There are always two kinds of readers and listeners. While the first kind tries to gather the meanings in the text into a pattern, the other kind sees the clash among the different levels of meanings. As we have already observed each word in a discourse, is incomplete in itself and points away to what is not. So when Krishna says that one should worship him and act on his behalf, without having any other company in the world a question naturally follows. What happens to those who do not have a personal god? In the sub-atomic universe the field is not different from the particles which moves in it.The field is the particle; the field concentrates itself into a particle. So there is no conflict between the space and the particles. In during the hour of destruction matter will dissolve in the ether. So in one sense the “ether” alone is. The concept of Cosmic Being as the whole of universe has no scope of change in it. The vision of motion and speed in the universe has provoked Arjuna to think of the Cosmic Being which is the opposite of what he saw. Krishna says that those who worship him with all their heart is superior to those who do not have a personal god. The latter must control their senses, so that their attention is not diverted to the contingent world. Any attention to the contingent world binds one to time and space. On the other hand the whole or the Cosmic Being is timeless and space less. So those who do not have any personal god must see equality in everything. In that case they also attain Krishna. That is, those who have personal god and those who worship the Cosmic Being reach the same goal. The Cosmic Being is very difficult to imagine even. It comprehends the whole existence. It is changeless. It is constant. It is unmanifest. It is like the word Aum having no signified. It is very painstaking for any man to realize such a being. For man is always obsessed with the notion of ‘I’ and ‘me’. Man can therefore see discrete things. He can see Ramesh in his childhood, in his youth, in his old age, dicretely. He can see today’s Ramesh and tomorrow’s Ramesh. But he cannot see Ramesh growing. Still he knows that Ramesh is aging. That is what he adds to his discrete perceptions of Ramesh. So how can man get rid of his limitations of perception? But those who have a personal god can concentrate on discrete perception. Anyone can say, “Krishna is mine”. So if one acts, as the deputy of a personal god, without having any purpose of one’s own, one can easily establish contact with the god. One’s god must be all in all with one. And one must meditate on one’s god always. A husband may be surrounded by his wife and children. But he thinks of his mistress. Similarly god must never be absent from the mind of the devotee.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Krishnas Speech at the Battleground chapter twelve second installment by Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
There are always two kinds of readers and listeners. While the first kind tries to gather the meanings in the text into a pattern, the other kind sees the clash among the different levels of meanings. As we have already observed each word in a discourse, is incomplete in itself and points away to what is not. So when Krishna says that one should worship him and act on his behalf, without having any other company in the world a question naturally follows. What happens to those who do not have a personal god? In the sub-atomic universe the field is not different from the particles which moves in it.The field is the particle; the field concentrates itself into a particle. So there is no conflict between the space and the particles. In during the hour of destruction matter will dissolve in the ether. So in one sense the “ether” alone is. The concept of Cosmic Being as the whole of universe has no scope of change in it. The vision of motion and speed in the universe has provoked Arjuna to think of the Cosmic Being which is the opposite of what he saw. Krishna says that those who worship him with all their heart is superior to those who do not have a personal god. The latter must control their senses, so that their attention is not diverted to the contingent world. Any attention to the contingent world binds one to time and space. On the other hand the whole or the Cosmic Being is timeless and space less. So those who do not have any personal god must see equality in everything. In that case they also attain Krishna. That is, those who have personal god and those who worship the Cosmic Being reach the same goal. The Cosmic Being is very difficult to imagine even. It comprehends the whole existence. It is changeless. It is constant. It is unmanifest. It is like the word Aum having no signified. It is very painstaking for any man to realize such a being. For man is always obsessed with the notion of ‘I’ and ‘me’. Man can therefore see discrete things. He can see Ramesh in his childhood, in his youth, in his old age, dicretely. He can see today’s Ramesh and tomorrow’s Ramesh. But he cannot see Ramesh growing. Still he knows that Ramesh is aging. That is what he adds to his discrete perceptions of Ramesh. So how can man get rid of his limitations of perception? But those who have a personal god can concentrate on discrete perception. Anyone can say, “Krishna is mine”. So if one acts, as the deputy of a personal god, without having any purpose of one’s own, one can easily establish contact with the god. One’s god must be all in all with one. And one must meditate on one’s god always. A husband may be surrounded by his wife and children. But he thinks of his mistress. Similarly god must never be absent from the mind of the devotee.
Krishnas Speech at the Battleground chapter thirteen first installment by Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
THE BATTLE FIELD IN THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE
Perhaps Krishna surveys the battle-field for a while and feels that the battle-field is not there without; it is actually within every man. The battle-field without is the externalization of the battle-field within. So Krishna tells Arjuna that the body is the actual field. Arjuna sought to survey the battle- field of Kurukshetra. Krishna asks Arjuna to scan his own being.
That adds a new level of meaning to what Krishna has already said. The Five Brothers are the five senses. The Hundred Brothers are their enemies. They stand for the sense objects without in the worldly life. They also symbolize the thousand desires in the deep mind of the being. The senses are not ready to comply with the desires of the mind. The mind is the blind king Dhritarastra. The desires as well as the senses are his children. The desires are however his own children. Their externalizations are the sense-objects. The five senses are reluctant to fulfill the desire of the mind. So they are king’s nephews. Such is the state of mind of a person who is much advanced in spiritual deliberations. But still his mind cherishes worldly desires. Very naturally the senses that have already developed a tendency of exploring inward have been excommunicated by the mind. With us, the worldly men, the mind wishes to break away from worldly pleasures, but the flesh is weak. But here is a seeker whose flesh is strong and not ready to relent to the call of the world; his mind has nevertheless been very weak all on a sudden. This happens to great saints often. So the senses fight the desires against the will of the mind. The desires being thwarted are in a fury. And the crucial time is come when the austere habits of the sense get an opportunity to fight the desires once for all. Right at this moment one of the senses take pity on the desires. It is symbolized by Arjuna. The argument is that the senses my as well do two things at the same time. They may explore the inner mind. Again they may let the desires fulfill themselves to an extent. This happens sometimes with great sages also. They feel that a little concession to the worldly objects may do no harm. But one cannot eat the cake and have it too. Once upon a time there was a king who left his palace and wives for a life of a recluse in the woods. There he found a posthumous deer calf; he took pity on that. This pity and love for the helpless animal engrossed his whole being and he lost all contact with the higher self. In his next birth he was born a deer.
So when Arjuna takes pity on the enemies of the senses Krishna, the wise man, symbolic of the enlightened part of the unconscious mind, warns Arjuna.
The battle-field at Kurukshetra has two opposite camps prepared to take the field. Krishna does not participate in the war. He is the knower.
In the same way Krishna is the higher self in everyman who does not participate in the war between the self and the desire; but Krishna observes everything and knows every minute details of the battle.
The infinite universe could be equally likened to a body. There also the eternal Armageddon between the powers of darkness and light rages. Krishna does not participate in the conflict. He is the knower who observes it minutely.
What is body or the field? That which is subject to change is the field. Since the knower does not take part in the struggles in the body, it is natural that the knower is not subject to change. The knower is eternal and changeless.
The body or the field is subject to change because it is not a simple substance. Its first component is Nature. This Nature is primordial. It is made of three qualities, positive, negative and neutral. These three qualities exist in everybody. Where the negative quality is predominant we find inert bodies like stones, rocks etc. Among men who are lethargic and dull-witted have negative qualities dominant in them. The positive qualities indicate movement and activity. Statesmen, entrepreneurs and the like have more positive qualities in them. Men who are active and yet who do not have ambitions possess more neutral qualities. Although these qualities themselves remain in everything, a large part of them are changed into intellect. Just as there is intellect in an individual, so also there is the intellect of the universe. It is the creator god of the universe. It is from the intellect that the senses of self or ego is born. Ego is sine qua no with every particular thing. If I try to imagine that there is not “I” in me, it will seem that my body, mind, senses are disintegrating. Both ego and intellect are of three types in accordance with the quality that dominates them. The ego in which neutral quality is prominent is evolved into mind and five organs of perception and the five organs of action. The ego in which negative quality is more makes the five finer elements exist. Everything have some space in it. That is ether. Everything has its own temperature. That is fire. The ego in which positive quality is more, gives rise to mind, the five organs of perception in sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch and the five organs of action in the tongue, feet, hands and the organs of evacuation and sex. The world object of perception has the five essences in the essence of sound, touch, colour, taste and smell corresponding to the five senses.
Besides these, desire, hatred, weal and woe, the body, consciousness and fortitude, with their evolutes create the field. Thus to put it in the tabular form, the constituents of the field are;
Nature
Intellect
Ego
Mind
The five senses of perception
The five senses of action
The five essences of sense objects
The five fine elements
Desire and Hatred
Weal and Woe
Body and consciousness
Fortitude.
Perhaps Krishna surveys the battle-field for a while and feels that the battle-field is not there without; it is actually within every man. The battle-field without is the externalization of the battle-field within. So Krishna tells Arjuna that the body is the actual field. Arjuna sought to survey the battle- field of Kurukshetra. Krishna asks Arjuna to scan his own being.
That adds a new level of meaning to what Krishna has already said. The Five Brothers are the five senses. The Hundred Brothers are their enemies. They stand for the sense objects without in the worldly life. They also symbolize the thousand desires in the deep mind of the being. The senses are not ready to comply with the desires of the mind. The mind is the blind king Dhritarastra. The desires as well as the senses are his children. The desires are however his own children. Their externalizations are the sense-objects. The five senses are reluctant to fulfill the desire of the mind. So they are king’s nephews. Such is the state of mind of a person who is much advanced in spiritual deliberations. But still his mind cherishes worldly desires. Very naturally the senses that have already developed a tendency of exploring inward have been excommunicated by the mind. With us, the worldly men, the mind wishes to break away from worldly pleasures, but the flesh is weak. But here is a seeker whose flesh is strong and not ready to relent to the call of the world; his mind has nevertheless been very weak all on a sudden. This happens to great saints often. So the senses fight the desires against the will of the mind. The desires being thwarted are in a fury. And the crucial time is come when the austere habits of the sense get an opportunity to fight the desires once for all. Right at this moment one of the senses take pity on the desires. It is symbolized by Arjuna. The argument is that the senses my as well do two things at the same time. They may explore the inner mind. Again they may let the desires fulfill themselves to an extent. This happens sometimes with great sages also. They feel that a little concession to the worldly objects may do no harm. But one cannot eat the cake and have it too. Once upon a time there was a king who left his palace and wives for a life of a recluse in the woods. There he found a posthumous deer calf; he took pity on that. This pity and love for the helpless animal engrossed his whole being and he lost all contact with the higher self. In his next birth he was born a deer.
So when Arjuna takes pity on the enemies of the senses Krishna, the wise man, symbolic of the enlightened part of the unconscious mind, warns Arjuna.
The battle-field at Kurukshetra has two opposite camps prepared to take the field. Krishna does not participate in the war. He is the knower.
In the same way Krishna is the higher self in everyman who does not participate in the war between the self and the desire; but Krishna observes everything and knows every minute details of the battle.
The infinite universe could be equally likened to a body. There also the eternal Armageddon between the powers of darkness and light rages. Krishna does not participate in the conflict. He is the knower who observes it minutely.
What is body or the field? That which is subject to change is the field. Since the knower does not take part in the struggles in the body, it is natural that the knower is not subject to change. The knower is eternal and changeless.
The body or the field is subject to change because it is not a simple substance. Its first component is Nature. This Nature is primordial. It is made of three qualities, positive, negative and neutral. These three qualities exist in everybody. Where the negative quality is predominant we find inert bodies like stones, rocks etc. Among men who are lethargic and dull-witted have negative qualities dominant in them. The positive qualities indicate movement and activity. Statesmen, entrepreneurs and the like have more positive qualities in them. Men who are active and yet who do not have ambitions possess more neutral qualities. Although these qualities themselves remain in everything, a large part of them are changed into intellect. Just as there is intellect in an individual, so also there is the intellect of the universe. It is the creator god of the universe. It is from the intellect that the senses of self or ego is born. Ego is sine qua no with every particular thing. If I try to imagine that there is not “I” in me, it will seem that my body, mind, senses are disintegrating. Both ego and intellect are of three types in accordance with the quality that dominates them. The ego in which neutral quality is prominent is evolved into mind and five organs of perception and the five organs of action. The ego in which negative quality is more makes the five finer elements exist. Everything have some space in it. That is ether. Everything has its own temperature. That is fire. The ego in which positive quality is more, gives rise to mind, the five organs of perception in sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch and the five organs of action in the tongue, feet, hands and the organs of evacuation and sex. The world object of perception has the five essences in the essence of sound, touch, colour, taste and smell corresponding to the five senses.
Besides these, desire, hatred, weal and woe, the body, consciousness and fortitude, with their evolutes create the field. Thus to put it in the tabular form, the constituents of the field are;
Nature
Intellect
Ego
Mind
The five senses of perception
The five senses of action
The five essences of sense objects
The five fine elements
Desire and Hatred
Weal and Woe
Body and consciousness
Fortitude.
Krishnas Speech at the Battleground chapter thirteen second installment by Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
We need not go into the details of this theory of evolution. Krishna’s point is to show that the field or existence as we perceive it is created from the modifications of Nature. If we introspect, we feel the truth of it. We are neither body, nor mind, nor intellect, nor ego. So we are consciousness. When one is consciousness itself, nothing else remains. Even the awareness of consciousness does not remain. It is neither conscious, nor unconscious. When consciousness becomes conscious of itself, creation starts; consciousness gives its seed to the non-self. Stage by stage, there is the efflorescence of the universe from the non-self or Nature. Nature is eternal. But the modifications of Nature are short lived. The self is the knower of this field. The self is eternal like Nature; but unlike Nature it does not go through any modification. While the objects of Nature on the field are subject to birth and death, self has none. Self is reflected on the Nature and its evolutes take place. The Self is reflected on the Nature puts on the qualities of Nature and undergoes experience. No one can understand how it is like to become a porter, unless one puts on the robes of a porter and waits along with other porters for the customers. Unless one is bitten by a snake, or by love, one knows not how bitter its pangs are. In order that there is an experience, there must be a knower and an object of knowledge or a subject and an object. Krishna says that the field is the object of knowledge and Krishna is the knower. Krishna the knower is the self of the universe as a whole also. Krishna, in order to know Nature, humours it, putting on the robes offered by it. But at the same time Krishna remains apart from it. Krishna is amused to see his own reflections undergoing changes under the sway of Nature. If Krishna or the higher self wants to know us intimately, the lower self of each one of us belonging to the field should seek to know Krishna. Once the reflected image knows who it is, it becomes Krishna, set free from the thrall of Nature. How do we know Krishna? We must withdraw ourselves from the Nature then. But no one can get away from Nature physically. People think that they will hie to some monastery or to the forests to escape from Nature. But that is impossible. A man’s body , mind and intellect are made of the stuff of Nature. Nature has made us forget our celestial glory. It gave us body, mind, intellect, senses and the object of senses, so that we forget ourselves and remain ever in her power. In fairy tales, little boys stray from their way to school and reach a beautiful fairy. The fairy turns them into chirping birds and keeps them in the cages of her enchanted palace. The same is our predicament.
Now what we can do is to refuse the pleasures and pains offered by Nature and be ourselves. We can realize our Krishna self. Once there was a trader who caugt birds and sold them in the city. Now there was a bird that was caught by the trader. It was there in the cage with other birds. When the trader gave food to the birds, the bird, we are talking about, did not eat any thing. Thus the bird became weak and emaciated. The trader thought that this bird would not sell. It would die any day. So it set the bird free. We should learn a lesson from the bird and try to give the slip to Nature.
Similarly if Arjuna gives up the war there is no escape from the groans of existence. Because he cannot be away from his body, mind etc. He had better fight, without being provoked by Nature. We need not change our places in the society. That will be a change from frying pan to fire. Every position in the worldly life has its own pleasure and pain. Pleasure and pain go together; it is pain. The president of America has as much groans as a Negro barber has. We are all equals. Why seek equality with the white president of America?
To know Krishna, the higher self in us, we have to develop certain qualities in us that will resist nature. We can look upon honour and dishonour as the same. Often we leap into action to defend our honour. This is sham. If someone is scholar, he is. He will reap the fruits of his knowledge. There is no point in proving itself before fools. Or else he will get involved with the trammels of nature. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar honour was the theme. There Brutus for honour’s sake joined the conspirators against Caesar and came to grief and dishonour.
One should get rid of boasting. We are all egotists. We are fond of talking of ourselves ceaselessly. And surely we exaggerate ourselves. Thus we have ourselves made the vanity fair of human society.
Non-violence is another quality that we should inculcate. There are people who do not kill a mosquito even, in a country like India, where once the government sent a whole army to kill them. But that is not the non-violence to be practiced by everyone. An army officer was challenged to duel for love. He accepted it coolly. There was the choice of arms. While his rival opted for a sword, he would take his revolver with him. He would see to that his rival was not killed. This army officer was the son of a rich hotel-keeper. His father possessed one thousand table cloths, two thousand spoons, two thousand knives and so on. When a boy he fled from his father’s house and joined the army. He did not join the army, because they came on his way. He fought in the war, because fight he must. Similarly everyone is a child of a hotel keeper. The world is a grand hotel run by our father or our higher self and join the hotel as an employee(we cannot run away from the hotels laid out by our father) let us accept that job only which is offered to us. If one is given the job of room cleaning, that is fine for him. Thus there are barbers, butchers, cobblers and the Prime Ministers and Presidents. Let us play our part well. If we are soldiers, let us fight. But let there be no hatred for our enemies. That is non-violence.
We should have fortitude. Mahatma Gandhi was once beaten black and blue by a white man in Africa. He did not resist. When the beating was over the Mahatma asked his tormentor whether he was not himself injured in the action of beating. This is fortitude.
Simplicity is another quality to be cultivated. People go to god-men in quest of miracles. They are disheartened. One of the chief marks of a god-man, that could be easily descried, is his simplicity. He is like a child, always agog with activities. Still he has no purpose in the contingent. He knows what he knows. He does not brag.
One should serve one’s teachers. Those who serve in schools and colleges are not necessarily the teacher we mean. A teacher is one who kindles the lamp of knowledge in one’s heart. Once, a teacher along with his disciples went to a river. There a corpse was floating along the current. The teacher asked his disciples to swim to it and bring it down and eat its flesh. When he ate the flesh, he found that it was not a dead body, but an edible of superb taste and fragrance.
One should be clean. It was said that cleanliness is next to godliness. That is, if you cannot be a god man, try to be a clean man. We must have a clean mind and body. But now a days, cleanliness is something which goes against godliness. People are clean to show up in parties among the glitterati of the society.
One should try to be constant in his love and pursuits. To have one aim and one desire impels one to be listless to the many diversities of Nature. There was a scholar. It struck him that he should learn the gypsy lore. Once he learnt it, he would come back to the society. So instead of knocking at the preferment’s door, one fine morning, he left the university hostel to wander with the gypsies. He was no more found in the so-called civilized society. Only the birds knew him. The country girls met him at the village fair. Thus we should pick up any offer by Nature and pursue it ignoring any other offer from Nature. We can thereby outwit Nature, using Nature only. That is the strategy.
Krishnas Speech at the Battleground chapter thirteen third instalment by Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
Krishnas Speech at the Battleground chapter thirteen concluding portion by Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
KRISHNA'S SPEECH CHAPTER-XIII (CONCLUDING PART)
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mousumi Post replyMay 17
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When one attains these qualities, the Veil of Nature is removed from
the eyes. Knowledge reveals itself like thousand Suns. The Cosmic
Being is the knowledge we attain. It has no beginning. It is neither
is, nor is not. It alone exists. The world is a faulty perception on
our part of this Cosmic Being. It has hands and feet everywhere. It
has eyes, face and head everywhere. It has ears everywhere. It covers
everything. It is the cause of manifestation of the senses and their
faculties. But it feeds the whole world. It has no qualities as such.
But it enjoys the Nature composed of the qualities. It is without in
the physical nature and the world. It is in the heart of everything
and every living being. It is indivisible whole; yet it presents
itself before our eyes as made of many fragments. It is near us; still
it is far away. It maintains the world. It creates the world. It
destroys the world. It is the object of knowledge. It is the only
thing that one can ever know, because it exists in every heart.
Knowledge is the attribute of the cosmic self that hides in every
individual self.
Thus Krishna describes what is knowledge.
Once one attains this knowledge, one becomes fit for access to Krishna
the supreme being. Thus although there is nothing beyond the Cosmic
Being, the Supreme Being is still at a higher stage of realization.
There is no end of exploring the spirit.
Nature, of which the world is a manifestation, is also beginningless
like the Cosmic Being and the Supreme Being. It is the mother of cause
and effect. The self or the Supreme Being experiences weal and weal
thereof. The self through its reflection on the Nature is associated
with the qualities of Nature that are ever restless. Thus the self
undergoes births and deaths. There is also the Supreme Being in every
self as the knower. He is that part of our mind that gives wisdom.
He who knows all these secrets is relieved of the birth and death
cycle. Some get to this knowledge through meditation, others through
awareness and some others through action.
Krishna says that all existence is made of the contact between the
field and the knower. He who finds the knower or the Supreme Being in
everything does not mistaken the identity of what really is. Since he
finds good everywhere, he does not distinguish a brothel from the
Valhalla. He perfectly fits in the worldly life. But the worldly life
cannot put him in servitude. He who knows that every act is being done
by Nature only, knows that he is not the doer.When the fragments of
the existence are found to be part of one infinite whole, one finds
the Cosmic being. The self though enthralled in the body neither
acts, nor is involved in the vicissitudes of worldly life. It is
beginningless. It is the ineffable Supreme Being. But the Supreme
Being is not enthralled by it. When the little child in the arms of
its father rebukes the father, the father feigns weeping. But the
father is not weeping actually. Just as the sun stationed at a
particular point only illuminates all the worlds similarly Krishna
never leaves his abode in Golaka. Still he is everywhere.
Thus, Nature and field are functionally two different concepts though
they are the same. The field is what we perceive in the world. Nature
is the metaphysical description of the same.
The knower and the self are also functionally two different concepts
though they are at bottom the same. When the self is understood in
relation to the field, it is the knower. When the knower is understood
in relation to Nature it is the self.
The knower is the Cosmic Being in which all opposites melt. There
neither the knower exists, nor the object of knowledge exists. It is
neither is, nor is not.
How do we then resolve the trinity in Nature, Cosmic Being and the
Supreme? Only a part of the Supreme Being’s nature is the Nature. The
Cosmic Being is but the gloriole of the Supreme Being that hides both
the Supreme Being and the Nature in a flood of ecstasy.
Krishnas Speech at the Battleground chapter fourteen by Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
DEATH AND IMMORTALITY
Fear death? Death implies the death of the body. The owner of the body
generally puts on fresh robes of flesh and bone and is born again. If
the self or the owner of the body can face the worldly life in right
sport, the self need not undergo births and deaths. But he self can
live in such a state for 4320000000 years. After that the Creator’s
day ends. At that moment, everything whatever becomes unmanifest and
retires in the shelf of Krishna. Nothing is annihilated, of course.
The self, which has been liberated from birth and death cycle, also
retires into Krishna at that time as unmanifest. But, right knowledge
can help to overcome that also. Then the self need not become
unmanifest , when the world becomes unmanifest. That is Krishna’s
promise. One should know that the Cosmic Being receives the seed from
Krishna and hence springs the creation. In other words, the appearance
of the Cosmic Being has been caused by the seed of Krishna. Whatever
image is brought forth in any womb whatever is brought forth by the
Cosmic Being. Thus the Cosmic Being here functions as Nature. The seed
is nothing else but the reflection of the self on Nature. The image on
the Nature is shackled by the three qualities which make Nature. And
the image falls in the trap of the body. The neutral quality among
them, light up and binds everything with joy and wisdom. The positive
quality on the other hand is a passionate lover and a rash hero. It
binds the soul through attachment to action and their consequences. It
is unquenchable thirst. The negative quality always takes the body for
the self. It is error, sloth and sleep. All these three qualities
exist in every man. Krishna asks Arjuna to subdue positive and
negative qualities so that the neutral quality is surely enthroned in
a being, at once there is a festival of light or Diwali in its mind
and body. When the positive quality presides over a person, greed,
inactivity, action with self-interested motive, restlessness and
longing for enjoyment govern him.
Obtuseness of mind and the senses, disinclination to perform one’s
obligatory duties, frivolity and stupor- all these appear when a
person is overwhelmed with negative qualities. Thus, the despondency
of Arjuna was a sudden fit of negative qualities. When a man of
neutral nature dies, he goes to higher worlds like heaven. He who dies
a positive doer, is born in a family and society where attachment to
action is acute. Those who die with preponderant negative qualities
are often born a sub-human organism. The neutral doer, they say, reap
harvests of happiness. The positive doer reaps sufferings. The
negative doer reaps ignorance as the fruit of his action. Wisdom
follows from the neutral quality, greed from the positive one and
error and stupor from negative quality.
Once one knows that these three qualities are the springs of action
one is bound by them. One eats when one has to and one sleeps when one
has to. If one can transcend all these three qualities one conquers
birth and death, old age and grief.
Krishna has already told us about the effects of neutral quality on a
character. But what are the marks of a person who rises above the
three qualities? Arjuna poses this question.
Krishna replies:
One who does not hail the light of wisdom
Or, harness the heroic aptitudes of action
Of hate or hide his own ignorance.
Nor longs for them nor lament their extinction
One who is just a witness
Of the tendencies aworking in the self
And lets them do their do’s
Without relenting to their pelf
One who remains the same in joy and sorrow
And who greets the stone and the gold with equal love.
And welcomes both friends and foe with a good morrow
Honour and insult are equal in whose scale
Who has given up every initiative in life
Has surely transcended the three qualities
With which Nature binds them to strive.
Krishna says that such a man is not affected by the destruction of the
universe. Where does he inhabit then? Myriads of universes light up
and blow out like the light of the fire-flies. He dwells in a world
beyond those universes. It is the universe where every particle of
dust is made of the love of Krishna. It is Golaka.
The way to the bloody path of war can be transformed into the way to
Golaka if one remains prostrate at the feet of Krishna at heart.
Monday, 9 July 2012
Krishnas Speech at the Battleground chapter fifteen by Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
In our mundane experience we find consciousness as an infinitesimal part of the existence. With the exception of life on earth the rest of the universe is a huge waste land of matter and space. It naturally follows that mind is an epiphenomenon of matter. Different constituents of matter have combined chemically to bring about first life on earth in the primaeval soup. The monocellular amoeba, we have been told, have evolved into man. But out of nothing, nothing comes. Consciousness cannot spring from matter unless consciousness is immanent in matter. The world as I find it exists in may consciousness. I am conscious of myself. So I exist even if my body, mind and the rest of the world were a dream to me. This ‘me’ is the creator of the universe. Thus if the body emerged from the supermind of myself, then the root of the tree of the body is towards the mind. If the material world and the worldly life have emerged from the existence, then the tree of the mundane existence has sprung from the primordial consciousness which is infinite. Since the effect lies in the cause, the cause always seems to be greater than the effect.
Krishna speaks of a gigantic tree which is inverted. Its branches, twigs and leaves are here on the world. Its trunk goes up piercing the stars and the skies. One knows not where it begins and where it ends. Its closely knit branches and twigs are the labyrinth of life and world. The leaves are the knowledge of action and science. Although the main root in the skies is hidden from the eye, some auxiliary roots go upwards while others dangle downwards. They are the fruits of our action that ties up with the strife-torn world. Some actions are noble. They stand for the roots that go up. Others are drawn to lust for flesh and material pleasure.
This is a cosmic tree. We cannot imagine of it even being entangled with its roots. Earlier, Krishna has dwelled on how Nature has evolved into the world with the three qualities that compose it. It is these three qualities that give succor to the leaves and twigs and branches. Krishna has told us how from Nature sprang intellect, ego, mind, the five elements etc. , till the vast world has been forged. The same evolution is being spatially described as the mighty tree. The Creator himself, the heaven, the nether world and numerous other worlds dangle at different levels of the tree. The source of the tree is Cosmic Being. The end of the tree is Nature. Thus the tree symbolizes the two points ‘:’ one representing the Cosmic Being and the other Nature. Nature is an indestructible. The world remains forever. Leaves and branches may die. But new ones will be in their place.
Nature has so many worlds in it. The ants live in a world of two dimensions. They cannot jump. So they do not know what is height. So they live in the same world as we do. Still their world is different from ours. We live in a world of three dimensions. There may be worlds having five dimensions, six dimensions and so on till infinite. Thus there may be infinite worlds in the same world. There could be life in each world. Thus there could be gods, who inhabit in a world having larger number of dimensions than ours. So they know us; but we do not know them. The gods, the men, the ants, all have consciousness. When consciousness puts on the body of the ant, it is conditioned by the perceptive faculties of the ant’s body and lives in the ant’s world. When consciousness puts on a man’s body it lives in the world of three dimensions. But what is consciousness? Consciousness is the being that lives in the world of infinite dimensions. It has no body. It is its own body. When this consciousness is reflected on the uneven mirror of Nature it is imprisoned in many worlds where the number of dimensions distinguishes one world from another. The many worlds hang from the different parts of the tree that has its roots in the Cosmic Being and twigs in Nature.
The tree is the Supreme Being that connects the Cosmic Being with Nature and the world.
Man has two ends like the tree in body and mind. It has the desire of being born that brought man upon earth. Thus mind is the root of man; body with its senses are the leaves and branches. It is the Supreme Being who brings the opposites of body and mind together. While mind has thought, body has extension as its quality.
But perhaps the tree is capable of meaning on another level. It is the tree within the body of every man. The tree is the spinal chord that connects the head with the pelvic region. The brain or the head could be likened to the Cosmic Being. The pelvic region is the other end of the tree which is thoughtless Nature.
The source and origin of the tree is the Cosmic Being. The tree comes downward to evolve desire in it and objects of desire to feed on. But some roots go up to reach the Cosmic Being, away from the world of desire and its fruition.
Similarly, one can imagine that the head is capable of thoughts- higher thoughts. But the generative organ that exists in the region near down the spinal chord is all for pleasure. Now that brain conducts everything in the body. So it is the root of the inverted tree. The sustenance of the generative organs comes from the brain. Could we check our sexual urge by restraining minds and senses? When we withdraw our attention from the generative organs, the roots that are near the twig of the tree go backward to the brain. God becomes the universe. The universe seeks to realize its godhood.
Krishna says that one knows not where the tree begins, and where it ends and how long it lives. All thses are ambiguous. On one level the tree is an illusion. The Cosmic Being alone is. On another level the tree is perpetual. Men may come, men may go but the world will remain for ever. On a third level the tree will not remain beyond today, because, with the end of one day of the Creator, the tree will vanish.
A man must cut off the stout roots of the tree that binds one to the worldly life. Then only he can hope to seek the feet of Supreme Being. It is a world fom where no man returns. There neither the sun shines, nor the moon, nor the fire. It is surely a world beyond light and darkness. We earthly men cannot imagine it.
Krishna says that verily a portion of this being becomes life, drawing to itself mind and the five senses from the fund of Nature. Thus we are the children of the eternal. We are the parts of the eternal. When the eternal substance in us leaves the body for another, it takes the mind and the senses along with it just as the wind carries fragrance. This speaks of the subtle body that wears the flesh. When we move from one death to another birth, the mind, the ego, the intellect and senses persist with us. So we begin a new life all over again with the wealth of our mind and in eyes, ears and skin, tongue and nose in the form of the subtle body enjoys the world of matter. Those whose eyes are clouded with delusion, cannot see this eternal substance enjoying with the instrument of the body or leaving it for another. Only those whose minds are free from desire can espy it. The sun, the moon and the fire, derive their light and energy from Krishna only. The sun represents the spirit. The moon stands for our mind. The fire is the vital force that sustains our body. Krishna enters into the whole existence as energy and maintains it in the form of water, that is symbolized by the moon who gives sap to plants and herbs. In the form of fire Krishna enters every body and assimilates the food. Thus Krishna is the food. Krishna consumes the food. He announces that he is firmly established in every heart. Memory, knowledge and ignorance- all come from him. He is the theme of all knowledge. He is the expounder of knowledge. It is he who acquires the knowledge.
Krishna says that there are two kinds of self. One falls away whereas the other does not. The whole existence belongs to the former category while the Cosmic Being is the latter. Krishna, the Supreme Being is different from them. He is the immutable personal god. He is immanent in the three worlds. Thus he reigns over them.
He who knows Krishna in this light attains the summit of bliss.
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