Bhagavad Gita Ch14 part 03 on 22 May 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM VASUDEVASUTAM DEVAM KAMSACHANURAMARDHANAM DEVAKE PARAMANANDAM KRISHNAM VANDE JAGADGURUM SARVOPANISHADOKAHO DOKDHA GOPALANANDANAH PARTHO VATSA SUDHER BHOKTA DUDHAM GITA AMRITAM MAHAT MUKHAM KAROTI VACHALAM PANGUM LANGAYATE GIRIM YATKRIPATAMAHAM VANDE PARAMANANDAMADHAVAM We will be continuing the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. In our last class I mentioned this particular chapter is called GUNATRAYA VIBHAGA YOGA and it has 27 shlokas and its special subject, the entire chapter is mainly devoted to describe how we are bind, what is the cause of our bondage and what is the effect upon us and how we can get out of the bondage. Our bondage, our thinking that we are the body-mind complex is because of the gunas and when we progress a little we can think that I have a body, I am not the body and that is a great improvement because of the improvement of sattva. If we go still further I am neither the body nor the mind that's something completely different from both of them that is up to this state of knowledge, stage of understanding. The highest sattva guna can take us but beyond that there is no such thing called both the Atman as well as the body-mind or the world everything is the same. It's a manifestation of pure consciousness but we see it as different because of some misunderstanding and that will be the right understanding that we will be having that can happen only by the grace of the God. In the 13th chapter the Lord says there are two principles Ikshetra, the object of experience, body-mind complex, in other words the world and there is somebody, a subject who experiences everything. Pure consciousness, the principle of knowledge is what experiences. At the beginning the Lord says in the 13th chapter that there seem to be as many subjects as many objects are there but in the end he says there is only one pure consciousness and that one subject, one Atma, one consciousness, one Brahman experiences through every object. An example is given if there are a thousand mirrors and you are standing in front of it you will see thousand reflections and whatever you do it is reflected there. Are all these reflections exactly the same? No, depends upon the medium of the reflection. Some are dark, some are fairly visible and some are absolutely visible and some distort the image also. So according to the object called Upadi, limiting adjunct, the formation of the pure consciousness also seems to be different there. We have to get out of that dichotomy, division that this is the subject, this is the object. Bondage is nothing but to feel that something is called object, something is called subject and they are quite different. Spiritual progress is slowly, gradually to remove this distinction ultimately come to know that there is only one truth. Everything in this creation is made up of two principles. One is the subject, another is the object. The subject is called Purusha, the object is called Prakruti and the whole universe is the resultant, the manifestation of the combination of these two. Hence there is no living, non-living distinction at all. Here is a river, here is a mountain, here is clay, here is air, here is water, here is space, they are non-living, no such thing is there. That everything is living, everything is vibrant with consciousness then what is the difference between the living and non-living? Consciousness is more manifest in the living and it is not manifest in the non-living. That is all the difference. Ultimately everything is Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma, everything is pure consciousness. So this Prakruti has another name, it is consisting of three Gunas. In Sanskrit the word Guna can have two meanings, in fact three meanings. One of the meanings is that which binds and in that sense every Guna. What are those Gunas? Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, all these three Gunas have their own characteristics which I will recapitulate very shortly and everything has got a manifestation effect upon our life and everything binds and depending upon which Guna is more prominent condition of our future life depends upon it. That is the first meaning that which binds is Guna. Then characteristic, adjectives, beautiful, big flower, fragrant flower, very colourful flower, small, big, fat, thin, quality, not much quality. This is the second meaning that is called adjectives, Visveshanas. But sometimes these Visveshanas can also be used as Lakshanas to indicate the nature of a thing. That is why they are called Lakshanaarthas, that which takes us to the real nature of something. For example, Satyam, Gnanam, Anantam, Brahma. In case I am not clear, I would like to give an illustration for this. Supposing there is a big tree, mango tree, it's a mango tree, it's a big tree. Bigness is a Visveshana, an adjective and it gives huge fruits, huge, that's again an adjective and very sweet fruits, that's an adjective, very flavourful fruits, that is an adjective. So what does an adjective do? It separates from other types of its own species. This is not a sour mango tree, this is not a small mango giving tree, this is a tree which gives not sweet fruits, not flavourful fruits but these particular characteristics, adjectives separate it from that. But a Lakshana indicating the real nature, what is its speciality? It separates every object. So if you say here is a tree, is a mango tree, not only it separates itself from mango trees, other mango trees, all animals, all human beings, all mosquitoes, all worms, all mountains, rivers, everything, that which separates everything from everything else and establishes itself as something very special, that is called Lakshana and that is sometimes these adjectives also give us that. So these are the three meanings, that which binds, that which points out a specific object and that which separates that object from every other object. Here we are taking mainly in the first two senses that everything in this world has come out of the combination of consciousness as well as matter. Matter is inert, consciousness is full of knowledge. Therefore by implication if Purusha and Prakruti, when these two are combined and in Vedantic terminology this is called Brahman, Purusha is called Brahman and Prakruti is called Maya and Purusha and Prakruti when they are combined together there is a peculiar name given and that is called Ishwara. In Vedantic terminology Ishwara is the creator, he is the maintainer and he is also the recycler. In that sense this Ishwara is one who is endowed with both pure consciousness as well as these inert so-called inert three gunas and if the world is in effect and it has come from this cause the effect must have exactly the same qualities as the cause. This is an invariable law. I had discussed about it in my past classes. That means what? Everything that we see, experience in this world is nothing but a manifestation of Ishwara having both Prakruti and Purusha. Only thing is sometimes it is not manifested and sometimes it is manifest. That is the only difference. Now specifically Bhagavan Krishna in this 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita classifies this Prakruti, means body and mind, means the whole world into three gunas. Everything in this world, a blade of grass, a clod of earth, a piece of mountain, a small body of water, a branch of a tree, a human being, animals, insects, birds, anything that you can imagine is a combination of these two consciousness plus inertness and that's why I made that special statement. There is nothing that is unconscious. Whatever appears to be unconscious we can only say the consciousness at that moment is not manifest at all. The whole universe is made up of three gunas. What are the three gunas? They are called Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Even though the whole universe is a combination of three gunas but they are all not equally manifest. That's what makes the difference between an insect, an animal, a bird, a plant, a not so evolved human beings and the highest evolved human beings whom Swami Vivekananda used to call the incarnations of God. So Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. And very briefly to recollect what we had discussed in our last class, these gunas must be described in five separate parts. What is the first part definition? It is called Lakshana. What is it? Sattva is of light, Rajas is of attachment and Tamas is of darkness, delusion, ignorance. How to know which guna is dominant within us? If there is more understanding, increase of knowledge, Sattva is dominant. If too much of restlessness, too much of activities, too much of greediness, grabbiness, then increase of Rajas and indolence, sleep, committing mistakes indicate the invariable dominance of Tama guna. Then how do these gunas, each one of them bind? In details we will be discussing. I'm only giving a summary. Sattva guna binds to Gnana, knowledge. How is it so? Because knowledge is supposed to make us enlightened. Many scholars, they go on talking about very highly. They become very arrogant, proud, think that they know everything. That is how they have knowledge. They are not ignoramuses. But that arrogance, ahankara and that is how it catches. A common thing between all these three gunas is all the gunas affect our ahankara, egotism. So Sattva guna increases our ahankara in the form of arrogance, superiority, complex, etc. Praja guna, every object in this world is made a victim. How it can serve me? How much I can possess? And intense attachment to what one likes, one's family, one's religion, one's scripture and everything, even one's guru, one's spirituality. And Tamo guna is that it binds through misunderstanding, delusion, sleep, indolence, laziness, procrastination, etc. That is the third characteristic. What is the fourth one? What are the consequences? So when there is, Sattva guna increases. I have no option but to use these Sanskrit words. When Sattva guna increases, then knowledge will increase. Better understanding will increase. But how we use the increase of knowledge depends upon our spiritual characteristic. Then Raja guna, it binds us through intense Lobhitva. Lobha means I want more. I am never satisfied with whatever I have. Intense activity. A man can never sit quiet. He will be moving restlessly every single minute. Then Tamo guna of course binds the person. Even if he has to do something, he becomes what in Bengali we call Pipu Pisu. I narrated that story that two lazy fellows, too lazy even when the tent is burning. One lazy fellow is turning and says my back is burning. Do something. His back is burning. He wants the other fellow to do something. And the other fellow was even more lazy than this fellow. He said just turn to the other side and go to sleep. This is how the consequence will come. And what happens to these people? When Sattva is dominant, suppose the person dies. Where does he go? Buddhaloka. Higher worlds. Higher states of enjoyment and knowledge. When the Raja guni, he will be reborn in this very earth because this world of human beings can give sufficient experience for that person. But when a Tamo guni, Tamas is too much and in that condition he dies. Then he will go to the lower worlds. He may be a cloud of earth. He may be an insect, a bird, a plant, an animal or a python. In Mahabharata we get a lot of stories. These are the briefly we are recollecting that. Why is all this description given? Because it should guard us to go beyond all gunas. As mentioned earlier, every guna binds. Sattva guna, even though highest among the gunas, it also binds. As Sri Ramakrishna says, it is a robber. But the only goal is to go beyond all the gunas called gunatita. Going beyond all body-mind complexes. Going beyond all ahamkara. Even what Sri Ramakrishna calls a major ahamkara, a major I, egotism, which says I am a devotee of God, I am a man of knowledge, I am a yogi, I am practicing sadhana, I am peaceful and I am unselfish etc. That functions only in the world of experience. But one must go ultimately beyond it which is called moksha. When a person tries to transcend these three gunas gradually by the grace of God, he will do that and then he will reach the ultimate goal. He becomes free. That is called moksha principle. So the scripture prescribes proper steps for each one of the gunas so that the goal is the journey evolution from tamas to rajas, rajas to sattva and go beyond all sattvas. This is what is being described. Then Arjuna asks how do we know who is a gunatita? Because one of the cardinal principles is cultivate the company of such a person. He can give you a lot of what you call tips and he can help you overcome the gunas because he himself knows the like mountaineer guide, where are the obstacles, problems, shortcuts, how to reach the top of the mountain easier. So that's why a teacher is very much needed. And when a person goes beyond all the gunas, what gati he gets? Not buddha gati, not madhya gati, not adho gati. No gati at all. No state at all. He only realizes I am not the body mind. I was Brahman. I am Brahman. I will be Brahman. And nothing is there. So Arjuna specifically asks So the three questions he has put. What are the indications of a person who has transcended these three gunas? What is the conduct of such gunatita, achara? How does he behave? And finally how to attain it? And to this last question, the Lord is answering that nobody can go beyond the gunas because it is my maya. That's why This maya belongs to me. So it is divine maya. Even ordinary maya is not easy to transcend, to cross over. What to speak of divine maya? Only way is to obtain the grace of God and that's what he says. One who practices undeviating devotion and surrenders himself completely to me. Only he can get over all these three gunas by my grace and then he becomes one with me and there will be no more rebirth to him. Because and who am I? The Lord says I am Brahma. I am the foundation of this world, cause of this world. I am immortality. I am undecaying. I am eternal and infinite. I am the foundation of all the dharma that has to be practiced in this world. And if somebody wants that unbroken bliss, it is only through me because I am Satchitananda Swaroopa. One who attains me, becomes me and enjoys infinite unbroken eternal bliss. If we can understand this introduction, then it's very easy for all of us to understand the 14th chapter. That is called the description about the gunas, their characteristics and how to go beyond them. We have discussed the first verse in which Bhagavan himself says Knowing which survey all without exception. Munayaha, Muni means here a sincere spiritual aspirant who had complete faith in God, in scriptures and practices to the best of his ability. In other words, he is what is called a fit person, a fit spiritual aspirant. And all these people without exception, they have surrendered themselves to me. They have become the highest devotees and what happened to them? Having given up the body-mind, that means after death. They attained param, the supreme. That means beyond which there is nothing. Siddhim means the attainment which is called Moksha, Gathah, all of them. Therefore, that Gnanam, The supreme of all the knowledges, supreme knowledge of all knowledges. What is the supreme knowledge? That knowledge by which a person attains Moksha, Mukti, liberation and becomes blessed and goes beyond all the bondage and will never come back again into this infernal hell. Such knowledge alone is called the supreme knowledge. Param Gnanam Bhuyaha. That Param Gnanam, Param, supreme Gnanam knowledge, Bhuyaha again. Aham te pravakshyami. To you who is my devotee, Aham, me, pravakshyami. I am going to tell you how many times Bhuyaha again. Suppose this time you don't understand, I will not lose patience. I will tell you again and again. If somebody goes on repeating some conversation, it becomes boring. That is the nature of the worldly conversations, worldly knowledge. But this is the supreme knowledge. How many times the Lord will tell us and the Lord is telling us all the time. How many times? Until we go to him and will not return. Until that time he will go on telling. Why he will go on telling us? What is the special reason? Because he knows we are none other than himself. We are none other than himself. Just as so long as we are dreaming, we think we are separate. But as soon as we wake up, our enemies, our friends, our things which are favorable, not favorable. We understand they are all nothing but me only. Only upon waking up. Until that time that dream sufferer will have to take refuge in the dream guide and go on practicing dream sadhana. And then one day the Guru gives him such a big slap that he will wake up and then thanks his Guru for waking him up. So the Lord said once more I will expound. Expound means not merely saying but making it understand. We have to understand it in the light of Sri Ramakrishna's teachings while talking about three types of physicians. Ultimately meaning three types of Gurus. Sri Ramakrishna talks. This beautiful point he is bringing out. Param bhooyaha pravakshyami. There was an ordinary physician. He just examines the patient, prescribes the medicine and my good man take the medicine. You will be cured and then he goes away after taking his fee. Nowhere again to come to the patient. The second a little bit higher type of physician he goes on meeting this person, goes on brainwashing him. It's for your good and he goes on telling again and again and that is the second class physician. But the third class physician if he finds his patient reluctant to take the medicine he will throw him down, sit on his chest, catch hold of his throat, open his mouth and force the medicine until it goes inside. The patient is trying his or her level best to throw it out. But the doctor will not leave until the medicine goes inside, until the patient becomes absolutely alright. Such a physician is called a first class physician and here Bhagavan Krishna is a first class physician. That's what is being said here. So the Lord said I am going to expound it until you become liberated. So there is no worry for us even if we forget the Divine Lord in the form of the scripture. We go on telling. There's a beautiful story illustrating this beautiful fact. There was a man and he led a worldly life. He died and he found himself in hell. He met Yamadharma Raja who clucked his tongue and said, My good man, I have sent you three emails to reform your life. Had you only heeded my advice sent through those three emails, you need not have come to me here and suffer in hell. Then the man became furious and said, You are a liar. When did you send me? Then Yamadharma Raja patiently explained, My good man, have you never seen any old man? Yes, I have seen so many old people, my own parents. I myself became old. I have seen plenty of other people. That was my first email message. Old age, that means be careful. You are going to die soon. What is the second email? Have you not seen people helplessly suffering from COVID and other diseases? How many people died because of this COVID? And how horribly they suffered from lack of medications, lack of beds, lack of oxygen, lack of people to talk to them. And in the end when they died, their bodies could not have been handed to their families even for the funeral ceremonies. Such a horrible thing. Have you not seen diseases? Yes, I have seen. I also suffered myself. That was the essence of my second email. What is the third email you are boasting about? You sent me. Well, have you not seen many dead people? Yes, I have seen. Have you not awakened? The man just kept his head down. In fact, if we analyze how Buddha came to renounce the world, these were the three things. Old age, disease and death. These are the sights we see every day and we do not come to our senses. But that's what Buddha had seen. Immediately he awakened. But he also needed a fourth vision. How to go out of this bondage? Then he saw a shamana with a shining face, absolutely immersed in bliss. And he asked his charioteer, Channa, who is this? This is a sannyasin who has found out the way. He renounced attachments. He became a monk. A monk is one not merely putting on external paraphernalia, ochre cloth, etc. or rudraksha mala around his neck. But one who had given up, who is endowed with viveka and vairagya and absolute body and mind control and longing for liberation. He is a sannyasin whether he puts on the cloth or not. That is called paramahamsa state. That is what our Sairam Krishna was. O Arjuna means O spiritual aspirant, we are telling it. Every incident that comes in our life must be an awakener to us. So that is what we discussed in our last class. Now we will go to the second verse. idam jnanam upashritya mama sadharmyam agataha sarge api na upajayante pralayena yathan ticha Yeha, whosoever idam jnanam upashritya takes recourse to this knowledge, idam jnanam, this knowledge, upashritya, takes recourse. That means what? He believes in that knowledge and then he does whatever is necessary to make that knowledge his own, not leaving it only to become what we call a pandit or a scholar. Then what is the result of that? mama sadharmyam agataha Through the help of this knowledge, once they obtain that knowledge through spiritual practice, what happens to them? agataha They become absolutely one. With whom? mama, with me, sadharmyam They do not come near me merely. Yes, they do come near me, but they do not stop coming near me, but they become completely one with me. For the description, such liberated souls sarge api na upajayante Next birth, they are not going to be reborn. pralayena yathan ticha When death comes, na vyathan ticha They just laugh at it. It is said of Socrates, everybody was weeping and he was about to depart from this body-mind, from this world by drinking hemlock and then he laughed and said, why are you weeping? I am so joyful because I know I am going into a much more beautiful world which is a billion times happier world than this because he had experienced visions of the highest world. arjuna They who having devoted themselves to this knowledge have partaken of my nature become me are not ever born again at the time of next creation nor are they troubled at the time of dissolution. The greatest suffering comes to us when we have to face death even when it is other people's death. Of course, we are not bothered about every other person dying, every animal dying, every plant dying. In fact, many of us actively kill so many trees, so many birds, so many insects, so many other human beings as it recently happened for not any particular reason but some excuse to kill the other people. Whoever is strong, he will inflict that injury to other people. So here the Lord is telling that for these people that when they see other people's death even then they have sympathy because they know the other people are ignorant but they are not worried. Like Sairam Krishna when he was witnessing the death of his own nephew Akshay every family member was weeping but Sairam Krishna was smiling. Why? Because he knows that there is no death. He had seen clearly the soul which is real Akshay. You can't of course call that soul as Akshay. Akshay is the name of the body that's all not even the mind. Good man, evil man, knowledgeable person, ignorant person they are the special equithets of the mind. Very clever person, very ignoramus these are the names for the mind but the tall, short, fat, thin, beautiful, ugly these are the names given. So every physical form must have a name. Akshaya is that name but for the sake of understanding we use that word Akshaya is the soul when that soul came just as a sword is taken out of a scabbard Sairam Krishna was clearly witnessing it and he was laughing after what can he do because that was his experience what can the other people do except in weeping that was their experience that Akshaya is gone of course Akshaya is the body mind complex is gone that's a different issue altogether but this is what we have we need to understand through this beautiful scripture called Bhagavad Gita we are all souls but at a later stage we understand even this body mind are not something separate from the soul not separate from the self it is all nothing but part of Brahman but in this state of ignorance this division this duality is there but when we attain to that oneness then there is no body there is no mind there is no soul there is no consciousness or unconsciousness that we are going to discuss these great souls they are not worried when they see other people's death because they know crystal clearly the soul has no death no birth no changes etc no six-fold changes like Jayate Asthi Vardhate etc they are not worried not only that as soon as this knowledge comes as soon as they understand Mamas Adharmiam I am none other than Bhagawan I am the Atman even from the viewpoint of Dwaitins when these great devotees go to Vaikuntha or Kailasa or Kingdom of Heaven they will be transported in joy they will have no fear at all another meaning for joy is fearlessness where there is fear there is no joy where there is joy there is no fear and reality will not be there how can they be so happy? because they know that every other happiness unhappiness they come in a cycle replacing one with the other continuously changing eternally changing but now they come to know this is absolutely infinite eternal state there is no change occurring there I am not going to suffer at all and therefore you have to separate Swaggaloka heavenly world from Kingdom of Heaven Swaggaloka from what is called knowledge of Brahman Swaggaloka is like any other world it is a better world like a 70 star hotel the facilities are wonderful but even here you notice you may book yourself into the highest starred hotel but whether you really enjoy it or whether other people whom you are bearing the cause they enjoy this it totally depends upon one's mind even the world's richest man a time will come when their marriages can break down and it is a very sad state what does that show? even the divorce itself shows that a man and a woman are not loving to each other so however great it is there can come a separation there will come a separation inevitable death is final separation death is not the only separator it is interesting to understand these things deep sleep is the greatest separator so long as we are in deep sleep we are separated from everything else in this world excepting ourselves and in between when we are in the waking state when we are in the dream state is there an what is it called unity unbreakable bond no sir every changing thought is a talaq is a separation from whatever we think until we are again united with that thought this is my husband only when that thought comes that fellow is the husband this is my wife only when that thought comes this is my friend this is my enemy these are my children this is my country this is my religion this is my language this is my position all these go on changing with every changing thought but here is a person who attained to that state where there is absolutely no separation at all because there is no second object from whom separation can take place this is what is being said here the ancient sages have transcended this bondage by understanding the nature of the gunas and by trying to get rid of the influence of these gunas on oneself by making the gunas the servants and not the master of human life in fact when we use the word mind control we really mean control of the gunas control the tama guna you become alert control the rajo guna you become tranquil peaceful joyful creative the best creative ideas will come what the scientists call when the alpha beta waves are produced in the brain but we are not talking about brain here we are talking something even beyond the mind as we know beyond the body there are four more coverings are there body is the first covering prana is the second covering thoughts are the third covering understanding is the fourth covering and the bliss we the joy we derive from contact with the objects is the last covering so all these joys that we derive is coming via media we do not realize that they are me but when we go beyond we understand every object derives its existence and its stay and whatever effect it has from me i am the root cause of all these things so when we understand our own true nature as one with brahman the play of nature tri gunas then it doesn't worry us we merely look on and watch the play the union of the matter and spirit under the control of the supreme lord causes the birth of all beings here again the lord is talking about how this creation has come out why should he talk about the creation because whenever i think of myself at this state of my consciousness i only know i am the body i even do not know that i am the mind rarely a person comes to know i have a body but i am a thought it is very rare but every day we can experience when a bright idea comes for the moment you forget about the body and think of it as an object but think of yourself as a that idea we have to go on making more and more that identification before we kick off even that idea here the lord is talking in a few shlokas about the whole universe is nothing but the outcome of pure consciousness and prakriti which i mentioned earlier if you have understood it it's very easy to understand this so what is the purpose because if i am the effect the world is the effect i am part of the world so therefore i am an effect like the world and i must have a cause like the world must have a cause entire universe of which i am a part is only a part of that entire whole and the whole world is an effect and it must have a cause what is that cause the pure consciousness called brahman and prakriti the entire nature and so as i mentioned earlier every effect must have the very nature of the cause therefore if the entire cause of this entire world is consciousness called brahman and maya which is called ishwara always remember this word ishwara is a combination of brahman and maya it's a very vedantic technical word you have to keep it in mind ishwara is not a single pure consciousness it's a mixture of both prakriti as well as brahman the entire universe is produced from ishwara how is it produced ishwara grossifies himself manifests himself this is one school of thought grossifies himself as hiranyagarbha hiranyagarbha manifests as the five subtle elements and hiranyagarbha gives birth to five gross elements called virat so hiranyagarbha is manifesting in the form of five subtle elements called dharmatras sokshma bhutas from which this entire universe has come in other words brahm hiranyagarbha is the first creation from hiranyagarbha comes the second creation which is called virat virat means this entire universe then it slowly grossifies itself into these each with birds human beings inert things living things non-living things etc etc is all combination of the pancha bhutas plus consciousness so this is called virat we are not talking about individual talking about universal creation that is called virat if we can understand this virat who is the cause of the virat who are the who is the cause of all of us virat in our gross manifestation and who is the cause of virat hiranyagarbha and what is hiranyagarbha who is the cause of the gross subtly the cause of the gross and who is the cause of hiranyagarbha Ishwara who is the cause of the subtle world that is the causal world causal world entire causal world is called Ishwara. Though the whole universe is nothing but a manifestation of Ishwara in the form of Hiranyagarbha, in the form of Virat. This is how one way of thinking, how creation has come, this is cosmology. Another way in our Upanishads, exactly the same thing but it is put in a slightly different way in the Taittiriya Upanishad. From Brahman, Atman came Akasha, space and space grossified itself as air, air grossified itself into fire, fire grossified itself into water, water grossified itself into the earth and the whole physical universe we see is nothing but manifestation of all these five elements most observable, experienceable in the gross earth. That's why we are called when a person dies, the Christian funeral ceremony, dust turn to dust, earth turn to earth because from earth came our bodies, plants, animals, everything but this gross has come from the subtle, a subtle has come from the causal and that causal has come from the Brahman, manifestation of Brahman. This is in brief, you will understand it as we go on. The Lord is telling I am the cause of this entire universe, first of all I am pure Brahman and I grossified, divided myself into two, Brahman and Maya and I came to be known as Ishwara and Ishwara is the causal world, the universal causal world, cosmic causal world and Ishwara further grossified himself, manifested himself as Hiranyagarbha, a subtle world from the causal to the subtle and the subtle world manifested further into the gross world that means Hiranyagarbha is manifesting is none other than Virat, Virat is none other than Hiranyagarbha and this whole universe is the one body of this Hiranyagarbha like different hairs, different cells of this Virat is all of us consisting of everything in this universe, every object that is experienceable. So the Lord is telling Hey Bharata, mama yoni hi mahat brahma tasmin garbham dadhamyaham sambhavah sarva-bhutanaam tato bhavati bharata, hey Bharata, hey Arjuna, Arjuna was born of the Kamsa lineage of Bharata. What is he telling? Mahat Brahma mama yoni hi asti, Mahat Brahma, Mahat Brahma means this entire Prakruti, entire Maya is the field into which I am going to sow the seed, tasmin aham garbham dadhami, I that means the consciousness make it active and I place, I implant my seed in it. This is a common example, we see all the time the male plants the seed in the female whether it is in the plants, animals, insects, this is the inviolable law. Of course do not think of that multiplication by division of the cell etc. The entire Prakruti is the field for me, I divided myself into entire Prakruti and as pure consciousness I won't join. What is it my seed? I won't join. As soon I join the whole Prakruti comes out alive and then the further division takes place. Tasmin, in that beautiful cosmos I place my seed, aham garbham dadhami, I make it impregnated with consciousness. Tathaha, as a result of the combination of these two, sarva bhutanam, sambhavaha bhavati, sambhavaha means manifestation, everything. Bhutanam means what? Everything living, non-living, everything comes out of it. But we have to understand here, just for those who are interested in a bit of scholastic understanding we are talking about Vedantic philosophy, Advaita philosophy and according to Sankhya there are two eternal principles, eternally separate. One is the inner to Prakruti, another is inner to Purushas and Purushas are not one, Purushas are infinite number of Purushas, pure consciousness. How a Purusha comes into contact with Prakruti we don't know. Prakruti is one but Purushas are many whereas in the 13th chapter the Prakrutis are many but the Purusha is one, the fields are many but the cultivator of the field, the knower of the field, the experiencer of the field is only one. We have seen such a beautiful description, that was the understanding of Sankhya philosophy but as we know philosophy always evolves. These six schools of philosophy which were evolving thought patterns they have all become coerced into Vedanta, Vedanta philosophy and this Vedanta philosophy again has been divided into the beginning stage, the advanced stage and the final stage, respectively called Dwaita, Visishta Dwaita and Advaita. Here Swami Ranganathanji Maharaj is going to tell us something very important. Just as the Sankhyas unified the whole of nature or Prakruti, Vedanta unified the multiplicity of Purushas and made him one and also unified nature and the Purushas in one infinite Brahman. There are no two principles, only one indescribable infinite eternal Brahman. Complete unification was achieved in the great philosophy of Advaita of the Upanishads, one and not two. There is only one single reality out of which everything has come and into which everything will return at the end. In that process you get Prakruti as a separate entity but coming from the Purusha itself. Therefore there is no duality here but once Prakruti starts functioning, duality steps in and delusion comes. We mix up everything and we are asked to get free from the delusion. That is the purpose of spiritual life to become free from delusion and the philosophy based on spirituality which is a task before us. Be free, be free, be free. The word is always freedom. How to be free? How to be free? Shankaracharya comments upon these verses Prakruti dvaya dvarena aham sarva-jnaha ishvarah jagatah karanam Through these twofold Prakrutis I the omniscient Lord am the cause of the whole universe. That is the unity that comes in Advaita Vedanta. Nature and spirit are both absorbed in one supreme spirit namely Brahman of the nature of pure consciousness. We will discuss these beautiful points. From now onwards we can progress further because I have been striving to give the essence, the background. Once you keep it in mind it is extremely easy to understand the coming shlokas. One purpose is we are all consisting of Gunas. Freedom is to go beyond the Gunas and that can be done only by developing deep devotion to the Divine Lord, Divine Mother and then surrender ourselves completely only by His grace. Only we can get rid of this delusion and know Aham Brahmasmi. Om Vasudeva Sutam Devam Kamsa Chanura Mardanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagad Gurum May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti.