Category Archives: na vidyate

Bhagavad Gita Verse 17, Chapter 3

26 Monday Dec 2011

Posted by in 3.17, aatma, aatmani, cha, chapter 3 verse 17, eva, kaaryam, maanavaha, na vidyate, ratih, santushtah, syaat, tasya, truptah, tu, yah

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yastvaatmaratireva syaadaatmatruptashcya maanavaha |
aatmanyeva cha santushtastasya kaaryam na vidyate || 17 ||

But, one who revels only in the eternal essence, and is content and satisfied in the eternal essence, no duty exists for him.

yah : one who
tu : but
aatma-ratih : revels in the eternal essence
eva : only
syaat : remains
aatma-truptah : content in the eternal essence
cha : and
maanavaha : individual
aatmani : in the eternal essence
eva cha : and
santushtah : satisfied
tasya : for him
kaaryam :duty
na vidyate : do not exist

While hearing Shri Krishna extol the need to act in this world, many of us – whether we admit it or not – may want to know whether there is an exception to this instruction. In other words, are there any circumstances where do not need to perform actions anymore? Shri Krishna gives the answer in this shloka and the next.

If we examine ourselves, we realize that we derive pleasure and satisfaction from external sources: material objects, people, relationships and so on. Pleasant memories, which can be considered internal to us, do give us joy but were generated from some external source in the past. But, in reality, the source of happiness is the absence of desires experienced when we finally attain a material object.

For instance, if we want to buy a new shirt, a desire is created in the mind. Till such time that we get the shirt, we will be unhappy because of that desire. But once the desire is fulfilled, we experience happiness for a brief period of time. Is that happiness caused by the shirt, or by the temporary absence of desires? The wise person knows that it is the latter.

So in this shloka Shri Krishna makes a bold statement. He says that till we derive pleasure and satisfaction from things external to us, we have to act in this world. Conversely, one who no longer derives pleasure and satisfaction from external sources does not need to act in this world. He “revels” in the eternal essence which he has learned to recognize within himself. He no longer has to look outside for happiness.

Is there a contradiction here? Earlier it was mentioned that if one is human, one has to act. But here, it is mentioned that the realized individual does not need to act? The answer is that once that individual has understood the true source of happiness, he loses the sense of doership. In other words, the notion that “I am doing this action” goes away, and all his actions become natural and spontaneous.

As an example, if you truly love painting, and have mastered all the skills, then your painting becomes effortless and spontaneous. You experience a feeling that some people call “being in the zone”. In fact, there may come a stage where you will feel that the hand is moving by itself, and the painting is happening on its own.

Similarly, all the actions of this wise individual become like that spontaneous painting.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 16, Chapter 2

12 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.16, abhaavaha, anayoha, antaha, api, asataha, bhaavaha, chapter 2 verse 16, datshibhihi, drishtaha, na vidyate, sataha, tattva, tu, ubhayoha

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naasato vidyate bhaavo naabhaavo vidyate sataha |
ubhayoropi drishtontastvanayostattvadarshibhihi || 16 ||

The unreal has no existence, and there is no non-existence of the real; the truth about both of these has been experienced by seers of the essence.

asataha : unreal
bhaavaha : existence
vidyate : situation
na : no
tu : and
sataha : real
abhaavaha : non-existence
tattva : truth
darshibhihi : seers of
anayoha : of these two
ubhayoha : both
api : also
antaha : essence
drishtontaha : experienced

Here we encounter one of the most profound shlokas of the Gita, with layers and layers of meaning. It begins to lead us into understanding this thing called the eternal essence, and how we can experience it. At present, we may not have the capability to go too deep into it, but we can try to get its gist.

The best example I heard in connection with this verse is the animal cookie example. We may have come across animal cookies. They are a brand of children’s cookies shaped like tigers, elephant etc. Now, some children will only want to eat the tiger shaped cookie and not the others, whereas other children may only want to eat the elephant shaped ones and not the others. But, most adults would not care about the shape of the cookie, they will eat any shape.

Why is this so? The adult has the wisdom to go straight to the essence of the cookie. He or she does not care about the name or the form taken by the cookie. And this wisdom has come by maturity, by knowing that the animals were “un-real” and they did not have “existence”. Only the cookie dough was “real”, just like this verse indicates.

Another example is about the newly married wife who has just received a beautiful gold bangle from her husband. Although she cares about the shape and ornamentation of the bangle, a pawn shop owner would not not really care about those things. He only cares about the weight of the bangle.

The prior verse indicated that a wise person is one who stays balanced in joy and sorrow. This verse explains that the balanced person will slowly achieve wisdom and reach a state where any object or situation will begin to lose its “real-ness”. Only the eternal essence will remain as the common element behind every object or situation. This vision is called “tattva-drishti” or “vision of the essence”.

Moreover, the word “bhaava” has another meaning: finitude. So it means that the real is infinite, and the unreal is finite. Therefore, the wise person does not go on chasing material objects that have a finite existence and give only finite happiness.

Footnotes
1. The Jnyaneshwari has several examples to illustrate this verse, for further reference.