Shloka
15:12:

15.12 That light in the sun which illumines
the whole world, that which is in the moon, and that which is in fire,-know
that light to be Mine.

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said, after
defining Brahman in the 6th verse of this chapter, Sri Krishna establishes in the
later verses, that Brahman alone is in the form of everything. And in Sanskrit,
this is called sarvatmakatvam
and here Sri Krishna talks as one with Brahman; He says: I alone am appearing
as everything.

I
am everything. He has already talked about this in the seventh, ninth, tenth,
and eleventh chapters. In the fact the very vishvarupa darshanam
is revealing this fact that Bhagavan is everything and that sarvatmakatvam is briefly dealt with in
these verses and for this purpose, the whole universe is divided into two, the
sentient, the living beings, and the insentient objects of the creation. Sri Krishna
says that I alone appear in the form of chetana jiva, I alone appear
in the form of the achetana
jagat also. Of these we have seen the first part, from verse No.7 to verse
No.11. In the first part he says, I alone am in the form of the chetana jiva. We have
entered into the second part, from verse no.12, which I introduced in the last
class. And this part is I, the Brahman alone, am in the form of achetana jagat
also. So from the 12th verse, up to the 15^th verse, Brahman or
Bhagavan is everything.

And in this context, Sri Krishna does not give the logic behind this conclusion because the logic has already been given in the previous chapters. Why do we say that Bhagavan is everything? Bhagavan being the cause of everything, Bhagavan alone has to be everything. Remember the example, gold is the cause of all ornaments and therefore gold alone is in the form of all the ornaments. So cause of the ornaments means, it is in the form of ornaments, because there are no ornaments other than gold. Wood is the cause of the furniture, means wood alone is in the form of furniture; there is no furniture separate from wood.

Generalizing, cause alone is in the form of all the effect; extending that, Brahman or Bhagavan being the cause of everything, Brahman or Bhagavan alone is in the form of everything. In short, there is no creation different or separate from Ishvara and this is the uniqueness of the vedic teaching, because that is why, we worship the Lord in any form and every form. We worship animals as God; we worship human beings as God; we worship trees as God; we worship rivers as God; we worship even the five elements as God; the reason is these do not exist separate from Bhagavan or Brahman. And therefore Bhagavan is in the form of everything. And therefore Sri Krishna has to say, I am the table, I am the chair, I am the pen, I am the book, I am you, I am he, I am mike; if Sri Krishna has to enumerate everything in the creation, the 15th chapter will not end at all.

And therefore Sri Krishna wants to take a few important things in the creation and he points out they are my own manifestation. Just a few samples are taken to point out that Bhagavan is in the form of them and from that you can extend to everything else also. And what are those few samples Bhagavan takes? They are the fundamental natural forces that we experience all the time, which we have not created, but they are very much part of this creation. Without these natural power or forces or energy, we cannot think of the creation or its survival. What are the natural forces that Sri Krishna takes up? He takes three of them. One is surya Shakti, The solar energy. The solar power called surya Shakti and the second one is the lunar power, the chandra Shakti. Sri Krishna uses the word tejaha instead of Shakti; therefore surya teja, chandra teja, teja is Shakti, energy, power and the third one is Agni Shakti and Agni teja. The power of the fire. So these are the three natural and very important forces or energy; the more you study their glory, the more you admire. The scientists have been studying the sun for years, decades, for centuries and they are still studying; still they have not completed the glory of the Sun.

Sri Krishna enumerates them first and says I am in the form of Surya Shakti and I am in the form of chandra shakti and I am in the form of agni shakti. That is said in the 12th verse, which we read in the last class.

And
even those people who feel that all other sources of energy will be exhausted;
they think that ultimately we have to tap the solar energy only. And
especially, we the people in the tropical country, we have got solar battery,
solar cells; so many things are solar based.

Sri
Krishna says that energy belongs to me; the energy located in the sun, which illumines
the entire universe;

So
he says; akhilam
jagat
bhasayate; meaning
the energy of the sun never ends.

And
yat chandramasi; that energy, which obtains in the moon, the moonlight or the
lunar energy, of course it is borrowed from the sun.

The
original sunlight is getting reflected in the moon; that reflection itself is
so powerful that on a full paurnami day, you can even read a book.

And
what is the third one, it is
the energy which is stored in agni; agni means the fire principle, agni shakti, all these
three powers belong to me.

That
is why in the vedic discipline,
the day begins with the worship of the sun. And all the prayers are surya prayers.

So
this Sun alone sustains the living beings. Sun alone sustains the earth.

The brilliant light and energy and lot of nutrients like vitamin
D, etc are there due to the sun. Our skin requires sunlight. And even our sleep
and waking is connected to sunlight;  And
that is why they say, do not take heavy meal in the night, because, everything
slows down including digestive power. So the more you study the Sun, the more
its glory is. Therefore morning begins with the Surya Namaskara and on most
pauranami days, we have got some festival or the other; every month you see
pauranami is special for us, because we worship the moonlight. And then of
course Agni worship is fundamental to vedic religion.

Do not take powers of Surya, Chandra and Agni for granted.

In the following verses, Sri Krishna is going to talk about the
glory of each shakti. What is the contribution of sun light? What is the
contribution of moonlight? He is going to explain in the following verses. We
will read.

Shloka 15:13:

And entering the earth I sustain the beings
through (My) power; and nourish all the plants by becoming Soma [According to
S. and most other translators, Soma means the moon.-Tr.] which is of the nature
of sap.

The first line talks about the contribution of the surya
shakti,
which is a blessing from the Lord. So Sri Krishna says: regularly the solar
energy, through the rays of the Sun, penetrate or enter on to the surface of
the earth;

It pervades all the directions and blesses all the jiva rashis
with ojas or prana shakti.

Having entered the earth, the sun rays or the solar light
penetrates into every being, that is why we are asked to get up before sun rise
and we are supposed to expose ourselves to the morning sunlight and therefore
they go to the rivers for bath.

We are all exposing our body to the solar energy; which is called
pranic
energy. And that is why the pranic healers talk about drawing energy from the
Sun and handing over to our prana maya kosha.

The entire pranamaya kosha is sustained by
the Sun. And therefore, all the living beings, I sustain. Sri Krishna says: I
sustain through the solar energy, by blessing the living beings with ojas,
or prana Shakti or pranic energy or vital force.
And this is supposed to be responsible for the health of the annamaya kosha. And
it is also responsible for the health of manomaya kosha.

directly pranamaya kosha; indirectly
annamaya and manomaya; That is why, one of the
most powerful daily prayers is aditya hridayam. If you do not know it, learn
it; and daily chant it in the morning; it will take care of the annamaya kosha
health;

pranamaya
kosha health; manomaya kosha health, and vignana
maya kosha health, those who do not know
gayathri mantra, those who do not chant gayathri, they can replace their
sandhya vandhanam with Aditya Hridya, because it is invoking aditya Shakti.

Then what is the contribution of the soma Shakti? or Moon energy. He says:  I myself become the moonlight or lunar energy and what type of moonlight it is? It is a light which is full of the plant nutrient; according to shastra, the moonlight has got lot of energy or nutrition, which is directly given to the plant kingdom. So here rasa means the sap of the plants, the nutrient power for the plant is here called rasa and I become that. And through that, I nourish all the plants. So through Surya Shakti I nourish the human beings; through Chandra Shakti, I nourish the plant kingdom; i.e. why they say, some of the farmers, they expose the seeds to the moonlight; they say it is very good, to expose the seeds to the moonlight; before sowing them; it will draw energy from the moon. So I am chandra teja. Then what is left out; it is agni teja.

Shloka
15:14:

Taking the form of Vaisvanara and residing in
the bodies of creatures, I, in association with Prana and Apana, digest the
four kinds of food.

So in this verse, the agni shakti or agni tejas or power is talked about. In the shastra, agni tatvam is divided into two types; one is called bhahya agni, the external fire principle; which is the popular one; and the shastra says there is another internal fire principle; which is within our stomach, which is called anthara agni; the internal fire; this anthara agnihi, is known by different names. It is called jataragni; jataram means stomach; jataram, means within the stomach; so jataragni, the fire within the stomach; And, it is also known by another name, vaishvanara agni and this fire is called the digestive fire, which cooks the eaten food, the second time; before the body assimilates the food, the food should go through two types of cooking; one is the external cooking; another is the internal cooking; and in each cooking; the food gets transformed. Initially you gather the food in the form of vegetables; grains, cereals etc. and you do not directly eat the grains; normally we do not eat directly, and vegetables also generally we do not eat directly unless you are a naturopath and all the time living on salads only. Cooking is banned for them. Eat with the skin is their motto. Skin has got more nutrients than the original fruit. There are some who eat the skin and leave the fruit.

The
first transformation takes place in the external cooking; where the vegetables
are converted into variety of foods, so that we have the taste; we have to do
lot of ‘dressing’ so that it becomes eatable.

First conversion is make it edible, tasty for the tongue. and once you have eaten all the varieties of vegetables, it goes inside. but remember, idlis and dosas, cannot be directlly taken; a second cooking has to take place, wherein the eaten food items have to go through second transformation. And after that alone the body canabs orb; and this is done by the digestive fire; vaishvanara agni. In science they are called digestive juices, the enzymes and acids, and we have lot of acids and enzymes.

That
is why if you do not feed the body, the acid begins to eat your own stomach,
which is called ulcer.

Therefore
you have to feed the internal fire, which cooks the food a second time.

And once the second time cooking takes place, all the idlis and dosas, have been converted into carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals; all these conversion takes place and the body absorbs this converted food alone. So first conversion is called cooking outside; the second cooking or conversion is inside; first cooking is done by bahya agnihi, the second cooking is done by anathara agnihi; vaisgvanara agni.

And Sri Krishna says, that cooking power belongs to me alone, which is otherwise called samana prana; the digestive power is Bhagavan’s power and that is why, before we eat the food, we worship Bhagavan and consider the food as an offering to the Lord; the Lord who is in your stomach. And what type of Lord he is? vaishvanara agni; and that is why, that offering is also called another form of agni hotram. According to Chandogya upanishad, eating itself is a form of agni hotra ritual called pranagni hotram.

Therefore Sri Krishna says I am that power.

In Brihadarnya upanishad,
there is a special upasana upon vaishvanara
agni; you meditate upon your hunger, or digestive power as the Lord. Have you
heard of Hunger upasana anywhere? And how do you detect your
hunger. The Upanishad says, when you are hungry within the stomach, you hear of
varieties of noises; so that noise represents the digestive power, the hunger that
is asking for food, and therefore meditate upon the sound as Bhagavan.

So Sri Krishna reminds us of that; he says; I myself am in the
form of anthara agni Shakti and the bahya agni Shakti as well.

Sri Krishna does not talk about here that we can supply; here he
talks about only the internal digestive fire. And were do I reside?

I reside in the body of every pranani.

 What is my job? I cook all forms
of foods that are offered inside; in this second cooking; converting the food
into the respective nutrients called carbohydrates; fats, etc. So I, digest the
food, assimilate the food; What type of food;

There are four types of food; which a human being consumes; what
is the chaturvidham annam?

They say all the food consumed all the living beings can be
classified into four types, based on the mode of consumption; not-based on the
type of food, not like Gujarati food, Tamil food, etc. etc.;

Here we classify the food based on the type of consumption, method
that we used to eat; and accordingly we use four types; they are called bhakshyam,
bhojyam, lehyam and chokshiyam;
these are the four types of eating.What are those four:

bhakshyam means, those
types of food which are masticated, which you bite and masticate and swallow

Second
type is bhojyam; those types
of food, which you directly swallow; liquid type of food, like milk or soup or
coffee or tea, which are directly swallowed. You do not require to masticulate
them.

The
third one is called lehyam;
lehyam means that
which has to be licked and consumed; You cannot directly pour into the mouth;
like honey, honey you should not directly pour, it is viscous liquid, if you
directly take, one could even be dead; it has to be licked; or lehyam.

The
fourth one is chokshiyam, which has to
be sucked inside, like the sugar cane, etc., or modern day example is the way
you consume the soft drinks with a straw.

So
bhakshyam, bhojyam, lehyam and chokshiyam; these are the
only four types of eating; intravenous feeding, nasal feeding are all irregular
and exceptions. Sri Krishna says all these types of foods, I cook or I digest
in the form of digestive fire and naturally, the question is how the external
fire is fanned; a normal fire is kindled by fanning.

So if the external fire is kindled by fanning; the question comes
how is the digestive fire kindled; Sri Krishna says that is also done by
fanning; You require another type of fanning; prana,
apana,
breathing in, and breathing out is the fanning of the digestive fire; and
therefore, Whenever you do extra activity; breathing becomes faster, and when
breathing becomes fast internal fire is kindled and the vaishvanara
agni becomes big, when vaishvanara agni is kindled, you
feel hunger, therefore you eat more.

When the breathing slows down, hunger slows down; and breathing increases; hunger increases; from that it is clear, breathing is the fanning of the digestive fire; therefore Sri Krishna says, prana, apana, prana means breathing out, or exhalation; and apana here means breathing in, inhalation, supported by, activated by the breathing, I, in the form of vaishvanara agni, digest the food; and that is the agni shakti. And therefore, O Arjuna appreciate me in the creation; in the form of surya shakti, chandra shakti, and agni shakti. And therefore I am everything. And now Sri Krishna concludes that topic.

Shloka
15:15:

And I am seated in the hearts of all. From Me
are memory, knowledge and their loss. I alone am the object to be known through
all the Vedas; I am also the originator of the Vedanta, and I Myself am the
knower of the Vedas.

So here concludes the topic, pointing out that I am everything; I am in everything; he says, sarvasya hrdi aham sannivishtah. O Arjuna, I, the paramatma, reside in the heart of everyone. So everybody is like a temple; the heart represents the mind, the mind represents the sanctum or garbha griham; and in that mind, I, the paramatma, am present as the jivatma; witnessing every thought occurring in the mind. Therefore, Hrdi sakshi chaitanya rupena; in the form of the very consciousness, I am inevery living being; And mattaha; because of me, the consciousness alone, allthe functions of the body are going on and all the mental faculties are alive. What aresome of the faculties; Gyanam means the capacity to learn, learning faculty; is alive because of me.Then smrtir, learning should be followed by remembering; remembering faculty is because of me.

And some people may say, I do not have remembering faculty, I have
got forgetting faculty. Remember, we think forgetting is a curse, remember,
forgetfulness is also important, we go through lot of painful experiences in
life, in due course we have to forget; imagine if you remember all the painful
experiences, you will be terrible; and that is why we say time is a healer;
because in time, we forget those things. So remembering is an important
faculty. Forgetfulness is also an important faculty.

Sri Krishna says what is to be remembered and what is to be
forgotten; both faculties are a blessing; and both of them are my glory alone. And
one commentator (name not given) gives a special meaning to these words.

He says Gyanam refers to the waking state; because the in the waking
state we are gathering fresh experiences. Smrti represents the dream state;
because in dream, we do not gather anything new, only what is already
registered that is projected again; therefore smrtir indicates
svapna avastha.
And apohanam means
forgetfulness and forgetfulness represents sushipthi

Avastha, as in sleep, we forget everything. Therefore Gyanam, jagrath, smrtir, svapna, apohanam, sushupti, all these three avasthas are because of me alone. So I am in everyone, responsible for their expereinces in all the three states. And not only that; sarvai vedaiha aham eva vedhya; I am the subject matter of all the scriptures; because scriptures are dealing with the Lord alone, the veda purva bhaga is dealing with Saguna Ishvara; Veda antha bhaga is dealing with Nirguna Ishvara. In short the entire veda is dealing with Ishvara alone. Therefore, he says, through all the four vedas, I am the one to be known. And vedantakrt aham; and I am the one who is the initiator of the vedantic tradition; vedantic tradition includes the vedas and the entire vedic tradition; so, therefore, what is known through the veda, I am, and the vedas themselves are nothing but my creation; or myself

Then
what about the students of the vedic teaching; he says the students are also myself; so vedavit; the
students; the knower of veda.
So the knower I am; the known I am; the
means of knowledge, I am; pramata, pramanam, prameyam, the entire triputi I am. Therefore I am everything.

So
with this Krishna concludes the second topic that I am in the form of the
insentient world too. Previously he said I am in the form of the sentient
living beings also; therefore, chetana-achetana
prapancha aham asmi. This is called sarvatmakatvam.

Take Away:

So
the knower I am; the known I am; the means of knowledge, I am; pramata, pramanam, prameyam, the entire
triputi I am. Therefore I am everything.

 I, the paramatma,
reside in the heart of everyone. So everybody is like a temple; the heart represents

the mind, the mind represents the sanctum or garbha griham; and in
that mind, I, the paramatma, am present as the jivatma;
witnessing every thought occurring in the mind.

One of the most powerful daily prayers is aditya hridayam. If you
do not know it, learn it; and daily chant it in the morning;

Shloka # 15.8:

5.8 When the master leaves it and even when he
assumes a body, he departs taking these, as wind (carries away) odours from
their receptacles.

Continuing his teachings Swamiji said in the first six verses of the 15th chapter, Sri Krishna talked about samsara and also the means of crossing the ocean of samsara; otherwise called moksha and he defined moksha as merging into Brahman; that brahman which happens to be the very root and base of the creation. Brahma aikya prapthi or merger into Brahman is not a physical event, it is only dropping the notion, that I, the Jivatman, am away from the Brahman. Dropping the notion, which is purely a cognitive or intellectual event, is called moksha, that is why Vedanta Gyanam and moksha are treated synonymously, because Moksha is dropping the notion or wrong notion and any wrong notion is removed by right notion (we cannot say that) or by right knowledge. And Sri Krishna gave the definition of Brahman in the 6th important verse, which is based on the well-known upanishadic mantra: na tatra suryo bhati na chandratarakam, which essentially means that Brahman is the all-pervading consciousness.

Chaitanya
svarupam Brahman is
one which can objectify everything but which itself can never be objectified by
any means; it is the unobjectifiable subject, unobserverable observer; chaitanya
svarupam brahma.

And having defined Brahman in the sixth verse, from the seventh verse onwards, Sri Krishna introduced two important topics to show that Brahman alone appears in the form of everything. Just as God alone appears as varieties of ornaments, wood alone appears as different kinds of furniture or waker alone appears in the form of the dream universe; similarly, Brahman alone appears in the form of the universe. This is called sarvatmakatvam; Sarvatmakatvam means Brahman is everything. For the sake of convenience, the entire universe is divided into two parts; one is the chetana Jivas, the sentient living beings, and the other achetana prapancha, the insentient objects. So the creation is chetanam plus achetanam, the sentient Jiva plus the insentient jagat and in these verses Sri Krishna points out Brahman alone appears in the form of jiva also; Brahman alone appears in the form of jagat also. Jiva api brahmaiva, jagat api brahmaiva, sarvam brahma mayam jagat; which is beautifully revealed in all the upanishads, especially in the well-known Mundaka Upanishad Mantra, II.11.

Whether
you experience a sentient living and you are experiencing an insentient object,
everything is Brahman alone and of this from verse No.7 up to 11, Sri Krishna says
Brahman alone is in the form of Jiva.

This
is from verse No.7 to 11. Then from verse no.12 to 15, Sri Krishna says Brahman
alone is in the form of the inert universe also. Of this we are now seeing the
first part. Brahman alone is in the form of jeeva. And in this particular portion,
as I said in the last class, Sri Krishna is referring to himself as Brahman and
therefore the Brahman is replaced by the word I, in the first person singular; therefore
whenever we hear the word aham, or I, we should replace it by the word Brahman.
Therefore Sri Krishna said,

Shloka 15.7 &
15.8:

15.7 It is verily a part of Mine which,
becoming the eternal individual soul in the region of living beings, draws (to
itself) the organs which have the mind as their sixth, and which abide in
Nature.

15.8 When the master leaves it and even when
he assumes a body, he departs taking these, as wind (carries away) odours from
their receptacles.

I, the original all-pervading Consciousness, alone am present in every living being as the reflected consciousness; the chidabhasa chaitanyam obtaining in the mind. And this chidabhasa alone makes the body sentient and alive. Just as the pervading electricity alone makes the filament bright and the brightness of the light only makes the filament bright, appreciating the light, my mind has to appreciate the invisible electricity which is expressing as the light in the bulb; as the motion in the fan, as the magnifying power in the mike, as the heat in the ironing machine. So different expressions I experience, they are blessings of the one invisible electricity. Similarly, all our physical bodies are like bulbs, very fragile; and our subtle body, the sukshma shariram is like the filament; and atma or Brahman is like the electricity; or Brahman is comparable to electricity. Bulb is visible, filament is visible, and electricity is invisible. Similarly body is visible, mind is partially visible, whereas Conciousness is invisible. But the presence of electricity can be discerned through the functions of the bulb, fan, mike, radio, television, etc. Similarly, if all of us are alive and sentient, as Taittariya upanishad says:  If our breath is going out and coming in; all these are because of the chidabhasa obtaining within and chidabhasa itself is possible because of the original chit. And therefore Sri Krishna says every function of every organ reveals the presence of Brahman. And this is said beautifully in Kenopanishad as: Prana is prana because of the presence of consciousness; Eye is an eye because of the presence of consciousness and Ear is ear because of it. And this chidabhasa alone leaves the physical body at the time of death; after which alone the body which is so sacred, which is so divine, which is very much decorated bathed and shampooed and painted and lipsticked and all those things we do because it is alive; but the moment that chidabhasa quits; chit quits (be careful) the moment reflected consciousness leaves along with the reflecting medium; the mind is the reflecting medium, the mind leaves the body, the chidabhasa leaves the body and the sacred body has become an impure corpse.

It has become asoucham and the sooner it is disposed the better it is. What makes the difference between the dead body and live body? The scientists, the doctors; can only say that the functions have stopped but they can never say what was responsible for this function and what has left the body, they do not know. They cannot understand what is life, they cannot understand what is death. All others they know. What all others? What others, when there is only two. When the chidabasa leaves, it takes the all the pancha Gyaendriyani, pancha karmendriyani, and goes to another body, and starts its new business in a small shop.

And when this Jiva leaves this body, and shariram takes another body; we make such a big fuss about this change. And the rent is karma. Punyapapam prarabhda is the rent and when that is gone; it goes to another body; how does it go; along with a huge lorry of all the things. And he gave the example, just as the invisible wind carries the fragrance from the visible flower; the invisible chidabhasa carries the fragrance of life.

What
is the fragrance of life? Not powder and snow. The fragrance of body, is the very
life in the visible body; it goes to another set up. What does it do there?

Again
start the old business of LKG, UKG, college, get married, get children, get grand
children, then what? Pop off; then what; and again go to another place, it will
go on like that.

Shloka 15.9:

15.9 This one enjoys the objects by presiding
over the ear, eyes, skin and tongue as also the nose and the mind.

So
this invisible chidabhasa,
the reflected consciousness carries the entire sukshma shariram and
sukshma shariram includes all
the organs, pancha Gyanendriyani,
pancha karmendriyani panchca prana, manah, buddhi; and
all the sense organs. Sense organs means not the eye ball. It does not carry
the eye ball; but behind the eye ball, the perceptive power is there; which is
carried with the sense organ, that is taken.

When a new body comes, and there also only if the next body is a human body, where all the five sense organs can be used, if it is a tree body, the tree does not have five sense organs; so the tree has only the skin; the other four sense organs are not utilized. So therefore this sukshma shariram of the tree has got all the sense organs but they do not have the physical medium for utilization.

Here, Sri Krishna assumes, the Jiva goes to another human body and in that human body, the chakshur indriyam is placed in the chakshur golakam; the srothram indriyam, the invisible part, is placed on the srothra golakam, which is the called the physical part; indriyam is the invisible part, golakam is the visible part.

Similarly,
the srothra, tvak, chakshu,
rasana, all of them are placed in the respective slots that is said here. srothram,
ear, chakshu, the eye,
sparshanam, the skin,
invisible organ of touch, rasanam, the invisible organ of taste, grahnam, the organ
of smell, all of them are placed in the respective golakas and also adishtyaya mana. All
the sense organs have to be backed by the mind and therefore the mind also must
be located appropriately and according to the shastra,
hrdyam is the location of the mind; not the brain. According to shastra,
hrdyam is the golakam for the indriyam called mind. Which hrdyam? The physical
heart is golakam. The physical heart is the golakam, because golakam should be
visible Golakam must be the tangible part of the body, the tangible physical
heart is the golakam; mind is the indriyam; which is located there.

Adhishtaya means resorting to all these six organs, pancha Gyanendriyani and plus one anthakaranam, resorting to all of them. What does the Jiva do; start experiencing the new environment. If the parents are wonderful parents, the child would have a gala time. If the parents are terrible, the child would have only misery; poor innocent child, has harsh experiences right from the birth itself and what determines the type of experience? It is not child’s freewill, child was not consulted as to who should the parents; spouse can be chosen by svayamvaram; parents cannot be chosen, you are already born with parents; therefore what determines the innocent child’s life? It is determined by the purva janma karma. If it is punya karma; wonderful mom, wonderful dad, wonderful siblings, wonderful neighbour, wonderful place; if karma’s are not good, we are hearing lot of child abuse and all, and child cannot even protest; Now only some methods are suggested; child has to silently suffer. All because of purva janma punya and papa.

And remember all these are possible; the experience of pleasures or pain; both are possible because of the chidabhasa alone; A dead body cannot experience pleasure; nor can it experience pain. Therefore experience reveals the presence of life, which is chidabhasa. Which reveals the presence of Brahman, which is the chit, the all-pervading consciousness.

And therefore Sri Krishna says; every moment of life reveals Brahman, for a discerning mind. Every moment of life reveals Brahman. Just as every letter you read in your book, reveals the presence of the light all over; the presence of light is not revealed at a particular moment, every letter you read is because of the presence of light. Similarly every word I speak and every word you listen is because of Brahman. And a person asks for the proof of Brahman. It is like when mother asked her son to ask neighbor’s house to see if they had power or not. And the child was an obedient child; the child enters the neighbors house and sees the fan is on; the light is there; TV is running; Yet he tells them: My mother asked me to check up with you whether there is current in your house. A child can do that but if a grown up person asks, you will laugh. Similarly an immature person can ask for a proof of God; but for a mature person, the very question is a meaningless and ridiculous question. That is stated in the next verse.

Shloka 15.10:

15.10 Persons who are diversely deluded do not
see it even when it is leaving or residing (in this body), or experiencing, or
in association with the alities. Those with the eye of knowledge see.

