I sincerely hope you'll appreciate my work and if any suggestions, feel free to write to me at karmyog@gmail.com ....
THE BHAGVAD GITA , TRANSLATED AND INTRODUCED BY.... EKNATH EASWARAN
HISTORIANS SURMISE THAT LIKE THE ILIAD THE MAHABHARTA MIGHT WELL BE BASED ON ACTUAL EVENTS, CULMINATING IN A WAR THAT TOOK PLACE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 1000 AND 700 B.C. - CLOSE, THAT IS, TO THE VERY DAWN OF RECORDED INDIAN HISTORY. THIS GUESS HAS RECENTLY BEEN SUPPORTED BY EXCAVATIONS AT THE ANCIENT CITY OF DWARKA, WHICH, ACCORDING TO MAHABHARTA, WAS DESTROYED AND SUBMURGED IN THE SEA AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF ITS DIVINE RULER, LORD KRISHNA. ONLY 500 YEARS OR SO BEFORE THIS, BY GENERALLY ACCEPTED GUESS, ARYAN TRIBES ORIGINALLY FROM THE CAUCASUS HAD INVADED THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT AND IMPOSED THEIR MARTIAL CIVILIZATION ON THE PEOPLES THEY FOUND, BRINGING THE PROTOTYPE OF THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND COUNTLESS ELEMENTS OF BELEIF AND CULTURE THAT HAVE BEEN PART OF THE HUNDU TRADITION EVER SINCE. THE OLDEST PART OF THE MOST ANCIENT OF HINDU SCRIPTURES , THE RIG VEDA , DATES FROM THIS PERIOD - ABOUT 1500 B.C., IF NOT EARLIER.
YET THE REAL SOURCES OF INDIAN RELIGIOUS FAITH MUST BE TRACED TO A MUCH EARLIER EPOCH. WHEN THE ARYANS ENTERED THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS OF THE HINDU KUSH, THEY ENCOUNTERED A CIVILIZATION ON THE BANKS OF THE INDUS RIVER THAT ARCHEOLOGISTS DATE BACK AS FAR AS 3000 B.C. ROUGHLY CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH THE PYRAMID-BUILDERS ON THE NILE, THESE INDUS-DWELLERS ACHIEVED A COMPARABLE LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGY. THEY HAD METALWORKS SKILLED IN SHEET MAKING, RIVETING AND CASTING OF COPPER AND BRONZE, CRAFTS AND INDUSTRIES WITH STANDARDIZED METHODS OF PRODUCTION, LAND AND SEA TRADE WITH CULTURES AS FAR AWAY AS MESOPOTAMIA, AND WELL PLANNED CITIES WITH WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION SYSTEMS UNEQUALED UNTIL THE ROMANS. EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THEY MAY HAVE USED A DECIMAL SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT. BUT MOST REMARKABLE, IT IS APPARENTLY HERE AND NOT WITH THE ARYANS THAT THE GREAT SPIRITUAL DISCOVERIES OF HINDUISM ORIGINATED. IMAGES OF SHIVA AS YOGESHWARA, THE LORD OF YOGA, SUGGEST THAT MEDITATION WAS PRACTICED IN A CIVILIZATION WHICH FLOURISHED A MILLENIUM BEFORE THE VEDAS WERE COMMITTED TO AN ORAL TRADITION. IF IT IS SO, IT WOULD IMPLY THAT THE SAME SYSTEMATIC ATTITUDE THE INDUS VALLEY DWELLERS APPLIED TO THEIR TECHNOLOGY WAS APPLIED ALSO TO STUDY OF THE MIND. THIS WAS BRAHMAVIDYA, THE "SUPREME SCIENCE" -- SUPREME BECAUSE WHERE OTHER SCIENCES STUDIED THE EXTERNAL WORLD, BRAHMAVIDYA SOUGHT KNOWLEDGE OF AN UNDERLYING REALITY WHICH WOULD INFORM ALL OTHER STUDIES AND ACTIVITIES.
WHATEVER ITS ORIGINS, IN THE EARLY PART OF THE FIRST MILLENIUM B.C., WE FIND CLEARLY STATED BOTH THE METHODS AND THE DISCOVERIES OF BRAHMAVIDYA. WITH THIS INTROSPECTIVE TOOL THE INSPIRED RISHIS ( LITERALLY "SEERS" ) OF ANCIENT INDIA ANALYZED THEIR AWARENESS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE TO SEE IF THERE WAS ANYTHING IN IT THAT WAS ABSOLUTE. THEIR FINDINGS CAN BE SUMMARIZED IN THREE STATEMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN CALLED AS PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY BY ALDOUS HUXLEY, BECAUSE THEY APPEAR IN EVERY AGE AND CIVILIZATION.
(1) THERE IS AN INFINITE, CHANGELESS REALITY BENEATH THE WORLD OF CHANGE;
(2) THIS SAME REALITY LIES AT THE CORE OF EVERY HUMAN PERSONALITY;
(3) THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS TO DISCOVER THIS REALITY EXPERIMENTALLY: THAT IS TO REALISE GOD WHILE HERE
WHILE HERE ON EARTH.
THESE PRINCIPLES AND THE INTERIOR EXPERIMENTS FOR REALIZING THEM WERE TAUGHT SYSTEMATICALLY IN "FOREST ACADEMIES" OR ASHRAMS - A TRADITION WHICH CONTINUES UNBROKEN AFTER SOME THREE THOUSAND YEARS.
THE DISCOVERIES OF BRAHMAVIDYA WERE SYSTEMATICALLY COMMITTED TO MEMORY ( AND EVENTUALLY TO WRITING ) IN THE UPNISHADS, VISIONARY DOCUMENTS THAT ARE THE EARLIEST AND THE PUREST STATEMENTS OF THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY. HOW MANY OF THESE PRECIOUS RECORDS ONCE EXISTED, NO ONE KNOWS; SOME 108 HAVE SURVIVED AS PART OF THE HINDU CANNON OF AUTHORITY, THE FOUR VEDAS. ALL HAVE ONE UNMISTAKABLE HALLMARK: THE VIVID STAMP OF PERSONAL MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE. THESE ARE RECORDS OF DIRECT ENCOUNTER WITH THE DIVINE. TRADITION CALLS THEM "SHRUTI" LITERALLY "HEARD", AS OPPOSED TO LEARNED; THEY ARE THEIR OWN AUTHORITY. BY CONVENTION, ONLY THE VEDAS ( INCLUDING THEIR UPNISHADS ) ARE CONSIDERED SHRUTI, BASED ON DIRECT KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
THE GITA, WE WOULD ARGUE , IS NOT AN INTEGRAL PART OF MAHABHARATA. IT IS ESENTIALLY AN UPNISHAD, SET DOWN BY AN INSPIRED SEER ( VED VYASA ) AND INSERTED INTO THE EPIC AT AN APPROPRIATE PLACE. OTHER FRAGMENTS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN ADDED IN THIS WAY TO THE MAHABHARATA AND TO OTHER POPULAR SECONDARY SCRIPTURES; IT IS AN EFFECTIVE WAY OF PRESERVING NEW MATERIAL IN AN ORAL TRADITION. FINALLY BY WAY OF FURTHER SUPPORT, WE CAN OBSERVE THAT EXCEPT FOR ITS FIRST CHAPTER, WHICH SETS THE STAGE, THE GITA NOT ONLY DOES NOT DEVELOP THE ACTION OF THE MAHABHARATA BUT IS RATHER AT ODDS WITH IT. BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN --- THE CLIMAX OF DECADES OF DISSENSION--- AND ON THE EVE OF COMBAT, PRINCE ARJUNA LOSES HIS NERVE AND ASKS HIS CHARIOTEER , KRISHNA , WHAT TO DO. THEN WHAT ? KRISHNA --- NO ORDINARY CHARIOTEER, BUT AN INCARNATION OF GOD -- ENTERS INTO SOME SEVEN HUNDRED VERSES OF SUBLIME INSTRUCTION ON THE NATURE OF THE SOUL AND ITS RELATION TO GOD, THE LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND REALITY, THE MAKE UP OF THE PHENOMENAL WORLD, AND SO ON, CULMINATING IN A STUPENDOUS MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE IN WHICH HE REVEALS HIMSELF TO ARJUNA AS THE TRANSCENDENT LORD OF LIFE AND DEATH. HE COUNSELS ARJUNA TO BE COMPASSIONATE TO FRIEND AND ENEMY ALIKE, TO SEE HIMSELF IN EVERY PERSON, TO SUFFER OTHER'S SORROWS AS HIS OWN. THEN THE GITA IS OVER , THE NARRATION PICKS UP AGAIN, AND THE BATTLE IS JOINED -- A TERRIBLE DESPERATE SLAUGHTER COMPROMISING EVERYONE'S HONOUR, BY THE END OF WHICH ARJUNA'S SIDE EMERGES VICTORIOUS BUT ALMOST EVERYMAN OF FIGHTING AGE ON BOTH SIDES HAS BEEN SLAIN. ONLY GREAT GENIUS WOULD HAVE PLACED GITA IN SUCH A DRAMATIC SETTING, BUT IT STANDS OUT FROM THE REST AS A TIMELESS, PRACTICAL MANUAL FOR DAILY LIVING.
TO THOSE WHO TAKE THIS DRAMATIC SETTING AS PART OF THE SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION AND GET ENTANGLED IN THE QUESTION OF THE GITA JUSTIFYING WAR, GANDHI HAD A PRACTICAL ANSWER; JUST BASE YOUR LIFE ON THE GITA SINCERELY AND SYSTEMATICALLY AND SEE IF YOU FIND KILLING OR EVEN HURTING OTHERS COMPATIBLE WITH TIS TEACHING. THE VERY HEART OF THE GITA'S MESSAGE IS TO SEE THE LORD IN EVERY CREATURE AND ACT ACCORDINGLY, AND THE SCRIPTURE IS FULL OF VERSES TO SPELL OUT WHAT IT MEANS:
I AM EVER PRESENT TO THOSE WHO HAVE REALISED ME IN EVERY CREATURE. SEEING ALL LIFE AS MY MANIFESTATION, THEY ARE NEVER SEPERATED FROM ME. THEY WORSHIP ME IN THE HEARTS OF ALL, AND ALL THEIR ACTIONS PROCEED FROM ME. WHERE EVER THEY LIVE, THEY ABIDE IN ME.
( CH:6 VERSES 30-31 )
WHEN A PERSON RESPONDS TO THE JOYS AND SORROWS OF OTHERS AS IF THEY WERE HIS OWN, HE HAS ATTAINED THE HIGHEST STATE OF SPIRITUAL UNION.
( CH:6 VERSE 32 )
HE ALONE SEES TRULY WHO SEES THE LORD THE SAME IN EVERY CREATURE, WHO SEES THE DEATHLES IN THE HEARTS OF ALL THAT DIE. SEEING THE SAME LORD EVERYWHERE, HE DOES NO HARM TO HIMSELF OR OTHERS. THUS HE ATTAINS THE SUPREME GOAL.
( CH:13 VERSE 27-28 )
SCHOLARS CAN DEBATE THE POINT FOR EVER, BUT WHEN THE GITA IS PRACTICED, I THINK, IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT THE STRUGGLE THE GITA IS CONCERNED WITH IS THE STRUGGLE FOR SELF MASTERY. IT WAS THE VYASA'S GENIUS TO TAKE THE WHOLE GREAT MAHABHARATA EPIC AND SEE IT AS METAPHOR FOR THE PERENNIAL WAR BETWEEN THE FORCES OF LIGHT AND THE FORCES OF DARKNESS IN EVERY HUMAN HEART. ARJUNA AND KRISHNA ARE THEN NO LONGER MERELY CHARACTERS IN A LITERARY MASTERPIECE. ARJUNA BECOMES EVERYMAN, ASKING THE LORD HIMSELF, SRI KRISHNA, THE PERENNIAL QUESTIONS ABOUT LIFE AND DEATH -- NOT AS A PHILOSOPHER BUT AS THE MAN OF ACTION. THUS GITA IS NOT AN EXTERNAL DIALOGUE, BUT AN INTERNAL ONE: BETWEEN THE ORDINARY HUMAN PERSONALITY, FULL OF QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE, AND OUR DEEPEST SELF, WHICH IS DIVINE.
THERE IS IN FACT NO OTHER WAY TO READ THE GITA AND GRASP ITS SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION. IF I COULD OFFER ONLY ONE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THIS DIVINE DIALOGUE, IT WOULD BE TO REMEMBER THAT IT TAKES PLACE IN THE DEPTHS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THAT KRISHNA IS NOT SOME EXTERNAL BEING, HUMAN OR SUPER HUMAN, BUT THE SPARK OF DIVINITY THAT LIES AT THE CORE OF THE HUMAN PERSONALITY. THIS IS NOT LITERARY OR PHILOSOPHICAL CONJECTURE; KRISHNA SAYS AS MUCH TO ARJUNA OVER AND OVER. : " I AM THE SELF IN THE HEART OF EVERY CREATURE, ARJUNA, AND THE BEGINNING , MIDDLE AND THE END OF THEIR EXISTENCE " ( CH:10 VERSE 20 )
IN SUCH STATEMENTS, THE GITA DISTILLS THE ESSENCE OF THE UPNISHADS , NOT PEACEMEAL BUT COMPREHENSIVELY, OFFERING THEIR LOFTY INSIGHTS AS A MANUAL NOT OF PHILOSOPHY BUT OF EVERYDAY HUMAN ACTIVITY-- A HANDBOOK OF THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY UNIQUE IN THE WORLD HISTORY.
THE UPNISHADIC BACKGROUND
THE GITA , NATURALLY ENOUGH , TAKES FOR GRANTED THAT ITS AUDIENCE IS FAMILIAR WITH THE BASIC IDEAS OF HINDU RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS, ALMOST ALL OF WHICH CAN BE FOUND IN THE UPNISHADS. IT ALSO USES SOME TECHNICAL VOCABULARY FROM YOGA PSYCHOLOGY. ALL THIS NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED IN CONTEMPORAY TERMS IF THE MODERN READER IS TO GRASP WHAT IS ESSENTIAL AND TIMELESS IN GITA'S MESSAGE AND NOT GET BOGGED DOWN IN STRANGE TERMINOLOGY. FIRST, HOWEVER, THE NON-HINDU FACES A THIRD OBSTACLE; THE MULTIPLICITY OF NAMES USED FOR ASPECTS OF GOD. FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES, HINDUISM HAS PROCLAIMED ONE GOD. WHILE ACCOMODATING WORSHIP OF HIM ( OR HER, AS FOR MILLIONS GOD IS THE DIVINE MOTHER ) IN MANY DIFFERENT NAMES. " TRUTH IS ONE " SAYS A FAMOUS VERSE OF RIGVEDA; " MEN CALL IT BY VARIOUS NAMES ". BUT WHATEVER FORM IS WORSHIPPED, IT IS ONLY AN ASPECT OF THE SAME ONE GOD. IN THE GITA, INFACT, VERTUALLY EVERYWHERE IN HINDU MYTH AND SCRIPTURE-- WE ALSO ENCOUNTER "THE GODS" IN THE PLURAL. THESE ARE THE DEVAS, DEITIES WHICH SEEM TO HAVE COME IN WITH THE ARYANS AND WHICH HAVE RECOGNIZABLE COUNTERPARTS IN OTHER ARYAN-INFLUENCED CULTURES. INDRA-GOD OF WAR AND STORM; VARUNA-GOD OF WATERS AND A MORAL OVERSEER; AGNI-GOD OF FIRE, THE HERMES LIKE INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH; AND SO ON. THE GITA TO DEVAS AS BEING WORSHIPPED BY THOSE WHO WANT TO PROPITIATE NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL POWERS, IN MUCH THE SAME WAY THAT ANCESTORS WERE WORSHIPPED. IN MODERN TERMS , THEY CAN BEST BE UNDERSTOOD AS PERSONIFYING THE FORCES OF NATURE.
ATMAN AND BRAHMAN
THE UPNISHADS ARE NOT SYSTEMATIC PHILOSOPHY; THEY ARE MORE LIKE ESCTATIC SLIDE SHOWS OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE - VIVID, DISJOINTED, STAMPED WITH THE POWER OF DIRECT PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH THE DIVINE. THEY SIMPLY SET DOWN WHAT THE RISHIS ( SEERS ) SAW, VIEWING THE ULTIMATE REALITY FROM DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SPIRITUAL AWARENESS, LIKE THE SNAPSHOTS OF THE SAME OBJECTS FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES. bUT THE UPNISHADS TOO AGRRE ON THEIR CENTRAL IDEAS : BRAHMAN - THE GODHEAD , ATMAN - THE DIVINE CORE OF PERSONALITY, DHARMA - THE LAW THAT EXPRESSES AND MAINTAINES THE UNITY OF CREATION, KARMA - THE WEB OF CAUSE AND EFFECT, SAMSARA - THE CYCLE OF BIRTH AND DEATH, MOKSHA - THE SPIRITUAL LIBERATION THAT IS LIFE'S SUPREME GOAL.
