Category Archives: bhootaani

Bhagavad Gita Verse 14, Chapter 3

22 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in 3.14, anna, annaat, bhavanti, bhavati, bhootaani, chapter 3 verse 13, karmasamudhbhavaha, parjanyaat, parjanyah, sambhavaha, yajnaad, yajnah

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annaadbhavanti bhootaani parjanyaadannasambhavaha |
yajnaadbhavati parjanyo yajnah karmasamudhbhavaha || 14 ||

From food are all beings created, from rain, food is created. Yajna gives birth to rain, and rain is born out of action.

annaat : from food
bhavanti : is created
bhootaani : all beings
parjanyaat : from rain
anna : food
sambhavaha : is created
yajnaad : from yajna
bhavati : is created
parjanyah : rain
yajnah : yajna
karmasamudhbhavaha : is created from action

Shri Krishna illustrates how yajna is embedded within the fabric of the entire universe. If we interpret this shloka literally, it refers to Vedic rituals that were used to invoke the rain-gods. But if we want to go deeper, we have to interpret this shloka symbolically.

We have seen that action is an integral tendency of any object in the universe. Even a tiny atom is always acting. So when any group of organisms – plants, animals, humans – collectively work for the sake of a higher ideal, that is called yajna. The output of this yajna is an environment that is charged with the potential to create almost anything. This environment is symbolically called “rain” in this shloka. Finally, this rain or productive potential creates all kinds of objects that are useful to organisms. The shloka refers to these objects as “food”.

For instance, take a largely unknown area in northern California during World War II. Many scientists, lawyers, professors, business people came to this area with a higher ideal : to further the frontier of technology. Through their collective efforts, they created an environment which became conducive to technological innovation, which we now know as silicon valley. And silicon valley, even to this day, produces cutting edge products that benefit people around the world.

There are several such examples of environments born out of yajna: India’s freedom struggle, the economic success of Singapore, the entertainment industry in Bombay and so on.

So the message here is that if people come together to work towards a higher ideal, it is a guarantee that their efforts will be successful.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 69, Chapter 2

04 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in 2.69, bhootaani, chapter 2 verse 69, jaagrati, jaarti, muneh, nishaa, padhyato, saa, samyami, sarvabhootaanaam, tasyaam, yaa, yasyaam

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yaa nishaa sarvabhootaanaam tasyaam jaagarti samyami |
yasyaam jaagrati bhootaani saa nishaa pashyato muneh || 69 ||

That which is night for all beings, the balanced individual is awake in that. And that in which all beings are awake, the person of contemplation views as night.

yaa : that
nishaa : night
sarvabhootaanaam : for all beings
tasyaam : in that
jaagarti : is awake
samyami : balanced individual
yasyaam : and that
jaagrati : are awake
bhootaani : all beings
saa : that
nishaa : night
pashyato : views
muneh : person of contemplation

Here we encounter one of the most poetic shlokas in the second chapter, again, having several layers of meaning. Let us try to understand it to the best of our ability. First, let’s consider an example that will make the understanding of this shloka easier.

When a lay person and a professional artist enter a museum, both of them find joy in appreciating the works of art. The lay person may get excited about seeing how accurately an artist has painted a portrait. But the professional artist may find joy in more subtler aspects of the very same painting, e.g. what brush strokes were used, which time period was the painting commissioned in, what were the influences and so on – aspects that the lay person is probably totally oblivious to.

So therefore, in this shloka, Shri Krishna is speaking about two groups of individuals: ones who maintain the state of equanimity and ones who don’t. Both groups have to live in this world of material objects, and both of them have to face ups and downs in life. The key difference in both groups is their vision.

For most individuals, the world of material objects is their end goal, they are “awake” to it, and the eternal essence is like night to them. But for the individuals of equanimity, the world of material objects loses importance – that world is like night to them. They are awake to the timeless, changeless eternal essence.