Bhagavad Gita Ch13 part 06 on 31 January 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM USUDEVASUTAM DEVAM KAMSACHANURAMARDANAM DEVAKI PARAMANANDAM KRISHNAM VANDE JAGADGURUM SARVO PANISHADO GAVO DOGDHA GOPALANANDANA PARTHO VATSA SUDHIR BHOKTA DUGDHAM GEETAM RITAM MAHAT MOOKAM KARUTI VACHALAM PANGUM LANGAYATE GIRIM YATKRIPA TAMAHAM VANDE PARAMANANDA MADHAVAM We will be continuing the 13th chapter which we have taken just a few classes back. It is very important for us. This is one of the most wonderful chapters and that's why Shankaracharya has taken so much of trouble to give us the meaning. The biggest commentaries that we get here is there. This chapter starts with the question from the Arjuna. He was as if telling that there are six points I want to know. So that is what Arjuna says, PRAKRUTIM PURUSHAM CHAIVA KSHETRAM KSHETRAGNAMEVACHA ETAD VEDITUM ICHCHAMI NANAM GNAENCHA KESHAVA Prakruti and Purusha, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and that which is to be known, all this, O Krishna, I desire to learn. Yesterday we also discussed, really speaking, Arjuna's question only poses two points. Who is the knower and what is the known? Who am I and what is everything else? Then what is the relationship between the two of us? And both of us, from what root, from what cause have we both of us come? And the essence of the 13th chapter is, First of all, everything is God. SARVAM VISHNU MAYAM JAGAT SARVAM BRAHMA MAYAM JAGAT A Brahman, as it were, divided himself in sport, divine sport, as I and as everything else. He became the eternal witness. He became the eternal participant. He became everything that is also experienced or known, also called Jagat, Idam Jagat. But in reality, this whole triangle is, there is no such tripartite division. Everything is one. That point, the Bhagawan is telling slowly, slowly. In the second verse, He is telling, IDAM SHARERAM KAUNTEYA KSHETRAM ITI ABIDHIYATE YETAD YOVETITAM PRAHUKHU KSHETRAGNAHA ITI TADVIDAHA Krishna said, This body, O son of Kunti, is called the field. And he who knows it is called the knower of the field by those who describe them. What does field mean? It is something, an instrument, something which we have to use in order to reach the goal of life. What is the goal of life? To go out of this bondage, bandhana. Our body, our mind. Whatever is experienced is the field and whoever is experiencing is the knower of the field. Really, there are no many others. I and everything else. I am the knower, everything is the known. So why this known is given? So that this I, limited I can become the universal I. It can realize itself. And this field is, as we discussed yesterday, is nothing but this entire universe. When we say the entire universe, we have to remember it means only my body, my mind. Because we are like people who are sitting in a darkened room with a small window, glass window and whole life we are peeping through that small window which has got a glass but not even a clear glass. It is sometimes very dark because of tamas. Sometimes a little bit more light because of rajas. Sometimes it is very very pure so that we can see the outside world. That is called sattva. We are like the prisoners in this darkened room peeping out and then as the more the window becomes purer, cleaner, the more we are able to see. That means the more knowledge we are able to get. This body, mind is like that darkened room and the mind is like that window and it is endowed with the sattva, rajas, guna and we the jivatma is sitting and peeping through the window of the mind and whatever that mind presents, that is what we call this entire universe consisting of the sattva, rajas and tamas. Sometimes it gives us happiness. Sometimes it gives us unhappiness. So the Lord is telling there are only two things that I the witnesser, I the knower of the field and everything else is the field. So the doubt comes here. There are seven and a half billion human beings not to speak of living creatures. Even if we take the example of the only human beings, every human being's body and mind is one instrument. B and M complex. Body, mind complex. Now everybody claims. I claim I know you and you claim you know me. So I claim I know the other person. You also claim you know the other person. Like that the entire universe is known by me, by you, by everybody. Naturally a doubt comes how many knowers of the field are there? There are a billion billion things in this world but there are also as many living creatures, as many conscious beings, so many knowers are there. So that means what? The knower is considered as separate from each other. Is that a tenable? Is that a reasonable statement? Because it is completely untenable for the simple reason we can separate two objects, we can separate two books, we can separate two tables, we can separate two bodies, we can separate two plants. All these separations are finally divided into three categories according to Vedanta. That is Vijayatiya, these differences between two separate species. Sajayatiya, differences between the two of the same species. And Swagata, that means differences within one particular object. Let me give an illustration. By this time many of you must have known that one. There are two trees are there, a mango tree, an apple tree. They belong to both different type of species and therefore they are two different objects. That is Vijayatiya Veda, that is difference between two separate species. There are two apple trees. Both are side by side. One is small, one is big. One gives sweet apples, another gives not so sweet apple, sometimes even sour etc. So they are the same species but so many differences are there. That is called Sajayatiya Veda. And there is only one apple tree and there are roots, their trunk, the branches, small, big, leaves, new leaves, old leaves and aging leaves. Then there are blossoms, then there are small fruit, a little bigger fruit, some good fruits, some rotten fruit. This is difference within one single apple tree. This is called Swagata, differences within oneself. When we look at the different creatures, different objects, it is these three differences which distinguish one object from the other. This is how worldly knowledge works. This is how we are able to function. Bring an apple means you do not bring a coconut or you do not bring a mango fruit. Bring one particular book. Maybe there are two copies of exactly the same book. No, there is one book. I have not touched it. It is not marked. But the other book is looking a little bit used. I have thumbed it many times and the binding has come a little bit loose and there are many underlinings, highlightings and side markings. This is how two books are distinguished. Both belong to the same species because copies but they are different. This is how we are able to separate one object from the other object and pinpoint one particular object. Similarly, there are also within one. They say I want to eat mango and you bring a ripe mango fruit. Then I say I don't want to eat the seed. I don't want to eat the skin. You skin it and separate the seed and cut it into chewable, swallowable pieces and bring it to me. That is what we do when we offer things to Shri Ramakrishna. We remove the skin. We cut the fruits and then we make it into small chewable bits and this is how we separate one object from the other. Any object in this world can be separated. Can we apply the same law to consciousness? My consciousness is different from you. My consciousness is red consciousness. Your consciousness is black consciousness. Mine is pink consciousness. Yours is small consciousness. Mine is sweet consciousness. Yours is bitter consciousness. Can we at all make any difference in that? It is impossible. That is the point the Bhagawan is taking up in the next verse. He is trying to tell us. And yesterday also I mentioned something very important. Whenever we want to know something, then three things are necessary. The person who wants to know, the object he wants to have knowledge of and a process, an instrument through which that knowledge can be obtained. And wherever we are, this is called Triputi, a triangle without which knowledge is impossible. I also mentioned that a meaningful sentence must have at least three minimum things. Rama killed Ravana. You can add more. Ravana by an arrow killed Ravana. Ravana in Sri Lanka by an arrow killed Ravana. Ravana in the afternoon came very tired and at that time Rama took aim with a bow and arrow and killed him. And Ramanasura thought he would never be overcome but Rama killed him when Ramanasura was full of that kind of egotism. We can add any number of adjectives to make the point even more clear but minimum three karakas are necessary. That is Karta, Karma and Kriya. If we analyze the whole thing, what the Lord wants to tell that there are no such distinction in pure knowledge. We have to separate the knowledge we obtain. This is what we call Gnana, Janya, Gnana. Through the sense organs, through the mind, through the process of these three instruments Triputi, the type of knowledge we get is incomplete, partial and it is what we call impure knowledge and that is what binds us. But knowledge is another name for God. That's why Swami Vivekananda, he categorized it knowledge absolute which is called pure knowledge and it is none other than God and pure consciousness and pure knowledge are one and the same. Therefore, this is the point the Bhagawan is trying to lead. Consciousness or pure consciousness is singular. It is never multiple. It cannot be chopped into pieces. You can chop anything that is non-conscious. You can chop a tree. You can chop a vegetable. You can chop a fruit. You can chop a piece of cloth. You can do anything with non-Atman. But the pure Atman is not an object. It is the subject. It is one. It is pure consciousness. You cannot break it. You cannot cut it into pieces. How do you say that? Because you show me how my consciousness and your consciousness can be separated. If two things are to be completely separate and they have to be known through some what we call qualities, gunas, adjectives, red flower, big flower, fragrant flower and blue colored flower etc. etc. These are called qualities and it is only qualities which separate, give us clear knowledge. This is not that object. This is separate object and every object is singular and unique. But it can be separated. But consciousness first of all is not an object. Consciousness is pure subject. So your consciousness is pure subject. My consciousness is pure subject. XYZ's consciousness is pure subject. Therefore, how do we separate my consciousness through your consciousness? That is why the Lord is telling that consciousness is only one and I am that consciousness. So I am the knower of so many things. I am one. Other than what I know, the objects are many many billions and billions are in fact uncountable, even unimaginable. Achintya Kalpana Shakti. Bhagavan Shankaracharya is talking about in Brahma Sutras. He says there must be, root cause of this entire universe must be God himself. Why? You try to understand what is this universe. It is so numerous. It is so big. It is so variegated. Achintya Kalpana Shakti. Through your limited imagination, you will never be able to imagine. Just at best, you know, you can jump a few centimeters and feel I have gone to the other side of the world like the monkey in the case of the Buddha. It is impossible for a limited mind. Why? Body is limited. Speech is limited. Mind also is limited. With a limited mind, it is impossible to measure the infinite. Yesterday also I pointed out what is the proportion of a finite thing compared to the infinite. Can you say one percent? Can you say one hundredth of a percent? It is impossible to imagine. A funny thing happened. Swami Vivekananda reached America and before he could attend the Parliament of Religions, certain things needed to be done and one day he was talking and trying to tell that India was far more developed before when your ancestors were coloring themselves with black, blue and many variegated colors. That means not really advanced in civilization. Just a few days back and somebody in the audience interrupted, but Swami, that was 400 years back. Swami looked at him straightly and said, what is 400 years compared to infinity? After all, it is not even a few milliseconds compared to eternity of the time. Impossible for us to really think about infinity. That infinite consciousness appears to be as if chopped up, as if divided because of the limitations of the mind. That's why Advaithic teachers are constrained to give the example that here are 100 pots and they are all there out in the space and in each one of those pots which are having different sizes, there is spaces. The space within each single pot, in some it is just a small, in some it is a little bigger, in some it is the biggest. As if the space has been cut up, as if the space has become limited, can space be cut? You take a knife and use it in any way, move it in any way you like, as if you are cutting somebody, a tree or a person, you will never be able to do it. So can the pot do it? Can it limit the space? It's impossible. But our limited mind automatically thinks this space is contained in this small pot, constrained only by the limit of the pot and we think space can be separated. It is never separated. It cannot be separated. But if the small pot breaks, immediately as if that space which seemed to be contained in that small pot seems to have gone out and become merged in the Mahakasha. This requires a lot of imagination to understand these marvellous concepts, even intellectually. It is not that space was ever limited but there is nothing that can really limit the Mahakasha. That is why space is often taken as an analogy for Brahman. It is Akhanda, it is Advaita, it is Advaitiya, it is Asanga, it is Sarvavyapi, all those things. So Bhagawan is trying to tell us. That is why this long introduction to the next verse. Know me to be the knower, the cogniser of every field. How many fields? Almost infinite. How many cognisers? Only one, which is pure consciousness. Even scientists recognise, even Edwin Schrodinger says, this consciousness is always singular. It can never become multiple. Previous Ranganathanji Maharaj used to give this example. Very often he used to quote from Schrodinger. Bhagawan says that in every object there are two of my natures, the lower and the higher. The higher is the cogniser, knower and the lower is the known. But that should not give us the idea Bhagawan separated himself from himself. This is his higher nature, this is his lower nature. All this higher and lower, let me tell you once for all, it is not from the part of the Bhagawan but it is from the part of our little understanding mind. Only when I look at Bhagawan, he appears to be separated. That's why the classic example of the rope and the snake serves many many purposes. Also the analogy of the dream which we have been discussing in the Dakshinamurthy Stotram. This taking the analogy of the rope and the snake. Where is the snake? Is it in the rope or is it in the mind? In the perceiving capacity of the person who is mistaking. The mistake is not in the rope, the mistake is in the mind of the person. Always let us keep in mind. So we look into the world and say I am that pure consciousness and this entire world is what I am knowing. This is purely an artificial seeming creation. Really speaking as soon as a person wakes up from his dream, there is no dream world, there is no dream eye, there is no dream experience. Everything is nothing but a stupid false imagination. So whatever we can know in this world is only of the field and because our mind is limited, the field appears to be limited. This is a very important point, another point we have to remember. The moment mind becomes pure, pure mind means getting rid of all thoughts. Every thought is a limitation. Getting rid of thoughts means getting rid of limitations. When the mind becomes pure and non-judgmental, whatever reflects in that mind is nothing but pure consciousness that Ekam, Nityam, Advayam, Adviteeyam, Shuddham, Muktam. When a person's mind has this understanding, then it knows there is no I, there is no this, neither the Kshetragna nor the Kshetra. Remember these words Kshetra, Kshetragna, they always go together. There is an object, therefore there must be a subject. There is a subject, therefore there must be an object. So it is impossible to say I am a subject without an object. I am not a teacher without students. I am not a student without a teacher. So a king is no king when there are no subjects. A guru is no guru when there are no sishyas. So they both go together, they come together, they stay together and they disappear also together. In this earlier verse, those who know the truth about both, the knower and the field which he knows only when a person knows. Complete right knowledge about both of them, Kshetra as well as Kshetragna. He is a real knower. That means his knowledge alone is true knowledge. What is true knowledge? That will never change. Here is a fun. I know this book. You know another book. X, Y, Z know other books. I don't have any knowledge about the other books. This is one type of example I am giving. I can only know just a few things. But the moment a real knower knows that both Kshetra as well as Kshetragna, in object and the knower of the object. When he comes to know both, then both of them give up their limitation, become merged in this what we call seemingly third knower. A knower who knows both the knower as well as the object. Then such a person attains to this oneness, unity. What is it? I myself am the knower. I myself is the known. Everything is in my mind. This is the burden of the first verse. This is an important thing. In this context also we have to remember. So many scientists nowadays, they are acquiring more and more of knowledge. What is this type of knowledge? Objective knowledge. But the more they are knowing the objective knowledge, they are going away from the subjective knowledge. I know about the stars. I know about the sun, moon, the planet, other people, other people's minds. But what do I know about the knower in me? What do I know my real nature? And this as we proceed further and further knowing worldly knowledge, we recede further and further from knowing our own true self. True knowledge is that which unifies, not that which divides. That's why true union always brings peace, always brings only happiness. Another point we have to know is every type of knowledge that we get is only through this body. When we say body, it means sense organs. When we say sense organs, there are only five. The eyes can perceive colors. The ears can obtain knowledge of the sounds. The nose obtains the knowledge of the smells. The tongue obtains knowledge of the tastes, flavors. And the skin obtains of touches, soft, hard, cold, heat. And these are severely limited through outside circumstances, through defects in themselves or through the influence of drugs, etc. So the type of knowledge we get is absolutely very less. Only now the scientists are awakening to the fact that we can never obtain even objective knowledge because the subject influences, the knower influences very much how much knowledge we can get of any given object. If we want to have true knowledge of the object, then we will have to have some knowledge at least of the knower, of the observing agent, of the observer, of the Sakshi. And Swami Vivekananda made a remarkable statement which on first or second reading becomes very superficial. He said, suppose there is a chemist and he is pursuing chemistry and let him go on pursuing. This small beginning of the chemistry knowledge ultimately leads to the Moolakarana, the root cause of everything. That is where the science, arts and religion become completely unified. In what? In God. What we call Brahman. That's why in the Mundaka Upanishad itself we have this beautiful statement Sarva Vidya Pratishta. Brahma Vidya is the substratum from which every other Vidya can come out. A Brahman means consciousness is removed. Every type of knowledge can be removed. And in the ultimate run, knowledge is nothing but in the form of knowing. And knowing is nothing but a limitation of the consciousness. When I say I know, my consciousness is limited by a particular object and that becomes knowledge. The endeavour is if I want infinite knowledge, then every objectiveness should be completely removed. Then what remains? Pure and non-dual consciousness. That is the point we are being led to in this. Either you can call it second shloka or depending upon the Arjuna's question or third shloka. Bhagavan is telling Kshetra Gnanchaapi Maam Vidhi Sarva Kshetreshu Bharata Kshetra Kshetra Gnayor Gnanam Yat Tat Gnanam Matam Mamaam Know, O Arjuna, that I am the knower of every field and only the knowledge of the field and its knower do I regard as true knowledge. As separated from the earlier shloka. What is this shloka telling? So we have to keep in mind what the earlier shloka told. It says that this body is the Kshetra and I am the Kshetra Gna. This body is the field, I am the knower of the field. That is our common experience. But the Lord did not stop. He says, O Arjuna, I want to give you true knowledge, right knowledge. And what is right knowledge? If I know I am the knower and this everything, the body, mind, everything is the field. That is a limited knowledge. That is a partial knowledge. And partial knowledge always lands us in suffering. But when we have full knowledge, then we will be joyful. In this second verse, what is the Lord telling? Now in you there are two. What is it? You the knower and the everything that is known by you. And whatever is known by you is almost infinite. But you is only one pure consciousness. Did you understand, Arjuna? Yes, sir. Now I will expand that knowledge further. That knowledge of I and everything else is an individual. One Jeevatma is a partial knowledge, not complete knowledge. But in this I am telling, I am the pure consciousness. In not only the knower half, through one particular body and mind, every knower, I, you, he or she, every living creature, whatever knowledge every living creature is obtaining, in that, that knower is me only. I am in the mosquito. I am in the dog. I am in the bird. I am in the plant. I am in man. I am in woman. I am in Hindu. I am in Christian. I am in Buddhism. And everything, there is only one. And if we accept this proposition, then the only thing that remains is, God alone is the real knower. Because a person who knows everything is called Sarvajna. A person knows one thing, he is only knower of one. Another person knows hundred things. So he is the Satajnaha. He knows hundred things. But if another person knows a thousand things, he is called Sahasrajnaha. But he who knows everything, that was, that is and that will be. And he is only God. This idea that was in the past, that is in the present, that will be in the future. This is what the first mantra of the Mandukya Upanishad, Aum is everything and Aum is the knowledge that was in the past, that was in the present, that would be in the future. What does that mean? It means Aum is not an individual. Aum is God. And when we are talking about God, there is no past, present and future in God. You cannot even say God is having only everything is present. That is only conventional preposition. Really speaking, when there is no past or future, there would be no present also. That is, if there is no Kala, time, there would be no Desha, there would be no space. If there is no time-space, there would be no causation. If there is no causation, what remains is completely infinite. In other words, that tripartite division, me and then the world and the knowledge, everything disappears, merges back into that. And that is the goal of every human being. That is called in Sri Ramakrishna's words, trying to love God. The goal of life is to love God. In this second verse, No, O Arjuna, I am the Kshetragna, the knower of the field. Everything else is field and the entire field can be called as one. I am the one knower. But you think you are also a knower. There is no you, X, Y, Z. I am in X, I am in Y, I am in Z, I am in Rama, I am in Buddha, etc. In this way also, we can understand that Sri Ramakrishna saying, He who was Rama, He who was Krishna is now incarnated in this age as Ramakrishna. These are all from ignorant people's like us point of view. But the reality is Ramakrishna and Ramakrishna, all these are only from our limited point of view. Because we are slaves to time, space and causation. So that is the understanding we must have. Know that I am the knower in every field. That means I am the one pure consciousness. And he who has this particular knowledge, what knowledge? That God alone is the knower. God alone is the doer. God alone is the enjoyer. That is what the teaching of entire scripture that it is God who created, it is God who is created, it is God who is doing, it is God who is enjoying, He is the Karta, He is the Bhokta, He is happy, He is also unhappy, He wins battles, He loses battles, He is honoured, He is dishonoured. Everything is nothing but that one single God. How do we understand? Just as one waker goes to sleep and has a dream in which he creates this pregated worlds of living, non-living, small, big, etc. When he wakes up, he says I was the creator, I created myself and I brought happiness to myself, I brought unhappiness to myself. Every experience exactly like the dream state is all created by me, by nobody else. Oh Arjuna, you wanted right knowledge. What is that right knowledge? That He who knows completely, rightly, both about the known, both also about the knower. First proposition was that the knower and the known are separate. Second proposition was there is only one knower even though there are many number of fields or Kshetrams. The third proposition is that there is absolutely no difference, no division between the knower and the knowledge or known. Everything is Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. That is the point the Lord wants to say. That is a true knowledge by which a person knows that all these seeming divisions, the knower and the known, a subject and the object, the experiencer and the experienced, it is all artificial division, a division made by the influence of Maya. When you have right knowledge, what do you see? You don't see one knower and everything as known. You see what is known is the knower, what is the knower is the known. Exactly like our dream, we are ourselves the knowers, we are also ourselves the known, everything that. So the first half of this verse is establishing the identity of the soul or Jivatma with Paramatma and the second half is also telling that once you come to know that you are that pure consciousness, then you will see nothing but the entire what you call Vishwa, this universe or the field or the object, it is also nothing but manifestation of what is called that pure Brahman only. To understand it a little bit further, we will take the example of Panchadashi, Bhagavan Vidyaranya. There are 15 chapters, that's why it is called Panchadashi, one of the toughest books on Advaita, one of the completest books on Advaita. If anybody can study Panchadashi, then he knows thoroughly, completely, rightly all Advaitic knowledge. In that he gives the example, I am simplifying it, take the example of cinema screen and on the screen one person is beating the other person, one scientist astronomer taking the help of a huge telescope is examining the stars at the furthest distances, galaxies. So one person is cooking and beautiful food is there, another person is eating. What am I talking about? That there is a person who is the doer, who is the enjoyer, who is the observer, etc. And as if there is food, there are stars and there is somebody to be harmed, to be killed. And what happens when the light is put off? Only pure screen remains. There both these are nothing but shadows of the light, different shades of the light on that pure white screen. Without screen there will be no experience. This is a beautiful analogy just as, as soon as the cinema is over, the hero, the heroine, the villain and all the activities, the entire cinema world comes to an end. Where does it go? It came from the light and it also goes back into the light. Don't again misunderstand, it is only to teach us, it comes out or it goes inside. It is nothing but pure play of the light. So the entire universe which is divided as if it is the a-knower, an enjoyer, a doer, etc. It's all false division and that is the burden, that is the right knowledge where all the seeming divisions become completely unified in one pure consciousness and if we can understand that, that is the truth. We move on to third sloka. Six points Bhagavan Krishna is pointing out to us. What are they? Here briefly from me these six points. What is the field? What is its nature? And how many ways it can modify and where from it has come? And who is its knower? What the powers of the knower are called? Two points about the knower. Who is the knower of the field and what are his powers? And the four, what is the field? What is the nature of the field? And what is its nature? And in how many modifications it presents itself to us? And actually from where it has come, from which cause it has come? And he says I can give you a huge talk on this. It can go for days, months, years, lives. But then the battle has to start. I don't have much time. I will tell you very briefly. Therefore he says all these six points, all this knowledge about the six points. Samasena, samasa means not the vyakarana samasa. Here samasa means very briefly, very brief but very clearly. So that no doubt will ever remain in the hearer or in the reader of this Bhagavad Gita. Samas me, from me sunu. Why? Because I have the right knowledge. Not only I am the right knowledge, I am the knowledge. Because I am the knowledge, I know everything about it. A creator of an art object knows everything about that object. A writer of a book knows everything about the book. And he knows much more than what he was able to express through that book. There are books, even novels, more than 1500 pages. It takes a long time for people like us to complete. And there are writers who could write such deep things, putting in the simplest words. Even great writers are like that. But what a writer knows is incomparable what he merely expresses a few of his ideas because writing is limited, expression is limited. Think about yourselves. How many things you know and when it comes to expressing those things which you know, you will be severely constricted. So this is what you asked for. So what is the Kshetra, Kshetra Jna, what is Prakruti and Purusha, what is Jnanam and Jnayam? In the very first verse, Arjuna, I am going to expound those things to you. But the question comes now, why should I believe you? O Krishna, of course, this problem doesn't come because in the 10th and 11th chapters, Arjuna himself categorically declares, O Lord, I believe you, whatever came out of your mouth is absolute truth. But I would like to experience it, not because I disbelieve you, but I want to enjoy because what you described is so glorious, so marvellous, my heart is racing to experience a little bit of it. Supposing somebody describes a beautiful sweet and then you have a longing, O such marvellous sweet, if only I could experience. If that person can prepare that sweet and one day he invites you and he gives you a little bit of it, then you know, not because you doubted that person, but you want to have direct personal realisation of that fact. So this is what the 4th shloka is going to tell us. Krishna himself is telling, Arjuna, I know you are a man of faith. You believe whatever I say, you absolutely believe it. But this Gita is not meant only for you. There will be billions of people reading in future and some of them may have doubt. Of course, if a person is of doubting nature, there is no happiness either in this world or in the next world. But sometimes doubts may come and there are some people whose doubts can be removed. Why? We can say the scripture is telling. Sairam Krishna told, that is enough for me, I don't want to argue with you. You have freedom, whatever you want to know, that is absolutely fine for you. But so far as I am concerned, I am quite happy with what I have here. Lord Krishna, it is not for the benefit of Arjuna, but for the benefit of some people who may doubt. What is the authenticity? What is the authority? If scripture tells, we believe it. If a realised soul issues such a statement, then we will believe it. For the sake of such people, the fourth shloka goes, All this has been sung by sages in many and different ways, in various distinctive hymns and also in well-reasoned and convincing passages indicative of Brahma. Rishibhi, who is a Rishi? Rishi, Rishati, Janathi, Satya Drashta, Mantra Drashta. Mantra means Satya. A realiser of a truth is called a Rishi. And these Rishis are, they directly had experienced and their direct experience is called realisation and they could express their realisation to the extent that is possible to describe or express. We can never believe. When a person says, I have eaten such and such a food, personally it is not hearsay, then we have no option. You can accept or not accept the person, but you cannot question that person's experience because unless he is a liar, he will not be telling and a Rishi will not be a liar. A liar cannot be a Rishi. So we have to believe Rishis. Not only that, Chandobi means by the Vedas, our main scriptures, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. Chandobi, Vividahi, Bahudha Gita. And these great sages, they have expressed, they have taught, they have sung and what they have sung came to be known as Vedas. What is a Veda? Experiences recorded and coming from tradition, from Guru to the disciple, to the disciple to the Guru and to his disciple etc. from thousands of years and that is called Veda. Veda is not imaginary. It is not Paurushaya. It is God himself has promulgated. That's why it is called a Paurushaya and that truth has been sung, has been described, has been hymned in various ways. Why? Different people do it in different ways. Not only that, they are so clearly advocated through Brahmasutras. This Brahmasutra is not to be confused with that book, one of the Prasthanatraya called Brahmasutra. Even though Brahmasutras are explanations, Brahmasutras are based only on the Veda. Here Brahmasutra means that which indicates the nature of Brahman indirectly is called a Sutra and it is not Yoga Sutra, it is not Dharma Sutra, it is not Nyaya Sutra, but it is not even Paga Sutra, it is Brahmasutra. That which indicates because Brahman, God can only be indicated, can never be described. Because, yato vachoni vartante aprapi manasa saha. And you may say, they may be telling, Rishis may be telling or the scriptures may be telling. Why should we believe? No, first of all, you have no choice but to believe because that which is invisible, unobtainable by the five senses, it is supra-sensuous, you have no choice. Either you believe or you don't believe, you are not going to get that knowledge unless you become experienced and you are not going to become an experiencer unless you first hypothetically put your faith in the teachings of these great teachers and follow their instructions and at last by God's grace you are given that direct experience. Then you confirm, yes, what I received from the scriptures through the mouth of my Guru is absolutely real because I myself am a standing witness to that. That is all you can say. You cannot control what their experience is. You have a freedom. I don't want to believe. That is fine. But you will be forced to come to that at one point or the other. Not only that, if there is something irrational, every scriptural statement is called irrational. Irrational means beyond reason because they are about subjects which five sense organs cannot give. But it doesn't mean they are irrational. What the great Acharyas were trying to do, to tell us, to make the idea clear to us through reasoning, right reasoning and of course they interpret in different ways not because they are fools because they want to convey that meaning, the same truth. 2 into 2 is 4. 2 minus 2 is 0. 2 plus 2 is 4 and 2 plus 3 is 6. In one way, a small child has to be given that knowledge. A little grown-up adolescent must be given the same truth in another way and to a grown-up person that must be presented in another way. Another example I always give. Parallel lines can never meet. That is, they seem to be absolute truth. But abstract mathematics tell us that is only a relative truth, not an absolute truth. Absolute truth is parallel lines meet in infinity. Now who can understand? Even I cannot understand it. But it is proved and it works and it gives practical results. Anyway, he tu mat bhihi, with complete reasoning, vinischitai. They have been ascertained that they are not illogical. So therefore, they must be absolute truth. So this is what is being said. O Arjuna, these great realized souls, they have experiences, personally sakshat, aparoksha and their experiences have been recorded and those recordings are called Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras and there is no reason. They are not cramming it down your mouth and they can be reasoned out. You reason out. Just I'll give a small example before I come to a close. There is a person and he says God doesn't exist. So okay, God doesn't exist. But do you exist or not? Yes, I exist. And do you believe in yourself or not? Yes, I believe. So do you doubt yourself? Yes, I doubt myself. That is completely irrational because even to say that you doubt your existence, you have to exist first. You have to be absolutely present even to deny your presence. The doubter cannot doubt. This pure consciousness is all that we know. Nobody can deny the existence of the pure consciousness. Even if you say something is irrational, it is possible to talk about that irrationality only because of the presence of the consciousness. But our scriptures never advocate illogical, irrational things. You are given the choice. So far as your intellect is there, try to reason it out. We won't suppress your rationality. We encourage your rationality. But you cannot deny them. Try to understand them in proper light, correctly and apply it to your life. How do you know that it is right? Because you will be a better person. You will be a happier person. You will be a healthier person. You will be a less selfish person. All the good things that you are hoping to achieve will be achieved by you when you become rational and when you really interpret the scriptures. This is the essence of this fourth shloka. We will talk about this in our next class. Om Vasudeva Sutam Devam Kamsa Chanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum