A Study of the Bhagavadgita :12.6 - Swami Krishnananda.

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Sunday, July 10, 2022. 04:00. 

Chapter 12: Communing with the Absolute through the Cosmic Tree -6.

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The presence of God as a Supreme Inclusiveness is beautifully narrated in certain verses in the Thirteenth Chapter. What is the Absolute? The vision of it we had in the Eleventh Chapter, in a beautiful literary style. Some verses of the Thirteenth Chapter tell us what Brahman is. J–eyaṁ yat tat pravakṣyāmi yaj j–ātvāmṛtam aśnute, anādimat paraṁ brahma na sat tan nāsad ucyate (Gita 13.12): Having known which, you shall become immortal. I shall tell you what it is. That is the Brahman, the Absolute, which has neither a beginning, nor an end. Sarvataḥ pāṇipādaṁ tat sarvatokṣiśiromukham, sarvataḥ śrutimal loke sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati (Gita 13.13); sarvendriyaguṇābhāsaṁ sarvendriyavivarjitam, asaktaṁ sarvabhṛc caiva nirguṇaṁ guṇabhoktṛ ca (Gita 13.14); bahir antaś ca bhūtānām acaraṁ caram eva ca, sūkṣmatvāt tad avij–eyaṁ dūrasthaṁ cāntike ca tat (Gita 13.15); avibhaktaṁ ca bhūteṣu vibhaktam iva ca sthitam (Gita 13.16).

J–eyaṁ yat tat pravakṣyāmi yaj j–ātvāmṛtam aśnute: The pervadingness of God, the inclusiveness of this Absolute, and the unconditioned existence of what is called Brahman is described in these verses. It is, on the one hand, the light that shines in your own heart. On the other hand, it is the creative principle in the cosmos. It is Atman inside and Brahman outside. It is the Self within everybody and also the Universal Reality outside. And all values in life, all that you consider as good, all that is meaningful in itself, is a manifestation of this Great Principle.

Avibhaktaṁ ca bhūteṣu vibhaktam iva ca sthitam. It appears to be divided into various particularities, while it beholds the apparent particularities or individualities. But it is avibhaktaṁ: it is really undivided. It is undivided because it exists even between the so-called divided objects, the terms of divided relation. When something is different from another thing – one thing is divided from another – the consciousness of this division, the awareness of there being two things, is there at the same time, transcending the two things. There is a relation that transcends the terms of the relation. A is different from B, but the one who is conscious of the difference between A and B is neither A nor B; therefore, there is a transcendent principle present even in the so-called divided object – avibhaktaṁ. The adhidaiva principle, which is undividedly present everywhere, connects the so-called particulars.

Bhūtabhartṛ ca taj j–eyaṁ grasiṣṇu prabhaviṣṇu ca (Gita 13.16): It absorbs everything into itself as the body, the sense organs, and the mind are held in unison by the Atman consciousness within them. We feel a sense of integratedness of our personality on account of the Selfhood within us; otherwise, we would be dismembered shreds of personality, fractions rather, not individual wholes. The wholeness that we feel in our own self is due to the Atman consciousness pervading all the particulars. So many limbs, so many cells, so many parts constitute this body, but yet we never feel that we are made up of small bricks. We are one continuous, indivisible, compact form. This compactness and indivisibility that we feel in our own selves is due to the pervasion of that indivisible consciousness. It is throughout the body, inside and out. It is within, and contacts every little part of the body, giving a sense of wholeness, but it operates even outside it – not merely within. Its operation outside takes place when we perceive objects outside. When we are aware of something that is there in front of us, the consciousness within pervades in a particular manner through the sensation and the mind, and it is manifesting itself as also that which is beyond us, transcendent to us, outside us.

To be continued .......

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