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.