme Lord said;
kālaḥ—time;
asmi—I am;
loka-kṣhaya-kṛit—the source of destruction of the worlds;
pravṛiddhaḥ—mighty;
lokān—the worlds;
samāhartum—annihilation;
iha—this world;
pravṛittaḥ—participation;
ṛite—without;
api—even;
tvām—you;
na bhaviṣhyanti—shall cease to exist;
sarve—all;
ye—who;
avasthitāḥ—arrayed;
prati-anīkeṣhu—in the opposing army;
yodhāḥ—the warriors.
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BG 11.32: slokam translation :
The Supreme Lord said: I am mighty Time, the source of destruction that comes forth to annihilate the worlds. Even without your participation, the warriors arrayed in the opposing army shall cease to exist.
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Commentary :
In response to Arjun’s question regarding who he is, Shree Krishna reveals his nature as all-powerful Time, the destroyer of the universe. The word kāla is derived from kalayati, which is synonymous with gaṇayati, meaning “to take count of.” All events in nature get buried in time. When Oppenheimer, who was a part of the first atom bomb project, witnessed the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he quoted this verse of Shree Krishna in the following manner: “Time…I am the destroyer of all the worlds.” Time counts and controls the lifespan of all beings. It will determine when the great personalities like Bheeshma, Dronacharya, and Karn will meet their end. It will destroy the enemy army arrayed on the battlefield even without Arjun’s participating in the fight, because the Lord wants it to happen as a part of his grand scheme for the world. If the warriors are already as good as dead, then why should Arjun fight? Shree Krishna explains this in the next slokam
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"The Viratsvarupam, the Cosmic Form, speaks in the Eleventh Chapter. The great war is the universal war. It is motivated by the Universal Being for its universal purpose, and the Universal is offering itself in the sacrifice of the yajna of the Mahabharata war. You cannot lift even a finger unless the central Universal Will operates, even as without the order issued by the total muscular setup of your personality, your fingers cannot lift, your eyelids cannot move; so is anything that you think or seem to be doing in this world. Even this so-called yajna that you are trying to perform is a motivation that comes from the Universal Being."
The Universal offers itself to the Universal.
God knows God.
God contemplates God.
God offers Himself to God : brahmah hutam.
To be continued ....
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