EVEN WHILE ANCIENT INDIA WAS MAKING BREAKTHROUGHS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS, THE SAGES OF THE UPNISHADS WERE TURNING INWARD TO ANALYZE THE DATA THAT NATURE PRESENTS TO THE MIND. PENETRATING BELOW THE SENSES, THEY FOUND NOT A WORLD OF SOLID, SEPERATE OBJECTS, BUT A CEASELESS PROCESS OF CHANGE -- MATTER COMING TOGETHER, DISSOLVING, AND COMING TOGETHER AGAIN IN A DIFFERENT FORM. BELOW THIS FLUX OF THINGS WITH "NAME AND FORM", HOWEVER THEY FOUND SOMETHING CHANGELESS: AN INFINITE, INDIVISIBLE REALITY IN WHICH THE TRANSIENT DATA OF THE WORLD COHERE. THEY CALLED THIS REALITY, BRAHMAN: THE GODHEAD, THE DIVINE GROUND OF EXISTENCE. THIS ANALYSIS OF THE PHENOMENAL WORLD TALLIES WELL WITH THE CONTEMPORAY PHYSICS. A PHYSICIST WOULD REMIND US THAT THE THINGS WE SEE "OUT THERE", ARE NOT ULTIMATELY SEPERATE FROM EACH OTHER AND FROM US; WE PERCEIVE THEM AS SEPERATE BECAUSE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF OUR SENSES. IF OUR EYES WERE SENSITIVE TO A MUCH FINER SPECTRUM, WE MIGHT SEE THE WORLD AS A CONTINUOUS FIELD OF MATTER AND ENERGY. LIKE THE PHYSICISTS, THESE ANCIENT SAGES WERE SEEKING AN INVARIANT. THEY FOUND IT IN BRAHMAN.
IN EXAMINING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF OURSELVES, THE SAGES MADE A SIMILAR DISCOVERY. INSTEAD OF A SINGLE COHERENT PERSONALITY, THEY FOUND LAYER ON LAYER OF COMPONENTS -- SENSES, EMOTIONS, WILL, INTELLECT, EGO--EACH IN FLUX. AT DIFFERENT TIME AND IN DIFFERENT COMPANY, THE SAME PERSON SEMMS TO HAVE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES. MOODS SHIFT AND FLICKER, EVEN IN THOSE WHO ARE EMOTIONALLY STABLE; DESIRES AND OPINIONS CHANGE WITH TIME. CHANGE IS THE NATURE OF THE MIND. THE SAGES OBSERVED THIS FLOW OF THOUGHTS AND SENSES AND ASKED, "THEN WHERE AM I ?" THE PARTS DO NOT ADD UP TO A WHOLE; THEY JUST FLOW BY. LIKE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA, THE MIND IS A FIELD OF FORCES, NO MORE THE SEAT OF INTELLIGENCE THAN RADIATION OR GRAVITY IS. JUST AS THE WORLD DISSOLVES INTO A SEA OF ENERGY, THE MIND DISSOLVES INTO A RIVER OF IMPRESSIONS AND THOUGHTS, A FLOW OF FRAGMENTARY DATA THAT DO NOT HOLD TOGETHER. WESTERN PHILOSOPHERS HAVE REASONED THEIR WAY TO A SIMILAR CONCLUSION, BUT WITH THEM IT WAS INTELLECTUAL EXERCISE. FOR THESE ANCIENT SAGES, HOWEVER, THESE WERE NOT LOGICAL CONCLUSIONS BUT PERSONAL DISCOVERIES. THEY WERE ACTUALLY EXPLORING THE MIND, TESTING EACH LEVEL OF AWARENESS BY WITHDRAWING CONSCIOUSNESS TO THE LEVEL BELOW. IN PROFOUND MEDITATION, THEY FOUND, WHEN CONSCIOUSNESS IS SO ACUTELY FOCUSED THAT IT IS UTTERLY WITHDRAWN FROM THE BODY AND MIND, IT ENTERS A KIND OF SINGULARITY IN WHICH THE SENSE OF A SEPERATE EGO DISAPPEARS. IN THIS STATE, THE SUPREME CLIMAX OF MEDITATION, THE SEERS DISCOVERED A CORE OF CONSCIOUSNESS BEYOND TIME AND CHANGE. THEY CALLED IT SIMPLY ATMAN OR SELF.
WE HAVE DESCRIBED THE DISCOVERY OF ATMAN AND BRAHMAN -- GOD IMMANENT AND GOD TRANSCENDENT -- AS SEPERATE, BUT THERE IS NO REAL DISTINCTION. IN THE CLIMAX OF MEDITATION, THE SAGES DISCOVERED UNITY: THE SAME INDIVISIBLE REALITY WITHOUT AND WITHIN. IT WAS ADVAITA, "NOT TWO". THE CHANDYOGA UPNISHAD SAYS EPIGRAMMATICALLY, TAT TWAM ASI: "THOU ART THAT". ATMAN IS BRAHMAN THE SELF IN EACH PERSON IS NOT DIFFERENT FROM THE GODHEAD.
NOR IS IT DIFFERENT FROM PERSON TO PERSON. THE SELF IS ONE, THE SAME IN EVERY CREATURE. THIS IS NOT SOME PECULIAR TENET OF THE HINDU SCRIPTURES; IT IS THE TESTIMONY OF WHO HAS UNDERGONE THESE EXPERIMENTS IN THE DEPTHS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND FOLLOWED THEM THROUGH TO THE END.
HERE IS RUYSBROECK, A GREAT MYSTIC OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE; EVERY WORD IS MOST CAREFULLY CHOSEN:
" THE IMAGE OF GOD IS FOUND ESSENTIALLY AND PERSONALLY IN ALL MANKIND.
EACH POSSESSES IT WHOLE, ENTIRE AND UNDIVIDED, AND ALL TOGETHER NOT
MORE THAN ONE ALONE. IN THIS WAY WE ARE ALL ONE, INTIMATELY UNITED IN
OUR ETERNAL IMAGE, WHICH IS THE IMAGE OF GOD AND THE SOURCE IN US OF
ALL OUR LIFE".
THE BHAGVAD GITA , TRANSLATED AND INTRODUCED BY.... EKNATH EASWARAN
HISTORIANS SURMISE THAT LIKE THE ILIAD THE MAHABHARTA MIGHT WELL BE BASED ON ACTUAL EVENTS, CULMINATING IN A WAR THAT TOOK PLACE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 1000 AND 700 B.C. - CLOSE, THAT IS, TO THE VERY DAWN OF RECORDED INDIAN HISTORY. THIS GUESS HAS RECENTLY BEEN SUPPORTED BY EXCAVATIONS AT THE ANCIENT CITY OF DWARKA, WHICH, ACCORDING TO MAHABHARTA, WAS DESTROYED AND SUBMURGED IN THE SEA AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF ITS DIVINE RULER, LORD KRISHNA. ONLY 500 YEARS OR SO BEFORE THIS, BY GENERALLY ACCEPTED GUESS, ARYAN TRIBES ORIGINALLY FROM THE CAUCASUS HAD INVADED THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT AND IMPOSED THEIR MARTIAL CIVILIZATION ON THE PEOPLES THEY FOUND, BRINGING THE PROTOTYPE OF THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND COUNTLESS ELEMENTS OF BELEIF AND CULTURE THAT HAVE BEEN PART OF THE HUNDU TRADITION EVER SINCE. THE OLDEST PART OF THE MOST ANCIENT OF HINDU SCRIPTURES , THE RIG VEDA , DATES FROM THIS PERIOD - ABOUT 1500 B.C., IF NOT EARLIER.
YET THE REAL SOURCES OF INDIAN RELIGIOUS FAITH MUST BE TRACED TO A MUCH EARLIER EPOCH. WHEN THE ARYANS ENTERED THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS OF THE HINDU KUSH, THEY ENCOUNTERED A CIVILIZATION ON THE BANKS OF THE INDUS RIVER THAT ARCHEOLOGISTS DATE BACK AS FAR AS 3000 B.C. ROUGHLY CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH THE PYRAMID-BUILDERS ON THE NILE, THESE INDUS-DWELLERS ACHIEVED A COMPARABLE LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGY. THEY HAD METALWORKS SKILLED IN SHEET MAKING, RIVETING AND CASTING OF COPPER AND BRONZE, CRAFTS AND INDUSTRIES WITH STANDARDIZED METHODS OF PRODUCTION, LAND AND SEA TRADE WITH CULTURES AS FAR AWAY AS MESOPOTAMIA, AND WELL PLANNED CITIES WITH WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION SYSTEMS UNEQUALED UNTIL THE ROMANS. EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THEY MAY HAVE USED A DECIMAL SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT. BUT MOST REMARKABLE, IT IS APPARENTLY HERE AND NOT WITH THE ARYANS THAT THE GREAT SPIRITUAL DISCOVERIES OF HINDUISM ORIGINATED. IMAGES OF SHIVA AS YOGESHWARA, THE LORD OF YOGA, SUGGEST THAT MEDITATION WAS PRACTICED IN A CIVILIZATION WHICH FLOURISHED A MILLENIUM BEFORE THE VEDAS WERE COMMITTED TO AN ORAL TRADITION. IF IT IS SO, IT WOULD IMPLY THAT THE SAME SYSTEMATIC ATTITUDE THE INDUS VALLEY DWELLERS APPLIED TO THEIR TECHNOLOGY WAS APPLIED ALSO TO STUDY OF THE MIND. THIS WAS BRAHMAVIDYA, THE "SUPREME SCIENCE" -- SUPREME BECAUSE WHERE OTHER SCIENCES STUDIED THE EXTERNAL WORLD, BRAHMAVIDYA SOUGHT KNOWLEDGE OF AN UNDERLYING REALITY WHICH WOULD INFORM ALL OTHER STUDIES AND ACTIVITIES.
WHATEVER ITS ORIGINS, IN THE EARLY PART OF THE FIRST MILLENIUM B.C., WE FIND CLEARLY STATED BOTH THE METHODS AND THE DISCOVERIES OF BRAHMAVIDYA. WITH THIS INTROSPECTIVE TOOL THE INSPIRED RISHIS ( LITERALLY "SEERS" ) OF ANCIENT INDIA ANALYZED THEIR AWARENESS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE TO SEE IF THERE WAS ANYTHING IN IT THAT WAS ABSOLUTE. THEIR FINDINGS CAN BE SUMMARIZED IN THREE STATEMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN CALLED AS PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY BY ALDOUS HUXLEY, BECAUSE THEY APPEAR IN EVERY AGE AND CIVILIZATION.
(1) THERE IS AN INFINITE, CHANGELESS REALITY BENEATH THE WORLD OF CHANGE;
(2) THIS SAME REALITY LIES AT THE CORE OF EVERY HUMAN PERSONALITY;
(3) THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS TO DISCOVER THIS REALITY EXPERIMENTALLY: THAT IS TO REALISE GOD WHILE HERE
WHILE HERE ON EARTH.
THESE PRINCIPLES AND THE INTERIOR EXPERIMENTS FOR REALIZING THEM WERE TAUGHT SYSTEMATICALLY IN "FOREST ACADEMIES" OR ASHRAMS - A TRADITION WHICH CONTINUES UNBROKEN AFTER SOME THREE THOUSAND YEARS.
THE DISCOVERIES OF BRAHMAVIDYA WERE SYSTEMATICALLY COMMITTED TO MEMORY ( AND EVENTUALLY TO WRITING ) IN THE UPNISHADS, VISIONARY DOCUMENTS THAT ARE THE EARLIEST AND THE PUREST STATEMENTS OF THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY. HOW MANY OF THESE PRECIOUS RECORDS ONCE EXISTED, NO ONE KNOWS; SOME 108 HAVE SURVIVED AS PART OF THE HINDU CANNON OF AUTHORITY, THE FOUR VEDAS. ALL HAVE ONE UNMISTAKABLE HALLMARK: THE VIVID STAMP OF PERSONAL MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE. THESE ARE RECORDS OF DIRECT ENCOUNTER WITH THE DIVINE. TRADITION CALLS THEM "SHRUTI" LITERALLY "HEARD", AS OPPOSED TO LEARNED; THEY ARE THEIR OWN AUTHORITY. BY CONVENTION, ONLY THE VEDAS ( INCLUDING THEIR UPNISHADS ) ARE CONSIDERED SHRUTI, BASED ON DIRECT KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
THE GITA, WE WOULD ARGUE , IS NOT AN INTEGRAL PART OF MAHABHARATA. IT IS ESENTIALLY AN UPNISHAD, SET DOWN BY AN INSPIRED SEER ( VED VYASA ) AND INSERTED INTO THE EPIC AT AN APPROPRIATE PLACE. OTHER FRAGMENTS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN ADDED IN THIS WAY TO THE MAHABHARATA AND TO OTHER POPULAR SECONDARY SCRIPTURES; IT IS AN EFFECTIVE WAY OF PRESERVING NEW MATERIAL IN AN ORAL TRADITION. FINALLY BY WAY OF FURTHER SUPPORT, WE CAN OBSERVE THAT EXCEPT FOR ITS FIRST CHAPTER, WHICH SETS THE STAGE, THE GITA NOT ONLY DOES NOT DEVELOP THE ACTION OF THE MAHABHARATA BUT IS RATHER AT ODDS WITH IT. BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN --- THE CLIMAX OF DECADES OF DISSENSION--- AND ON THE EVE OF COMBAT, PRINCE ARJUNA LOSES HIS NERVE AND ASKS HIS CHARIOTEER , KRISHNA , WHAT TO DO. THEN WHAT ? KRISHNA --- NO ORDINARY CHARIOTEER, BUT AN INCARNATION OF GOD -- ENTERS INTO SOME SEVEN HUNDRED VERSES OF SUBLIME INSTRUCTION ON THE NATURE OF THE SOUL AND ITS RELATION TO GOD, THE LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND REALITY, THE MAKE UP OF THE PHENOMENAL WORLD, AND SO ON, CULMINATING IN A STUPENDOUS MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE IN WHICH HE REVEALS HIMSELF TO ARJUNA AS THE TRANSCENDENT LORD OF LIFE AND DEATH. HE COUNSELS ARJUNA TO BE COMPASSIONATE TO FRIEND AND ENEMY ALIKE, TO SEE HIMSELF IN EVERY PERSON, TO SUFFER OTHER'S SORROWS AS HIS OWN. THEN THE GITA IS OVER , THE NARRATION PICKS UP AGAIN, AND THE BATTLE IS JOINED -- A TERRIBLE DESPERATE SLAUGHTER COMPROMISING EVERYONE'S HONOUR, BY THE END OF WHICH ARJUNA'S SIDE EMERGES VICTORIOUS BUT ALMOST EVERYMAN OF FIGHTING AGE ON BOTH SIDES HAS BEEN SLAIN. ONLY GREAT GENIUS WOULD HAVE PLACED GITA IN SUCH A DRAMATIC SETTING, BUT IT STANDS OUT FROM THE REST AS A TIMELESS, PRACTICAL MANUAL FOR DAILY LIVING.
TO THOSE WHO TAKE THIS DRAMATIC SETTING AS PART OF THE SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION AND GET ENTANGLED IN THE QUESTION OF THE GITA JUSTIFYING WAR, GANDHI HAD A PRACTICAL ANSWER; JUST BASE YOUR LIFE ON THE GITA SINCERELY AND SYSTEMATICALLY AND SEE IF YOU FIND KILLING OR EVEN HURTING OTHERS COMPATIBLE WITH TIS TEACHING. THE VERY HEART OF THE GITA'S MESSAGE IS TO SEE THE LORD IN EVERY CREATURE AND ACT ACCORDINGLY, AND THE SCRIPTURE IS FULL OF VERSES TO SPELL OUT WHAT IT MEANS:
I AM EVER PRESENT TO THOSE WHO HAVE REALISED ME IN EVERY CREATURE. SEEING ALL LIFE AS MY MANIFESTATION, THEY ARE NEVER SEPERATED FROM ME. THEY WORSHIP ME IN THE HEARTS OF ALL, AND ALL THEIR ACTIONS PROCEED FROM ME. WHERE EVER THEY LIVE, THEY ABIDE IN ME.
( CH:6 VERSES 30-31 )
WHEN A PERSON RESPONDS TO THE JOYS AND SORROWS OF OTHERS AS IF THEY WERE HIS OWN, HE HAS ATTAINED THE HIGHEST STATE OF SPIRITUAL UNION.
( CH:6 VERSE 32 )
HE ALONE SEES TRULY WHO SEES THE LORD THE SAME IN EVERY CREATURE, WHO SEES THE DEATHLES IN THE HEARTS OF ALL THAT DIE. SEEING THE SAME LORD EVERYWHERE, HE DOES NO HARM TO HIMSELF OR OTHERS. THUS HE ATTAINS THE SUPREME GOAL.
( CH:13 VERSE 27-28 )
SCHOLARS CAN DEBATE THE POINT FOR EVER, BUT WHEN THE GITA IS PRACTICED, I THINK, IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT THE STRUGGLE THE GITA IS CONCERNED WITH IS THE STRUGGLE FOR SELF MASTERY. IT WAS THE VYASA'S GENIUS TO TAKE THE WHOLE GREAT MAHABHARATA EPIC AND SEE IT AS METAPHOR FOR THE PERENNIAL WAR BETWEEN THE FORCES OF LIGHT AND THE FORCES OF DARKNESS IN EVERY HUMAN HEART. ARJUNA AND KRISHNA ARE THEN NO LONGER MERELY CHARACTERS IN A LITERARY MASTERPIECE. ARJUNA BECOMES EVERYMAN, ASKING THE LORD HIMSELF, SRI KRISHNA, THE PERENNIAL QUESTIONS ABOUT LIFE AND DEATH -- NOT AS A PHILOSOPHER BUT AS THE MAN OF ACTION. THUS GITA IS NOT AN EXTERNAL DIALOGUE, BUT AN INTERNAL ONE: BETWEEN THE ORDINARY HUMAN PERSONALITY, FULL OF QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE, AND OUR DEEPEST SELF, WHICH IS DIVINE.
THERE IS IN FACT NO OTHER WAY TO READ THE GITA AND GRASP ITS SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION. IF I COULD OFFER ONLY ONE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THIS DIVINE DIALOGUE, IT WOULD BE TO REMEMBER THAT IT TAKES PLACE IN THE DEPTHS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THAT KRISHNA IS NOT SOME EXTERNAL BEING, HUMAN OR SUPER HUMAN, BUT THE SPARK OF DIVINITY THAT LIES AT THE CORE OF THE HUMAN PERSONALITY. THIS IS NOT LITERARY OR PHILOSOPHICAL CONJECTURE; KRISHNA SAYS AS MUCH TO ARJUNA OVER AND OVER. : " I AM THE SELF IN THE HEART OF EVERY CREATURE, ARJUNA, AND THE BEGINNING , MIDDLE AND THE END OF THEIR EXISTENCE " ( CH:10 VERSE 20 )
IN SUCH STATEMENTS, THE GITA DISTILLS THE ESSENCE OF THE UPNISHADS , NOT PEACEMEAL BUT COMPREHENSIVELY, OFFERING THEIR LOFTY INSIGHTS AS A MANUAL NOT OF PHILOSOPHY BUT OF EVERYDAY HUMAN ACTIVITY-- A HANDBOOK OF THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY UNIQUE IN THE WORLD HISTORY.
THE UPNISHADIC BACKGROUND
THE GITA , NATURALLY ENOUGH , TAKES FOR GRANTED THAT ITS AUDIENCE IS FAMILIAR WITH THE BASIC IDEAS OF HINDU RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS, ALMOST ALL OF WHICH CAN BE FOUND IN THE UPNISHADS. IT ALSO USES SOME TECHNICAL VOCABULARY FROM YOGA PSYCHOLOGY. ALL THIS NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED IN CONTEMPORAY TERMS IF THE MODERN READER IS TO GRASP WHAT IS ESSENTIAL AND TIMELESS IN GITA'S MESSAGE AND NOT GET BOGGED DOWN IN STRANGE TERMINOLOGY. FIRST, HOWEVER, THE NON-HINDU FACES A THIRD OBSTACLE; THE MULTIPLICITY OF NAMES USED FOR ASPECTS OF GOD. FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES, HINDUISM HAS PROCLAIMED ONE GOD. WHILE ACCOMODATING WORSHIP OF HIM ( OR HER, AS FOR MILLIONS GOD IS THE DIVINE MOTHER ) IN MANY DIFFERENT NAMES. " TRUTH IS ONE " SAYS A FAMOUS VERSE OF RIGVEDA; " MEN CALL IT BY VARIOUS NAMES ". BUT WHATEVER FORM IS WORSHIPPED, IT IS ONLY AN ASPECT OF THE SAME ONE GOD. IN THE GITA, INFACT, VERTUALLY EVERYWHERE IN HINDU MYTH AND SCRIPTURE-- WE ALSO ENCOUNTER "THE GODS" IN THE PLURAL. THESE ARE THE DEVAS, DEITIES WHICH SEEM TO HAVE COME IN WITH THE ARYANS AND WHICH HAVE RECOGNIZABLE COUNTERPARTS IN OTHER ARYAN-INFLUENCED CULTURES. INDRA-GOD OF WAR AND STORM; VARUNA-GOD OF WATERS AND A MORAL OVERSEER; AGNI-GOD OF FIRE, THE HERMES LIKE INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH; AND SO ON. THE GITA TO DEVAS AS BEING WORSHIPPED BY THOSE WHO WANT TO PROPITIATE NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL POWERS, IN MUCH THE SAME WAY THAT ANCESTORS WERE WORSHIPPED. IN MODERN TERMS , THEY CAN BEST BE UNDERSTOOD AS PERSONIFYING THE FORCES OF NATURE.
ATMAN AND BRAHMAN
THE UPNISHADS ARE NOT SYSTEMATIC PHILOSOPHY; THEY ARE MORE LIKE ESCTATIC SLIDE SHOWS OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE - VIVID, DISJOINTED, STAMPED WITH THE POWER OF DIRECT PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH THE DIVINE. THEY SIMPLY SET DOWN WHAT THE RISHIS ( SEERS ) SAW, VIEWING THE ULTIMATE REALITY FROM DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SPIRITUAL AWARENESS, LIKE THE SNAPSHOTS OF THE SAME OBJECTS FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES. bUT THE UPNISHADS TOO AGRRE ON THEIR CENTRAL IDEAS : BRAHMAN - THE GODHEAD , ATMAN - THE DIVINE CORE OF PERSONALITY, DHARMA - THE LAW THAT EXPRESSES AND MAINTAINES THE UNITY OF CREATION, KARMA - THE WEB OF CAUSE AND EFFECT, SAMSARA - THE CYCLE OF BIRTH AND DEATH, MOKSHA - THE SPIRITUAL LIBERATION THAT IS LIFE'S SUPREME GOAL.
EVEN WHILE ANCIENT INDIA WAS MAKING BREAKTHROUGHS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS, THE SAGES OF THE UPNISHADS WERE TURNING INWARD TO ANALYZE THE DATA THAT NATURE PRESENTS TO THE MIND. PENETRATING BELOW THE SENSES, THEY FOUND NOT A WORLD OF SOLID, SEPERATE OBJECTS, BUT A CEASELESS PROCESS OF CHANGE -- MATTER COMING TOGETHER, DISSOLVING, AND COMING TOGETHER AGAIN IN A DIFFERENT FORM. BELOW THIS FLUX OF THINGS WITH "NAME AND FORM", HOWEVER THEY FOUND SOMETHING CHANGELESS: AN INFINITE, INDIVISIBLE REALITY IN WHICH THE TRANSIENT DATA OF THE WORLD COHERE. THEY CALLED THIS REALITY, BRAHMAN: THE GODHEAD, THE DIVINE GROUND OF EXISTENCE. THIS ANALYSIS OF THE PHENOMENAL WORLD TALLIES WELL WITH THE CONTEMPORAY PHYSICS. A PHYSICIST WOULD REMIND US THAT THE THINGS WE SEE "OUT THERE", ARE NOT ULTIMATELY SEPERATE FROM EACH OTHER AND FROM US; WE PERCEIVE THEM AS SEPERATE BECAUSE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF OUR SENSES. IF OUR EYES WERE SENSITIVE TO A MUCH FINER SPECTRUM, WE MIGHT SEE THE WORLD AS A CONTINUOUS FIELD OF MATTER AND ENERGY. LIKE THE PHYSICISTS, THESE ANCIENT SAGES WERE SEEKING AN INVARIANT. THEY FOUND IT IN BRAHMAN.
IN EXAMINING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF OURSELVES, THE SAGES MADE A SIMILAR DISCOVERY. INSTEAD OF A SINGLE COHERENT PERSONALITY, THEY FOUND LAYER ON LAYER OF COMPONENTS -- SENSES, EMOTIONS, WILL, INTELLECT, EGO--EACH IN FLUX. AT DIFFERENT TIME AND IN DIFFERENT COMPANY, THE SAME PERSON SEMMS TO HAVE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES. MOODS SHIFT AND FLICKER, EVEN IN THOSE WHO ARE EMOTIONALLY STABLE; DESIRES AND OPINIONS CHANGE WITH TIME. CHANGE IS THE NATURE OF THE MIND. THE SAGES OBSERVED THIS FLOW OF THOUGHTS AND SENSES AND ASKED, "THEN WHERE AM I ?" THE PARTS DO NOT ADD UP TO A WHOLE; THEY JUST FLOW BY. LIKE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA, THE MIND IS A FIELD OF FORCES, NO MORE THE SEAT OF INTELLIGENCE THAN RADIATION OR GRAVITY IS. JUST AS THE WORLD DISSOLVES INTO A SEA OF ENERGY, THE MIND DISSOLVES INTO A RIVER OF IMPRESSIONS AND THOUGHTS, A FLOW OF FRAGMENTARY DATA THAT DO NOT HOLD TOGETHER. WESTERN PHILOSOPHERS HAVE REASONED THEIR WAY TO A SIMILAR CONCLUSION, BUT WITH THEM IT WAS INTELLECTUAL EXERCISE. FOR THESE ANCIENT SAGES, HOWEVER, THESE WERE NOT LOGICAL CONCLUSIONS BUT PERSONAL DISCOVERIES. THEY WERE ACTUALLY EXPLORING THE MIND, TESTING EACH LEVEL OF AWARENESS BY WITHDRAWING CONSCIOUSNESS TO THE LEVEL BELOW. IN PROFOUND MEDITATION, THEY FOUND, WHEN CONSCIOUSNESS IS SO ACUTELY FOCUSED THAT IT IS UTTERLY WITHDRAWN FROM THE BODY AND MIND, IT ENTERS A KIND OF SINGULARITY IN WHICH THE SENSE OF A SEPERATE EGO DISAPPEARS. IN THIS STATE, THE SUPREME CLIMAX OF MEDITATION, THE SEERS DISCOVERED A CORE OF CONSCIOUSNESS BEYOND TIME AND CHANGE. THEY CALLED IT SIMPLY ATMAN OR SELF.
WE HAVE DESCRIBED THE DISCOVERY OF ATMAN AND BRAHMAN -- GOD IMMANENT AND GOD TRANSCENDENT -- AS SEPERATE, BUT THERE IS NO REAL DISTINCTION. IN THE CLIMAX OF MEDITATION, THE SAGES DISCOVERED UNITY: THE SAME INDIVISIBLE REALITY WITHOUT AND WITHIN. IT WAS ADVAITA, "NOT TWO". THE CHANDYOGA UPNISHAD SAYS EPIGRAMMATICALLY, TAT TWAM ASI: "THOU ART THAT". ATMAN IS BRAHMAN THE SELF IN EACH PERSON IS NOT DIFFERENT FROM THE GODHEAD.
NOR IS IT DIFFERENT FROM PERSON TO PERSON. THE SELF IS ONE, THE SAME IN EVERY CREATURE. THIS IS NOT SOME PECULIAR TENET OF THE HINDU SCRIPTURES; IT IS THE TESTIMONY OF WHO HAS UNDERGONE THESE EXPERIMENTS IN THE DEPTHS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND FOLLOWED THEM THROUGH TO THE END.
HERE IS RUYSBROECK, A GREAT MYSTIC OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE; EVERY WORD IS MOST CAREFULLY CHOSEN:
" THE IMAGE OF GOD IS FOUND ESSENTIALLY AND PERSONALLY IN ALL MANKIND.
EACH POSSESSES IT WHOLE, ENTIRE AND UNDIVIDED, AND ALL TOGETHER NOT
MORE THAN ONE ALONE. IN THIS WAY WE ARE ALL ONE, INTIMATELY UNITED IN
OUR ETERNAL IMAGE, WHICH IS THE IMAGE OF GOD AND THE SOURCE IN US OF
ALL OUR LIFE".
posted by K D Singh at 7:28 AM
