Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Bhagavad Gita: 13) Yoga of Matter and Spirit.

OM

This page tells the thirteenth installment of an amazing story occurring in the midst of a battle field, long long ago. I am only re-writing (the translation of) this wonderful story on this blog. Originally written in Sanskrit, the Bhagavad Gita, even though conceived as a religious text, is an entire coded system in itself for any human being (irrespective of cast, creed, sex and religion) to become perfect. While the Bhagavad Gita has been been translated into English by many great authors, I have mostly referred to the version of Swami Chinmayanada Ji. This page - and the 17 others in this series/story - are dedicated, with great respect, to the author of the most amazing book (according to me) ever written, Sage Vyasa.

13. Yoga Matter and Spirit

1)      ARJUNA:
Prakriti (Matter) and Purusha (Spirit), also the kshetra (the Field) and kshetrajna (Knower-of-the Field), Knowledge and that which ought to be known – these, I wish to learn, O Keshava (Sri Krishna).
2)      This body, O Kaunteya (Arjuna) I called Kshetra (the Field) and he who knows it is called Kshetrajna (Knower-of-the Field) by those who know them (Kshetra and Kshetrajna) ie: by the sages.
3)      Know me as the ‘Knower-of-the Field’ in all ‘Fields’, O Bharata (Arjuna); Knowledge of the ‘Field’ as also of the ‘Knower-of-the Field’ is considered by Me to be My Knowledge.
4)      What that Field is; of what nature it is; what are the modifications; whence it is; and also who He is; and what His powers are – these, hear from Me in brief.
5)      Rishi’s have sung (about the ‘Field’ and the ‘Knower-of-the Field’) in many ways, in various distinctive chants and also in suggestive words indicative of Brahman, full of reason and decision.
6)      The great elements, egoism, intellect and also the un-manifested (moola prakriti), the ten senses, and the one (the mind) and the 5 objects-of-senses…
7)      Desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, aggregate (body), intelligence, fortitude – This kshetra has been thus briefly described with its modifications.
8)      Humility, unpretentiousness, non-injury, forgiveness, uprightness, service to the teacher, purity, steadfastness, self-control…
9)      Indifference to the objects of senses, and also absence of egoism, perception of (or reflection upon) evils in birth, death, old age, sickness and pain…
10)   Non Attachment; non-identification of Self with son, wife, home and the rest; and constant even mindedness on the attainment of the desirable and the undesirable…
11)   Unswerving devotion unto Me by the Yoga of non-separation, resorting to solitary places, distaste for the society of men…
12)   Constancy in Self-knowledge, perception of the end of true knowledge – this is declared to be ‘Knowledge’, and what is opposed to it is ‘ignorance’.
13)   I will declare that which has to be ‘known’ knowing which, one attains to Immortality – the beginning-less Supreme Brahman, called neither being nor non-being.
14)   With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the world, enveloping all.
15)   Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without the senses; unattached, yet supporting all; devoid of qualities, yet their experiencer…
16)   Without and within (all) beings, the ‘unmoving’ and also the ‘moving’; because of its subtlety unknowable; and near and far away – is That.
17)   And undivided, yet He exists as if divided in beings; That is to be known as the Supporter of beings; He devours and He generates.
18)   That (Brahman), the Light-of-all-lights, is said to be beyond all darkness; (It is) Knowledge, the Object-of-Knowledge, seated in the hearts of all, to be reached by Knowledge.
19)   Thus the Field as well as the knowledge and the knowable have been briefly stated. Knowing this, My devotee enters into My Being.
20)   Know you that Matter (Prakati) and Spirit (Purusha) are both beginning-less; and know you also that all modifications and qualities are born of Prakati.
21)   In the production of the effect and the cause, Prakati is said to be the cause; in the experience of pleasure and pain, Purusha is said to be the cause.
22)   The Purusha, seated in Prakriti, experiences the qualities born of Prakriti; attachment to the qualities is the cause of his birth in good and evil wombs.
23)   The supreme Purusha in this body is also called the Spectator, the Permit-ter, the Supporter, the Enjoyer, the Great Lord and Supreme Self.
24)   He who thus knows Purusha and Prakriti together with the qualities, in whatsoever condition he may be, he is not born again.
25)   By meditation, some behold the Self in the self by the self, others by Sankhya Yoga, and others by Karma Yoga.
26)   Others also, not knowing this, worship, having heard of it from others; they too cross beyond death, if they would regard what they have heard as their Supreme Refuge.
27)   Wherever any being is born, the unmoving or the moving, know you, O Best of Bharatas (Arjuna), that it is from the union between the ‘Field’ and the ‘Knower-of-the Field’.
28)   He sees, who sees the Supreme Lord existing equally in all beings, the un-perishable within the perishing.
29)   Indeed, he who sees the same Lord everywhere equally dwelling, destroys not the Self by the Self; therefore he goes to the Highest Goal.
30)   He sees, who sees that all actions are performed by Prakrati alone, and that the Self is actionless.
31)   When he (man) sees the whole variety-of-beings, as resting in the One, and spreading forth from That (one) alone, he then becomes Brahman.
32)   Being without beginning, and being devoid of qualities, the Supreme Self, the Imperishable, though dwelling in the body, O Kaunteya (Arjuna), neither acts, nor is tainted.
33)   As the all-pervading ether is not tainted, because of its subtlety, so too the Self, seated everywhere in the body, is not tainted.
34)   Just as one sun illuminates the whole world, so also the Lord-of-the Field (Param-atman) illuminates the whole ‘Field’ O Bharata (Arjuna).

35)   They who, with their eyes-of-wisdom come to know the distinction between the ‘Field’ and ‘Knower-of-the Field’ and of the liberation from the ‘Prakriti of being’, go to the Supreme.

Thus ends the 13th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.

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