Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Gitabhasya of Jagannatha Prakasa: 2:14-28 The Soul and the Omnipresent God

The Gitabhasya
Of Jagannatha Prakasa
Translation and Commentary by Jagannatha Prakasa (John of AllFaith © 1993/2008)
Sankhya Yoga:
Yoga of the Intellect

2:14: O son of Kunti, sensory perceptions afflict one with cold, heat, pleasure and pain. They appear and disappear and are impermanent. Therefore endure them all O descendant of Bharata.

    Note that Sri Krsna does not say material existence is non-real but merely impermanent. The Sanskrit here is anityah which declares this clearly.

    According to some teachings everything in the material world (or Saguna Brahman) is false illusion meant to deceive and enslave the living entities into accepting the notion of individual existence rather than monist Oneness. Here however the Lord clearly refers to material nature as "impermanent" rather than non-existent or illusory.

    Saguna Brahman (material existence -- existence "with differentiated qualities") is therefore shown to be real, although temporary. Philosophies like Buddhism and Hindu Advaita see this world as a dream the Atman needs to wake up from. They view the perceptions of individual existence as false illusion (maya) based on ignorance (avidya). The knowledgeable teaching of Sri Krsna however is that the living entities exist as eternal individuals who are temporarily occupying the real but temporary material constructs prior to retuning to spiritual existence (Nirguna Brahman). He warns Arjuna not to become attached to that which is temporary but to that which is eternal.

    Hence the noted sage Sri Madhvacharya (chief proponent of Tattvavāda or Dvaita) explains, "When the impersonalists maintain that the individual soul is identical with God, there is then no possibility of the soul being [in] ignorance, with the result that all their views stand refuted" (from Mayavadi-dusanam, a pre-published translation and commentary by Rohini-Kumara Svami, used with permission).

2:15: One who is never distressed, O best among men, and who remains unaltered [in the face of] suffering and pleasure and is patient, he is eligible for immortality.

    Elsewhere in the Mahabharata Dharmaraj asks Yudhisthira, eldest of the Pandavas, what the most remarkable thing in all of existence is. The great Yudhisthira replies, "It is most remarkable that although we see everyone around us die, still we believe ourselves immune from death."

    There is no question that these material bodies are temporary and will eventually return to the dust from which they were taken one way or another, however one who is dhirah or "sober" will understand that life is eternal and that for the Self there is neither birth nor death.

2:16: Being does not come from the non-existent, nor does non-being arise from the eternal. This is the considered conclusion of those who see the truth.

2:17: Know you by Whom all this imperishable is pervaded. The destruction of this immutable is not possible for anyone.

2:28: All these bodies are perishable, but it is said of the eternal embodied soul that it is indestructible and immeasurable, therefore fight, O descendant of Bharata.

    "Know you by Whom..." Arjuna has been shown that the soul is both eternal and individual. He now understands that the Soul can never be slain even though the body perishes, as in time it must. Only one lacking in intelligence would fail to understand this according to King Yudhisthira.

    Now Arjuna is told that beyond the individual, immortal soul is One by Whom all existence is pervaded!

    This is the greatness of the One God! Being omnipresent He exists as an Individual Being, He manifests in bodies like that of Sri Krsna according to His Desire, and yet He simultaneously pervades all of existence! Who can understand such a Being!

    This is harmonious with the teachings of acintya bheda abheda discussed before. Sri Bhagavan is both one with and yet utterly diverse from His creation.

Om
Jai Jagannatha!
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