The Bhagavad Gita (16 page)

  1  Arjuna asks, “If Divinity is everything in the world,
i
Krishna, then what is the difference between the world and Divinity? How can one distinguish between one’s worldly body and godly soul? What is the difference between physical matter and the world of Spirit? And is there any benefit in learning this?”

Krishna responds, “These are important questions, Arjuna. When you know the true nature of the material world your grief is destroyed; when you understand the true nature of the Spirit, bliss is acquired.

“The term
field
denotes one’s physical body and everything else in the material world. The
Knower of the Field
signifies the intelligent principle that resides in, but is not really a part of, the body and all matter. This indwelling intelligence is the mysterious entity within that is close enough to watch what goes on in the ‘field’ and yet stands somewhat separate from it. It is also referred to as soul, or
Atma.

  2  “Arjuna, I am the Knower of the Field, the Indweller in everybody and everything. I am the innermost Self, the soul, the
Atma
in all beings. The ability to discriminate between the field and its Knower is the utmost highest knowledge, as it requires a true understanding of both secular things and sacred knowing. So listen carefully.”

  3  “I will now further explain what the field — the world of nature — consists of, where it came from, and why and how it operates. Then I will tell you more of the Knower of the Field and the powers of the Knower.

  4  “Though quite intricate, this is a wondrous inquiry, Arjuna. The great sages in prehistoric times discovered these profound truths through meditation and precise reasoning. Down through the ages they expressed them through chants and aphorisms
(vedas),
carefully balancing their deep love for God with rigorous questioning and understanding so that these truths would appeal jointly to the heart and the head.

5-6  “First, understand that truly knowing the field, the natural world
(prakriti),
is not simply a process of listing the myriad items that comprise it. To understand nature itself it is necessary to know something about
human consciousness. To
know
something is to be conscious of it. You become conscious of things in the world (that is, you ‘know’ them) through the mechanisms of perception in your nervous system — sight, hearing, feeling, mind, and so forth. But the nervous system is itself a part of nature; that which you use to know the world, nature, is also nature. Thus, that which is known cannot really be separated from the knower of it.

“Also understand, Arjuna, that
all
of the natural world, all of
prakriti,
originates in consciousness itself — the One Supreme Consciousness, Divinity. In the natural world Supreme Consciousness separates into many forces both physical and mental — endlessly combining and recombining. Everything known or knowable stems from Consciousness. Knowing this, one really knows the field.

“The following are the twenty-five components of nature, the field:

“First, there is the ‘unmanifested’ (the
mahat,
literally ‘the great cause’). This is a latent reasoning force, the first glimmering of an ego sense in the cosmos, an early, raw capacity to differentiate and decide — like a seed that drinks in moisture and is about to swell in size prior to sprouting. It is this ‘unmanifested’ that gives rise to mind, matter, and energy.

“From this first comes the higher mind (intellect,
buddhi
), the discriminatory faculty, the ability to distinguish between Real and not-Real (between the spiritual Self and worldly self).

“From
buddhi
comes the ego that we know, the principle of individuation (
ahamkara
), which causes one
to be aware of one’s self as an apparently separate entity.

“From the ego principle is produced the lower mind (
manas,
usually referred to simply as ‘mind’). Its job is to receive through the senses and process the messages received from the field, and carry them to the intellect. Included here are certain subtle modifications of mind: desire and aversion, pleasure and pain, the experience of one’s physical body, intelligence (the power to interpret), and the mental experience of physical stamina.

“Emerging from this level of mind are the ten sense organs (
indriyas
), which are not physical
organs
per se but powerful sensory mechanisms or capabilities. There are two sets: the five ‘organs’ of perception (hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell), and the five organs of action (vocal cords, hands, feet, the reproductive and generative organs, and elimination organs).

“From these ten sense organs develop the five so-called ‘objects of the senses,’ which are not solid objects but the subtle essences in the world that attract the senses. These ‘sense objects’ are sound (audibility, resonance, sonority); feeling (tactility, texture, tangibility); aspect (the
look
of something — shape, color, brightness); taste (gustation, flavor, savoriness); and smell (olfaction, odors, scents, fragrances).

“Lastly produced are the five age-old categories of components into which the mind organizes all worldly matter — the five basic elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space.

“Those are the twenty-four constituents of inert matter that comprise the field. There is actually one more: the mysterious vital force,
Atma,
that infuses life into all this material. This makes up the total twenty-five.”

