Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 8 - Swami Krishnananda.

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Sunday, December 12, 2021. 7:30.PM
Commentary on the Bhagavadgita :
Discourse 40
The Thirteenth Chapter Concludes – Understanding Purusha and Prakriti
POST-8.

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Chapter-13. ( Kshetra-kshetrajna-vibhaga-yogam)

"yavat sanjayate kinchit sattvam sthavara-jangamam
kshetra-kshetrajna-sanyogat tad viddhi bharatarshabha."  (13.27): 

Slokam-27. ( O Arjuna!  whatever you see in existence, both moving and unmoving, is only the combination of the field of activities and the knower of the field. )

All the manifestation, living or non-living, is due to a combination of k?etra and k?etrajña, a manifold type of contact of purusha with prakriti in various degrees of ascent and descent. In the higher realms of celestials where existence is transparent, the contact of purusha with prakriti is rarefied. Existence becomes more and more gross as the rajasic and tamasic qualities of prakriti become more predominant. Sattva is supposed to be predominant in the heavenly regions; rajasic qualities are predominant in the human realm, and tamas is predominant in the nether regions. But whatever be the contact through sattva or rajas or tamas—experiences either in heaven, in this mortal world or in the lower realm—every experience is a result of the contact of purusha with prakriti in various ways. 

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"kshetra-kshetrajna-sanyogat tad viddhi bharatarshabha" : 

Anything that is born has significance as an individual only because both purusha and prakriti are set together in some proportion.

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Chapter-13. ( Kshetra-kshetrajna-vibhaga-yogam)

"samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishthantam parameshvaram
vinashyatsv avinashyantam yah pashyati sa pashyati." (13.28) : 

Slokam-28. ( One who sees the Supersoul accompanying the individual soul in all bodies and who understands that neither the soul nor the Supersoul is ever destroyed, actually sees. )

Again we are brought back to the transcendent existence of an equally distributed consciousness—not a little purusha coming in contact with prakriti, but something transcending the contact of purusha with prakriti. Upadrashta, anumanta and paramatma were mentioned earlier, and something similar is repeated in this verse. 

samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishthantam : That Being is equally present in all as the Self of all. It is the Self of the ant and the elephant and the human being and the god. The distinction among them is due to the appearance of their subtle bodies and gross bodies, but the life that is behind the subtle and gross bodies is common—as sunlight is common and appears to be coloured or distorted according to the nature of the glasses that we put on. 

samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishthantam parameshvaram : The Supreme Lord exists in an equilibrated fashion everywhere.

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vinashyatsv avinashyantam : Deathless in the midst of dying individuals. People die, everything perishes, and all things get destroyed. 

yah pashyati sa pashyati : But in the midst of this destruction taking place perennially, perpetually, right from creation—in the midst of this flux and destruction and movement—there is an unmoving Eternity. Whoever knows that, really knows the truth. 

We should not get involved in the fluxation of prakriti, but should withdraw our consciousness to that transcendent element which witnesses this drama of prakriti : vinashyatsv avinashyantam yah pashyati sa pashyati

To be continued ....

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