Shloka # 14. 9:

14.9 O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva attaches one to happiness, rajas to action, while tamas, covering up knowledge, leads to inadvertence als

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
in the last few classes, we saw that our higher nature known as the sakshi svarupam is ever
nirgunam and
therefore is free from the influence of the three gunas; but our vyavaharika nature,
our lower nature, which is called ahamkara is a mixture of the body-mind complex, as well as the
reflected consciousness. And till the ahamkara consists of the body-mind complex and till the body-mind
complex is born out of prakrti, the ahamkara can never escape from the three gunas. And
therefore, our body-mind complex is made up of three gunas and the
ahamkara which
consists of this body-mind complex is the necessarily made up of these three gunas, and therefore,
we can never escape from them. We have to live with this saguna ahamkara. And once we
are forced to live with this ahamkara, it is better that we understand the ahamkara well, so
that we know how to handle it properly.

Science
is able to handle the nature more and more only because science has been able
to know nature more and more. Knowledge gives the capacity for better handling.
And therefore Sri Krishna says: you have to understand your own ahamkara very well.
For that, you must know what type of ahamkara you have; which guna is dominant, which guna is in middle; the second place, and which guna is the
lowest; better you understand and you also know how these gunas influence
your vyavaharika life; both
material life, as well as the spiritual life.

And
therefore Sri Krishna started an enquiry into the three gunas which we
divided into 5 topics: the first topic being the definition of the three gunas where he
gave the definition that satva guna is Prakashatmakam
and rajo guna is ragatmakam; and tamo guna is mohanatmakam. By the
word Prakashatmakam means, a
mind that is pre-disposed to the pursuit of knowledge. A mind with more and
more knowing tendencies, a mind, which wants to use Gyanendriyas more, is
called a satvika mind.

Whereas
rajo guna is said to
the ragatmakam, which
is a personality that has doing tendency, it is a dynamic mind, which wants to
use the karmendriyas more
than the Gyanendriyas.

And
therefore, karma pre-disposition or karma tendency is rajo guna lakshanam; knowledge
tendency is satva guna
lakshanam.

And
tamo guna is defined as
mohanatmakam, which
means a personality, which is always in doubt; always indecisive; always
procrastinating; always not sure what to do. A mind which is in eternal
conflict, delusion and procrastination and if you try to help them resolve the
conflict; not only you do not resolve their conflict they will put conflict in
your mind too. So powerful is their moha. So this constant vacillation tendency is the expression
of tamo guna, which we
called mohanatmakam. This is
the first topic, the definition.

Then
the second topic that we did was bandha prakara, how the three gunas bind a person which we can easily infer, a calm mind has
always a knowing tendency; learning tendency; therefore, naturally it is
addicted to any infrastructure which is conducive for learning. It always loves
learning infrastructure, which means quietude, which means seclusion, which means
silence, which means withdrawal, which means reduction of relationships, because
relationships requires extroverted-ness. And therefore, a calm mind is attached
to knowledge infrastructure whereas a rajasic mind hates knowledge infrastructure of quietude,
withdrawal etc.

A rajasic mind craves for a karma infrastructure. It wants to do something or the other; therefore it wants gadgets, it wants to go out, i.e. it wants an infrastructure in which karmendriyas can be active. And this is called bondage as it is addicted to such a set up and if such a set up is not available, that person feels like a fish out of water. He is unhappy and therefore, whether unhappiness is caused by silence, or whether unhappiness is caused by noise, unhappiness is unhappiness and Vedanta defines moksha as that state of mind, in which there is no unhappiness, be it in noise or in silence; it is not bound by either noise or silence. Therefore, sattva’s attachment is with Gyana while Rajo Guna is attached to Karma and tamo guna binds with nidra and alasya. It does not even know what it wants and is still groping in darkness. It also does not want to decide. Tamo Guna is attached to vagueness, negligence and carelessness.

Shloka # 14.10:

O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva
increases by subduing rajas and tamas, rajas by overpowering sattva and tamas,
and tamas by dominating over sattva and rajas.

The
third topic that Sri Krishna is going to deal with is the lingam or the
indicatory signs of whether one is satvic, rajasic
or tamasic; but
before entering into this topic Sri Krishna is taking a small diversion. The
10th verse is a diversionary verse.

It
is a deliberate diversion, as Sri Krishna considers it important.
Here Sri Krishna says everything and every being is made up of three gunas because
everything and being is born of prakrti. From an inert object to the most
intelligent human being, every blessed thing in the creation is the product of
prakrti and therefore everyone has all the three gunas.

But there is one difference and that difference is that even though everything is made up of three gunas, the proportion is not uniform. The proportion was uniform before the creation, in pralaya state all three gunas were in equilibrium, but once the creation started, there was no more equilibrium and in-equilibrium sets in.

And
therefore in the case of an inert object, all three gunas are present,
but tamo guna is dominant
hence the reason the object does not have a learning tendency; which is why a
wall does not learn.

And
once you come to the plant kingdom, it has also has all three gunas but it has
more rajas and satva than an inert object. But you will still not see a plant
going to school or for a walk. So, the plant has more satva and rajas than an
inert object but still only in limited amounts.

And
when we come to animals, we find satva and rajas are still more dominant
relatively and their capacity to learn, and understand is more than the plant.
They are also not stationary living being as animals move, which means rajo guna is more.

And
once you come to the human being, satva and rajas are still more dominant and
therefore human beings have schools and colleges; books and knowledge goes on
increasing. Similarly, the number of activities undertaken by them are also many.
Sri Krishna points out that all the human beings do not have the same proportion
of gunas; among the
human beings themselves, some of them have got more satva, some more rajas and
some have more tamas, and therefore, their character varies.

And
therefore, a satvic person is
defined as one who has got the predominance of satva; it does not mean he does
not have rajas and tamas, it only means satva is dominant and similarly in rajasic person,
rajas is dominant, and in a tamasic
person, tamas is dominant.

And
this tamas can be so dominant that some people can be closer to animals and some
people can be closer to plants; and some people can be closer to stones.

Then comes a very important question. If a person is Satvic, Rajasic or Tamasic, is it a fixed character or is it possible for us to change the character of a Person? Is it possible for a person to change the proportion of the gunas? If we cannot change the character of a person, we are doomed, because we are helpless; our future is already decided. Fortunately scriptures point out that the character of a person can be transformed. The rate of transformation will defer from individual to individual and the amount of transformation also will defer from individual to individual, but transformation is possible. In fact, all spiritual sadhanas are meant to change the proportion only because every sadhana requires a particular guna as a dominant factor. And according to shastra most people are born with tamo guna predominant because as a baby we only eat and sleep.

To convert from tamo guna pradhana person to rajo guna pradhana person; the scriptures want us to be active in life; and that is why Veda begins not with Gyana kandam rather it begins with karma kandam. Your life has to start with karma or activity.

Vedas say, let your life start with selfish activity; you have any number of personal desires and Vedas say nothing wrong in fulfilling your personal desires And once a person has been selfishly active, Vedas say, and then gradually change the character of activity. If previously it was Rajas Tamas Satva (RTS) in composition then the composition should be changed to Rajas Satva and Tamas (RST).

So
when a person converts himself from RTS to RST, and the person’s activity
although self centered becomes more beneficial for more number of people.

So
one moves from sakama
karma to nishkama karma.

Thereafter
Veda says, once mind
becomes mature and a

time
should come when your rajasic
tendency should be converted into satva guna.

Thus,
through activity what karma can give, upasana can never give. What upasana gives,
karma can never give. And therefore karma yoga is a must, upasana is also a
must; upasana will
convert a person from RST to SRT.

Therefore, one goes from inactivity to selfish activity; and then to selfless activity; and then to enquiry. This is our gradual transformation. Inactivity to selfish activity to selfless activity to enquiry is our journey and in fact if you take the four ashramas, brahmacharya , grihastha, vanaprastha and sanyasa, all these four ashramas also represent the gradual transformation.

And then a person finally comes to enquiry. Even though predominantly knowledge, he does not have any regret, he has already contributed to society through karma yoga. If one Contributes and then withdraws, there will be no guilt. Without contribution if I withdraw, I will always have guilt. What have I done for the world? And therefore, contribute, withdraw, learn, know and be free. And therefore character can be changed and final character required is satva guna pradhana. To use the 4th chapter language, we all should become guna brahmana. From a guna shudra to guna vaishya, to guna kshatriya to guna brahmana.

Guna shudra is lazy, guna vaishya is selfishly active; guna kshatriya
is self-lessly acting; guna brahmana
is pursuing knowledge, withdrawn or contemplative.

Therefore, Arjuna you have to understand where you stand and you
have to adopt the appropriate sadhana and finally come to
self-knowledge. This analysis is required only to change our character, not to
change others character.  We are not here
to study and judge other people unless they are or they are under our care. Our
primary concern is how to change our svabhava. We have to find out as
to what is my Guna? Am I a guna shudra; am I a guna kshatriya,
am I a guna brahmana, which guna
is dominant in me, how to know? Sri Krishna says I will give you the clue to
find out, which is the third topic, also known as guna
lingaani, the indicator, to find out where I stand.

Shloka
14.11:

14.11 When the illumination that is knowledge
radiates in this body through all the doors (of the senses), then one should
know that sattva has increased greatly.

Sri
Krishna says through our five sense organs (eyes, nose etc) we gather the
knowledge of the external world. When all the five sense organs are bright and
alert and we have great absorbing capacity, then we are able to acquire
knowledge faster because the absorbing capacity is more. Such a mind is always alert
and can absorb knowledge fast. Such a mind indicates satva pradhana.

When
the sense organs are bright and therefore there is more knowledge acquisition;
one can judge oneself to be a satvic
person.

Shloka
14.12

14.12 O best of the Bharata dynasty, when
rajas becomes predominant, these come into being: avarice, movement,
undertaking of actions, unrest and hankering.

When
rajo guna is dominant,
lobha is present.
Lobha here means
inordinate greed to achieve worldly things; a super ambitious person; of course
such people accomplish so many things in the society, in fact, a country’s
material progress is dependent on such people; we should be very careful here,
we are not criticizing rajasic
people here, because if a nation has to progress, we require lot of activity as
well. At least, Swami Vivekananda felt that our country required more rajas
than satvam as he thought our people were tamasic.

Therefore activity is very important for material progress, but the problem is, there should a limit and after some time a person should gradually change to satva pradhana. So these people are highly ambitious, even at an old age. They are workaholic people, they have no time for nithya karma; they have no time for japa, they have no time for puja, they have no time for Gita; they have no time to question what is the real goal of life. So therefore, they initiate many activities, without bothering whether they can take care of all of them.

Therefore
their mind is ever, a restless mind, an impatient mind; they also expect the
same amount of speed from the people around them.

Generally
rajasic people
are impatient; they are highly irritable, they cannot stand other people as
such they become very unpopular; they are very high achieving people, but generally
people who are close by, they know the problem of working with them.

Anger
is at the tip of their nose.  Though they
are great achievers, they are highly restless and short-tempered.

They have strong attachment to their accomplishments, and are highly egoistic. Dayananda Swami says, Self-made men are most dangerous type people. They keep telling everybody that as well; and if someone does not listen, they feel angry; this makes them subject to deep disappointments as well. Thus they are highly volatile. But on the positive side they are Great achievers.

Therefore
somebody has written about how rajasic people pray to God: Oh Lord! Give me Darshan right now! or
else I will beat you.

Shloka 14.13:

14.13 O descendant of the Kuru dynasty, when
tamas predominates these surely [i.e. without exception.-M.S.] come into being:
non-discrimination and inactivity, inadvertence and delusion.

The
tamasic person does
not take part in living itself. Their Gyanendriyas and karmendriyas are
dull. There is an absence of Satva and Rajas in them meaning both Gunas are
overpowered by Tamas.

And
therefore, generally, he does not do anything. And if you force him to do
things, you will have to go behind and make him to get it done and if he does
independently invariably you will have to rectify it later. You may conclude that
it is better to have done it yourself.

So
hallmarks of Tamo Guna are: Negligent attitude, Carelessness, Procrastination,
delusion and indecision.

Shankaracharya answers as
to why we require inference; inference is required because three gunas are not
pratyaksham or visibly
evident. Where pratyaksham
does not work, anumana has to be
made use of. If I cannot see the fire, I have to indirectly go to the indicator
and through the smoke; I have to infer the fire, because the fire is not seen.
Similarly which guna
is dominant in me, I cannot see with the physical eyes, because gunas are not
visible. So, we have to look for clues, indicators, and the indicators are the
details of the lingam and therefore judge yourself, find out where you stand and
choose appropriate sadhana but never
develop a complex, never compare yourselves
with other people; be happy with what you are at present, and gradually progress.

Take Away:

Scriptures
point out that the character of
a person can be transformed.

In
trying to decipher your own gunas, never compare yourselves with other people;
be happy with what you are at present, and gradually progress.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 14.5:

O mighty-armed one, the alities, viz sattva,
rajas and tamas, born of Nature, being the immutable embodies being to the
body.

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,

 For analyzing the three gunas, Sri Krishna has given the introduction and in the introductory portion we saw that every individual is a mixture of two portions; one is called sakshi-amsha, the higher part of the individual and second is ahamkara-amsha, the lower part of the individual. Of these two portions, the sakshi portion the higher part consists of only consciousness which is pure chaitanyam; whereas the ahamkara the lower part consists of two things, one is the inert-body-mind-complex, is part of ahamkara, and this inert-body-mind-complex, enjoys the reflected consciousness or borrowed consciousness and because of that, the body-mind-complex has become sentient. It is just as a mirror, a non-luminous-mirror, becomes a bright-mirror when it gets reflected sunlight. So when I look at a bright-mirror, I should remember it has got two parts; one is the mirror part and the second is the reflected sun. In the same way, the ahamkara, like the bright-mirror, has got two parts, one is the inert body-mind-complex, like the mirror, and the second is the borrowed or reflected consciousness; in Sanskrit we call it Prathibhimbha chaitanyam plus the body. And this mixture prathibhimbha-chaitanyam plus the body together is called ahamkara and what is the sakshi? Sakshi is neither the body, nor is it the reflected consciousness.

Sakshi is different
from both the body and the reflected consciousness; it is the original
consciousness. If you remember Tatva Bodha, RM + RC = Ahamkara. RM means
the reflecting medium, the body + RC, the reflected consciousness is equal to
the ahamkara.