So
while the previous verses were preparatory verses, this is the crucial verse.
So here alone Sri Krishna says, for a discerning mind, Brahman is recognizable
in every activity of the individual, in every function of the Jiva. Just as the
invisible electricity is discerned in every function of the electrical gadgets,
in every function of the Jiva,
Brahman is discerned. Of course, directly discern the function from the
functions, we discern the chidabhasa; reflected consciousness; and from the reflected consciousness;
we discern the original Conciousness, because we know that the original
consciousness alone appears as the reflected consciousness. When you want to apply kumkumam or chandanam or vibhuthi,
you see the mirror and you see the face upon the mirror in front of you, and
when you want to apply, you see the mirror but
apply the tilakam, where; on your face, and not on the mirror, because you know
that there is no difference between that face and this face. What you see is
that face, but what you discern or recognize
is this face. And if you find a black dot on your face, but you wipe here. What
does it mean? Seeing the abhasa
mukham, you
discern the original mukham. Similarly, I experience
the abhasa chaitanyam, every moment, I understand the original consciousness
and therefore Sri Krishna says mature people appreciate God in every breadth.

Gyanachakshu means people who have the eye of discernment, because it is not the physical eye that sees the electricity. Physical eye sees only the moving fan but I have got a third eye, called Gyana chakshu that tells me that behind the visible moving fan, there is an invisible electricity blessing it; because I know a fan by itself cannot move. If a fan can move by itself the increase in electricity tariff will not affect you. Similarly, this body is like the fan; and I discern through my third eye, the invisible Consciousness, which touches the body. Gyana chakshusa means the people who have the eye of understanding.

And what is the understanding? Body is inert by itself, mind is inert by itself; but both are now as though sentient; because of an extraneous factor. That is called chakshusa atma anatma viveka. Gyana chakshusa, those people, pashyanti, they discern, not through the physical eye, but the eye of understanding. What do they discern? The chidabhasa, the Jiva, which is none other than Brahman which has descended down; Brahman’s avataram is Java; because the original face alone has descended down on the mirror; Similarly, chit alone is in the form of chidabhasa, and that Brahman they recognize; Brahman in the form of chidabhasa.

And in what all ways that cidabhasa is playing in the body? sthitam; First we will take the word sthitam, which is very much present in the body, keeping the body alive. So sthitam means residing in the body. What is the proof; that very question is possible because of the chidabhasa or Brahman is there.

Bhunjanam means this Jiva
alone, this consciousness alone, experiences everything including shabda,
sparsha, rupa, rasa, gandha in the world.

I am aware of the sound; I am conscious of the So, Bhunjanam means experiencing the world. So it resides in the body, experiences the world and as even the experience comes; every experience generates a response; some of joy and some of sorrow.

Responses are broadly divided into three types: satvic
response, rajasic response and tamasic response.

Shankaracharya calls it sukha, dukha
and moha responses. And that is called here as said gunanvitham.

Thus the Jivatma is endowed with these threefold
reactions and every reaction reveals the presence of the Brahman in the body.

Therefore every response reveals the presence of the Jiva.
Therefore gunanvitham, Jivam, all these words are adjective to Jiva,
which is an image of what? Brahman. And such a Brahman, gyana chakshu
perceives or mature people recognize.

But vimudha, the immature people, the indiscriminate people, don’t see this. They think that the body has got consciousness of its own. Their philosophy is that consciousness is the property of matter, the material body. Such a philosophy is charuvaka matham, they do not believe in God. They say body has got natural life; God need not enliven the body. That is called materialistic philosophy. What do we say? Body can never have a life of its own; If body has life it is the gift of the Lord alone. Therefore vimudha do not recognize this.

Shloka
15:11:

15.11 And the yogis who are diligent see this
one as existing in themselves. The non-discriminating ones who lack
self-control do not see this one-though (they be) diligent.

So here Sri Krishna talks of the two types of people; the discerning, the vivekis and the non-discerning, aviveki. Just as I see only one fan, but I have discrimination, I know that there are two things; what I see is one; what I understand is two. These two are, the invisible electricity and visible fan. They are both intimately associated, but they are not one and same; they are separate entities.

Even after the destruction of the fan, the visible fan, the electricity continues to be there. Immediately he will recognize if one puts the hand inside. What I see is one; what I recognize is two. Similarly what I see in every living being is only one, but if I study vedanta, I know, there is a visible body and an invisible consciousness. Body will perish; consciousness will survive. And consciousness is, you have to remember, is not a part, property, or product of the body; it is an independent principle.

So Sri Krishna says yoginaha; yoginaha means the discerning people, mature people recognize this Brahman, which is present in the body as Jiva. They recognize this paramatma, present in the body-mind complex.

Present in what form? It is in the form of the reflected consciousness, RC.

 Here atma
has to be translated as body, mind complex.

Thus, body is a temple; Mind is the garbha griham, the sanctum;
and the consciousness is the deity.

Hence for moksha,
let me worship atma lingam residing in the body.

Thus sadhana chatushtaya
sampanna or qualified people, recognize this. And how do they accomplish that? Yathantaha
means putting appropriate effort. So, the discovery, this recognition is through
yathanta kurvanthaha. And what is prayathnam? All the spiritual sadhanas
are the prayathnam, which means what? One has to follow karma yoga, Upasana
yoga and Gyana yoga. In short by going through all the sadhanas,

Including attending the classes they recognize this great truth. Whereas
the other people who have not qualified, whose mind is not pure never recognize
the Lord in their hearts.

And that is why every day, before doing the puja, puja starts with atma puja, because the Lord is very much in the sanctum in the Mind and after atma puja, we invoke the Lord outside and they do bahya puja. So atma puja should be the beginning and the end as well.

Shloka
15:12:

15.12 That light in the sun which illumines
the whole world, that which is in the moon, and that which is in fire,-know
that light to be Mine.

With the previous verse, the first topic that Brahman alone is present in every body as the chidabhasa, the Jivatma is over. Paramatma alone resides in every body as Jivatma and that is why in our culture, anybody we meet we greet with namasthe; that means, tey namaha, my namaskaram to you; we know very well that person does not deserve namaskaram, but we still offer, because we know that behind this body mind, there is paramatma alone in the form of Jivatma, behind a unclean body mind; but paramatma, the Jivatma is ever shuddhaha.

Moving
to next topic, from 12th to 15^th verse, we are entering topic that
Brahman alone is in the form of the jagat; the inert universe as well.

When we ask is the world is real or
not, we should remember from which standpoint.  From the standpoint of the
body, viswa, karma etc.  world is real and capable of affecting the waker
also.  From vyvakarika dhrishti world is born and is real.  But in Vedanta,
we are trying to look at the world from the standpoint of thuriyum.  From
thuriya dhrishti, or paramarthika dhrishti, we say the world did not
originate.  Exactly like the dream world did not originate from the standpoint
of waker.  This world of duality is very much there from the standpoint of
mithya vyavakaraha.  From the vyvakarika dhrishti we do not naturally wake
up.  Ignorance never end by itself.  Every object in nature have a
natural death.  Other than Brahman, avigyanam will not die
naturally.  We require sastra, guru and students for avidhya or ignorance
to end.  Other systems of philosophy also do not have paramarthika
dhrishti.  Vedanta use logic, but it is subservient; it is sastram. 
For materialistc purposes tharka or logic may be required but not for vedantic
philosophy.  From dwaida philosophy or vyavakarika dhrishti they will
never understand the teaching from paramarthika dhsrishti.  They also
misunderstand us.  When we say world is unreal, it is from the standpoint
of thuriyum.  But from another standpoint, the world is very real. 
They get confused between vyavakarika and paramarthika dhrishti.

Verse 74

Up until now we are saying Brahman
is nondual and kariya karana vilakshanam.  It is beyond time as cause and
effect are subject to time.  Now Gowdapadha says, really speaking Brahman
can’t be called nirvikaram also.  The very name nirikaram is given only
from vyavakarika dhrishti.  Because from vyavakaika dhrishti, speaking talk
about Brahman as karanam or savikaram subject change producing effect. 
Since from vyakarika angle, they are looking up on Brahman, we are forced to
negate that notion by using the word nirivikaram.  From paramarthika
dhrishti, since savikaram itself is not there, we need not use the word
nirvikaram also.  Similarly, from vyavakirka dhrishti, they call Brahman
sagunam; because they use the word sagunam, advaidam uses word nirguranm. 
Every definition of Brahman is given only from the standpoint of vyavakarika
misconception.  Once the misconception is gone, we will withdraw all the definition
of Brahman.  If we have negated vyavakarika prabanja, we will negate all
the words like sathyam, sagunam, vikaram, gyanam.  From paramarthika
dhrishti, silence is the only definition of Brahman.  Amathra is the only
definition of thuriyum.  Thuriyum is also not the correct word, since it
implies the fourth, but when you negate the first three padhas, thuriyum can’t’
be called thuriyum.  From paramarthika dhrishti, it can’t even be called eternal. When
you negate the impermanent world, you can’t call it eternal.  This verse
is similar to 33rd verse of second chapter.  After negating dwaidam, we
won’t use the word advaidam.

Verse 75

With the previous verse, the
summarization of Upanishad is over for now.  In 75 to 86, Gowdapadha talks
about problems of humans.  What is the cause of sorrow when we are all Brahman? 
I can never become a samsari, because becoming is a change.  If this is
true, then why do you suffer.  The reason is avidhya or agyaam  The
unreal ignorance or Maya is alone is the cause of the problem.  Why did we
get this ignorance?  Ignorance never came, it is anadahi.  Because of
this anadhi avidhya, I have fallen without falling.  Because of ignorance,
we have fallen into viswa and taijasa.  From this standpoint, the
individuality, the world becomes very real just like the dream world is real
from the dreamer’s standpoint.  The more I get involved in it, the more
real it becomes, just like a movie.  Obsession with the mithya prabanja is
the cause of samsara.  Beginning with body mind complex, all the
relationships etc.  we get absorbed to such an extent, we do not believe
when vedanta says it is mithya.  It is not easy; one has to soak in
vedanta to get out of this mechanical life.

There is no duality born from
Brahman; There is only a very strong obsessive notion regarding a duality which
is really nonexistent.  In vedanta, dwaidam is samsara.  Duality
means time and space.  In deep sleep, there is not duality; there is no
time.  Once you accept duality, time comes; once time comes, decease, old
age etc. comes.  After knowledge, there is no cause for samsara: 
ignorance and obsession; once knowledge comes, ignorance goes away and then the
ignorance-based obsession goes away.  That gyani is no more reborn because
the word reborn itself is not relevant when there is no birth; therefore he
gets liberated.  Therefore, solution for samsara is gyanam.

Verse 76

Ignorance is the cause of samsara
and knowledge is the only solution.  Ignorance makes me think I am not
thuriyum.  Because this fact was not known, then I mistake myself as viwa
or taijasa or pragya.  From the standpoint of body, I become kartha and boktha;
As a kartha, I produce karma palam.

Agyanam causes dheha abimana; dheha abimana results in karma; karma results in karma palam.  Karma palam  can be uthama (punyam), madhyama (misram) and adhama (pavam).  Higher karma palam will take me to higher lokas and lower karma palam will take me to lower lokas, Madhya karma palam will result in punarabi jananm and punarabi  manam.  Gyani does not have dheha abimana and because of that his actions do not produce karma.  When the cause is not there, how can there be effect?

Please listen to Swamiji’s Special talk for 2020 at this link: Hinduism and Family Life

Shloka : 15.
7

15.7 It is verily a part of Mine, which
becoming the eternal individual soul in the region of living beings, draws (to
itself) the organs which have the mind as their sixth, and which abide in
Nature.

Continuing his teachings Swamiji said, in the first 6 verses of the 15th chapter, we saw the first part of the vedantic teaching. Sri Krishna described the nature of samsara, by comparing it to the ashvatta tree and then he talked about the four important disciplines, by following which, a person will get out of samsara, the disciplines being, vairagyam, sharanagathi, satgunas, and vedanta vichara. And by following these four, a person attains freedom from samsara, which is otherwise called attainment of moksha. Attainment of moksha is nothing but attainment of Brahman, which is the very substratum of the samsara tree and Sri Krishna concluded that discussion by defining the nature of Brahman through a very important upanishad mantra that defined Brahman as the consciousness principle, which objectifies everything but itself cannot be objectified through any instrument. And then finally Sri Krishna added a note pointing out, that this consciousness is my higher nature. I-the-Lord have two natures or features; as apara and para prakrti, the lower and the higher nature, the lower nature is the saguna Ishvara, and the higher nature is the nirguna Ishvara, which is the consciousness. And therefore, indirectly Krishna tells:

Hey Arjuna! Do not look upon me as a physical body; born as son of Devaki; this visible personality of mine is only my inferior lower material nature and my real higher nature is the Nirguna chaitanyam which is never subject to birth or death, or even travel. That is why, we use the word Sri Krishna Paramatma, and that paramatma; the chaitanya svarupam, cannot travel from one place to another, because that Lord is all pervading.

And
therefore Sri Krishna hereafter talks about himself as Nirguna Brahma Chaitanyam.

We have to remember that Sri Krishna uses the word I, but it has three different meanings, which has confused many students of the Gita. Sri Krishna is very loose in using the first person singular. In certain context he uses the word I as the physical Krishna; having a date of birth and a date of death, and born as a contemporary of Arjuna and a friend of Arjuna

When
Krishna addresses Arjuna as his friend, Krishna is taking himself to be a
personal God.
So the word ‘I’ sometimes is also used as the all-pervading virat svarupam.

In Shloka 7.24 he says, People think I am human being; people think I was born, because people do not know my formless higher nature.

So
Sri Krishna has three natures: ekarupa Krishna, anekarupa virat Ishvara and arupa nirguna Brahma chaitanyam.

Therefore
whenever Krishna says, aham, maya, mama, we have to enquire and find out which
I is being refrred to.

Shankaracharya says mam, neither
means ekarupa, nor anekarupa, but arupa, nirgunam brahma alone

Here
in the following portions when Krishna says tat damam paramam mama, here mama refers to
my own nirguna svarupam. Having
said this much in the first six verses from the seventh verse onwards, Sri Krishna
is entering into the next topic.

The
next topic is: I, the Nirgunam
Brahma alone with the help of Maya,
appear as both the jiva
as well as the jagat. The conscious experiencer in the world, and the
experienced object; both of them are my own manifestation. Just as in dream, we
divide ourselves into two; both the dream-world and the dream-experiencer, and
we interact. Just as I bifurcate myself in dream, similarly, I the Lord alone
divide myself into bhoktha and
bhogyam.

And therefore, I alone am everything. This is called sarva Ishvara bhava or Sarva brahma bhava. That is the topic.

And there from the 7th verse up to the 11th verse, Sri Krishna says that I am in the form of jiva; jiva means the individual experiencer in the world and from the 12th verse onwards up to 15th verse Krishna says, I alone am in the form of universe also. And therefore I am all. I am everything.

So
this is the topic now.

So
there in the 7th verse, I introduced how Bhagavan, the consciousness alone is in the
form of every jiva. And how are
we to understand? Every jiva,
individual, has got primarily two bodies; the physical body and the subtle
body. The causal body is not relevant at this time. Therefore, we will ignore
that now; every individual consists of the physical body and the subtle body
that we can take as the mind. And according to the shastras, the
physical body is also inert, because it is made up of matter, and mind is also
inert, because it is also made up of matter. We have seen in tatva bodha, that
mind is also made up of panchca sukshma
bhuthani.

The
idea is that the mind is made of subtle matter or energy; therefore body and mind
are both inert intrinsically. However,
now we find the body and mind are sentient; we are experiencing the sentiency
of the body and mind. The scriptures point out that this sentiency or life in
the body-mind complex is not natural to the body mind, but it is borrowed from
Brahma chaitanyam. The original all-pervading consciousness when it
pervades the mind, the mind becomes a live-mind. By itself it is dead matter;
but pervaded by the consciousness, the mind becomes live. And that
consciousness which pervades the mind is called pratibhimba chaitanyam, or abhasa chaitanyam.
In the last class, I used the word, RC, the reflectedconsciousness. So when the original consciousness pervades the
individual mind, the mind becomes live. And what does the mind do? It has
borrowed life fromBrahman, and out
of the borrowed consciousness, the mind lends consciousness to the physical
body.

And
from that borrowed consciousness, mind lends consciousness to the body, and therefore
now the body is also alive. Now the body is alive, because of the mind and the
mind is sentient because of the OC.

And
at the time of death, the mind quits the body. You should not say consciousness
quits as consciousness cannot quit because it is all pervading; whereas the
mind quits, and hence the mind is no more available to lend consciousness to
the body.

Why
can’t the original consciousness lend consciousness to the body, if you ask; OC
cannot directly lend to the body. If OC, the original
all-pervading-consciousness can lend consciousness to the body, what will be
the consequence?  If OC can lend
consciousness to the body, body will be eternally sentient. We will never die.
You may say it is good.

Already
we have got 6 billion people and imagine nobody dies. So therefore for the good
of the world, and for the good of others, we all should successfully die, which
means the mind should quit the body; and thereafter the body will become insentient;
and it will decay and then people will dispose it off.

So
therefore, the consciousness makes the mind sentient; the mind makes the body sentient.
Therefore whenever I see a live body, I should remember that behind the live
body, there is a live mind, even though I do not see the mind. That is why you can
escape, you can think of something else also, because I do not see your mind and
I do not know whether you are ‘here’. I do not see your mind, whether you are listening
to me or not. It is my great optimism.

But
how do I know that there is a mind, because you are alive.

Therefore
every activity of the body is the proof to the presence of the mind, live-mind;
and the presence of the live-mind is the proof for the original consciousness,
this is so because, without the original consciousness lending consciousness,
mind will not be sentient. Therefore body helps me recognize the mind; mind
helps me recognize the original Conciousness, which is also called God.

Therefore Sri Krishna says every activity of a live person is a proof for the existence of the original consciousness, called God. Suppose somebody asks the question: Is there electricity in this hall; how do you know; you cannot perceive because electricity is invisible. So if somebody asks whether there is power or not, what do I do? Look at the bulb; the bulb is called sthoola shariram. So when I see a bright bulb, I know that the bulb does not have brightness of its own; therefore the brightness of the bulb is a borrowed brightness. And this brightness of the bulb is given by sthoola shariram, there is a sukshma shariram called the filament; tungsten filament; and that filament is very bright; and that bright filament alone lends brightness to the bulb.

Now the next question is: How is the tungsten filament is bright? Does the brightness belong to the filament itself or is it borrowed? The filament is not bright by itself; but now it is bright because of an invisible power that pervades. I do not see it but I recognize it because I tell other people, there is power. I do not say that there is bulb. I am seeing the bulb; I do not say I see the filament; my reply is there is power. Power means electricity. How do I recognize this; electricity enlivens the filament makes and it bright and that bright filament makes the bulb bright.

And some times the bulb is there; power is also there; but it is not burning. Why, electricity is there, bulb is there; but it is not burning. You say bulb is fused or Sukshma shariram out. The filament is gone. Similarly, there is a person till yesterday, walking talking, scolding; one day I see the bulb is there; the body is like a bulb (round!) and of course, Conciousness is there everywhere, but no life. Why, because the mind filament that borrows consciousness and lends to the body that mind has quit this place; also because mind is not all pervading. And therefore Sri Krishna says: whenever you see the activity of a living being, you remember that it is the touch of the all-pervading Conciousness called God. You do not require any special tapas to realize God. Sri Krishna says; for a mature mind, God is realizable in and through every movement. Even my ability to talk is because of God. Consciousness blesses the mind; the mind blesses the mouth and therefore the mouth speaks. And the consciousness blesses your mind and your mind blesses your ears and therefore you hear. That I talk that you listen is the most amply evident proof for the existence of God. And Sri Krishna says inspite of so much clear evidence, people ask, what is the proof for God.

This
is the essence. Now look at the shloka.

Sri Krishna says mamaiva amsa. Mama, my, when he is referring to arupa nirguna brahma chaitanam; amsa means reflection or prathibhiṁba. So my own reflection alone is formed in the inert mind of every one. Just as the electricity alone is behind every live bulb that is why we say the wire is live wire. There also we use the word live wire. Therefore, He says, mamaiva amsa means prathibhimba. Is there in the jiva loke, in the world of living beings, which means in every body mind complex or jiva there is Ishvara in reflected form. Just as from the original sun we get a reflected bright sun depending on the many, many mirrors; similarly, as many minds are there; as many reflected paramatmas are also there. Each reflected paramatma is called the jivatma. And how long does this jiva live; it is sanatana or he is eternal. At the time of death also, jiva does not die; jiva quits or leaves the body, the death belongs to the physical body alone; because it does not have the blessing of the mind with RC and that mind with RC is called jiva. That jiva does not die, that jiva travels. And therefore, that jiva is eternal. When did that jiva begin? Anadi kala meaning the jiva is beginningless, the jiva will continue the journey endlessly also until liberation.

And
therefore jiva is called
sanatana, during death jiva does not die; even during pralayam the cosmos
dissolution, jiva does not
die, the mind does not die, the mind goes to dormant condition; as it happens
in sleep. In sleep, mind goes to dormant state. How do you know?  Because when we get up, we get up with the
same worry, if it is a different worry, we can say that it is a different mind
and that it has been switched.

But
we wake up with the same problem, indicating during sushupthi, the mind
survives, during pralayam also the mind with Reflected Consciousness called the
jiva will
survive; therefore sanatana;
And what does that jiva
do, at the time of death; he says, at the time of death, not only the reflected
Conciousness goes away, but it drags the entire sukshma shariram also along with it. And what is the sukshma shariram; it is all
the sense organs; sense organs do not mean the physical sense organ, that is
called golakam; but behind the golakam, the sensory perception faculty is there
called the indriyani. That is why in the dead body, physical eye will be there,
but it cannot see; all the physical parts will be there. In short, the anatomy
will be there; but the physiology will be missing; physiology, the power of
acting, that is sucked by the RC.

The
word karshati means
dragged; not only the sense organs, mana sastani, which
includes the mind also are dargged. Not only the five Gyanendriyas are dragged
away, but also the mind behind the sense organs as well. All our sensory
faculties at the time of death, they are taken away. Who does that? Jiva the RC takes
it away. It takes it away when the jiva leaves the body.

Then the next incidental question is: When will the jiva leave the body? Is it arbitrary or does God decide or do the family members decide. When does it happen? It is decided by karma. So we have got a set of punyams and papams to be exhausted through this medium. We have taken this specific medium called the physical body to exhaust our punya-papam. And once those punyams and papams are exhausted then death occurs and this medium is left.

Then
what happens? Next bunch of punya-papam is waiting
in queue. You get ready for next body based upon one’s sanchita karmas. Your
next bunch of karmas will determine what should be the type of next body.
Whether it should be uttama shariram, madhyama shariram or adama shariram. And that
karma guides the jiva
to the appropriate environment. And that is called the travel of the jiva.

Shloka # 15.8:

5.8 When the master leaves it and even when he
assumes a body, he departs taking these, as wind (carries away) odours from
their receptacles.

When the jiva leaves the body, it carries with it the sense the organs
and the mind. Now the next question is: What will the jiva do next? We are all
eager to know.

Whenever death occurs in the neighborhood or in our own family,
you suddenly begin to think of, what happened to that person? Where will that
person go; when will he go; how will he go; what will happen? etc.

Sri Krishna answers that question. Before looking at his answer a
few clarifications are in order. Jiva

Is the Lord of the body, jiva itself is called here Ishvara.

Why is jiva called Ishvara? Because of two reasons: first reason
is Ishvara alone is in the form of jiva when he is reflected; after all jiva is
reflected version.

The second reason is Ishvara means the master, the Lord and jiva
is called Ishvara the master,
because jiva is the Lord
of the individual body, because only his presence makes the body alive; and his
absence makes the body dead and thereforeIshvara or swami Jiva.
And this swami jiva, after
leaving this body, what does he do?

He
takes another body. There is no rule that human being will take only human
birth; there is no rule;

Human
being can become a deva,
a human being; or even inferior janmas are all possible. Because there are some
other philosophers who say that evolution is uniformly from lower to higher
only; matsya, kurma, varaha, they take it as the Darwin’s theory of evolution;
first we were monkeys (Now also doubtful), and then man.

We think from lower forms of life, we uniformly go to higher form, but Veda does not accept that; the journey need not be always upwards, that is why we give the example of the snake and ladder. You may take a ladder. So a human being may take a lower janma also.

Then
the next question is; who determines the next janma? Is it Bhagavan?

Shastras says do
not blame anyone. It is totally dependent on karma, and karma is dependent on
karta, and you are
the karta and therefore
you alone determine your next janma. And in the 6th chapter, Sri Krishna gives
a great consolation for us; all the Gita students
will never take lower janma. So be regular

in the class; that is better. So all the Gita students, of course, they will get liberation; no janma at all, but if at all they do not get liberation, the next janma will invariably be manushya janma only.

This is not my promise but Sri Krishna’s promise. Therefore the next body is determined by punya papa karma. And when the jiva takes another body, what does he do? He has taken all the indriyas, sense organs from the previous body and all those sense organs, He, the jiva, will place in the respective physical plane; thus eye, the sense organ, must be placed in the chakshur golakam, chakshur indriyam must go to chakshur golakam.

Similarly, all Gyanendriya’s are placed in respective Gyanendriya golakas, karmendriyas are placed in the karmendriya golakas; and one starts transactions in the new transferred body. So rebirth is nothing but a transfer.

Sri
Krishna provides us with a comparison for the death process.  Imagine there is a flower; the flower is compared
to the physical body; because it is visible; and the flower has got the fragrance,
the fragrance is compared to the sukshma
shariram, the
invisible mind. So the invisible vayu, wind, carries the invisible fragrance from
the visible flower and travels. And how do you know vayu carries the
fragrance. You can feel the smell. Therefore, just as the invisible vayu carries the
invisible fragrance; similarly the invisible jiva carries the invisible mind from the
physical body. Asayat, means flower,
gandha, means fragance, vayu,
the wind;

And
the next question they will ask it, how long does it take to take the next body?

It
all will depend upon the fructification of the next karma, it can be one day;
one year, or one-lakh years, and it will vary from individual to individual.
Therefore there is no regular rule and secondly, once the jiva quits this
body, another important fact we should remember is, this particular time and
space will become irrelevant for the jiva, which has quit this body.

You
should remember that this time and space are relevant only when you function through
this body; that shows how time and space are highly relative. That is why the
moment you withdraw from this body, and enter the dream body, for your dream
experiences, you have a different time, space field. So if this is true for
your dream experiences, extend it to the other thirteen lokas. Each loka is a distinctive world like your dream world, which means
the present time and space are meaningless. Therefore how can you measure
the duration of jiva’s
travel based on our present time and space? And what is 100 years for us, may
be one year or one day,

Therefore,
we cannot say and that is why shastra
says; when you are doing sradham,
do it for three generations; we simply obey them; it is not based on when the jiva takes
rebirth.

Sri
Krishna wants us to remember is our primary topic.

What
Krishna wants to say that the sentiency of the body is the proof for the presence
of the mind, and the presence of the live-mind is the proof for the existence
of god, and therefore, life is the proof for the presence of God and the death
is a bigger proof for the presence of the Lord; because when the body becomes
dead body.

