Bhagavad-gītā kiñcitadhītā One śloka a day - 8.20 परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातनः | यः स सर्वेषु भूतेषु नश्यत्सु न विनश्यति || २० || parastasmāttu bhāvonyovyaktovyaktātsanātanaḥ | yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhuteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati || 20 || But, distinct from that unmanifest is another unmanifest, which is existent and eternal. That is not destroyed when all beings are destroyed. Śaṅkara He is different from the unmanifest. He is bhāvaḥ, the reality the supreme Brahman called the Immutable. Even though different, there is a possibility of similarity of characteristics. Hence, for obviating this, the Lord says anyaḥ - of a different characteristic, beyond the range of all organs. He is distinct from the Unmanifested spoken of earlier, which is the seed for multitude of beings, and which is characterized by ignorance. He is eternal, the reality – who is such, does not get destroyed when all beings beginning from Brahmaji gets destroyed. Madhusūdhana Saraswatī Now in the two verses, the Lord explains the text – But.. there is no rebirth after reaching Me. As compared with that imperceptible called Hiraṇyagarbha, there is paraḥ, which is superior and distinct, imperceptible, Reality, who as existence pervades all superimposed phenomenal effects and its source, and therefore, for that reason, eternal. There may be a doubt that the two distinct imperceptibles may have similar characteristics. Hence the Lord says anyaḥ, different, of entirely other characteristics. He is acceptable and eternal as compared to the rejectable and impermanent imperceptible. It is logical that Hiraṇyagarbha, who himself is a product, there should be an origin and destruction, along with the origin and destruction of the created things, because of his self-identification with them. But it is not so in the case of the supreme Lord, who has no self-identification with them and is not an effect. This is the idea. Pūjya Swami Dayananda Saraswati Omkāra upāsana as a means of attaining Brahman was pointed out in 8.14,14. Omkāra is vācaka, name for vācya, Brahman, which is being revealed in the next three verses. The name and form of the pot is finite, but from the pot’s standpoint, its cause is not. The pot form is subject to destruction but not its cause, the clay. Similarly, when we say jīva is anitya, it is only the name and form, the upādhi, that is anitya. When the physical body dies, the subtle body remains and when pralaya comes, even the subtle body goes, so all that remains is the causal body. That causal body is also anitya with respect to parabrahma. When you say I am jīva, I is really ātmā. In saying I am jīva, ātmā is mistaken for the individual, that I is mithyā because individuality, jīvatvam, is superimposed on what is real, ātmā. All that you see, the seer, and the sight are nothing but vastu, the Parabrahman. At the time of pralaya, the jīvas resolve into the unmanifest, avyakta upādhi, otherwise called ajñāna upādhi. When Brahmāji goes to sleep, he is in a state where he does not see himself as omniscient. That is what is called avyakta avasthā, unmanifest state. Superior to that avyakta is another avyakta, which is eternal. Recognition of oneself as that ātmā, the superior avyakta, Parabrahman constitutes mokṣa. This is possible only when one is already Parabrahman and do not know it. The uniqueness of Vedānta is that the description of mokṣa will be a description of the vastu. The different descriptions of mokṣa as freedom from bondage, gaining ānanda can sometimes be misunderstood as an experience that is out of the ordinary. But gain is ānanda is gaining one’s own nature. It is not experiential ānanda, but the essence of every experience of ānanda. That recognition is gaining ānanda. Avyakta the cause of everything that is manifest, is not the final cause afterall; it is only an upādhi. The true cause is the basis of the avyakta. That is Brahman. When everything is reduced to avyakta, the cause, and it is even other than that, you may think it is non-existent. It is like asking what on this planet is north of north pole. So Bhagavān uses the word bhāvaḥ, which means it is not non-existent. Brahman has no abhāva, non-existence and it is not subject to change. A thing that is different from another thing can still belong to the same group as the thing it is distinguished from. This is called sa-lakṣaṇam, having the same characteristic. For example, chairi, table are all characterized as furniture. They are all of the same class. Similarly, when Bhagavān says avyaktāt paraḥ, it may be one of the many things in the world even though it is different from everything else. It is true that Brahman is different from everything else, but nothing is different from Brahman. Because it is not like any other thing, it is important to dismiss sa-lakṣaṇam. To show this, Bhagavān uses the word anyaḥ, which means it is quite another. It is distinct, but in an entirely different way from how we normally understand. Avyaktaḥ means that which cannot be objectified. But bhāvaḥ means it can be understood as an object. Then how to reconcile this? It is manifest in the mind because it is the very nature of the mind. It is recognized there. Even in the sense organs it is present – it is the ear of the ear, the eye of the eye – not the object of the eye but that because of which the eyes sees, ears hear, sense of smell smells. It is always manifest as the very truth of the sense organ, every thought – it is you. Further, it is avyakta, the very basis of the popular avyakta which is the seed of all beings. Sanātanaḥ means that which always exists. It is beyond cause and effect and it is beyond time. even though we use the word beyond, there is nothing beyond; everything that we can imagine and reach is within avyakta. What is beyond that is ātmā – always immediately available as the self of all beings – purely in the form of consciousness, which is the truth of I. The one who remains in all perishable forms, never getting destroyed, is indeed ātmā.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 13:34:29 +0000
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