The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita : 12- 4. Swami Krishnananda.

-

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday,August 20,, 2021.7:40. PM. 
Chapter -12. God and the Universe - 4.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Describing the possible character of the movement of the soul towards God, we are told that there are four types of aspiring souls, all these aspirations being regarded as worthwhile and very valuable in their own way. Our love for God is variegated in its motivation. And the more perfect is the love or aspiration, the greater is the chance of one’s realisation of God, experience of the Absolute. The more we try to consider God as an outside object, even in a philosophical sense, the more is the difficulty that we will encounter on the path, because God resents any kind of a relinquishment of Him to the limbo of an objectivity of perception. 

If God tolerates not anything at all, it is our attitude towards Him as if He is an object outside. And if God is the Soul of the Cosmos, the Atman of all this consciousness behind every experience, it should be impossible, even with the farthest stretch of our imagination, to conceive Him as an object and to regard Him as being away from us even by the distance of an inch. If God is not an object, what should be our attitude towards God? All attitudes are objective and are movements of the psyche. And if God is expected to be a Cosmic Soul, the Self of all beings, it is impossible to speak of any ‘attitude’ or an ulteriorly motivated aspiration towards Him. Yet, people belong to various categories and degrees of evolution and experience.

There are people, mostly, who turn to God in times of distress, when they are in agony or sorrow, and when there seems to be no help coming from anyone, from anywhere in the world, they cry out, “God, help me.” The asking for God’s Presence is because of the pain through which they are passing, and the lacuna that they feel in their selves (arta). The anguish that is tearing our hearts and the inadequacy that we feel everywhere, within as well as without, summons God for help. This is one sort of love for God: a devotion, a religion, of course. Everything is religious if it is charged by the touch of God-consciousness in some way. But what is the quality, the intensity, of this aspiration, is a matter to think. Bhagavan Sri Krishna, as a Teacher of Yoga, tells us that these are types of devotees, great indeed in their own way, because they turn to God, whatever be their motive.

There are others who seek knowledge, wisdom, enlightenment, and not any material favour. Not redress from sorrow or grief, not long life, not anything that human beings will regard as ordinarily acceptable or valuable is their aim. They require illumination, understanding, and blessing which will take them to an entry into Truth (jijnasu).

There is a third category, in whose connection the term used in the Bhagavadgita is artharthi, those who seek  artha, or an objective. Usually the word ‘artha’ is translated as ‘object’ of ‘material need’. Most commentators tell us that the third category mentioned is that of the devotee who turns to God for material prosperity of some kind. But there are others who think that it is not proper to imagine the third category as in any way inferior to the second. There is some sort of a logic, it appears, in the arrangement of these devotees as arta, jijnasu, artharthi and jnani, inasmuch as the last one is proclaimed to be the most superior as contrasted with the earlier ones. 

And the second one is certainly superior to the first one. It is accepted, therefore, by implication, that the third is superior to the first and the second. So, there are those interpreters of the Gita who say that here ‘artha’ should not be taken to mean material or physical property, but the fulfilment of the aims of life which are known as the purusharthas. This is a novel interpretation given by some teachers. The aims of existence are the objects aspired for by these devotees who are considered here as artharthis, seeking those things which are the supreme objects, not the lower ones which are physical.

To be continued ....



=======================================================================

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita - 8.1. Swami Krishnananda.

-
Image
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, March 21, 2021. 07:57. AM. Chapter 8: Creation and Life After Death -1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bhagavadgita is a moksha-shastra, a scripture on the science of the liberation of the spirit. Thus it follows the course of the return process along the same lines as the evolutionary process of the descent of the soul from the Supreme Being. The first six chapters may be said to be engaged in an exposition of self-discipline from the individual point of view, the integration of the human personality and the preparation of the whole man for the greater task which is yet to come – namely, the at-one-ment of the individual with the set-up of the universe. Some of the interpreters and commentators on the Bhagavadgita hold that the first six chapters have a relevance to the significance of the term 'twam' in the famous Upanishadic p...
Read more

Gita : Ch-3. Slo-43.

-
Image
Srimad Bhagavad-Gita : Chapter-3. ( Karma-yogam ) Slokam-43. ( Thus, knowing the atma to be superior to intelligence, O brave and strong Arjuna, steady the mind by self-realisation and conquer this insatiable enemy, in the form of lust. ) evam  buddheh  param  buddhva  samstabhyatmanamatmana, jahi  satrum  mahabaho  kamarupam  durasadam. mahabaho  =  O,  strong  brave   Arjuna; evam  buddheh  param   =   thus  superior  of  intelligence; atmanam  buddhva  =  knowing  the  atma,  by  atma,  the   intelligence (the  vivekam/discrimination  and  vicharam/ realisation ); atmanam  samstbhya  =  keep  the  atma  steady  without  oscillations;  (controlling  the  mind   from,  vishayas)     kamarupam  du...
Read more

A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 33 - Swami Krishnananda.

-
Image
================================================================================= Saturday 01, June 2024 06:40. Chapter 7: The Entry of the Absolute into the Relative -3. Post-33. ================================================================================= There are endless connections of this type. The relationship of adhyatma and adhibhuta is involved in an infinite variety of degrees of ascent and descent. This imperative of the presence of a consciousness between adhyatma and adhibhuta in various degrees is the reason why you sometimes feel there are many gods. Sometimes the question arises: Are there many gods, or only one God? There is only one God, the Absolute, but inasmuch as it manifests itself as an interconnecting link between subject and object through millions of degrees of ascent and descent, it looks as there are millions of gods. It is as if there are millions of governments merely because there are millions of officials in a centrality of administration. There is...
Read more