What
has happened? The Ishvara’s
blessing in the form of reflected consciousness is withdrawn. When Ishvara is there
in this body, I am alive, when Ishvara
has quit this body, Ishvara
means you should understand, Ishvara
in the form of chidabasa,
has quit the body, the body becomes dead. So life is the proof for the Lord,
death is the proof for the Lord and in the next verse he will say that between
life and death, whatever activities you undertake, they are also the proof for
the presence

of
the Lord. How can you miss that Lord? It is like asking what is the proof that there
is electricity? Sitting under the fan, sitting in a well-lit room, what is the
proof for electricity; that he is able to see, that he is able to feel the
breeze of the fan, is the proof for the invisible electricity.

Take Away:

Moksha:

Four
important disciplines, by following which, a person will get out of samsara (moksha)
are: vairagyam, sharanagathi, satgunas, and vedanta vichara.

The
scriptures point out that this sentiency or life in the body-mind complex is
not natural to the body mind, but it is borrowed from Brahma chaitanyam.

Each
loka is a
distinctive world like your dream world, which means the present time and space
are meaningless.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Mithyatvam of the world has been
established through several methods.  In these verses, Gowdapadha uses a
special reasoning:  Whatever is an object of an experience has to be
mithya, because its existence can be proved and is dependent on the subject,
the experiencer.  Then he divided the whole universe into three
categories:  Sakshi, chitham and jagat.  First, he established that
the world is mithya because it is an object of mind.  Three is now reduced
into two.  Now sakshi and chitham are the two left.  He applies the
same principle and says that mind is also mithya because it is an object of
sakshi.  Net result is prabanja is also dhrishyam from the standpoint of
mind; mind is also dhrishyam from the standpoint of sakshi.  Both are
dhrishyam and so both are mithya.  Sakshi is never an object, it is never
a dhrishyam; it is always dhrig or sathyam.

In 67th verse, therefore of these
three, two are mithya; consciousness alone is sathyam; mind and world are both
mithya.  He reinforces by giving one more reasoning.  Since mind and
world are both mithya, they do not exist independently and both of them depend
on each other.  You can’t prove world without mind; and you can’t prove
mind without world.  Only if the forms and colors are there, then and then
alone you can prove the existence of eye.  When in a room there is
absolute silence, you may get a doubt whether you have hearing ability or not;
only by making a sound you can prove that the ear is functioning or
existing.  The mind and the world are mutually dependent to prove the
existence of each other and therefore both are mithya.

Verse 68

Since the entire world and the four
jivas being mithya, you can never clearly talk about their arrival and
departure.  They only apparently arrive and apparently depart.  If
this is not convincing, there is the example of jivas seen within dream. 
If you try find out how they arrived, you will have difficulty.  The
moment you go to dream, they instantaneously appear.  On waking up, they
disappear, but you won’t be able to explain where they disappear.  But
during dream they appear real enough to give you experience.  They appear
and disappear without proper logic or reasoning.  In the jagradh prabanja
also, the more you probe into creation and resolution, or whether karma came
first or jiva came first. they will all became more vague and beyond logical
explanation.  We have one-word Maya, representing anything that can’t be
explained or indescribable of mithya.

Verse 69

In this verse second example is
given:  Maya or magical jiva.  Just as a magician able to create a
magical jiva, which is not there, but for you it appears as a jiva is created.

Verse 70

In 68, 69 and 70 the second line is
same.  In this verse third example, nirguna jiva created is by chidhi, a
materialized jiva.  The previous example is an illusion created by
magician pradhibadhika; this example is a thing created by special power by
chithda  in vyavakarika.

Common to all of them – swapna jiva,
maya jiva or nirmidhaka jiva – they are all mithya; either pradhibadhika mithya
or vyavakarika mithya.

Verse 71

If all these jivas (swapna, maya and
nirmidhaka) are not really born or apparently born, then which jiva is really
born?  No jiva or jivatma is really born because of every jivatma is none
other than birthless paramatma.  This verse is repetition of 48th verse of
third chapter.

If jivatma is a product or kariyam,
then we need a karanam.  We think paramatma is the karanam of jivatma, but
up on study we find paramatma is not a karanam but a karana kariya
vilaksham.  For this jivatma to be born there is no cause.  There is
only one highest reality which is paramarthika sathyam or thuriyum which is
greater than prathipadhika sathyam (swapna prabanja) or vyavakarika sathyam
(jagradha prabanja).  Jagradh prabanja is not available for a dream and
swapna prabanja is not available for waker and therefore they both are mithya
or relative reality.  The absolute reality is thuriya chaithanyam. 
It is in all the three and is also beyond the three.

Verse 72

If you say no jiva is born, and
therefore no jagat is not born, but why do I experience all of them?  Just
as your thought motion appears as tangible dream world the apparent motion of
consciousness appear as tangible waker world.  Modern science says
tangible products are made of violently moving intangible atoms, neutrons
etc.  Motion of the universe is indicated by the eternal dance of
Nataraja.

Duality indicates subject and
object.  Dualistic world consisting of subject object duality which is
nothing but consciousness in motion – which is both subject and object. 
The ultimate truth is consciousness does not really contact a world; it does
not have an object to contact; because there is no object separate from
consciousness.  Just as clay can never contact the pot, because there is
no pot separate from clay.  Wave can never contact water because there is
no wave other than water.  The world can never contact the consciousness,
because there is no world separate from consciousness.  In advaidam, there
is no relationship is possible.  Since there is no matter other than
consciousness, it is relation less.  That is why people are afraid of advaidam. 
We think that without relationship life will be miserable.  In advaidm,
there is no fear and a source of moksha.

Verse 73

Once you say that the world is
caused by apparent motion of consciousness, then the world is apparently born,
which means the world is really not born.  From one angle, it is
apparently born; from another angle it is really not born.  It is either
unreally born (vyavakarika sathyam) or really unborn (mithya). 
Vyavakiraka sahtyam and mithya are both same.  From the emperical angle,
relative angle the vyavakariaka prabanja is real.  From the angle of one
who is in dream, the dream world is very real.  This is relative
pereceiver’s angle or vyakariaka dhrishti, the jagradh prabanja or from the
angle of viswa, the world is very very real.  From the standpoint of Thuriyum,
which is paramarthika dhrishti, the world is not real it doesn’t even
exist.  This is similar to dream world nonexistent from the standpoint of
waker.  From the standpoint of other systems of philosophy, they are
looking from the vyvakarika dhrishti as they don’t accept or understand
paramrthika dhrishti.  When they ask the world is real or not, never
say the world is unreal.  Because other people are looking at the world
from viswa angle or from the standpoint of sthula sareeram.  You can say
world is unreal only after introducing thuriyum.  Only when a person
accepts nirguna Thuriyum, you can say the world is unreal.  Until then the
world is real.  You can’t say vyvakarika because it is meaningful only
when you know the paramarthika.  From paramarthika dhrishti, the world is
not real.

Beginning from 57th verse to 74th
verse, essence of vedanta is given.  Chaithanyam alone is sathyam and
everything else obtained in the form of matter is mithya.  That
chaithanyam is myself and therefore I am sathyam everything else is mithya.
   This has been conveyed by different methods.  From verse 63
up to 67, Gowdapadha uses a particular type of argument.  The summary of
method of discussion.

Gowdapadha divides the whole
universe into three portions:

1. Consciousness
2. Mind
3. Universe or the world.

In this group, we find that
consciousness happens to be the absolute subject, illuminator and never an object;
The external world is always an object and never the subject.  In between
the ever-subject consciousness and ever object world, we have the intermediary
mind which functions both as an object and a subject.  Mind serves as an
object sometimes and other times it serves as a subject.  Mind is not
absolute subject or absolute object; it is subject object.  With regard to
the consciousness principle, mind is an object.  This is because mind is
illuminated by consciousness only.  In this – consciousnesses- mind pair,
consciousness happens to be subject and mind happens to be an object. 
Illumined by the consciousness, mind the object becomes alive and becomes
capable of experiencing the world.  So, when take the mind-world pair,
mind becomes the subject and world becomes object.  With regard to
consciousness, the mind is the object and with regard to world it is the subject. 
It is similar to the father being father from the standpoint of son and son
from the standpoint of grandfather.

This is the first point: to remember
is that consciousness is always subject, mind is object and subject and world
is always object.

Any object can’t have an existence
independent of a subject.   Object depends up on the subject for its
existence; whereas the subject does not depend up on the object for existence. 
The second point is object has a dependent existence and therefore it is mithya;
Subject has an independent existence so it is sathyam.

The following discussions is based
on these two points.

First taking the mind-world pair,
where the subject is mind and the world is object.  Gowdapadha argues,
subject mind is sathyam and the object world is mithya because world can’t be
proved independent of the subject, mind.  If a good news or event happens
somewhere, until you come to know about it, it is as good as nonexistent. 
It does not give you pleasure or sorrow until you hear about.  Therefore,
mind is sathyam, world is mithya.  World does not exist independent of
mind.  Here Gowdapadha says that there is no world different than mind.

Taking the second pair,
consciousness-mind, the mind, which was subject previously, now is an
object.  Consciousness is the subject.  Gowdapadha argues, since subject
alone sathyam and object is mithya, mind the object does not exist separate
from consciousness the subject.  Therefore, consciousness is sathyam and
mind is mithya.  In the first stage world is mithya and mind is
sathyam.  In the second stage mind is mithya and consciousness is
sathyam.  Consciousness is never object and therefore it is the absolute
reality.

1. Introduce consciousness, mind, world and establish
   three pairs.
2. Subject is sathyam, object is mithya
3. Come to pair of mind and world and establish world is
   mthya
4. In the final stage, you say mind is also mithya because
   it depends on consciousness.

Apply this to dream world.  In
dream world, dream mind and dream world is mithya.  Similarly, in waker’s
world, mind and world is mithya as much as the world and mithya of dream. 
Consciousness which blesses both, that alone is sathyam.

In the dream contest, Gowdapatha
consciousness is called swapana dhriku (SD); the mind is called swapana dhrik
chitham (SDC).  The world is called swapna dhrik chitha dhrishyam
(SDCD).  Of these mind and world are mithya consciousness alone is
sathyam.

Dream observer, consciousness
principle obtained in dream, moving about in the dream world, experiences of
varieties of living being or world of objects.

All the living beings are
categorized into four varieties:

1. Andajaha jiva:  All living being born out of andam
   or egg.  example birds’
2. Swethaja:  All  being born out of
   moisture;  example insects, minute organisms;
3. Jarayujaha:  All being born out of womb; 
   example mammals;
4. Udbhijjaha:  All being born out of ground;
   example:  plants.

Verse 64

Here Gowdapadha takes the second
pair – mind and world.  That swapna world (consisting of all four
categories of life) is object and the subject is mind.  All the objects in
swapna, are objects of mind.  Mind is the subject with regard to those
objects.  Therefore object is mithya subject is sathyam; All objects of
dream world do not exist separate from the mind which is the subject. 
Dream world is mithya and dream mind is sathyam, for now.

Extending the same principle, when
you take the consciousness, mind pair:  The mind is an object with regard
to the consciousness or swapna dhriku.  Therefore mind is also mithya it
does not have an existence separate from consciousness; both mind and world are
mithya with regard to swapna.

Verse 65

Things are not different in jagradh
avastha.  This is similar to verse 63.  Instead of swapna, use
jagradh

In the waking contest, Gowdapatha
consciousness is called jagradh dhriku ; the mind is called jagrath dhrik
chitham.  The world is called jagrath dhrik chitha dhrishyam.  Of
these mind and world are mithya consciousness alone is sathyam.

Verse 66

This is similar to verse 64.  Take the mind and object and point out mind is the subject world is object; mind is sathyam and world is mithya.  The wakers world does not exist separate from the waker’s mind which is sathyam for now.  But when you come to consciousness and mind, the very same mind becomes an object of consciousness and therefore it doesn’t exist separate from the subject, consciousness so it is mithya.

At any state of experience mind is
mithya; objects are also mithya.  Sathyam is neither the mind nor matter;
consciousness alone sathyam; it doesn’t come under mind or matter; it is beyond
both mind and matter.  It useful for vyavahara but don’t rely on it. 
Both of them are made up of three gunas.

Verse 67

Gowdapadha concludes this discussion
by observing that mind is also mithya and the world is also mithya; since both
of them are unreal, both of them can’t exist independently.  Mind is
proved because of world and world is proved because of mind and they have
mutual dependence.  You cannot prove the world without the operation of
mind.  Moment mind goes to sleep, the world disappears.  The world
depends on mind; mind being mithya, you can’t have mind without world.  In
meditation, when you remove all the objects and when you remove all the
thoughts related to objects, the mind cannot have an existence independent of
the world.  Mutual dependence proves that they are mithya.  In sleep
both mind and world resolve; in waking when the mind rises, the world also
rises.  The mind and the world are both recognized because of each
other.  In mind world pair, mind is proved because of world and world is
proved because of mind.  Mind depends on world; world depends on mind. 
Appreciation of pot depends on pot cognition.  Appreciation of pot
cognition depends on pot.  You can’t appreciate pot cognition without
pot.  You can’t appreciate pot without pot cognition (thought).

Do I see a tree because the tree exists,
or does a tree exists because I see it?  This proves both of them mithya.

Mind does not exist without world;
world does not exist without mind; both of them do not have independent proof
for their existence.  The proof of mind depends on the world and proof of
world depends on mind.  This can be extended to sense organs.

Imagine a world free from all colors
and form.  We don’t experience colors and forms so they are negated. 
Can you prove the existence of a sense organ called eye if the world is free
from colors and form?  The proof of eye depends on forms and colors; 
If colors and forms negated, then you can’t talk about the existence of
eye.  The existence of eye and colors and form depends on each
other.  Each one is recognized because of the other.  Knowledge of one
is responsible for the appreciation of the other.  Appreciation of mind is
responsible for the appreciation of world; appreciation of world is responsible
for the appreciation of mind.  You can’t appreciate any one of them
independent of the other.  Mutual dependence for recognition.

The conclusion is mind and world are
both mithya.

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said,

Shloka
15.5:

15.5 The wise ones who are free from pride and
non-discrimination, who have conered the evil of association, [Hatred and love
arising from association with foes and friends.] who are ever devoted to
spirituality, completely free from desires, free from the dualities called
happiness and sorrow, reach that undecaying State.

After
giving a description of samsara in the first few verses, Sri Krishna dealt with the samsara nivrtti upaya, the means
or methods for removal of samsara or attaining mokshaha.

What
are the disciplines to be followed to attain moksha were described. Four
disciplines were highlighted.

The first one is vairagyam or dispassion; the second one is sharanagathi, surrendering to the Lord in the form of any Ishta devatha; the third discipline is the acquisition or cultivation of healthy values, which we called sadgunaha also discussed in the 16th chapter as daivi sampathi. Cultivating healthy virtues is the third discipline and the fourth and the primary discipline are vedantic enquiry, Vedanta vichara, vedanta sravana manana nidhidhyasanam. And the word Sri Krishna uses for this vichara is parimarganam.

And enquiry into Brahman is possible only through Vedantic scriptures and therefore Brahman enquiry automatically means vedantic enquiry. Of these four, the first three are supporting sadhanas, and vedantic enquiry alone is the primary sadhana, which alone removes the self or Brahman ignorance. And if a person follows all these four disciplines, the seekers will benefit from becoming wise people or Gyani and they will attain Brahman.

Previously Brahman was presented as the root of the world and now Brahman is presented as the destination of the seeker. So what is the substratum of the world alone is the destination of the seeker, and that is why the word padam is a versatile word; it has got two meanings. One meaning is the substratum; the other meaning is the destination. So Brahman is padam, the support of the world and Brahman is padam, the destination of the seeker, that Brahman they attain.

Shloka
# 15. 6:

15.6 Neither the sun nor the moon nor fire
illumines That. That is My supreme Abode, reaching which they do not return.

In the previous verse it was mentioned that the seekers who follow
the four fold disciplines will attain that undecaying padam, which is called
Brahman, which is the root of the universe. Now in this verse, Sri Krishna tells
us the nature of that Brahman; which is the destination of the seekers; which
is the substratum of the universe.

So this verse is the Brahma lakshana shloka.
A shloka, which defines Brahman. Wherever Brahman is defined that verse is considered
important.

And
while defining Brahman in this verse, Sri Krishna is borrowing from a well-known
upanishad mantra. I
have often said that the entire Gita is a borrowed teaching,

Sri
Krishna does not give anything original rather the whole Gita is extracted
from the upanishads. That is
why you should remember the verse,  sarvopanishado gavo dogdha gopala-nandana, partho vatsa sudhirbhokta dugdham gitamrtam mahat. This
verse is based on a well-known upanishad mantra, which occurs both in the Mundaka
upanishad and Kathopaniṣad and it is so
well known that it is used in all the temples regularly, at the time of deeparadhana.
And that mantra is:

na
tatra suryo bhati na candratarakam

nema vidyuto bhanti kuto yamagnih |

tameva bhantamanubhati sarvam

tasya
bhasa sarvamidam vibhati || 2.II.10
||

It is one of the very important definitions of Brahman, which we use at the time of arathi. The essence of the shloka is that, any instrument of knowledge cannot objectify Brahman. Brahman is not objectifiable through any instrument of knowledge. Brahman cannot be illumined by anything. And to convey this idea, the Upanishad uses the example of light. Light in Vedanta is that in whose presence things are known. For example, this is called light, because in its presence I am able to know you are seated in front. Imagine light goes away; I will not know whether you are continuing to sit or quietly walk off. I won’t know. Therefore light is that in whose presence things are known. And keeping this definition, the Upanishads mention or point out that every sense organ can be compared to a light. Every sense organ can be compared to a light, because sense organ is that in whose presence things are known. Therefore ear is a light, in whose presence sounds are known; therefore ear becomes a light (light with quotation, it is figurative expression)’ nose is a light in whose presence smells are known; tongue is a light in whose presence, tastes are known and if you extend further, any pramanam or instrument of knowledge is called a light. Any pramanam; any instrument of knowledge; is also called light, because in the presence of instrument of knowledge the objects are known. Thus inference is also a form of light, through which you can know things and even words are a form of light. Even a lecture is a form of light. Hence the expression: Can you throw some light upon that particular topic?

Thus
even words are a form of light called shabda pramanam through which we come to know
things and the upanishads says that there are so many lights in the world. Sun is
a light; moon is a light; stars are light; fire is light. There are so many
lights, and there are many sense organs, which are also light and in addition
to that, there is shabda pramanam, which is light. Thus
there are so many lights and Brahman is that which can never be illumined by or
known through any light. No light can objectify that Brahman. To use a
technical language, anything that can be known through a light, an instrument
of knowledge, anything that is known through a pramanam is called a
prameyam. Anything
that is objectified, known, illumined through any pramanam is called a
prameyam. Sri Krishna
says Brahman is that which is not an object
of knowledge; it is not a prameyam at all.

And then
finally, we will have a question. If Brahman cannot be objectified through any
instrument of knowledge, does that Brahman exist at all?

If you say that it cannot be tasted, touched, seen, heard, etc.; if it cannot be inferred or described; if it cannot be known through any instrument of knowledge, does it exist at all? The upanishads however say that it does exist.

So while Brahman
is not an object of knowledge, Brahman does exist. If so, what is that Brahman?
You can have only one answer, if Brahman exists, and if it is not an object,
there can be only one answer; That, it is the very subject; it is the very
conscious being, which objectifies everything but which can never be
objectified.
Which is the experiencer of everything,
but which is never experienced. It is this seer of everything but never seen. The
unseen seer; the unseen hearer, the unsmelled smeller; the untasted taster, the
untouched toucher, these are all not my expressions. These are all upanishadic
expressions.

So
therefore, adrshto drashtaha asrto srota, amato manto, avijjato vijnata, this
subject that is never objectified and objectifiable is Brahman. In short, Brahman is the consciousness-principle.
It illumines the inert world; but it is not illumined by the inert world. It illumines
matter but; it is never illumined by matter. It knows the matter; but the
matter does not know it. So thus Brahma lakshana is finallychaitanya swaroopam brahma or Chid
rupam brahma. Satyam Gyanam ananthambrahma;
this is the essence of this verse.

And why do we use this mantra at the time of deeparadhana. We use this mantra to expose our foolishness. Oh Lord you are the illuminator of everything while I am using this miserable camphor light tri illuminate you. So therefore, the pujari says, I am trying to illumine you through this fire, but the fact is fire does not illumine you. On the other hand, it is you the consciousness, which is illumining this fire. And that is the significance of such a prayoga.

Now
look at the shloka. Sri Krishna says:

The
sunlight does not illumine the Brahma chaitanyam, the Conciousness; on the other
hand, the sunlight itself is known because of the Conciousness alone. The
moonlight does not illumine that Brahma chaitanyam.

So
the fire does not illumine that Brahman. On the other hand, Brahman illumines
the fire; illumines, means makes the fire known. In vedanta, the word illumine
is equal to making something known. So Brahman illumines the fire means,
Brahman alone makes
the fire known because the Brahman is the Consciousness principle because of which I am
conscious of the fire’s existence.

And in the original mundaka mantra, two more are added that means Stars do not illumine; flashes of lightening, do not illumine that Brahman.

And if that Brahman is Consciousness, which can never be objectified, I said that Brahman has to be the very subject itself. Now the question is if Brahman happens to be I, the subject; how many kilometers, I should travel to reach that Brahman?

I have to understand that Brahman is the subject, the Subject, I, the observer, the conscious-principle. In short the very atma. Once I know Brahman is the very atma, or aham, how far should I travel to reach Brahman? I need not travel even a millimeter, because by the very knowledge I have discovered the fact that there is no distance between Brahman and me. And therefore, we get a very important idea that we should know. Reaching Brahman is not a physical event.

Reaching Brahman is not a physical event, which requires a time or a process; reaching Brahman is an intellectual event. Reaching brahman is an intellectual event; what type of intellectual event is it? It is an event, which involves dropping a misconception. Dropping a misconception is that event; and what is the Misconception? That there is a misconception that between Brahman and me there is a difference; this is my false notion. This false notion, which is distancing me from Brahman, is neither a physical distance nor a temporal distance; rather it is a notional distance. What is that false notion? The false notion is that Brahman is somewhere and I should reach there. All the movies will reinforce our misconception. A Bhakta will die in the movie or the TV serial and you will see a jyothi rising from the bhakta, a flame from the body, the jivatma flame, and the flame will travel, come out of door, (all the modern technology are used), flame will be travelling, travelling, and will rise and rise and paramatma will be sitting there, and jivatma will travel and travel and merge. All these things will reinforce my misconception, that there is a distance between God and me. What Vedanta says is that if God is all pervading, there cannot be a distance between God and me. And if at all there is a distance, it is a distance caused by a false notion; that Bhagavan is in Kailasa or Vaikuntha.

If
the distance is caused by a false notion, how do you remove the distance? By removing
the false notion. And how do you remove
the false notion; only by knowledge.

Therefore knowledge is equal to merger. Other than Gyanam, there is no other merger with Lord. Therefore Sri Krishna says yat gatva, having merged into that Brahman; “merge” within quoting, by dropping the notion that there is a distance between Brahman and Me and knowing that I was never away from Brahman and I can never be away from Brahman, having removed the notion, na nivartante. There is no question of coming back to samsara once again. When merger is in the form of knowledge; it is permanent merger. If merger is in the form of a physical event, that merger will be temporary; you will merge and remain there for some time; thus, every union will end in separation. Any physical merger is not permanent. That is why we all have come together between 6 and 7 am. Samyoga at 6 o’ clock and viyoga at 7 o clock. Samyoga in svarga loka and afterwards what viyoga; any physical merger is temporary. That is why we say if merger is going to vaikuntha, you will go alright, but after some time, if merger is going to Kailasa, you will come back; Physical merger is temporary. But Vedantic merger is not physical. It is in the form of Gyanam. And knowledge based merger is permanent, because ignorance once gone, is gone for good.

And having merged into Brahman, that person does not come back again. That destination Brahman is nothing but, Sri Krishna says, my own higher nature; Hey Arjuna Brahman is my own higher nature. So, by saying higher nature, Sri Krishna indirectly indicates I have got a lower nature also. When you say that person is more intelligent, this person is less. When Bhagavan has got higher nature and lower nature and that has already been described in a previous chapter . And therefore Arjuna my body is my lower nature, and the Consciousness is my higher nature.

Para
Prkriti we defined as Nirguna,
nirvikara, satya, and
chetana tatvam. And apara prakrti
we defined as saguna, savikara, mithya, and chetana
tatvam.

Shloka : 15.
7

15.7 It is verily a part of Mine, which
becoming the eternal individual soul in the region of living beings, draws (to
itself) the organs which have the mind as their sixth, and which abide in
Nature.

So with the previous verse the topic of the moksha upaya
is over. The methods or disciplines to be followed for attaining moksha,
which is the four-fold discipline and by following that one will attain Brahman.
The second topic was called Brahma nirvanam. Nirvanam
means merger. So with that, the first part of the 15th chapter is over.

Now from the 7th verse onwards, Sri Krishna is entering into another very important topic and that topic is Brahman alone is in the form of the whole universe. Brahman alone is in the form of whole universe, which means there is no universe at all, other than Brahman. Just as saying there are no ornaments other than the gold, ornaments are nothing but different names that we use, but they are not substances. There is no substance called bangle. Substance is gold alone. There is no substance called chair; the chair is nothing but wood alone. Similarly there is no substance called world. Brahman alone is known by the name world. And this idea has been hinted in the fourth chapter of the Gita. In the well known shloka:

brahmarpanam brahma
havirbrahmagnau brahmana hutam

brahmaiva
tena gantavyam brahma karma
samadhina.

And
if we chant this verse, you will get hungry, because it is used for eating. But
the idea, the content of this shloka is: Brahman alone is in the form of
everything.

And to convey this idea, Sri Krishna divides the entire world into two parts; one part is the jiva rupa; jivas; so the conscious experiencers are known as jiva, and the second part is the inert objects of experience, called jagat. So universe is nothing but jiva plus jagat. The experiencer plus the experienced, if you remember the Mandukya Upanishad, it calls it, the pramata and the prameya, or the jiva and jagat. And Sri Krishna wants to say that one Brahman alone is appearing in the form of jiva and the same Brahman is in the form of jagat, the inert world as well.

And for this purpose, we should know what is the definition of jiva. What is the definition of jiva? For this purpose, you should remember tatva bodha. And Sri Krishna defines jiva as all pervading brahma chaitanyam, all pervading consciousness, which is reflected or manifest in our body mind-reflecting medium. In Sanskrit, we call it chaitanya prathibhimbam, jiva. The originalall pervading Consciousness is called Brahman or paramatma. In Tatva Bodha, weused the expression, OC. OC means original consciousness. And that original consciousness when it is expressing through the body, expressing through the mind that reflected or manifest consciousness is called RC; the reflected consciousness.

And this body
mind matter medium, is called the RM, the reflecting medium. So OC, RC and
RM.

And to understand this, I will give you an example, which also we have seen before; I am reminding you of that example. Imagine during the daytime there is the original sun in the sky, that we will call as OS. Original sun is OC and OS, or the original sun in the sky.  And imagine there is a room down below or a hall down below, and because there is roof and also the doors are closed, the room is dark within. There is no light. And original sunlight is not able to illumine the light because there is a roof obstructing the sunlight. And you take a mirror. A darpanaḥ, a reflecting mirror and you open one of the windows of the room, and you keep the mirror at a 45 degrees angle that you keep outside. You know that the mirror does not have a light of its own.

Therefore,
mirror is not an illuminating principle; it is not a luminous principle at all.
But when you keep the mirror down below, the original sunlight gets reflected
in the mirror and now the mirror has got Reflected sunlight (RS). And what is
the mirror? The mirror is the reflecting medium. Therefore OS, RS, RM. RM is
common to both and this RM which is not luminous by itself has now become
luminous because of the reflecting sunlight. And not only the mirror has become
bright, it is capable of illumining the dark room.

Now
I ask you a question; what is illumining the dark room; the mirror, or the
original sunlight? Suppose you say, original sunlight is illumining; not the
mirror, then I will ask you to remove the mirror and you will find that once
the mirror is removed, the hall gets dark. It cannot be illumined.

Suppose
another person says, the mirror alone is illumining, original sunlight is not required;
then I will ask you in the night you try. So, it is not the mirror alone nor
the original sunlight alone; but you require the combination of both. You
require the combination of both to illumine the dark room.

Now in this combination you can focus on any one of them. You can give importance to any one of them because both are equally important. In a particular context, you can highlight; like father and mother; who is important for the child to be born; both are required; But at some time, the mother takes the credit; at some time the father takes the credit.

Therefore,
you can focus any one of them.

Based on this, we have got two ways of presentation. One way is I say the mirror illumines the dark room; blessed by the original sun; so in this the importance is given to the mirror, when the mirror illumines the dark room; but I add quietly blessed by the original sun. But who is the illuminator? When the mirror illumines importance is given to the mirror. Or I can present in a different language also; the Sun alone illumines the dark room; not directly but through the mirror. The sun alone illumines the dark room, not directly; but through the mirror and therefore the credit of illumination goes to ultimately the sun alone.

In the same way, our body mind complex is like the mirror. The original consciousness is Brahman and the reflected consciousness is Jiva. The body-mind complex is RM; the reflecting medium, it does not have sentiency of its own; body is inert matter, mind is inert matter. Just as the mirror by itself is non-luminous and this body mind complex has got the reflected consciousness, we call the Jiva, and the reflected consciousness is possible because of the original consciousness called Brahman. And therefore we say: Brahman alone is available in the body-mind complex as the jiva. OC-Brahman alone is present in the body mind complex as the RC-jiva and as the jiva; Brahman alone illumines or experiences the dark room, what is the dark room? The entire world is comparable to dark room.

And
suppose you remove the mirror, what happens? Original sunlight will be there; but since there would not be
reflection, mirror is removed; the room will become darker. Similarly, during
sleep, what happens? The mind-mirror is removed, and therefore the reflected
consciousness is not available and therefore the world becomes what? Dark,
means during sleep, there is total darkness. Why there is darkness? Not because
Brahman is not there, the original consciousness is, but the reflecting medium
the mind has resolved, therefore the world is not illumined.

And
therefore in these verses, from the 7th up to the 11th, Krishna says Brahman the
OC alone is in the form of jiva,
the RC. Thus Brahman the original consciousness alone is in the form of Jiva, the
Reflected consciousness (RC).

And
now in the shloka, Sri Krishna says: Jivaloke, in the world
of Jivas, I, the
Brahman alone am in the form of reflection and this reflected-consciousness
alone makes the body mind complex alive and sentient. And once the RC is not
there; the body will become dead matter. So this is the description, which is
going to come, the details we will see in the next class.

Take Away:

Brahman
is that which can never be illumined by or known through any light. No light
can objectify that Brahman.

Brahman
is that which is not an object of knowledge; it is not a prameyam at all.

Brahman
is the very subject; it is the very conscious being, which objectifies
everything but which can never be objectified. Which is the experiencer of everything,
but which is never experienced. It is this seer of everything but never seen; the
unseen seer; the unseen hearer, the un-smelled smeller; the un-tasted taster
and the untouched toucher.

In
short, Brahman is the consciousness-principle. It illumines the inert world;
but it is not illumined by the inert world. It illumines matter but; it is
never illumined by matter. It knows the matter; but the matter does not know
it.

Reaching
Brahman is not a physical event, which requires a time or a process; reaching
Brahman is an intellectual event.

We have
the false notion that Brahman is somewhere and I should reach there.

And
how do you remove the false notion; only by knowledge. Therefore, knowledge is
equal to merger.

Brahman alone is in the form of whole universe, which means there
is no universe at all, other than Brahman.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka 15.4:

15.4 Thereafter, that State has to be sought
for, going where they do not return again: I take refuge in that Primeval
Person Himself, from whom has ensued the eternal Manifestation

Greetings,

Continuing his teachings Swamiji said, in the first part of the 15th chapter, Sri Krishna gave a description of samsara, so that a person would get a desire for moksha; because unless one diagnoses the human problem, there will never be an attempt to get out of the Problem, and therefore he gave the description of samsara by comparing samsara to a huge tree.  This was done in the first 2-1/2 verses and thereafter Sri Krishna has now entered into the sadhanas meant for obtaining moksha or samsara nivrtti.

And many disciplines are discussed in the shastras and Sri Krishna is here highlighting four disciplines, which I introduced in the last class; the first one is vairagyam; which Sri Krishna called asangatvam. And by the word vairagyam, we saw the idea conveyed is deciding to depend upon the Lord more than the world. So shifting from world dependence to God dependence is vairagyam. So that later, we can discover that the Lord is none other than my own higher nature. The scriptures do not reveal this fact in the beginning; in the beginning, Lord is presented as a third person, other than me. Thus he srishti and sthithi karta, he is omniscient, he is omnipotent, God is described as a parokshavastu, as someone different, and we are asked to depend upon that Lord in any form we like, in the form of Ganesha, Shiva, Vishnu, etc. And thereafter alone, we discover the fact that the Lord is not away from me, that the Lord is my own higher nature, and therefore, God-dependence will later be converted into self-dependence, which is total freedom. So thus vairagyam is shifting the dependence from the world to the Lord.

The next one, the second one, that Krishna mentions is sharanagathi or surrender to the Lord, to pursue the moksha marga. This is based on the discovery of the fact that any human undertaking can be successful only when two factors are favorable. One is my sincere effort called prayathna. Without my effort, nothing can happen. As they say, ten people can take a horse to the water, but the horse alone has to drink. Similarly, if my effort is not there, even God cannot help me. Therefore, prayathna is one factor, and the second factor is Ishvara anugraha; the grace of the Lord, so that all the other factors are favorable to me. All the hidden factors are favorable to me, and to seek this grace of the Lord, I surrender to the Lord. Sharanagathi or prapathi is the second sadhana and the third one is the development of healthy virtues. So, sadguna sampadanam means only in the atmosphere of healthy virtues, self-knowledge can take place. Just as in chemistry, when they talk about various chemical reactions; they always specify the temperature and the pressure; in whose conditions alone the reactions can take place.

Vedanta says that
self-knowledge can take place only in certain conditions. Therefore the ideal
condition of the mind in which self-knowledge can take place is called sadhana chatushtaya sampathi or
healthy virtues. Some of the virtues, Sri Krishna will Himself enumerate later,
some we have already seen in the 10th. 12 th and 13th chapters.

The
fourth virtue is Vedanta vichara; enquiry into the scriptures or scriptural study. Unfortunately,
this sadhana is not
emphasized nowadays. Vedanta Vichara is a systematic study of shastras consisting of shravana, mananam and nidhidhyasanam, and Sri Krishna
uses the word here parimarganam. Parimarganam means self-enquiry, through the instrumentality of
scriptures.

Self-enquiry
requires the instrument called shastra pramanam.

That
is why we always say; self-enquiry is equal to shastric enquiry.  Atma vichara is equal to Vedanta vichara. It is like
looking at your own reflection in a mirror.

Similarly,
the more you get into the shastras properly with the right guru, greater the shastric study,
the greater the understanding of myself. The
deeper you penetrate into the shastras, the deeper is your understanding of yourselves. So this is the
fourth sadhana.

What is the
most important virtue of the four?

Sri Krishna
does not mention, but we should remember that the most important one is Vedanta vichara alone. The other
three are only supportive causes, because they only prepare the condition of
the mind.

And ignorance is removed only by knowledge generated by Vedanta vichara; sharanagathi cannot remove ignorance, all the virtues cannot remove ignorance. If you have all virtues, you will be a virtuously ignorant; previously viciously ignorant; now virtuously ignorant; virtues cannot remove ignorance. Vairagyam cannot remove ignorance,

therefore
vairagyam, sharanagathi and
sadguna, they only
create the condition, the actual job is done by vedantic study, which generates the
knowledge and in the process, removes the ignorance.

 Therefore three are supporting causes and Vedanta vichara is the primary cause. All these four are mentioned in the third verse; vairagyam has been mentioned in the 4th verse; Sri Krishna is mentioning Vedanta vichara and sharanagathi. So look at the third line first.

Without Ishvara bhakthi,
any amount of intellectual acumen will not bless a person, we do require a
sharp intellect, no doubt, but bhakthi is very important.

And
that is why we start the class with a prayer;

Therefore the last two lines are within quotation, the surrender expressed by the devotee. He address the lord, Oh Lord, I surrender to that Lord who is called purusha, the word purusha has two meaning, one meaning is the all pervading one, purayathi sarvam ithi.

Another
meaning is pure iti vasathi, iti purushaha; puram means the body, vasathi, one
who dwells; therefore purusha means the one who indwells the body and that is natural
because if the Lord is all pervading, the Lord will be in my heart as well.

So Purusha also means that all pervading Lord who is in my heart to whom I surrender. And What type of Lord he is? The Lord from whom the creation originates

 And when did all this start, when does this origination Begin? Sri Krishna says the most ancient creation proceeds or emerges from that Lord to whom  I surrender to. So this is called sharanagathi. This is the second upayaha. And then we will go back to the first line, in which the third sadhana is mentioned, viz., Vedanta vichara, and means after preparing the mind very well or after sadhana chatushtaya sampathi anantharam. That is how brahma sutra also begins.

Vyasacharya wrote the
famous brahma sutra, consisting of 555 sutras, most important vedantic literature
and it begins with athatho brahma jijnasa. And Shankaracharya writes an elaborate commentary on the first word, atha, by reading which
itself you get heated up. He analyzes various possible meaning of the word Athaha and dismisses
all other possible meanings and arrives at the meaning thereafter.

For that 1-1/2 page commentary, for which 10 page sub-commentary and 100 pages of Others have written sub-sub-commentary for word athah. And once he establishes the meaning as thereafter, he himself asks the question, thereafter means where after?

Then shankaracharya himself answers the question, sadhana chatushtaya sampathi ananatharam or after preparing the mind. In fact our entire religious life is for this preparation. All our rituals are called samskara, the very conception is a samskara, thus: garbhadhana samskara, pumsavana samskara, seemantha samskara, jatakarma samskara; samskara means refinment process. Everything that we do in our religion, including navarathri kolu and also chundal; all are meant for refinement of the mind or samskara, what a beautiful name. And a mind, which is refined, is called samskrita anthakaranam. So here the word tataha means athaha of brahma sutra.

So, tataha is equal to athaha. What should you do? parimargitavyam; enter into vedantic study seriously, systematically. Find out what is sthula shariram, what is sukshma shariram; what is karana shariram; is there something beyond, if there is something beyond; what is its nature; it is a very elaborate enquiry.

In
Vyasa sutra it is
called Brahma jijnasaha. jijnasaha means parimarganam. What do you enquire into? We enquire into padam.

Padam
in the last class I explained; one meaning is the ultimate goal of every human
being, which is Brahman.

There
is a second meaning as well meaning it is the basis or substratum. And according
to the second meaning also, it is Brahman only. So Brahman, which is the destination
and Brahman which is the substratum of the whole creation, which is the root of
the samsara vrksha; of that
Brahman may you enquire through Vedanta.

What is the advantage of reaching that destination. Sri Krishna tells that this is the best destination because this is the only destination reaching Which, there is nothing further to go to. A person has reached Home. So Brahman alone is the real home, where you can feel at Home. With any other goal you fulfill, for a day, you are fulfilled and relaxed; then you are ready for what next? Education over? what next?

Employment over? Getting married? Then what? Children? Then, what
next? They should be settled.

Then what next? Grand children; they should be settled. I am
eternally unsettled. Looking for some settlement or the other; I am always
unsettled; the agenda never ends. And this has been going on from anadi
kala.

Whereas this is the destination where you feel at home with yourselves and thereafter whatever you do, it is not a struggle, but it is a sport or enjoyment. And, therefore, Sri Krishna says yasmin gatha, reaching Brahman destination, moksha destination, one does not come back to samsara, which is the perpetual struggle. Perpetual struggle ends once and for all.

With this three sadhanas,
have been talked about, that is Vairagyam;
sharanagathi, and Vedanta
vichara. Now the fourth is in next verse.

