THE YOGA OF WISDOM AND REALISATION

Summary of Seventh Discourse

Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that the supreme Godhead has to be realised in both its
transcendent and immanent aspects. The Yogi who has reached this summit has
nothing more to know. This complete union with the Lord is difficult of attainment.
Among many thousands of human beings, very few aspire for this union, and even
among those who aspire for it, few ever reach the pinnacle of spiritual realisation.

The Lord has already given a clear description of the all-pervading static and infinite
state of His. Now He proceeds to explain His manifestations as the universe and the
power behind it. He speaks of these manifestations as His lower and higher Prakritis.
The lower Prakriti is made up of the five elements, mind, ego and intellect. The higher
Prakriti is the life-element which upholds the universe, activates it and causes its
appearance and final dissolution.

Krishna says that whatever exists is nothing but Himself. He is the cause of the
appearance of the universe and all things in it. Everything is strung on Him like clusters
of gems on a string. He is the essence, substance and substratum of everything,
whether visible or invisible. Although everything is in Him, yet He transcends
everything as the actionless Self. Prakriti or Nature is made up of the three Gunas or
qualitiesSattwa, Rajas and Tamas. These three qualities delude the soul and make it
forget its true nature, which is one with God. This delusion, termed Maya, can only be
removed by the Grace of the Lord Himself.

Thus far Arjuna has been taught the highest form of devotion, which leads to union
with God in His static aspect as also with His dynamic Prakriti. Krishna tells him that
there are also other forms of devotion which are inferior as they are performed with
various motives. The distressed, the seeker of divine wisdom, and he who desires

wealth, worship Him, as also the wise. Of these the Lord deems the wise as dearest to
Him. Such a devotee loves the Lord for the sake of pure love alone. Whatever form the
devotee worships, the ultimate goal is the Lord Himself. The Lord accepts such
worship, knowing that it is directed to Him only.

Verse 4

Bhoomiraaponalo vaayuh kham mano buddhireva cha;

Ahamkaara iteeyam me bhinnaa prakritirashtadhaa.
4. Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and egoismthus is My Nature divided
eightfold.

Sankara Bhashya
(Swami Gambiranandas Translation and Commentary)

After giving rise to an occasion for further enquiry in the verse, 'Even among all the
yogis, he who adores Me with his mind fixed on Me and with faith, he is considered by
Me to be the best of the yogis', (now) with a view to instructing that 'the reality about
Myself is of this kind, and one should have his mind fixed on Me in this way,' [The
main themes in the first six chapters are renunciation of actions as the means to
attaining Knowledge, and the ascertainment of the word 'Thou' (in 'Thou are That').
The next six chapters are devoted to the adoration of the Lord and the ascertainment
of the meaning of the word 'That'.] on His own-

4. This Prakrti of Mine is divided eight-fold thus: earth, water, fire, air, space, mind,
intellect and also egoism.

Iyam, this; prakrtih, Prakrti, [Prakrti here does not mean the Pradhana of the
Sankhyas.] the divine power called Maya; me, of Mine, as described; bhinna, is divided;
astadha, eight-forl; iti, thus: bhumih, earth-not the gross earth but the subtle element
called earth, this being understood from the statement, 'Prakrti (of Mine) is divided
eight-fold'. Similarly, the subtle elements alone are referred to even by the words
water etc.

Apah, water; analah, fire; vayuh, air; kham, space; manah, mind. By 'mind' is meant its
source, egoism. By buddhih, intellect, is meant the principle called mahat [Mahat
means Hiranyagarbha, or Cosmic Intelligence.] which is the source of egoism. By
ahankarah, egoism, is meant the Unmanifest, associated [Associated, i.e. of the nature
of.] with (Cosmic) ignorance. As food mixed with position is called poison, similarly the
Unmainfest, which is the primordial Cause, is called egoism since it is imbued with the
impressions resulting from egoism; and egoism is the impelling force (of all). It is
indeed seen in the world that egoism is the impelling cause behind all endeavour.

Swami Chinmayanandas Translation and Commentary

4. Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, egoism --- these are My eight-fold
PRAKRITI.

In an attempt to explain the world outside as a marriage between matter and spirit,
great thinkers of the Vedic period had exercised their philosophical acumen and had
given us the Sankhyan Philosophy. According to them, the Spiritual Factor (Purusha)
presiding over a given matter envelopment, dynamises the inert matter and makes the
insentient mineral assembly to act, as though it is intelligent and vital. This idea
becomes clear to us when we take an example from the modern world.

With steel and iron, the manufacturer completes a steam-engine and when the cold
engine is harnessed to steam, at high pressure, it does work. Steam by itself can never
express its dynamic capacity and strength; on the other hand, when it is made to work
through a given equipment, it is capable of adding motion and performance to the
inert iron assemblage.

Thus, one of the schools of philosophy in India tries to explain scientifically, how the
Eternal and the Perfect Self comes to express Itself as the world-of-plurality, in the
embrace of matter. This also explains the relationship between Spirit and matter. The
technical terms used in the philosophy for those two items are: Prakriti, for the
"matter-envelopments," and Purusha for the "Spirit-factor."

Krishna explains in this and the following stanza, all the items that together constitute
the matter and those that constitute the Spiritual Entity within a living man. Once the
individual comes to understand clearly the distinction between matter and Spirit he
will indeed come to understand that the Spirit identifying with matter, is the cause for
all Its sufferings and when It is detached from Its identifications, it rediscoveres for
itself its own essential nature as Perfection and Bliss Absolute. The spirit identifying
with matter, and sharing the destinies of the inert equipment, is called the "ego"
(Jeeva). It is the "ego" that comes to rediscover itself to be nothing other than the
Spirit that presides over matter.

In order to make Arjuna realise how exactly one is to understand the true nature of the
Self, in all Its divine might and glory, Lord Krishna tries to enumerate the matteraspect, as distinct from the Spiritual-Truth in each individual.

The five great elements, mind, intellect and ego constitute, according to the Geeta, the
eight-fold Prakriti that has come to be superimposed upon the Truth through
ignorance. The five great cosmic elements are represented in the microcosm by the
five sense-organs by which the individual comes to experience and live in the world of

sense-objects. Thus, the list making up Prakriti is nothing other than the subtle body
and its vehicles of expression are constituted of the sense-organs. The sense-organs
are the channels through which the world of stimuli reaches within, and the inner
point of focus of the five sense-organs is called the "mind". The impulses received by
the mind are rationally classified and systematised into the knowledge of their
perception by the intellect. At all these three levels of sense perception, mental
reception, and intellectual assimilation, there is a continuous sense of I-ness, which is
called the "ego". These constitute the equipments through which, at the touch of Life,
man functions as the intelligent being that he is.

WHAT THEN IS YOUR HIGHER NATURE? LISTEN:

Verse 5

Apareyamitastwanyaam prakritim viddhi me paraam;

Jeevabhootaam mahaabaaho yayedam dhaaryate jagat.
5. This is the inferior Prakriti, Omighty-armed (Arjuna)! Know thou as different from it
My
higher Prakriti (Nature), the very life-element by which this world is upheld.

Sankara Bhashya
(Swami Gambiranandas Translation and Commentary)

5. O mighty-armed one, this is the inferior (Prakrti). Know the other Prakrti of Mine
which, however, is higher than this, which has taken the from of individual souls, and
by which this world is upheld.

O mighty-armed one, iyam, this; is apara, the inferior (Prakrti)-not the higher, (but)-the
impure, the source of evil and having the nature of worldly bondage. Viddhi, know;
anyam, the other, pure; prakrtim, Prakrti; me, of Mine, which is essentially Myself;
which, tu, however;is param, higher, more exalted; itah, than this (Prakrti) already
spoken of; Jiva-bhutam, which has taken the form of the individual souls, which is
characterized as 'the Knower of the body (field)', and which is the cause of sustenance
of life; and yaya, by which Prakriti; idam, this; jagat, world; dharyate, is upheld, by
permeating it.

Swami Chinmayanandas Translation and Commentary

5. This is the "lower" PRAKRITI; different from it, know thou, O mighty-armed, My
"Higher' ' PRAKRITI , the very Life-element, by which this world is upheld.

After enumerating in the above stanza the "lower" nature of the Self, Krishna says that
this is not all. The Self possesses, besides these equipments, a Higher-Nature which is
constituted of Pure Consciousness, or Awareness. It is this Spiritual Entity that makes it
possible for the body, mind and intellect, made up of mere inert minerals, to act as if
they were in themselves so vitally sentient and intelligent.

The Spiritual Factor is the entity by whose contact the equipments function, and
without which the equipments become dull and insentient. If Consciousness were not
in us, we would not be able to experience either the world outside or the world within
us. It is the Consciousness that maintains, nourishes, and sustains all the possibilities in
us. Without this Spiritual Spark functioning in us, we would be no more intelligent or
divine than the "stone-world".

Even by a more material consideration, we can logically come to accept the

conclusions declared in this stanza. I am standing on the floor of my house; the house
is supported by my piece of land; the land is protected by the city Corporation; the city
is supported by the country; and the country is supported by the world; the world is
supported by water --- the waters of the ocean; water is held in position by the
atmosphere, and the atmosphere is a part of the planetary system! The universe stays
in space, and this space rests upon the "concept of space" that is in our mind! The
mind gets its support from the judgement of the intellect. Since the decision of the
intellect is known and realised by the Consciousness in us, this Spiritual Entity is,
indeed, the ultimate support for the entire world-of-change (Jagat)!!!

In philosophy, the term Jagat means not only the world of objects perceived by us
though our sense-organs, but it includes in its concept, the world experienced through
and interpreted by the mind and intellect also. Thus the world-of-objects, the worldof-feelings, and the world-of-ideas that we experience, together, in their totality,
constitute the Jagat. This is supported by the Conscious Principle with Its grace
showering upon them all. In this sense also, Krishna's declarations are scientifically
true, when He says that the "Higher" Prakriti, the Principle of Consciousness, is that

"BY WHICH THIS ENTIRE WORLD OF EXPERIENCES IS SUSTAINED."

vande guru-paramparAm!
shrIkRRiShNaM vande jagatgurum!!!

All slokas from the Bhagavad Gita are taken from Swami Sivanandajis translation,
which can be found at http://www.dlshq.org/download/bgita.pdf

6 more messages

Br. Pranipata Chaitanya

Message 8 of 8 , Nov 14 3:54 PM
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--- In advaitin@yahoogroups.com, venkata sriram
<sriram_sapthasathi@...> wrote:

>
> Namaste Pranipata Ji,
> Swami Ramsukhdas Ji while commenting on this sloka says in Hindi as:
> shabdabrahma = vEdOn mE kahE huyE *sakAm karmOn* kA
> And in the footnote while referring to this word writes in Hindi as:
> vEdOn mE jO sAdhan sAmagrI hai, uskO is *shabda-brahma* kE
antargat nahin lEnA chAhiyE
>
>
> With regards,
>
> Sriram
>

Hari Om Shri Sriramji, Pranaams!

If these two things a. the person referred had renounced vedic rites in
previous birth itself by taking up saMnyAsa, b. the sa-kAma-karmapunya-phala he had already enjoyed in those lokas prior to taking this
birth, taking vedokta-karma-phala to mean sa-kAma-karma-phala is
stretching a bit.
Even granting that, I do not get how you say Lord is comparing sa-kAmakarmI and yoga/yogI and say latter is greater than former in this shloka.
In Shri Guru Smriti,
Br. Pranipata Chaitanya