Category Archives: veda

Bhagavad Gita Verse 1, Chapter 15

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by in 15.1, adhahashaakham, ashvattham, avyayam, chapter 15 verse 1, chhandaamsi, oordhvamoolam, parnaani, praahuhu, sahe, tam, veda, vedavita, yaha, yasya

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Shree Bhagavaan uvaacha:
oordhvamoolamadhahashaakhamashvattham praahuravyayam |
chhandaamsi yasya parnaani yastam veda sa vedavita || 1 ||
 
Shree Bhagavaan said:
With roots above and branches below, the Ashvattha tree is said to be imperishable, with the Vedas as its leaves. He who knows this, knows the Vedas.
 
oordhvamoolam : roots above
adhahashaakham : branches below
ashvattham : Ashvattha tree
praahuhu : is said
avyayam : imperishable
chhandaamsi : Vedas
yasya : of whose
parnaani : leaves
yaha : who
tam : that
veda : knows
sahe : he
vedavita : Vedas
 
Shri Krishna begins the fifteenth chapter describing an unusual sort of tree. It is “oordhvamoolam adhahashaakham”. It is upside down, with roots above and branches below. It is not as unusual as it sounds, because we encounter several trees that are inverted in our lives. A family tree, the map of an organization with the CEO on top, a decision tree in management sciences, all of these trees are upside down, with their root on top and branches below.
 
Such inverted trees have some interesting characteristics. The farther away one goes from the root, the greater is the loss of the substance or the essence. A junior employee has far less power than the CEO in an org chart, for instance. Also, these trees are never static. They keep changing. Hence, the tree described in this illustration is called “ashvattha”, which means not lasting for long. This is also the name of the tree known as ficus religiosa, or the Peepul tree in India.
 
Now, let us examine the metaphors used in this illustration. The root of this tree is Ishvara, the saguna brahman, the eternal essence with form. Its branches have evolved from Ishvara, and are nothing but the hardening of Prakriti, the hardening of the three gunas due to their permutations and combinations. The process of the creation of the universe has been explained in detail in prior chapters. It is similar to a tender, subtle sapling hardening into a robust tree as it grows over time. It is termed as avyayam or imperishable because it is permanent after its reality has been ascertained, like the illusion of the blue sky. Even when we come to know that the sky is not really blue, but just looks that way, we still perceive the illusion.
 
In any complex system, there are rules that tell how what to do and what not to do. The Vedas are the rules of this universe, and are metaphorically represented as the leaves of this ashvattha tree. Just like there are rules on how to get promoted in a corporation, there are rules in the Vedas that give us instructions on how to act in life, and how not to commit sins or errors. They are the storehouse of knowledge and actions needed to thrive in this world. One who knows the functioning of the universe in this manner, one who knows how to get to the source which is Ishvara, needs to know nothing else.
 
We now come to the fundamental question. Why has Shri Krishna started talking about this tree now? It is to cultivate dispassion or vairagya in us. Even a tinge of attachment to the world can derail our spiritual progress. Over the next few shlokas, we will learn more about this tree so that we can understand our entanglement in it, and consequently, learn how to release ourselves from it through dispassion.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 26, Chapter 7

22 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in 7.26, aham, arjuna, bhavishyaani, bhootaani, cha, chapter 7 verse 26, kashchana, maam, na, samateetaani, tu, vartamaanaani, veda

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vedaaham samateetaani vartamaanaani chaarjuna |
bhavishyaani cha bhootaani maam tu veda na kashchana || 26 ||
 
I know those beings who used to exist, who exist now, and who will exist in the future, O Arjuna, but no one knows me.
 
veda : know
aham : I
samateetaani : those who have existed
vartamaanaani : those that exist
cha : and
arjuna : O Arjuna
bhavishyaani : those who will exist
cha : and
bhootaani : beings
maam : I
tu : but
veda : know
na : not
kashchana : anyone
 
In continuing the topic of maaya, Shri Krishna makes it very clear that maaya or the limitations of space and time do not have any impact on Ishvara. He says that Ishvara does not identify with any one form, therefore he has knowledge of all forms in the past, present or future. In other words, Ishvara transcends time.
 
Earlier, Shri Krishna had said that Ishvara is like a string that goes through all the beads in a necklace, which is a poetic way of saying that Ishvara is beyond space. So therefore, we can conclude that Ishvara is beyond space and time.
 
Looking at it differently, we who inhabit the world of three dimensions cannot understand the dimensionless Ishvara. When viewing a live broadcast, we are conscious of the time aspect because we cannot know how the broadcast will end. But if we are viewing a recorded program, we have the ability to go backwards and forwards in time and see all the events regardless of when they took place. Time as a concept ceases to exist if we have that ability.
 
Similarly, from Ishvara’s standpoint, there is no such thing as the past, present or future, because the concept of time does not exist for him. That is how he can have knowledge of everyone that was alive, is alive and will be alive.
 
What is the implication for us? The only way to know Ishvara completely is to surrender to him and take refuge in him. This means knowing that we do not have an independent existence or power apart from Ishvara. We need to lose our identity in Ishvara, become one with Ishvara.
 
Now, if we know that Ishvara alone is the truth, that alone is going to give infinite happiness, why don’t we really strive to know that Ishvara? Why is it that we get stuck here and there?This is answered in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 5, Chapter 4

26 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in 4.5, aham, arjuna, bahooni, cha, chapter 5 verse 4, janmaani, me, na, parantapa, sarvaani, taani, tava, tvam, veda, vettha, vyateetaani

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Shree Bhagavaan uvaacha:
bahooni me vyateetaani janmaani tava chaarjuna |
taanyaham veda sarvaani na tvam vettha parantapa || 5 ||

Shree Bhagavaan said:
You and I have have undergone many births, O Arjuna. I know all of those (births), but you do not know them, O scorcher-of-foes.

bahooni : many
me : mine
vyateetaani : have happened
janmaani : births
tava : your
cha : and
arjuna : Arjuna
taani : those
aham : I
veda : know
sarvaani : all of them
na : do not
tvam : you
vettha : know
parantapa : scorcher-of-foes

In this shloka, Shri Krishna begins to reveal his divine nature to Arjuna. Previously, Arjuna raised a doubt as to how did Shri Krishna convey the Gita teaching to the sun. Shri Krishna responds by pointing out the similarity as well as the difference between his birth and Arjuna’s birth. The similarity is that both Arjuna and Shri Krishna have taken many births in the past.

However, the difference is that Shri Krishna had the knowledge and memory of all his prior births, whereas Arjuna did not. Normally, human beings have such strong identification with their body that it restricts their ability to remember what occurred in another body. We even tend to forget events associated with our own body with the passage of time, including simple things like where we kept our keys in the morning.

So if Shri Krishna could recall what happened in all his births, he did not have any identification to his body, and therefore he is not restricted by its limitations. He was speaking as an enlightened being who realized the eternal essence and has dropped identification with his body. But there is more to Shri Krishna than just this aspect. He will reveal more in the next shloka.

Footnotes
1. How does the Gita treat the topic of rebirth? Our vaasanaas force us to take a birth in a body. If we chose to use the birth to exhaust those vaasanaas, then the cycle of rebirth is broken. But if we chose to use the birth to accumulate more vaasanaas, then we will be forced to take another birth to exhause the newly acquired vaasanaas. Only by cleansing our vaasanaas can we break the cycle of rebirth or “samsaara”.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 29, Chapter 2

27 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.29, aashcharyavat, anyaha, api, cha, chapter 2 verse 29, enam, eva, kashchit, na, pashyati, shrunooti, shrutva, tathaa, vadati, veda

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aashcharyavatpashyati kashchidenamaashcharyavadvadati tathaiva chaanyaha |
aashcharyavachchainamanyaha shrunooti shrutvaapyenam veda na chaiva kashchit || 29 ||

Some perceive this (eternal essence) as a wonder, and similarly indeed, others speak of it as a wonder; it is a wonder that some hear about this, and after hearing about it, some understand this and some do not.

aashcharyavat : as a wonder
pashyati : perceive
kashchit : some
enam : this
vadati : speak
tathaa : similarly
eva : thus
cha : and
anyaha : others
shrunooti : listen
shrutva : hearing
api : also
enam : this
veda : know
na : don’t

Shri Krishna was getting ready to conclude the topic of the eternal essence. Therefore, he wanted to remind Arjuna about it, and also instill a sense of deep curiosity and interest in him. In this shloka, Shri Krishna did both of those things.

Four types of spiritual seekers are pointed out here. Firstly, there are seekers who have heard about the eternal essence through the Gita or through other means. Usually, most of them will hear about it and forget about it. But there will be some that will become interested in it, and will want to hear more – this is the second category. Of those seekers, some will try to gain an intellectual understanding about it and having done so, will be so enthralled with it that they will keep speaking about it to other people. This is the third category.

But the most devoted and advanced seekers will ultimately perceive the eternal essence directly, and the perception would have occurred without any sense organs. When this happens, there would be no words to describe it. The closest one could come to describing it is when we see something so wonderful that it renders us speechless, like a breathtaking painting or a waterfall.

Note that the meter has changed in this verse to indicate its importance.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 21, Chapter 2

19 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.21, ajam, avinaashi, avyayam, chapter 2 verse 21, enam, ghaatayati, hanti, kam, katham, nityam, paartha, purushaha, saha, veda, yaha

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vedaavinaashinam nityam ya enamajamavyayam |
katham sa purushaha paartha kam ghaatayati hanti kam || 21 ||

Whosoever knows this (eternal essence) to be imperishable, eternal, birthless and changeless, how can that individual, O Paartha, slay or cause anyone to be slain?

veda : knows
avinaashinam : imperishable
nityam : eternal
yaha : whosoever
enam : this
ajam : birthless
avyayam: changeless
katham : how
saha : that
purushaha : individual
paartha : O Paartha
kam : who
ghaatayati  : cause to be slain
hanti : kill
kam : who

Imagine that you are operating a laptop that is connected to a printer. You open a document on the laptop and click the print button. The laptop sends a signal to the printer, and the document gets printed.

Now imagine that the laptop and the printer have egos and can think for themselves. The laptop will say “I initiated the printing action” whereas the printer will say “I was the receiver of the printing action”.

But in reality, an electric current went from the laptop to the printer, which then caused the printing to happen. So, an engineer would never say “the laptop caused the printing to happen”. It was all a play of electricity.

So here, what Shri Krishna is trying to say is that “this”, the eternal essence does not act and nor does it get impacted by any action, just like electricity does not really act. It empowers material objects to act without actually acting. Therefore a wise person will never think that the eternal essence can slay or kill or act at all. It is like the sun.

The refrain is clear: “You are the eternal essence – birthless, changeless, eternal and imperishable. The eternal essence does not slay, nor does it get slain.” It is repeated throughout the Gita because it will take a significant effort on our part to truly understand and internalize this message.