Shloka
15.5:

15.5 The wise ones who are free from pride and
non-discrimination, who have conered the evil of association, [Hatred and love
arising from association with foes and friends.] who are ever devoted to
spirituality, completely free from desires, free from the dualities called
happiness and sorrow, reach that undecaying State.

So the fourth discipline is sadgunaha; cultivation of healthy virtues; Vedanta-friendly virtues, which serve as a catalyst for the Moksha reaction to take place. So what are those virtues? We have already enumerated in the thirteenth chapter, from verse No.8 to 12; amanitvam, adambitvam, etc. and Sri Krishna will again elaborate in the 16th chapter, in the form of daivi sampathi and later in the 17th chapter as well. So Sri Krishna wants only to give certain sample of virtues.

And what are they? Krishna says, nirmanamoha; first and foremost develop humility; get rid of arrogance; pride, vanity, which unknowingly creep into our personality; a few achievements can easily get into our head. And when a few people glorify us, we lose our balance. And therefore our scriptures emphasize Vinaya or humility as one of the most important virtues required and as I said, the thing in one of the classes before, one of the exercises prescribed is learning to do namaskara. The very physical prostration has the capacity to develop humility; and in our culture left and right, any occasion namaskara is there; Not only in front of the Lord, namaskara to parents, to elders, to teachers; So this is one method; and the second one is to constantly remember that there are people who are greater than me; and superior to me in any field. I am never the greatest one in the creation. If I remember this fact, humility will be automatic and secondly and more importantly I should remember; whatever glories or faculties I have, they are all gift from the Lord, it does not take much time to lose them; a wonderful voice can be easily lost with one ice-cream; or anything. So any faculty that I have can be lost at any time; Remember the 10th chapter of the Gītā; everything I possess is Bhagavan’s gift. And any glorification I receive, you do not have that problem!!, It is OK, if no one curses! Any glorification I receive, any namaskara I receive, I directly handover mentally to the Lord.

If these two points I remember; first point, that there are people who are superior and greater and second point, whatever I have is Bhagavan’s grace. If these two I remember in my mind, and physically I keep doing namaskara wherever appropriate, without hesitation, satsanga namaskara, if there is a back-ache, pancanga namaskara, or at least the short cut namaskara, you do, nirmana is nothing but amanitvam of the 13th chapter, vinayaha. Then the next virtue is nirmoha, meaning freedom from delusion. And that means proper thinking or discrimination and what is proper thinking? We should remember, every individual is a mixture of a spiritual personality and a material personality. Spiritual personality is the atma tatvam and the material personality is the anatma personality and every individual is a mixture of spirit and matter.

We are both spiritual and materialistic. As Dayananda Swamiji says; even the greatest spiritual person when he is eating food, he is a materialist; because he is dealing with matter to nourish the matter; there is no atma involved in eating. So we have both the personalities; our growth is balanced growth in which I take care of my material needs and I should also take care of my spiritual growth. And that is why we have divided the purusharta into four: artha kama are also important; dharma moksha is also important. There should not be a lopsided approach. That is what Sri Krishna said in the 16th chapter; 100% spiritual pursuit nobody can have. 100% material pursuit is also lopsided. Therefore Sri Krishna says; Give balanced time for artha kama, earn well, eat well but at the same time have time for attending the Sunday classes. And therefore mohaha means the misconception that pursuit of money alone will give me fulfillment in life. And therefore, nirmoha means the one who gives equal importance to spirituality as well.

And the next virtue is jita sangha dosha. Sangha means emotional slavery; emotional attachment, emotional addiction, emotional leaning upon external factors is a risky proposition; because the external world is constantly changing; So leaning upon a changing support is not a healthy one and therefore use everything but do not lean on anything; and if at all you want to lean upon something, lean upon something sashvatham. And that is why I told in the beginning itself, from world dependence to God-dependence. So jitasangadosha means those who have mastery, those who are not emotional slaves of people, of situations and of things. So this will take time, but we have to work on that. In fact all our vrithams prescribed in the scriptures are meant to develop that self-dependence only; whatever we are used to, we are asked to give up for a day. For a week; those people who take vrtham for Shabarimalai, they learn to live without those dependences. See what happens if coffee is not there for. You have start there. So therefore, freedom from slavery.

Then
the next one vinivrttakama that means not developing new dependencies.

Previous value is giving up present dependence and there are some people who give up, they say I have given up smoking and now I do; pan parag; you have left one and replaced by something equal or worse Therefore do not replace one dependence with another. So vinivrttakama means free from fresh attachments or desires.

Then the next virtue is dvandvai vimukta; those who can withstand the opposite experiences of life; the capacity to withstand the opposite experiences of life; which are inevitable in life. So there is prosperity, lot of money, and then there is also situation, lot of debts also, and health is there; ill-health is also there; and gain is there; and loss is there; victory is there; failure is there; mana apamana, in fact life is a series of opposites. In Sanskrit we call it dvandvam. Dvandvam means pair. And that is why reading puranic stories, which is useful because from the puranas we come to know that even the greater emperors and even great bhakthas and even avath aras have faced opposites;

When
faced with choice-less situations, irremediable situations, how can I help
myself. I have toughen myself, I have to thicken my skin; that is called shock absorber,
through viveka and bhakthi; discrimination and devotion will give a mind with a
shock absorber. It frees us from violent reactions. You cannot avoid reactions
totally, but the shock absorber would reduce the intensity. I would not go Mad,
I would not think of committing suicide, I may be upset a little bit; but it is
a withstandable, manageable condition. So those who are free from violent
reactions with regard to adverse circumstances. And what are the adverse
experiences, sukha dukham sama; in the form of pleasure and pain; and others.
So when that well known proverb, you might have heard, when going gets tough,
the tough gets going.

In Sanskrit, we have got a beautiful shloka, in which they divide the human beings into two types of balls. One is a wet clay ball; a ball made-up of wet clay; and another is a rubber ball. The wet clay ball once it falls, never gets up. Fallen for good. It does not have the capacity to bounce back. Low resilience; permanently scarred and damaged; whereas the rubber ball, the moment it falls, it bounces back; in fact, the harder the fall, more is the bounce. I have to decide whether I am clay or ball. And one who is like a ball, is called dvandvairvimukta.

And the next and the most important virtue is  adhyatmanityaha; means regular study of scriptures; In fact they nourish these virtues. Just as physical health requires a consumption of regular nutritious food; physical health requires regular consumption of nutritious food; not junk food, similarly, mental health requires regular consumption of nutritious food called scriptural study. It is a nutrition for the mind and the intellect. And if you read any other book such as star dust; what will happen, we will go to dust; that is all. That is called like junk food; therefore, reading Gita, reading the saying of the mahatmas. Remember, that is nourishment to the mind and intellect and therefore Sri Krishna says adhyatmanityaha that means regularly committed to adyatma or spiritual study. It can also be by sharing your knowledge of scriptures with others.

And if a person follows these virtues, along with the other three; that is vairagyam, saranagathi and Vedanta vichara, then people who follow all these sadhanas, become wise people or amudhaha or they become Gyani’s.  And then they will reach the destination of Brahman, the destination of God or the destination of moksha; they will certainly attain; guaranteed.

Avyayam in shloka means
the destination is a permanent one, as the wisdom is never lost. Money
you gain, it gets depleted; exhausted; but knowledge when you share with others,
it will never get depleted. As I teach Gita more, reality is that, the more I
teach, the more I know.

The
more you use your knowledge, the more it increases; and therefore moksha is a permanent
benefit. It is never lost.

Take Away:

Shifting
from world dependence to God dependence is vairagyam.

Sharanagathi or
surrender to the Lord, to pursue the moksha marga.

Humility:
I should remember that there are people who are superior and greater and second
point, whatever I have is due to Bhagavan’s grace.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Gowdapadha extends aladha
dhrishtantha to show that there is no kariya karana sambandha between Brahman
and Jagath.  In general transaction, we use several words without really inquiring
about the meaning.  When you make an inquiry into gold and ornaments,
there is no kariya karana sambandha because there are no two things; gold and
ornament refer to the same substance.  We use two words for the sake of
communication; after using the words we assume there are two substances. 
But we get trapped and conclude there are several things; once we assume there
are several things, then we discuss the sambantha, the relationship.

Once you understand the truth that
world is nothing but Brahman with nama roopa, you will not talk about
creation.  The talk of creation is based on delusion or worldly
transaction.  The truth is there is no question of any creation.  In
reality, nothing is created out of Brahman.  Any experience of arrival of
creation it is nothing but myth like magic.  Cosmic maya is responsible
for vyavakarika jenma and individual maya is responsible for pradhipadhika
jenma.

Brahman is creating a seeming
universe because of the power of Maya and therefore the creation is myth cause
by the power of Maya.  But this creates a doubut that there is Brahman
which has the power of Maya.  This means duality – Brahman and Maya. 
If dream plant has to grow out of the seed, the seed also must also belong to
dream.  Therefore, the karanam seed as real or as unreal as karanam
plant.  Therefore, Maya is not paramarthika sathyam, but only vyavakarika
sathyam.  From the paramarthika dhrishti even Maya is not there. 
When we negate the universe, we negate maya is also.  Even that maya is
also not there from paramarthika dhrishti.  That is why maya is called
avidhya.  Brahman, Maya and prabanja:  of these three, two are
vyavakarika sathyam and one alone paramarthika sathyam.  In Brahman, the
paramarthika sathyam, there is vyavakarika Maya which is responsible for
vyavakarika sathyam.  Maya, and maya kariyam Prabanja is also
mithya.  They both are supported by the sathyam Brahman which is neither
karanam nor kariyam.

Verse 59

Cause is also as real as
effect.  Dream mother who produces a child both have the same order of
reality.  Similarly, Maya which is responsible for the creation, both have
the same order of reality.  Maya and creation both are unreal.  A
sprout which comes our unreal or magic seed is also unreal or magic. 
Kariyam is mithya; karanam is mithya; kariya karana vilakshanam alone is sathyam. 
Mithya is that which seems to exist as long as you don’t make an inquiry. 
It is like trying to find darkness while carrying a light on your head. 
Since the very mithya substance is nonexistent, you can’t use any
attribute.  To use attribute, you need a substance.  You can never
talk about the birth date of rope snake because it doesn’t exist.  You
can’t talk about the arrival or departure of the snake because it does not exist. 
Similarly, any attribute you describe to the world, is not correct as world as
a substance does not exist.  Is the world eternal – Vedanta cannot answer. 
No attribute can be given to the world because it is not a substance.

Verse 60

You can never give any attribute or
descriptions to the world, because there is no substance called world. 
Then what is there?  There is only one thing – kariya karana vilakshanam,
Brahman, the Thuriyum.  Can you give any attribute to Brahman?  We
can’t give any attribute to Brahman because Brahman is free from all
attributes.  I can’t talk about Brahman; I can’t talk about world. 
That is why gyani observe mownam.  When they try to talk about Brahman
they realize Brahman is free from all attributes; when they try to talk about
world, they realize that world doesn’t exist.  Words can be used only when
one of these conditions are fulfilled.

1. Roodihi means available for direct
   perception.  Once you identify an object
   with a word, then you can identify that object with that word.  Example sun; there is only one and that
   identified with direct perception.
2. Jadhihi; a species; suppose there is
   a tree outside.  e.g.  a tree belonging to the same class of tree
   that was perceived elsewhere with another tree.
3. Gunaha:  An object revealed through its property;
4. Karma:  Revealing through the function; e.g. cook,
   driver, wind.
5. Sambanthaha; revealing through
   relationship; father, brother etc.

Brahman does not fulfill any of these conditions and so Brahman can’t be associated with any verbal specification.  World is mithya vasthu and Brahman is sathya vasthu; I am the sathya vasthu, called Thuriyum.

Verse 61

When Gowdabadha consistently negates
the world, it will create a question in our mind:  How can we negate a solidly tangible world? 
But in swapna also we experience a world seemingly so solid, capable of creating
raga, dwesha, suga and dhukkam.  From the standpoint of waker, the dream
is mithya.  Simiarly we are negating the world not from the standpoint of
waker – which will be a big mistake – from the standpoint of Thuriyum. 
Never negate sthula prabanja from viswa dhrishti and shukshma prabanja from
Taijasa dhrishti.  Negate them only from Thiriyua dhrishti.

Verses 61, 62 and 63 are repetition
of verses 29 and 30 third chapter Advaida prakaranam.  Here the word used
is chitham and there the world used is manaha.

In dream whatever you tangibly
experience is nothing but thought vibrations from your mind.  In the same
way, the jagradh prabanja also is a mental disturbance at cosmic level. 
There is no tangible objects at all.  The cosmic mind is called eeswara or
maya.

Verse 62

The objects in the dream are not separate from your own mind.  The seeming duality is nothing but advaidam chitham.  One non dual mind alone appears as a pluralistic world; similarly one cosmic mind – Maya – alone is appearing as Jagraedh Prabanja.  The tangibility is a myth; there is really no tangible world on inquiry.  Dream or magic are the two examples of advaidam.  the limitation of the dream example is that when you wake up from the dream, the dream experiences will end.  But when I wake up from Jagrath prabanja by gaining wisdom, even after I become gyani, the jagrath prabanja experiences continue.  For a gyani it is like continuation of dream with the knowledge that it is a dream.

Verse 63

Gowdapadha graphically describes swapna
to show how it appears as very real.  This can be grasped only when you go
to your own dream mentally.  A dream subject is projected by me.  I
myself become the dream subject in the dream by acquiring a dream body, dream
sense organs and a dream mind.  The dream mind which experiences the dream
world, does not know it is a dream world.  There he comes in contact with
all types of objects.  The dream is
located in me, but I think I am located in dream.