  7  “Arjuna, I will now turn from the field to the qualities of the Knower of the Field. This intuitive knowledge is beyond intellectual knowing. It comes through possessing distinctive virtues and outlooks that, taken together, give rise to such knowing.

“The Knower of the Field is humble and harmless. Be like this Knower. Know in your heart that all excellence emanates only from the Divine. Be gentle. Be forgiving of any hurt received. Be upright and harmonized in thought, word, and deed. Serve your teacher and imbibe his or her good traits and disposition. Be steadfast in your spiritual development. Be pure of mind — escape the worldly deluge of mental pollution, because purity is indispensable to your spiritual growth. Be ever in control of your body, mind, and senses.

  8  “Be detached from egoism, selfishness, and the attractions of the world. Do not see yourself as this body-mind complex that suffers the pains of bondage to birth, aging, death, and rebirth. Know instead that you are
Atma,
the Eternal Reality beyond all that.

  9  “Meet the inevitable good and bad of life with an even mind. To no one or no thing be a slave! Be tied neither to possessions nor family. Love and fulfill your
responsibilities to spouse, children, home, and kin, but do not become so identified with them that you forget
Atma,
your True Self Within.

10  “The way to do all this is through loving Me with your heart undistracted. Be ever intent on Divinity. Center all your thoughts on Me. Turn your back on social life and the commotion of the crowds. Prefer for now the company of like-minded persons, and then, as you advance, sever even from them — but not as a hermit, as a detached
yogi.

11  “Grow in wisdom through diligent inquiry into the nature of Self and non-Self. Only Divinity is Truth, Arjuna, and
Atma
is truly Divinity. This I declare to be true knowledge. To seek anything else is to seek ignorance.”

12    Krishna continues, “I will now tell you what you need to know to go beyond death to immortality. The goal of spiritual wisdom is to
realize —
to know in your heart — the Supreme Godhead that is both being and nonbeing, both manifested and unmanifested.

13-15  “The Godhead dwells in all creation, in all hands and feet, in the heads of all beings as their eyes, ears, and mouths. It is Itself devoid of senses, yet Its subtle powers perform the tasks of the senses. This Divinity is totally independent, yet It supports all things. The Godhead is beyond the three
gunas
of nature, yet It is the very consciousness in them. It is inside and outside all beings. It is both formless and with form. It moves and does not move. Its subtlety and mystery is incomprehensible to the nonpurified mind. To the
ignorant the Godhead is distant; to the knowledgeable It is very near.

16  “Divinity is subtle and beyond comprehension. It appears to be many but is one undivided. Divinity sends creation out from within Itself; It protects creation, preserves it, and dissolves it.

17  “As the Lighter of all lights, the Godhead, Brahman, dwells in each and every heart, beyond the darkness of ignorance. It is the True Self Within, the sole goal of knowledge; and indeed It is Knowledge Itself.

18  “That is the truth about the field and its Knower (about matter and Spirit, body and Soul). Devoted people who grow to understand this profound, mysterious truth are worthy to be united with Me.”

19  “Also know, Arjuna, that both nature and Spirit, both
prakriti
(the field) and
Purusha
(Pure Consciousness), are without beginning. Know that all of physical nature evolves from Consciousness. And know that all of nature and all the attributes in nature are nothing but the permutation and combination of the three
guna-
qualities of nature I mentioned earlier: calm goodness
(sattva),
passionate action
(rajas),
and dark lethargy
(tamas).
And know that nature
(prakriti)
alone is the source of everything in the physical universe.

20  “The cause of your body is nature
(prakriti),
but the cause of your aliveness — your experience of being an individual, feeling joy and sorrow in a particular body — is Spirit
(Purusha).

21  “This Spirit-self
(jiva)
that takes residence in a material body forgets its true nature
(Atma)
and mistakenly identifies itself with that body. Thus it becomes attached to nature, to
the gunas.
While the individual is a mixture of all three
guna
qualities, the one to which it is most attached predominates, and the individual becomes that type of person, experiencing the behaviors, sensations, and delusions that are peculiar to that quality — becoming a generally calm
(sattvic)
person, an active
(rajasic)
person, or a lethargic
(tamasic)
person. As the individual is now a part of nature, it is bound to participate in repeated births and deaths, the painful destiny of all matter.