Commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Gita- Discourse 6.7 - Swami Krishnananda.

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Saturday,January  30, 2021. 06:59. AM.

Discourse 6: The Third Chapter Begins – The Relation Between Sankhya and Yoga -5.

Post-7.

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The ordinance of Prajapati is that we have to consider the fact of our mutual involvement with not only people outside, not only with nature as prakriti, but also with the gods in heaven. The gods will bless us. Actually, the blessing of the gods is nothing but the recognition of there being a conscious element connecting us with other people. The perception of an object through the eyes is not possible unless there is a superintending conscious medium. For example, you are seeing me here. This knowledge of the fact that I am here does not arise through your eyes, though you are looking at me with your eyes and it appears as if your eyes are telling you that I am here. The eyes are physical eyeballs which can even be removed, so it is not the eyes that tell you I am here.

Then what else is it that tells you that I am here? You have not entered into me; you are sitting far away from me. There is a physical distance between us. If the distance precludes your knowledge of my existence here, and the eyes and the sense organs are physical in their nature and, therefore, cannot know that I am here, there must be something else which is consciously operating. The connecting link between me and you should be a conscious connection. There cannot be only a connection of space and time. There is something like space and time between us of course, but space and time are unconscious principles and, therefore, cannot become the media of your knowing that I am here. Even light is not a conscious element, so you cannot say that you know that I am here because of the light. None of these objects of your perception can be the media for your knowing that I am here. There is an unknown principle superintending all things, a permeating principle—yena sarvam ida? tatam (2.17)—which pervades all things; it pervades you, it pervades me, and it also pervades that link between us.

Thus, the gods whom we have to respect and worship every day, by way of the ritualistic worship that we perform either in our house or in a temple, are nothing but an inner recognition of there being a higher principle than ourselves, than others, than even the whole world. With this knowledge, we live in this world by mutual sacrifice, mutual understanding and mutual cooperation among the world, ourselves and God. This is the principle of karma yoga finally, where we can be sensible human beings, worthwhile individuals in the eyes of not only other people but also in the eyes of the gods themselves.

This is a very intricate subject, and not everyone in the world can be taught this knowledge, because people are in different states of evolution. There are varieties of human beings. There are human beings who eat other human beings; they are called cannibals. There are human beings who are not as bad as cannibals, but they are intensely selfish and say, “Tit for tat. If you are good to me, I’ll be good to you. If you are bad to me, I’ll be bad to you.” There are others who will be good to you even if you are bad to them. Higher than this is the saint who lives a holy life of the consciousness of God. Still higher is the sage who is established in God. Hence, even among human beings there are levels, so we cannot give the same teaching to every human being, as it will not be possible for them to absorb it.

To be continued  ....

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