Category Archives: tishthati

Bhagavad Gita Verse 61, Chapter 18

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by in 18.61, arjuna, bhraamayan, chapter 18 verse 61, eeshavaraha, hriddeshe, maayayaa, sarvabhootaanaam, sarvabhootaani, tishthati, yantraroodhaani

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eeshavaraha sarvabhootaanaam hriddesherjuna tishthati |
bhraamayansarvabhootaani yantraroodhaani maayayaa || 61 ||
 
Ishvara is seated in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, spinning all beings mounted on a machine by maaya.
 
eeshavaraha : Ishvara
sarvabhootaanaam : in all beings
hriddeshe : in the hearts
arjuna : O Arjuna
tishthati : seated
bhraamayan : spinning
sarvabhootaani : all beings
yantraroodhaani : mounted on a machine
maayayaa : by maaya
 
Quake was one of the first wildly successful multiplayer video games. Any person could participate in the video game as long as they were connected to the Internet. Players were placed in a virtual world where they could form teams with other players from across the world. Players would win points for shooting a member of the opposing team, and lose points if they would get shot. The creator of the Quake game had no influence on the outcome of the game, other than setting the rules of the game when it was created.
 
Shri Krishna says that the universe is like a gigantic video game set in motion by Ishvara. This video game is maayaa, also known as Prakriti, which is comprised of the three gunaas. By itself, maaya is insentient, it cannot do anything on its own. The eternal essence reflected in maaya adds sentience to maaya, it injects life into maaya by becoming the individual soul, the jeeva. In this way, each jeeva loses its connection with the eternal essence, and is stuck in this massive machine, this massive video game known as maaya.
 
So then, how can the jeeva liberate itself from this never ending video game of maaya? Does the jeeva have a chance? Is there any such thing as free will, or are we just slaves of maaya? The clue lies in the fact that maaya is subservient to Ishvara. If we only rely on maaya, if we only spend our lives attached to the material world, we will never have a chance at liberation. But if we direct our efforts towards knowing the true nature of Ishvara, towards contacting Ishvara, there may be a shot at liberation. Fortunately, he is not in some remote heaven, he is seated within us. How should we approach him? This is taken up next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 13

14 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by in 13.13, aavritya, akshishiromukham, chapter 13 verse 13, loke, paanipaadam, sarvam, sarvataha, shrutimat, tat, tishthati

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sarvatahapaanipaadam tatsarvatokshishiromukham |
sarvatahashrutimalloke sarvamaavritya tishthati || 13 ||
 
With hands and legs everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, it is established in all the worlds, pervading all.
 
sarvataha : everywhere
paanipaadam : hands and legs
tat : it
sarvataha : everywhere
akshishiromukham : eyes, heads and mouths
sarvataha : everywhere
shrutimat : eyes
loke : worlds
sarvam : everywhere
aavritya : pervading
tishthati : established
 
How does a child come to learn about electricity? The teacher does not directly tell him that “electricity is defined as a form of energy resulting from the existence of charged particles such as electrons or protons”. The teacher uses what the child already knows and imparts the knowledge to him step by step. So the teacher may first say that to the child: wherever you see bright light in a bulb, that is electricity. Once the child has grasped this concept, then the teacher may say: wherever you see wires connected, that is electricity. Slowly, as the child is able to understand the nuances of atoms and electrons, the teacher then reveals to him the technical definition.
 
Shri Krishna uses a similar process to gently reveal the nature of brahman, the eternal essence, also known as “jnyeyam” or the knowable, to us. Now, it is quite easy for us to see action and sentience – the power to experience things – in living creatures everywhere. So Shri Krishna says that wherever we see action in living beings, symbolically represented by the phrase “hands and legs”, we should recognize the presence of the eternal essence. Furthermore, wherever we see sentience in living beings, symbolically represented by the phrase “eyes, heads, mouths and ears”, we should recognize the presence of the eternal essence.
 
Going back to the example of the child learning electricity, the child may sometimes think that the electricity in a bulb is different than the electricity in a fan, or that the bulb limits the flow of electricity to the fan. To remove any similar misconceptions about the eternal essence, Shri Krishna says that the eternal essence pervades everywhere. In other words, it is only one eternal essence that is functioning through the organs of knowledge and action of all living creatures in all of the worlds, and that one organ does not limit the functioning of the eternal essence in another organ.
 
An example commonly used to illustrate this notion is that of space and pot-space. The space that is in a clay pot and the space outside it is the same. But just because the walls of the pot surround it, we label the space inside as “pot-space”. The pot is a classic example of an upaadhi, something that as though limits the space in it, but does not do so in reality. Space, then, pervades all pots. Similarly, the organs of all living creatures may seem to limit the eternal essence, but not so in reality.
 
Having established the starting point for realizing the eternal essence, Shri Krishna goes one step further in the next shloka.