Then what is the sakshi? It is neither the RM, nor is it the RC, but it is OC.  So this OC part is called the higher part, the sakshi-amsha, RC plus RM is called the lower part, the ahamkara amsa, the sakshi-amsha and the Ahamkara amsha are together inseparably. When I use the word, I, it is a mixture of both the sakshi and Ahamkara. And of these two amshas, the sakshi is the nirguna amsha, because it is pure consciousness, whereas the ahamkara contains the body mind-complex, and the body-mind-complex is matter. It is prakrti and therefore Ahamkara is endowed with three gunas. So Ahamkara amsha is saguna amsha, whereas Sakshi-amsha is nirguna(amsha means aspect, facet or part). So my lower nature is saguna nature and my higher nature is Nirguna sakshi.

And having said this much, Sri Krishna wants to point out that the ahamkara can never escape from the three gunas; because ahamkara consists of prakrti, it is made up of the prakrti and therefore ahamkara, body-mind complex, is born out of prakrti principle. You have to remember that always, then only ahamkara and saguna can be understood clearly.

Therefore,
my lower part; the ahamkara
amsha can never
escape from these three gunas
and the only juggling that I can do is change the proportion of the gunas.

Like some political parties do, they change the ministers to party work and from party work to ministry and then to governorship. The party consists of the same type of people. I am not telling whether they are good people or bad people. You can decide the composition.

Ahamkara can never escape from the three gunas. Ahamkara can only be dominant in satva guna; in which case it will be satvic ahamkara, dominant in rajo guna in which case it will be rajasic ahamkara or it can be tamasic ahamkara. And Sri Krishna wants to say that whether it is satvic, rajasic or tamasic, all these three gunas are bound to bind the individual. Only the type of samsara caused will change; the mode of bondage will change, one may be a golden shackle; another may be silver shackle; another may be an iron shackle; but all the three are shackles. Like in Saudi

Arabia, when a member of the royal family commits a crime and they have to behead, they will use a golden sword; what will be difference when it will be cut by a golden sword or a silver sword? Therefore Sri Krishna wants to say that all these three gunas would bind; therefore if you want to be free, you have to transcend the saguna ahamkara, and you have to own up your higher gunathitha, nirguna, sakshi-amsha.

But one thing that Sri Krishna admits is, to become a gunathitha, initially; you will have to use the three gunas as a stepping-stone, as I gave the example of the pole, used by the pole-vaulter. The pole will have to be used to go above the bar; but having gone above, the pole will have to be dropped. Not using the pole is also foolishness; not leaving the pole is also foolishness; use the pole, cross the bar and leave the pole. Similarly use the gunas and then drop the guna; drop means, transcend the guna. This is what Sri Krishna is going to teach. This analysis of Gunas is started from verse No.5, which will continue up to verse no.18. And Sri Krishna gave the introduction in fifth verse. There are three gunas associated with ahamkara.  And that ahamkara, the jiva, is associated with all the three gunas in different proportions and all the three gunas will bind differently.

Shloka
# 14.6:

14.6 Among them, sattva, being pure, [Nirmala,
pure-transparent, i.e., capable of resisting any form of ignorance, and hence
as illuminator, i.e.a revealer of Consciousness.] is an illuminator and is
harmless. O sinless one, it binds through attachment to happiness and
attachment to knowledge.

For the sake of our convenience, this analysis of the three gunas
can be divided into five topics.

1. The first topic is the definition of each guna also called Lakshanam. What is the definition of Satva, Rajas and Tamas is the topic?
2. Mode or method of bondage of each Guna, also called Bandana Prakara.
3. Indication as to which Guna is dominant in a person also known as Lingam; not to be confused with Shivalingam.
4. Type of travel or course of each Guna after death, also called Gathihi.
5. Consequence of the domination of each Guna in this life, also called Phalam. Now Gathi is the consequence after death while phalam is consequence before death.

Shloka
# 6 says when Satva is dominant in an Ahamkara the other two Gunas will not
pollute. Thus if Tamoguna pollutes Satva Guna mind will become turbulent. But
if it does not pollute Satva, mind will be clear in thinking. Clarity of
thinking will be there.

If
Rajoguna pollutes Satva, mind will be restless and wavering. Without Rajoguna
pollution, mind will be free from restlessness, a relaxed mind.

Satva
Guna is of the nature of brightness and calmness; quietude and tranquility And
this seems to be a wonderful nature; if the mind is bright and calm, it is
capable of learning things; it is capable of absorbing; it is capable of contemplation,
it is capable of self-analysis.

 If so, why does Satva Guna bind? Sri Krishna
says, Satvik mind seeks seclusion, freedom from noise. The problem is that we
cannot control our external atmosphere. If you cannot control it then you
become disturbed. Thus, for him, quietude becomes a source of bondage.

Now a liberated person is defined as a person who does not depend on quietude or seclusion for fulfillment and happiness. Any type of dependence is bondage, satva guna leads to noble dependence, but noble dependence is also a dependence.

Satvic
mind is attached to knowledge it is introverted and wants to know more and
more. Satvic mind is Gyanendriya Pradhana. What is wrong with greed for
knowledge? Any amount of knowledge you gain and assimilate, omniscience is not
possible. So, Satvic person is not happy with his material knowledge (not
spiritual knowledge).

Sri
Krishna says, O Ananta, which means you, one with a pure mind.

Shloka # 14. 7:

14.7 Know rajas to be of the nature of
passion, born of hankering and attachment. O son of Kunti, that binds the
embodied one through attachment to action.

Rajoguna
is about attachment and passion. It wants to relate to things and people. It is
extroverted. Satvic people prefer seclusion; while Rajasic people want action;
they don’t like quietude.

We
require each Guna for liberation. Thus Pancha maha yagya requires us to use all
three Gunas.

Since
it is a restless, dynamic mind, it wants to acquire things. If husband and wife
are of different Gunas it can be a difficult life says, Swamiji. Now desire may
be selfish or selfless. Once he acquires something he wants to hold on to it. For
Rajo Guna, possession is important, while Satva wants to drop possessions. Desire
and attachment are hallmarks of Rajo Guna.

How
does Rajoguna bind? By making him attached to Karma. It makes him a workaholic.
What is wrong with work? Up to a certain stage Karma yoga is acceptable, but
then one has to shift to Gyana Yoga. He is Karma Pradhana.

Shloka # 14. 8:

14.8 On the other hand, know tamas, which
deludes all embodied beings, to be born of ignorance. O scion of the Bharata
dynasty, that binds through inadvertence, laziness and sleep.

Tamoguna
is born of Agyanam or out of Prakriti or Maya. So one cant escape it. Sleep in
itself not a problem; if Sleeping itself is not a problem then what is the
problem? Continuing to sleep is the problem. Everyone has to sleep. If one does
not sleep, insomnia is a problem; for that person as well as for the other
people as well. Therefore, we do not condemn tamo guna but we are talking about the problems created by predominance
of tamo guna. They are:

The first problem is that it suppresses the satva guna and rajo guna. Since satva guna is suppressed, there is no clarity of thinking. And therefore one even does not ask what is the purpose of life. Human life is never taken seriously. The precious time is never taken seriously. The young age is never taken seriously. All this happens because of lack of clarity of thinking. And because of  mohanam or delusion; It means there is no clear thinking and also often there is no goal in life; it is just moving along with the current; there is no goal and even if goals are there; the priorities are not clear. How much money is important; how much health is important; how much knowledge is important; with regard to all these, there is no clarity and therefore it causes delusion for all those people, and the definition of tamo guna is delusional mind.

How
does Tamoguna bind? Carelessness with using body, laziness, and sleep are all
qualities that bind Tamo guna. They cannot meditate.

