Category Archives: param

Bhagavad Gita Verse 59, Chapter 2

26 Saturday Nov 2011

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vishayaa vinivartante niraahaarasya dehinaha |
rasavarjam rasopyasya param drishtvaa nivartate || 59 ||

Objects turn away from the fasting individual, but their taste remains. For the individual who has realized the absolute, the taste also turns away.

vishayaah : objects (of the senses)
vinivartante : turn away
niraahaarasya : fasting
dehinaha : individual
rasavarjam : except taste
rasah : taste
api : also
asya : for this individual
param : absolute
drishtvaa : realized
nivartate : turn away

In the last shloka, we encountered the “tortoise technique” which taught us how to guard ourselves when we encounter factors that can cause us agitation. It does work assuming we remain aware and alert about our thoughts. But if we have strong predispositions or vaasanaas towards any object, person or situation, the memory or “taste” of that factor will keep popping up in our mind. So in this shloka, Shri Krishna provides an overview of how one begins to address the removal of deep rooted predispositions, which is one of the primary goals of any spiritual teaching.

Let’s go back to the black forest chocolate cake example from last time. You saw a piece of cake, you realized that you may succumb to it, and you took a few steps back. But a little later, the taste of that cake from a prior experience will pop up in your mind and begin to torment you. All you can think of for a while will be cake. This is what makes dieting difficult. Our mind keeps pushing us towards food each time we try to restrain ourselves.

So what is the solution? In the shloka, Shri Krishna says that the taste also turns away when we “realize the absolute”. What he means is that we need to set our goal on something higher than ourselves, and hold on to that goal throughout our life. The higher the goal, the greater chance that we will get rid of our predispositions.

When we begin any diet, we typically set a goal, e.g. “I have to lose 2 kg in 3 weeks”. Now, with this shloka in mind, we could try to set a higher goal, which could be “I need to lose this weight so that I can stay healthy to take care of my family”. Or it could be “I need to lose this weight so that I can fulfill my svadharma in the best possible manner”.

In later chapters, the Gita goes into great detail as to how we can gradually set higher and higher goals and ultimately set the highest goal, the “absolute” goal mentioned in this shloka, so that we can burn away all of our predispositions.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 12, Chapter 2

07 Friday Oct 2011

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na tvevaaham jaatu naasam na tvam neme janaadhipaaha |
na chaiva na bhavishyaamaha sarve vayamataha param || 12 ||

In fact, there was never a time when I did not exist, nor did you, nor did these kings; and never shall we all cease to exist hereafter.

tu  : in fact
na eva : certainly never
jaatu : any time
aham : I
na : did not
aasam : exist
na : nor
tvam : you
no : nor
ime : these
janaadhipaaha : kings

cha : and
na eva : certainly never
na : will not
bhavishyaamaha : exist
sarve : all
vayam : of us
ataha param : hereafter

The Gita uses a lot of poetic techniques, including using double negatives like the ones in this verse. If you cancel the double negatives, a simpler version of this verse will be “All of us are timeless and eternal. We always existed in the past, and we will always exist in the future”.

This statement, at first glance, does not seem to make sense. So let’s look at an example. Let’s imagine a huge lake with deep waters. The surface of the lake is usually quiet. Once in a while, a wind blows across the lake causing a wave to appear for a few seconds, then disappear soon after.

If we apply the logic of this verse and examine it from the perspective of a wave, the lake always existed before the wave came into existence. And the lake will remain long after any wave has disappeared.

Similarly, an LCD television has thousands of pixels, or dots of light, on its screen. These pixels turn on and off, due to which a moving image is created on the screen. We can enjoy a movie on the screen that will begin and end, characters and situations will come and go, but the screen will remain as a constant.

Now, according to physics, matter can never be created or destroyed, it can only undergo change from one state to another. So therefore, this shloka reiterates this physical law by saying that the atoms and molecules that comprise us always existed in the universe in some shape or forms.

But, just like the surface of the lake is a constant that lets the play of waves happen on it, there is a timeless, eternal, constant surface or “essence” that is present in the entire universe, which is the backdrop on which the play of matter happens.

At this point, what is being spoken of here may seem abstract and somewhat hard to conceptualize, but it is similar to algebra where we denote unknown quantities by variables like x and y, till such time as we deduce the right value.

Ok. So what exactly is this eternal essence? How do we see it? If it is present in us, which part of the body does it reside in?

Footnotes
1. The wave and lake example is from the Jnyaneshwari, which is filled with tons of examples to explain complex concepts such as this one.