Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 47-3. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Saturday, August 06, 2022. 07:30.

Discourse 47: The Seventeenth Chapter Concludes – The Meaning of Om Tat Sat : 3.

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Our difficulty in blending together the notions of distance and nearness arise on account of our thinking in terms of space. When we say God is far away, we think in terms of spatial distance. When we say that God is very near us, then also we think in terms of some location in space juxtaposed to our body, as it were. But, try to think a thing minus the measurable characteristic of space. The mind cannot perform this feat. Minus space, nothing can be thought and, therefore, an immeasurable thing, or non-measurable thing, cannot be conceived in the mind. This is why God cannot become an object of thought. Nobody can think God because thinking is a process involved in space and time, and that which is called God is not in space and time.

Hence, that which is not involved in the distance of space and the duration of time cannot be thought by the human mind, which always thinks in terms of distance and duration. Yet, in spiritual meditations we are expected to wean the mind from this involvement of thinking in terms of distance and duration, and bring together the concepts of transcendence and immanence, Tat and Sat, together in an Om that is all-inclusive.

This inclusiveness is signified by Om, or pranava, which is partly a vibration that creates all substances constituting the universe, and is partly scriptural because it is a name or nomenclature for God. Tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ (Y.S. 1.27), says Patanjali in one of the sutras. If we want to designate God, we have to designate Him only by the term Om, pranava. We cannot call Him by any other name, because all names arising from language denote some object which is in some place. When we say tree, the name ‘tree' denotes some object which is in some place. Everything else is also of the same nature. When we utter any word that designates some object—it could be any word in the dictionary—that word connotes or denotes something that is in some place or at some time, but it cannot denote something that is everywhere and for all time. So, no word in any language can designate That which is everywhere and at all times.

Hence, Om is specially regarded as a symbolic expression which embodies in itself the total process of sound production. All the letters of the alphabet, when they are uttered, create a vibration in the vocal cords. The sound box operates in some way when one letter is uttered, and in another way when another letter is uttered; and there are varieties of operations of the vocal system when different letters are uttered. But when Om is chanted, the entire sound box vibrates—Aaaaauuuummm. This process originates from the deepest beginning of the process of sound and ends with just a rarefied form of the sound ‘m', which merges into a soundless, ethereal, pervading something. This total sound vibration goes beyond the process of sound production and becomes an intangible super-sensory force. In this kind of Omkara, the transcendent aspect and the Sat aspect are clubbed together.

Thus, the threefold definition of Brahman—Om Tat Sat—means God here, God above and God below, and God everywhere. The everywhereness of God includes the aboveness and the hereness of God. The aboveness is Tat, the hereness is Sat, and the everywhereness is Om. Therefore, Om Tat Sat is a complete mystical symbol which was evolved by ancient Masters. This is why in all auspicious beginnings, Om is chanted; and when we conclude anything, we say Om Tat Sat, dedicating the performance to the Almighty.

Aśraddhayā hutaṁ dattaṁ tapas taptaṁ kṛtaṁ ca yat, asad ityucyate pārtha na ca tat prepya no iha: Faithless performance is asat, whether it is a performance in the form of yajna or sacrifice, charity, a philanthropic deed, or an austerity or tapas. Anything that is done without faith is asat. This chapter is devoted entirely to the question of what faith is in its sattvic, rajasic and tamasic aspects. Performance without faith is devoid of the immanent force of divinity because it is not conducted with the operation of the soul, which is called the faith of the person. Faith is nothing but the action of the soul and, therefore, it is more powerful than any other faculty working in a person. If this faith is not there, the performance brings no result either in this world or in the other world: na ca tat prepya, not after death; na iha, not even here. Faith is supreme, and its threefold character has been beautifully explained in the Seventeenth Chapter. With this, we conclude the Seventeenth Chapter.

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Next - Discourse 48: The Eighteenth Chapter Begins – Renunciation, and Types of Action :

To be continued .....

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