Thus,
Tamo guna binds a
person. There is an advantage in Tamo Guna; this person does not acquire punyam or papam, why? punyam and papam are karma
phalam; and this person does not do any karma; only by performing karmas one
gets you do karma punyam
and papam. Therefore
the advantage for this person, he will not acquire much agami, he will not
acquire fresh punyam and papam, but
remember that is not a great achievement, animals also do not acquire punyam or papam. If I say I
have not acquired any punyam
or papam, it means I
have been like a buffalo. Is it a credit, therefore it is perpetuation of bondage.

Shloka # 14. 9:

14.9 O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva
attaches one to happiness, rajas to action, while tamas, covering up knowledge,
leads to inadvertence also.

Here,
Sri Krishna repeats how each Guna binds us. Each binds us by creating
addictions. Satva causes addiction to silence and or quietude. Sukham in shloka
means seclusion.

Rajo
Guna causes addiction to Karma. Performing Karma is acceptable but addiction to
it is a problem. Addiction can even be to Guru, Shastra and even Ishwara.

Tamo
guna binds us via carelessness, lack of attention to the job etc, all due to
lack of clear thinking. So by covering the discriminative power, the tamo guna makes a
person addicted to lose jobs all the time. So that means you cannot make that
person responsible as there is no assurance that the job will be completed.

He
can never be a responsible person.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 14.4:

14.4 O son of Kunti, whatever forms are born
from all the wombs, of them the great-sustainer is the womb; I am the father
who deposits the seed.

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
in this chapter 14 the first four verses were introductory ones where Sri
Krishna mentioned that we are going to deal with topic of Self Knowledge. He
glorified self-knowledge as a liberating knowledge. In third and fourth shlokas
he talked about creation. He did so to point out that every individual is made
up of two parts, the Prakriti and Purusha. He said Ishwara, the cause of
creation is also a combination of Prakriti and Pursuha; also known as the
father-mother principle. Purusha cannot create without Prakriti and Prakriti
too cannot create without Pursuha. So God is a mixture of father and mother
principle. Hence, the Puranas talk of Parvati 
Shiva, Laxmi Vishnu and Saraswati Brahma. They can’t be separated from
each other and this mixture alone is
called God. Since cause of creation
is a mixture of two the effect is also a mixture of both.

Thus, if the Gold has got 6% silver or copper, then all the ornaments also will have the same percentage; because the law of karana guna is that the features of the cause will inhere the effect also. And therefore every individual Jiva, you and I, is also a mixture of Purusha tatvam and Prakrti Tatvam, and therefore to understand oneself thoroughly, we should clearly know how to differentiate/distinguish these two features within ourselves. And therefore for the sake of self-study, Sri Krishna is introducing creation.

O
Arjuna, I am the Purusha Tatvam and definition of Purusha Tatvam is:
Nirguna, Nirvikara, Sathya, Chetana tatvam.
Purusha means the changeless,
attributeless, consciousness principle, which is an independent and absolute
reality. Whereas prakrti tatvam is saguna, savikara, mithya, achetana tatvam,
that which has attributes, that which is subject to changes, and that which is
of the nature of jada, achetana or inert principle. In English we can say consciousness
plus matter is equal to Ishvara tatvam and Ishvara paramatma is karanam while jivatma is karyam. If a karanam is a mixture
of consciousness and matter, karyam is also a mixture of consciousness-principle and matter-principle.

So in me too both are there, and therefore, I should understand both these features. And this analysis is going to be the subject matter of the 14th chapter. Thus you have both, changing feature and changeless features.

You have a nature which is attributed, saguna feature and you have got a nirguna feature as well, and similarly, you are a mixture of matter and consciousness and you are a mixture of lower Mithya principle and higher Sathyam principle. And, therefore, I should thoroughly understand both and that analysis is going to start hereafter.

So
from 5th shloka, the analysis is going to begin.

Shloka # 14.5:

14.5 O mighty-armed one, the alities, viz
sattva, rajas and tamas, born of Nature, being the immutable embodies being to
the body.

Before
entering this analysis I would like to give you a bird’s eye view of this
analysis.

I said Bhagavan is a mixture of consciousness and matter, and
therefore every one of us is also a mixture of both.

And what is the material aspect of the individual? The physical body is material in nature; it is made up of prakrti tatvam; because body is made up of matter and body has got attributes or saguna it is  savikaram subject to change therefore body comes under the prakrti part of the individual; Similarly the mind also comes under the prakrti part of the individual; And other than the body mind complex, there is the purusha tatvam, which is the consciousness principle. And what is that consciousness? Consciousness is not part, product or property of the body, consciousness is an independent entity which pervades and enlivens the body and consciousness principle is not limited by the boundaries of the body, it goes beyond and the consciousness principle does not die when the body dies; and finally, this surviving consciousness principle cannot be contacted by us; not because it is non-existent, but because there is no medium of contact. I have given you the example of light, which is pervading this body and this consciousness principle in me, which enlivens the body-mind-complex, is called purusha tatvam.

And in vedanta, we use two technical words that I would like to introduce. The pure consciousness principle, which is nirguna and nirvikara, that consciousness, is called sakshi tatvam. It isthe witness principle; the changeless-witness of all the changes that happen. Now the mind is in peaceful condition; there is a witness of the peaceful state of mind; Next moment the mind is turbulent; the mind changes, but there is a changeless witness-consciousness that is aware of the previous condition of the mind as well as aware of the present condition of the mind. This changeless witness consciousness is called sakshi tatvam, which is one aspect of mind. This Vedanta calls my higher nature; my superior nature; my diviner nature; my loftier nature.

Then, of course, I have got this body principle and the mind principle, both of whom are in themselves inert in nature. Why is it inert? Because it is made up of matter, it is a bundle of chemicals; a bundle of five elements; this body by itself is inert; but even though intrinsically the body is inert, because of the pervasion of consciousness, the body has got borrowed consciousness. Just like now, my body is shining for you; not because the body has got its own luminosity; now my body is shining because of what? the light pervading the body.

Similarly, this body is inert; but because of the pervading consciousness, body has got borrowed consciousness; it is like the hot water. The hot water is hot not because heat is its intrinsic nature, but because water is pervaded by the invisible agni tatvam. You cannot see it with the visible eyes. If you put your finger, you will know. Water looks the same; hot water is hot, not because heat is its nature, but it is borrowed from the fire principle. Similarly, this body is now sentient; not because of the intrinsic-sentiency but because of borrowed-sentiency; in Sanskrit we call it; Chidabhasha pratibimba chaitanyam or reflected consciousness (RC); we had discussed this long ago in Tatva Bodha as OC, RC, RM.

So now this body has got borrowed sentiency; therefore it is a live body. It is prakrti but a live prakrti. Similarly, the mind also is made up of subtle matter only, subtle Elements only and therefore the mind is also intrinsically insentient; but the mind has become sentient due to borrowed sentiency, which is technically called chidabhasha. So, thus, we have got a live body; with borrowed-consciousness and we have got a live mind with borrowed consciousness. In short we have a got a live prakrti, prakrti means the body mind complex, with borrowed consciousness. And in Vedantic parlance, this body-mind-complex, otherwise called prakrti, with borrowed sentiency, borrowed-consciousness, this body-mind complex is called Ahamkara.

Ahamkara is equal to body-mind complex; otherwise called prakrti-plus-borrowed consciousness; i.e. chidabhasha. So, Shariram-plus-chidabhasha is equal to ahamkara. Prakrti-plus-chidabhasha is equal to ahamkara. Matter plus borrowed consciousness is called ahamkara. And what is the name of the original consciousness? It is Sakshi Tatvam. So sakshi is the name of the original consciousness; Ahamkara is the name of the body mind complex, plus the reflected or borrowed consciousness. And every individual is a mixture of Sakshi and ahamkara. When I say, Sakshi, you should remember; OC, the original consciousness; ahamkara means the body plus reflected consciousness (RC). In Tatva Bodha we used the expression RM plus RC. RM means reflecting medium; what is the reflecting medium? It is the body-mind-complex. RC means the reflected consciousness.

So
now let us put the formula. OC is the sakshi, RC plus RM is equal to Ahamkara. I hope it
is not confusing. And every individual is a mixture of Ahamkara and Sakshi.

So, when a Gyani says Aham brahmasmi, that Aham refers to the sakshi aspect, the original consciousness (OC), which is nirguna, nirvikara, sathya, chaitanyam, whereas when you take the ahamkara aspect of mind, your mind should shift to the body mind complex, that is with borrowed consciousness. Now, Ahamkara being body mind complex, body mind complex being prakrti, ahamkara is saguna and Ahamkara is savikara. Ahamkara is intrinsically achetanam, but it has borrowed chetanatvam. And Sri Krishna wants to say O Arjuna you are a mixture of ahamkara and sakshi. And you should be able to differentiate between nirguna sakshi and saguna ahamkara.

And Sri Krishna wants to point out Ahamkara is your lower nature. It is your individuality, whereas Sakshi is your higher nature. And then Sri Krishna wants to point out that as long as you are taking yourselves as ahamkara, as long as you are remain as ahamkara alone, samsara cannot be avoided. Ahamkara is vulnerable to samsara and the only way of getting out of samsara is for you to transcend your lower ahamkara-nature and to own up to your higher sakshi-nature.

And for this purpose, Sri Krishna wants to point out, how the
Ahamkara is poison; it is a problem. And why it is a problem, because it
is saguna. The very saguna nature of ahamkara
makes it a problematic aspect of yours. And naturally the question will come;
how the gunas become responsible for samsara.

And for that Sri Krishna wants to talk about the various gunas of ahamkara. And he points out that ahamkara has got three gunas; because it is made up of prakrti, which has got three gunas.

The three Gunas are: Satvika ahamkara, rajasa ahamkara, and tamasa ahamkara, and Sri Krishna says all the three ahamkaras are samsari-ahamkaras. And each ahamkara is bound in a different way. Satvika

ahamkara is bound by satva guna;
rajasa ahamkara is bound by rajo guna;
and tamasa ahamkara is bound by tamo guna.

And therefore Sri Krishna wants to talk about the nature of each guna and how each guna binds a person and what are the indications of the presence of each guna and what will be the consequences of the respective bondage; all these Sri Krishna is going to analyze; hence name of Chapter as:  guna traya vibhaga yoga. Domination of each guna binds the ahamkara.

And in Sanskrit language, the word Guna
has two meanings; one meaning is it is a property or an attribute. And the
second meaning is, it is a ‘rope’ or a shackle. So the very word guna
indicates that it is a rope that will bind you to samsara
and which will never allow you to be a free person. Therefore, you have to
break the shackles of three gunas and discover the freedom of moksha.

And now, we will briefly see the expressions of each guna.
At the time of creation, in the prakrti or in matter all the three gunas
are present; but they are in equilibrium or in the same proportion.

And in equilibrium state, there is no creation. And when the time
for creation comes, the gunas are disturbed; the proportions are disturbed,
and in creation the proportion will vary and the percentage of these three gunas
will vary.

And, according to the scriptures, even the most inert object in
the creation has three gunas as well as the plants, animals and human
beings.

Every one is a mixture of three gunas;
the differences are in the proportions of the gunas.

And in the human being, how does the domination of each guna
express itself?

Sri Krishna points out that satva guna
make the character or the nature of the individual to be Gyana Pradhana
Purusha. It makes a person a cognitive individual, an intellectual
person interested in or thirsting for more and more knowledge. So in his case,
the Gyanendriya, the five sense organs of knowledge, as well as the controlling
intellect will be highly active.

And diagonally opposite is the raja pradhanam. In a rajasic character, it will be karma pradhana or activity oriented. So, here Gyanenndriyas are generally passive; The Gyanenndriyas are the eyes, the ears, nose, the tongue and the skin and the intellect; the analyzing-intellect; the thinking intellect, judging-intellect; that will be active, whereas in a rajasic personality, it will be karma pradhana, which means karmendriyas will be active.

So therefore vak, pani,
pada, payu, upastha and behind that the pancha pranas,
the energy is highly active.

So satva guna is Gyana pradhana
while rajo guna gives a karma pradhana
personality.

And Tamo guna
will be the suppression of both. Neither the Gyanendriyas nor karmendriyas
are active; more inertia will be there; So tamas is the suppression of both
Rajas and Satva.

And when a person is a Gyana pradhana
person; generally that person will be turned inwards, internal oriented;
because a mind, which seeks knowledge, is always intellectually active,
analyzing, thinking, hypothesizing, theorizing, in fact, intellectuals live in
their own world of ideas; they are not even aware of the surroundings.
Therefore Satva dominant will express itself in the form of Nivritti pradhana.
Nivritti means turning inwards or withdrawal.

Whereas when rajoguna is dominant, it will be pravritti pradhana, the person will be highly turned outwards; One is inward, another is outward. When satva guna is dominant, and a person is thinking, contemplative, etc.; naturally that mind will not like to relate itself with the external world of objects, because very relationship or interaction or transaction will make the mind extrovert; whereas satvic mind being turned inward, it does not like sanga.

Therefore it is asanga- pradhana whereas a rajasic mind loves turning, outward. Socializing, interacting, talking to people.  So, one is asanga, the other sasanga.

The fourth difference that we can see is that a thinking mind
would naturally love a set up which is conducive for contemplation, and
therefore it loves silence.

Tranquility, quietude; It wants nishabdhatha,
whereas the silence is poison for the rajasic mind, it cannot withstand
silence.

And Tamoguna
is just the opposite, it suppresses both satva and rajas and Sri Krishna wants
to point out that all the three gunas
are bondage. All the three gunas cause bondage in different ways.

How do all the three gunas cause bondage? A satvic mind will love a set up which is quiet, and which is conducive for thinking, contemplation, study, etc. and if that set up is disturbed, by any sound or any visitor; then a satvic mind is upset. And therefore, it is a dukha-misritha condition, because as long as the set up is favorable to me, the satvic mind enjoys.

A satvic mind is also a bound-mind, because it cannot totally control
the set up and when the set up is disturbed, it is disturbed.

Similarly, a rajasic mind, of course hates silence and quietude.
It cannot keep quiet because he cannot face silence. Therefore a rajasic
mind also will face dukham. So long as it is able to order the set up as it
wants, it is fine; but when the set up is disturbed, it is unhappy.  

Tamasic mind also will have problems. Sri Krishna will talk of the
details later; the greatest problem being there is no scope for progress at
all. So, therefore, all the three gunas are
mixed with pain or sorrow. And Sri Krishna points out that all the three gunas
cause dependence. A person who loves silence is addicted to silence. And he is
not a free person because to enjoy happiness, he requires silence.  So, Satvic
person is also bound, because he is addicted to silence. What about rajasic
person? That person is also bound, because he is addicted to noise and the
company he wants.

Therefore, dependence and bondage are common to all the people;
pain is common to all the people, wherever dependence is there; pain is also there.

And thirdly, all the people will have athrupthikarathvam . So common to all three are features of dukha-mishrithatvam, athrupthikarathvam, and bandhakatvam. Athrupthikarathvam is also common to all the three. A satvic person wants to gain more and more

knowledge. He has a got a great hunger for knowledge. And without knowledge, he feels a limited person; and therefore he wants to remove the knowledge-wise limitation. Satvic person alone will have the unique sense of limitation; what I know is less; and therefore, he goes on acquiring knowledge, because he wants to become omniscient. But to his utter desperation and dismay he finds out any amount of knowledge he gathers, his limitation, knowledge-wise limitation, does not go away.

In fact, the more you learn, the more you know that you do not
know. Therefore greater your knowledge, more you know about your ignorance, and
that is why in every field, he goes on specializing. Thus, Swamiji says, a dermatologist
has only skin-deep knowledge.

So therefore, as somebody nicely defined it, a specialist is one who learns more and more about less and less things. And therefore I am never going to become omniscient in the field of any branch of science and therefore samsara; this is called intellectual samsara. I want to know more about; and I am not able to know.

Similarly, a rajasic person also suffers from samsara, not in terms of knowledge but in terms of activity. He wants to do more and more; accomplish more and more. He becomes a workaholic. And at any time he looks at himself, he is not satisfied. Satvic person travels from finitude to finitude, rajasic person travels from to finitude to finitude, tamasic person does not travel at all.

And therefore Sri Krishna says: all the three gunas
will bind you. And all the three forms of ahamkara
are bondage. Satvic ahamkara is also bondage; rajasic
ahamkara is also bondage, tamasic
ahamkara is also bondage.

If you want to transcend bondage, you have to transcend ahamkara
and own up to your higher nature. What is your higher nature? The Nirguna Sakshi
is that higher nature.

But Sri Krishna wants to point out that even though the three gunas are
causes of bondage, for liberation, you will have to use the three gunas
alone as stepping-stones. Even though they are the causes of bondage, you will
have to intelligently use them and transcend them; like a poll vaulter.

An intelligent person uses the pole, goes up, drops the pole and
wins the Commonwealth gold medal.

Similarly use the ahamkara
pole. You require tamoguna
as well. If you do not have tamoguna
at all, if you are all the time Gyana pradhana
and karma pradhana, you will never go to sleep. And if you have no sleep at all,
that is a problem in itself.

Therefore we require Tamoguna for sufficient rest and recuperation.

Suppose in the class you have got tamasic ahamkara,  you will end up dozing. If you have a rajasic ahmakara your mind will be wandering all over So a wandering mind cannot learn, a dozing mind cannot learn; only an alert, vigilant and non-wandering mind absorbs the teaching like sponge. And once it gets wisdom that I am not this inferior saguna ahamkara nature; because it is mithya and inferior; but my real nature is Aham gunathitha sakshi asmi.

Thus, we have to know the nature of the three gunas
and how they bind us and we also should know how to intelligently use the three
gunas, and become gunathitha and gunathitha is
a liberated person. This is going to be the analysis in verses beginning from
the 5th verse.

Take Away:

This
mixture of Purusha and Prakriti alone is called God.

Individual
Jiva, you and I,
is also a mixture of Purusha tatvam and Prakrti Tatvam,

This consciousness principle in me, which enlivens the
body-mind-complex, is called purusha
tatvam.

The pure consciousness principle, which is nirguna
and nirvikara, that consciousness, is called sakshi
tatvam.

There is a changeless witness-consciousness that is aware of the
previous condition of the mind as well as aware of the present condition of the
mind. This changeless witness consciousness is called sakshi
tatvam, which is one aspect of mind.

Ahamkara:
And in Vedantic parlance,
this body-mind-complex, otherwise called prakrti, with borrowed sentiency,
borrowed-consciousness, this body-mind complex is called Ahamkara.

The only way of getting out of samsara
is for you to transcend your lower ahamkara-nature
and to own up to your higher sakshi-nature.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
having completed the 13th chapter, now we will enter into the 14th chapter. As
I had pointed earlier, the 14th chapter also falls within the last shatakam or group
of the Gita and its focus
is on Gyana yoga or
self-knowledge.

And in this group of six chapters, the first three chapters, 13th, 14th, and 15^th mainly focus upon Gyana yoga or self-knowledge, and therefore all these three chapters are important, and all of them have the essence of the Upanishads. The self-knowledge is the knowledge of our higher nature.

And
in the previous chapter, the knowledge of our higher nature was presented as “I”
the kshetragnya or the
witness principle.  Atma
is revealed as the drk
the kshetragnya, the
observer and everything else is presented the kshetram, the observed, the Drishyam.

The differentiation was done based on the observed-observer principle and this method of teaching is called, Drk-Drishya viveka. It is a popular method used in the shastra, to arrive at my true nature; I go on negating all that I experience. Neti Neti method; whatever I experience, I am not. And if I go on negating everything that I experience, finally there will be only one thing left out, and that is the experiencer who can never become an object of experience. And this method of arriving at the subject by negating every object, including the body, mind and the thoughts; this method is called Drk-Drishya viveka and the thirteenth chapter employed this method.

Now in the 14th chapter also Sri Krishna is going to deal with the same subject matter, but here atma, my nature is going to be revealed as Gunatitha, or Nirguna tatvam and everything that has got gunas or attributes, they are all anatma, the object and by negating everything Saguna, what will be left behind is the gunathitha, the Nirguna atma. So what was presented as the observer in the thirteenth chapter, the same atma is presented here as the attributeless principle. And therefore this chapter is in the form of guna thraya, gunathitha and vibhaga yoga. Previous chapter is kshetra-kshetragnya vibhaga, subject-object differentiation; here the topic is Saguna-Nirguna vibhaga; Saguna means with attributes, Nirguna means without attributes.

And the Saguna is going to be here termed as Guna
traya. The three-fold gunas. The details we will see in due course. And
the Nirguna tatvam is called gunathitha; that which
transcends all the attributes. And we are going to differentiate guna trayah
and the gunathitha and we are going to claim that I am the gunathitha
atma;
I am not the guna-traya anatma. This is going to be the subject matter of
this chapter, a small chapter but an important chapter. With this background,
we will enter into the chapter proper.

Shloka
# 14.1:

The Blessed Lord said I shall speak again of
the supreme Knowledge, the best of all knowledges, by realizing which all the
contemplatives reached the highest Perfection from here.

The
chapter begins with Sri Krishna’s voluntary offer to teach further. In the thirteenth
chapter, Arjuna asked a question and therefore Sri Krishna answered,

whereas
here Arjuna did not raise any question, at all but Sri  Krishna, out of compassion, offers to teach
the same thing once again. Why should Sri Krishna do that?

Shankaracharya  says, often, when the subject matter is very subtle, a teacher has to repeat it again and again. When the subject matter is shallow, you need not repeat. Sri Krishna too knows what deserves repetition. And this atma Gyanam being very subtle, repetition is not a defect. When the subject matter is simple, repetition is not required.

 Therefore, Sri Krishna says O Arjuna, what I
taught in the 13th chapter or previously, is extremely subtle; you are a good
student; you would have understood; but still for my
satisfaction, I would like to present it again. But if I give the same title,
you will be bored; and therefore, in another fashion, I will present it from a
different angle. Previously it was Kshetra-Kshetragnya
vibhga, Purusha-Prakrti vibhaga,
now it is guna traya- gunathitha vibhaga.

What type of Gyanam is it; It is the greatest knowledge in the world.

Shankaracharya says, the first ‘greatest’ indicates a knowledge which deals with the greatest thing, Reality in the world. In terms of the subject-matter, this knowledge is the greatest, because it does not deal with the ordinary perishable thing, but it is dealing with the greatest reality.

And then the second greatest means not only the subject matter is the greatest one; that is atma or brahman. The result that we derive out of this knowledge, the phalam also is the greatest. First greatest represents the subject matter; the second one refers to the knowledge which gives the greatest result of moksha whereas all other branches of knowledge can give the result of the perishable artha, perishable kama, perishable dharma, whereas this is the only knowledge, which gives the result of imperishable moksha. Thus this knowledge is the greatest knowledge. And that is why in Mundaka Upanishad, this knowledge is called Para vidya. And therefore Arjuna, I shall give you that knowledge which is the greatest knowledge leading to moksha. So, what is moksha? Sri Krishna explains that by gaining this wisdom, the greatest wisdom, all the seekers, who are Sanyasi’s, (detached) or are sadhana catushtaya sampathi Sampanaha or the detached souls are the one’s who have got all the necessary qualifications in abundance.

In the last class summary, I talked about 4 Ds, Discrimination, Dispassion, Discipline and Desire for moksha. So the one who has got all these qualifications is called a Muni, in this context. Muni here refers to the all those prepared seekers who attained moksha, which alone is the highest accomplishment in life. Gaining which alone the life can be called worthwhile. Kenopanishad points out that any other thing you get in life is not worthwhile; life is validated; made meaningful only if this knowledge is attained; And therefore param siddhim; the highest accomplishment of moksha they have attained while living. Not only while living; even after death; they have gained the videha mukti too. Liberation while living is called Jivanmukti. Liberation after death is called Videha mukti. These people have attained both.

Shloka
# 2:

Those who attain identity with Me by resorting
of this Knowledge are not born even during creation, nor do they suffer pain
during dissolution.

Introduction continues. In the previous verse it was pointed out
that this Gyanam is superior most, because it deals with the greatest reality;
and the benefit is also the greatest, which consists of jivanmukti
and videhamukti.

Now the next question is what is jivanmukti and what is videhamukti? Sri Krishna briefly defines them as by taking recourse to this knowledge, by acquiring this knowledge, the seekers have attained oneness with me. They have also attained Ishvara svarupam, dropping their jivatman. So mama sadharmyam, means Ishvara svarupam.

And what do you mean by Ishvara svarupam? Ishvara has got purnatvam, and these people enjoy the purnatvam even while living. So the first indication of jivanmukti is total inner sense of self-sufficiency. Not missing anything in life; as Sri Krishna said in the 2nd chapter, this Gyani also enjoys purnatvam.

And the second feature or glory of Bhagavan is abhaya svarupa. Bhagavan is free from the sense of insecurity; whereas Jiva is full of insecurity feeling. This Gyanam will remove the sense of insecurity.

So Ishvara svarupam means abhayam, freedom from
insecurity; freedom from finitude; freedom from slavery. Bhagavan
is called Swami. Swami means the one who is the master of everything while a
samsari is called brtya-dasa, a slave. A slave of
what; Slave of people; slave of circumstances; a slave of karma. A Gyani, by this
knowledge, attains Ishvara svarupam, meaning this Gyani
also becomes a swami. He is no more a slave of karma phala.

They are the masters of the situation; and mastery means no regret over the past, and no anxiety with regard to future. So this svamitvam, purnatvam, abhayam, ananda svarupaha, ananda, all these are indicated by the word  sadharmyam This sadharmyam indicates jivanmukti. So even while living, they enjoy the glories which belong to the Lord. This is called jivanmukti.

And then what happens to them after death. After death they attain videhamukti. What do you mean by videhamukti? vidahamukti means freedom from punarjanma. Punarjanma leads to punar maranam and punar maranam will lead to punar janma. They are free from Punarapi jananam, punarapi maranam cycle,.

And therefore, videhamukti is defined in the second
line; they are not born again as miserable individuals and therefore in the
next srishti, they are not created again.

And therefore they do not come to grief again, caused by mortality. So at the time of pralayam, they do not grieve; they are not afflicted by the pain of death. In short; they are free from janma-marana cycle, which is called videhamukti and therefore Arjuna, if you want to enjoy this jivanmukti and also get the benefit of videhamukti, concentrate on this Gyanam.

Shloka # 14.3:

14.3 My womb is the great-sustainer. In that I
place the seed. From that, O scion of the Bharata dynasty, occurs the birth of
all things.

The introduction continues. In the first two slokas, Sri Krishna introduced the subject matter of Atma Gyanam, and he also talked about the glory of the subject matter, the glory is that it is a liberating knowledge; so having introduced the subject matter, now in these two verses, the 3rd and 4th, Sri Krishna summarizes the process of creation which he had dealt with in the 13th chapter as well. So as a reminder, Sri Krishna is summarizing the process of creation; because the development of the teaching depends upon the knowledge of the creation. On topic of creation, in Ch 13, he said before the creation, there were originally two principles, known as Purusha and Prakrti. Both Purusha tatvam and prakrti tatvam are anadi; anadi meaning beginningless. They are the cause of the creation; but they themselves are not created entities. There Sri Krishna said both are anadi. And we talked about 4 differences, to recap:

Purusha is chetana tatvam,
conscious principle. prakrti is achetana tatvam, inert principle,

Purusha is nirguna tatvam,
without any attributes;

prakrti
is saguna tattvam, with
gunas;

Purusha is Nirvikara tatvam,
without any modifications; whereas Prakrti is savikara tatvam,
subject to modifiction.

Fourthly
and finally, Purusha
is satya tatvam having independent existence of its own; whereas prakrti is
matter; it does not have independent existence or it is Mithya.

So
Nirguna, Nirvikara, Satya, Chetana Tatvam is Purusha; Saguna, Savikara, Mithya, Achetana Tatvam is Prakrti.

In English, consciousness and matter, both existed from beginningless time. And He also pointed out that this mixture Purusha-prakrti, consciousness-matter, is the cause of the creation. And this mixture alone is called Ishvara. Ishvara is neither pure-Purusha, nor pure-prakrti, but it is a mixture of these two. And either of them cannot independently become the cause of the creation and to convey this idea, Sri Krishna takes the comparison of the Father principle and the Mother principle. The Purusha tatvam is compared to the father principle and the Prakrti tatvam is compared to the mother principle. It is only a comparison: because male alone can produce; female alone can produce a child; male and female together alone can be the cause of the creation; and therefore Purusha is compared to a male and Prakrti is symbolized as female. It is only a symbolism. Do not extend it too much and ask whether all the ladies are inert!!! When I say females are compared to prakrti, it is only a comparison; do not extend it too much; you will have problem. Then why this comparison, only to show that both the tatvams put together alone can cause the creation.

Then
Sri Krishna wants to point out that the Purusha and Prakrti, are like an inseparable
father and mother.

Citing
example, they are like inseparable Shiva and Parvati; or like Vishnu and Lakshmi, or like
Brahma and Saraswati.

Similarly
father principle Purusha,
mother principle Prakrti, put together is called Ishvara the cause of the creation.

And then Sri Krishna wants to point out that if this mixture is the cause of the creation; all the products will have the features of both the father and mother. Because the general rule is the features of the cause will Inhere and pervade the effect also. If gold is the cause of the ornament, the ornament is also golden in nature. And if the cause-Gold has a percentage of copper, the ornament also will have a percentage of copper. If the children are born out of the couple, the children will have some features of the father; some features of the mother; both will be there. Only thing is the proportion. One child might have more of the mother and less of the father; another might have more of the father and less of the mother; but the principle, the causal features, will inhere in the effect. And therefore Sri Krishna wants to extend that principle and say every individual is a mixture of Purusha and prakrti tatvam. Every individual jiva, whether it is plant or ant or elephant; whether it is a human being, male or female; every one of us is a mixture of Purusha, father principle, as well as prakrti the mother principle.

If
we do not recognize this nature of ours, that I am a mixture of Purusha tatvam, (nirguna-nirvikara-sathya-chetana Purusha Tatvam); and
saguna-savikara-mithya-achetana prakrti
tatvam, if I do not understand my composition very clearly, I will not know how
to handle myself properly.

Self-knowledge is required for self-mastery. Anything you want to master, the first step is learn to understand. If a disease has to be cured, before finding a remedy for the disease, I have to understand the nature of the disease. If I do not know how to handle myself, how am I going to be the master of my family.

Therefore,
self-mastery requires self-knowledge. Self-knowledge involves knowing my
composition.

And Sri Krishna wants to say that I am composed of Purusha
aspect as well as prakrti aspect. And to show and proof that I am the mixture
of both, Sri Krishna wants to point that I am the mixture of both, because my
cause, Ishvara, is a mixture of both. So karanam is a mixture of both, karyam
the jiva is also a mixture.

For that, he is introducing the creation. Therefore, Sri Krishna
says here: O Arjuna, I am the Purusha Tatvam and inseparable
from me is the prakrti tatvam, otherwise called Maya
tatvam and maya is comparable to my wife. Therefore I am Brahman, the husband;
Purusha, the husband; and maya is like my wife, and I
cannot create the universe without prakrti, the maya.
Thus Soundarya lahari begins with that.

If prakrti is not there, Purusha cannot do anything.

And therefore Sri Krishna says the female principle, my wife, Sri Krishna
says; is Mahat brahma. Yoni here means wife. It is a very misleading verse; the
word brahma here is Maya, the prakrti tatvam; the word brahma in this
context means prakrti. The matter principle, the mayatatvam.

And what type of wife she is? mahad brahma, is a universal mother, and therefore mahat means infinite; because the pregnancy of the universal mother should be a great pregnancy because the universal mother has to conceive the universe. Therefore Sri Krishna says Mahat brahma, infinite maya, is my wife as it were; and who am I, we have to supply, I, the Purusha tatvam am comparable to the father principle. I, the consciousness; am the father, maya is the mother principle.

And
what do I do; when the right time for creation comes; what do I do?

I transfer the garbham; means the life principle, the power to create; power to reproduce; I hand over, I transfer to the Mother. Just as at the time of conception, the male transfers the seed of the baby to the female. Similarly at the time of creation, I bless maya with the power to produce the universe. Tasmin garbham dadhamyaham. And philosophically speaking, garbadanam is supposed to be blessing the maya tatvam with the chidabhsha or the reflected consciousness; blessing the maya is considered to be garbha danam. I activate the maya. I impregnate maya, I give maya the power to evolve itself into a universe.

And
once the conception has taken place; father, male principle has done the job, female
principle has conceived, and thereafter the male principle need not do anything,
the baby foetus will grow in the body of the mother, perfectly, according to the
law of nature. Father need not know all the laws. Even the mother need not know
all the laws to conceive the baby and every week growth appropriately and whatever
transformation is needed in the mother’s body, that also will take place;

Similarly,
here also Sri Krishna says: once I bless the maya, I need not do anything; maya will evolve
into this creation.

Just
as the baby grows in the mother’s body, and at the appropriate time, 9th month or
the 10th month, by the same law of nature, it emerges.

Before big bang one cannot talk about time and space. Even the concept of time and space is impossible before big bang; During the time of singularity (scientists call it singularity) you cannot talk about anything, it is a state of non-information.

Singularity
they call, it is a state of non-information. In Vedanta non-information is called maya. It means that
you will not understand. This, people call it, state of non-information.

In Sanskrit it is called maya. In this place what is there, If we say maya, we will not understand. If you have understood maya well, then you know maya is un-understandable.

Anirvachaniyam means where information is lacking. At the time of
big bang, information was not there; but out of that evolved this universe;
Similarly, thereafter, we can trace how the creation evolved.

Everything happens, therefore, Sri Krishna says the origination of all these things and beings; in that moment of big bang, the inexplicable moment, from that moment, everything evolves naturally, O Arjuna. So then what happens:

Shloka # 14.4:

14.4 O son of Kunti, whatever forms are born
from all the wombs, of them the great-sustainer is the womb; I am the father
who deposits the seed.

So Sri Krishna said that I am the universal father; and maya is the universal mother; and we the universal couple, are comparable to any local couple, there also because of their combination the child is born, the child has the features of both of them.

Then
what is the difference between the universal couple Bhagavan and Bhagavati
and the worldly couple; Sri Krishna says even though many things are common;
there is one main difference. If you take any couple in the world; any male and
female, humans species, you take, the human couple can produce only human
child;

So when you take any one couple in the universe that couple is the cause of only one species, whereas the universal mother has given birth to all the species.

And therefore Sri Krishna says, I am the universal father; who activate, who impregnate maya, who enliven maya by blessing it with reflected consciousness, chidabhasha pradhanena, I bless the Maya and therefore I am the universal father;

And
blessed by me; the maya
becomes the universal mother not for one species, but for all the species. And
therefore Sri Krishna says, so whatever species of living beings are born in
the world; whatever we see, the monkey species is there; buffalo species is
there; locally the buffalo child is born out of buffalo mother; monkey child is
born out of monkey mother; whatever species is born out of the corresponding
mother; all of them when you go to the original cause, the original cause is only
one maya, that is the
cause of all the monkey species also; buffalo species also; octopus also; snails
also; whatever.

Therefore Sri Krishna says; whatever types of bodies or whatever species you experience here, born out of the local mothers. For all of them, the immediate cause may be the immediate mother, but the original cause is maya only.

Whatever living being is born; for all of them, brahma yoni, maya is the universal mother. And therefore we are all children of brahman plus maya; Purusha plus prakrti; Consciousness plus matter; nirgunam plus sagunam. And therefore we also will have a mixture of both.

Take Away:

Ishvara is neither pure-Purusha, nor pure-prakrti, but it is a mixture of these two. And either of them cannot independently become the cause of the creation

Gyani: Ishvara
svarupam means abhayam, freedom from insecurity; freedom from finitude;
freedom from slavery.Gyani has both.

Nirguna, Nirvikara, Satya, Chetana Tatvam is
Purusha; Saguna, Savikara, Mithya, Achetana Tatvam is
Prakrti.

Every
individual, every being, is a mixture of Purusha and prakrti tatvam.

In
Vedanta state of
non-information is called maya.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy