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Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
I will speak about the subject I discussed last evening for the evening Gita discussions. When are you going to be clear and sure about this point? Is the Supreme Reality one or more? What is that Reality? Where can it be experienced? Is that experience full and conclusive? Can you meddle with it?
Our whole scriptures speak about only Brahman. “ब्रह्मवित् आप्नोति परम्” (Brahmavit āpnoti param), this is our motto. ब्रह्मवित् आप्नोति परम् - The one who knows Brahman attains the Supreme. What is this Brahman? In one sense, it is indescribable, in another sense everything is that, that alone is everything. It is this Brahman which derives the name Ātma when we identify Him as the presence in our body which animates and activates the body.
The independent definition of Ātma is “अहं प्रत्यय गोचरः” (ahaṁ pratyaya gocaraḥ). It is that presence which is denoted by the term ‘I’, so you cannot mistake it at all, it is within one’s own body, inside the chest and the back and the head and the foot. It is not one millimeter away. This Ātma itself derives the name ‘Brahman’ when you relate it to a kind of an extensive all-pervading presence.
The space inside a picture, inside a house and outside, though we make three references to space, inside a picture kept in a house, then inside a house, and then in the whole world; though three references and locations are made, don’t you think the space is only one? The same is the case with Brahman and also Ātma. As related to our own body we call it the self; as related to the world we call it Brahman. The Brahman and Ātman are the only points to be sought, to be realized, to be known. And what is the definition of this Ātma? The first description that Krishna makes in Bhagavad Gita is:
Krishna starts His instruction from here, “There was no time when I was not Arjuna, you were not, these people Bheeshma, Drona and the others were not. That means we were present throughout. Na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ, there will be no time we will not be present. As we are present now, we were and we shall be.”
This is not applicable only to Krishna but also to Arjuna, Bheeshma, Drona and the others. So it is a universal truth about all bodies, all people, all individuals. He further explains that:
What does it mean in simple meaning? It never gets born nor does it ever die. It has to be present not after having become, it is present not from a particular point before which it was not, it is present as it was present and it will be present. How do you describe it by its qualities? Unborn, ever-present, eternal, changeless, most ancient, even when the body is killed it does not die. Whoever understands this soul in this manner, he neither kills nor cause another person to kill.
Whoever takes this Ātma to be killing or to be getting killed, both of them do not know the Truth. I don’t know what further do you want to say.
One, there is only Ātma, that itself is Brahman. That is never born, never it dies, it doesn’t have to be undergoing a process in order to be present before us or around us. There is nothing like killing or getting killed. Anybody who feels so, he doesn’t understand the Truth. Now this is the Truth; naturally all others are untruth. Why are you afraid or doubtful to say so?
In spite of having heard Krishna well, Arjuna still asks, “If a yoga sādhaka is not able to complete his pursuit and he dies, what will happen to him?” Is yoga sādhanā pursued to give us a benefit after death or is yoga sādhanā pursued in order to derive the benefit here? In a school, so many students write the examination, all of them don’t get the same marks. They all pass. You may not fully become a yogi but you can always partly become a yogi and that is sufficient, more than so. Then why are you extrapolating so many thoughts in the subject? But that is the nature of man. So when extrapolation such as this is made, then Krishna has to give an answer which will put him to rest and confidence.
So if a yogi happens to drop his body without having completed his pursuit, what will happen? For whatever he has done, he will enjoy the benefit. All people are not equally rich, equally healthy, but they also live. So the enquiry as to what will happen to such a person after death is absolutely irrelevant, ridiculous but the human mind out of its attachment and delusion is tempted to make such a question. So that question is answered in the same coin.
So he says, after dying he will go to the best world in comparison. He will live there as long as he wants, then he will come back. Where will he come back? Nobody knows. So in the world there are differences, some people are poor, some people are resourceful, some are happy, comfortable. So it is said that he will come back to a very good house of prosperity, cleanliness and hygiene. Another is in a yogic family where all are equally inclined towards yoga. There, his old tendencies will grip him and he will start pursuing the sādhanā, will complete it and be full.
Arjuna raises a question which was groundless but rather than arguing about it, Krishna also gives a groundless answer. Can we trace anybody beyond this life time? We only have this life between birth and death. We know nothing before birth and after death. So when Krishna answers, immediately why are you rushing to the conclusion that there is rebirth? But people are so deluded and fearful that they always look for a continuity, at least improvement from what they have done. I don’t think any further questions arise here.
So the answer Krishna has given is only an answer and the question which Arjuna has raised is only a doubt and a curiosity. So that doubt has to be dispelled and that curiosity has to be fulfilled. Both are done by Krishna. In saying so, the truth and position about the soul that it is unborn and undying is not the least affected, changed or replaced. I think I should stop here and I would like to know how you find this.
Suppose a thought occurs to you before death, even for a fulfilled man, “Oh! I have not done much for the people; I would like to do a lot more.” Somebody comes and consoles you, “This body is already old, so it cannot live for a long time. Let this body fall and get a young body and do your service very well.” He will be very happy to hear it and he will go. Let him go. These words consoled him; that was the need. Whether they are going to be true or not, why are we worried about? The facts (I don’t know whether you understand me) we are now confronted with are themselves fictitious.
We have three states: jāgrat, svapna and suṣupti. We agree that svapna is fallacious. If svapna is fallacious, then jāgrat also is fallacious and sleep also is fallacious. Other than the experienced phenomena, why should we worry about? In spite of it, fears and apprehensions like Arjuna’s do come to our mind. So the answer is - treat them at their level and give them whatever effective answer you can. It does not alter the status of reality. By saying this, the Ātma is not going to have a further birth, by not saying it also it makes no difference. Why don’t you understand it very clearly? Is birth, death and rebirth the message of Bhagavad Gita or the unborn, the undying, the changeless, the ever present Ātma is the message?
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
