Commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Gita- Discourse 7.1. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Saturday,February  27, 2021. 08:30. PM.

 Chapter-7. The Third Chapter Concludes: The Knower of Reality.-1.

Post-12.

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Tattvavit tu mahābāho guṇakarmavibhāgayoḥ, guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā na sajjate (3.28). Tattvavit means the knower of Reality. Here ‘knower’ means the knower of the processes of the gunas of prakriti and their relation to actions performed by individuals. Guṇakarmavibhāgayoḥ tattvavit: One who knows the reality of the manner of the working of the gunas of prakriti in their relation to the actions of people is a tattvavit.

What does a tattvavit know? One with this insight recognises that all movements in the form of activities of any kind are only movements of the gunas of prakriti, whether they operate in heaven, on this earth, in the nether regions, or in hell. Na tad asti pṛthivyāṁ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ, sattvaṁ prakṛtijair muktaṁ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ (18.40): Not in all creation, including the celestials in heaven, will we find a single entity which is free from the involvement in the gunas of prakriti. The celestials are more rarefied in their constitution and can penetrate through even solid objects on account of their inner constitution being sattvic in nature. We cannot do that; we are predominantly rajasic and tamasic. So in all creation, whether it is in heaven or on earth or anywhere, the activities that are seen among people are only the activities of the gunas of prakriti.

If two legs walk, it is an activity of two limbs of the body, though actually it is not an independent activity of the legs. It is an order issued by the entire organism of the body and the mind. The entire body is in action when the legs move. Whenever an individual works or does any action, even the least of action, a cosmic mutation in the form of the rotation of the gunas of prakriti determines his action. Therefore, the tattvavit, or the knower of Reality, is a cosmically aware individual.

When anything takes place or an event occurs anywhere in the world, the tattvavit knows that it occurs everywhere. Modern physics tells us that events do not take place in space. If they do not take place in space, where else do they take place? They take place not in time, not in space. That means to say, an event that occurs historically in this world—so-called historically from our point of view—does not take place in one particular part of the world. It is an agitation taking place in the whole world but manifest only in some part, like an ulcer or a boil. It may be a volcano or an epidemic or a war taking place in some part of the world, but it is engendered by the agitation of the total organism of the world.

Physics has now gone to the extent of realising that there is a continuum which is the ultimate reality of the universe, and it is not physical or solid in its nature. Solids can be converted into liquids, liquids can be converted into gases, gases can be converted into pure energy, and energy is not located in any particular place. Energy is not a localised movement; it is a continuum that is non-spatial and non-temporal. This is a subject in modern physics which practically takes us to the conclusions of the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita that all action is a cosmic action.

Thus a tattvavit, a knower of this reality of the mutations of the gunas of prakriti in relation to the activities of an individual, knows that the gunas act on the gunas. All actions are nothing but the collision of parts of prakriti with other parts of prakriti. When the sense organs perceive an object, these gunas, as the sense organs, come in contact with the gunas as the object of prakriti. The forces of nature operate individually as well as externally. We noted previously that the sense organs are constituted of the gunas of prakriti, and are intelligently superintended by the divinities—the adhidaivatas, which work in between the adhyatma, the individual, and the adhibhuta, the object. Guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā: All this wonderful activity of the world, this great drama which is the history of mankind—natural or anthropological, or whatever we call it—is just a play of prakriti. It is not a particular event caused by any individual anywhere. We may say nature does everything, or we may even say God does everything.

To be continued ....

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