Mahabharata: Vol. 5 (75 page)

²⁸⁵
This is knowledge through self-realization (vijnana), as opposed to knowledge through instruction or texts (jnana).

²⁸⁶
By implication, among thousands.

²⁸⁷
More generally, energy.

²⁸⁸
The Gita uses the expression
apara
prakriti. This corresponds to what is called prakriti in sankhya philosophy, the original source of the material world. And the Gita uses the expression
para
prakriti for what is called purusha in sankhya philosophy. Apara prakriti is inert or inactive and insensate. Para prakriti is active and sensate.

²⁸⁹
Para prakriti.

²⁹⁰
Sensate and insensate.

²⁹¹
Para prakriti.

²⁹²
The word used in the text is
pranava
.

²⁹³
The word used is
paurusha
and in stating that the brahman is present in human prowess, there are two related nuances. First, prowess has a divine origin and therefore, one shouldn’t be vain about it. Second, if the brahman is present in humans as prowess, there is no reason for weakness and one should attempt to awaken this innate prowess.

²⁹⁴
Desire is kama and is an emotion that concerns objects that haven’t been obtained. Attachment is
raga
and is an emotion that concerns objects that have already been obtained and are in one’s possession.

²⁹⁵
Everyone is not able to transcend desire. For ordinary people, some desire that concerns householder’s duties or the physical act of existence is sanctioned by dharma.

²⁹⁶
Bhava
has been translated as condition. When sattva dominates, the condition is characterized by thirst for knowledge, lack of attachment and the like. When rajas dominates, the condition is characterized by delight, pride, lust and the like. When tamas dominates, the condition is characterized by sorrow, illusion, sloth and the like.

²⁹⁷
The word used is maya and is commonly translated as illusion. For present purposes, maya seems to mean apara prakriti or prakriti of sankhya philosophy, created from the three gunas and therefore, constituting ignorance.

²⁹⁸
In this world or in heaven. The first three categories are driven by desire, of one form or another.

²⁹⁹
Always united with me and worshipping me alone.

³⁰⁰
These four.

³⁰¹
That form of god or idol.

³⁰²
That rite or method.

³⁰³
Those worshippers.

³⁰⁴
Are temporary.

³⁰⁵
Dvanda, mentioned earlier. Opposite sensations like pleasure and pain or happiness and unhappiness.

³⁰⁶
The jivatman.

³⁰⁷
This takes off from the last shloka of the last chapter, where there is a reference to the one who underlies all beings (
adhibhuta
), underlies all gods (
adhidaiva
) and underlies all yajnas (
adhiyajna
). This chapter is an answer to Arjuna’s questions about these and reiterates the road to unification with the supreme spirit.

³⁰⁸
The Sanskrit uses the expression
adhyatma
. This is usually, but not always, interpreted as the individual atman or jivatman. Adhyatma has also been interpreted as the natural trait of any object.

³⁰⁹
These expressions occur in the last verse of the preceding chapter. We have translated adhibhuta as that which underlies all beings and adhidaiva as that which underlies all gods. Adhibhuta is the temporary element that occupies all beings, such as that object’s nature or the body. Adhidaiva is the creator, Hiranyagarbha or Brahma. That last verse of the preceding chapter also has reference to that which underlies all yajnas, that is, adhiyajna. Adhiyajna is Vishnu. However, as we have said earlier, adhyatma has also been interpreted as the natural trait of any object. In that interpretation, adhibhuta is the temporary trait of any object and adhidaiva is its permanent counterpart. Paraphrased, the brahman is without qualities. But the brahman is manifested in a form with qualities for purposes of creating the universe and the elements and that is adhyatma. However, the universe and all action are temporary, they are adhibhuta. Nevertheless, the universe and all action retain a permanent quality and that is adhidaiva.

³¹⁰
Adhiyajna.

³¹¹
In sacrifices.

³¹²
The subject is suppressed in the Sanskrit. The subject is the yogi and he attains the supreme spirit.

³¹³
Beyond darkness can be interpreted in the metaphorical sense of being beyond transient nature. This description of the supreme spirit draws on the Upanishads.

³¹⁴
The thinking is taking place at the time of death.

³¹⁵
The Sanskrit says all the gates, and we have translated this as all the senses and organs. As mentioned earlier, the nine gates of the body are the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the mouth, the anus and the genital organ.

³¹⁶
Through rebirth.

³¹⁷
Through rebirth.

³¹⁸
There are seven lokas or worlds and in ascending order, these are
bhuh
(the earth),
bhuvah
,
svah
,
mahah
,
janah
,
tapah
and
satya
or
brahma
. Depending on one’s action, one may attain one of these lokas. But that residence there is temporary and is only for the duration that one’s righteous action entitles one to. Thereafter, one is reborn on earth unless one attains the brahman, when one is freed from the cycle.

³¹⁹
Yuga is an era or epoch. Each of Brahma’s days consists of four yugas—satya, treta, dvapara and kali. But before that, time is not the same for the gods and humans. Six human months correspond to a divine day and six human months correspond to a divine night. Therefore, 360 human years are equivalent to one divine year. Measured in divine years, satya yuga is 4,000 years, treta yuga is 3,000 years, dvapara yuga is 2,000 years and kali yuga is 1,000 years, giving a total of 10,000 years. But there are also 500 years as transition periods from one yuga to another, so a four yuga cycle actually consists of 12,000 divine years. A four yuga cycle, known as mahayuga, is therefore 4,320,000 human years, satya yuga contributing 1,728,000, treta yuga 1,296,000, dvapara yuga 864,000 and kali yuga 432,000 years. One thousand mahayugas are Brahma’s day and another 1,000 mahayugas are Brahma’s night. Each of Brahma’s days is called a kalpa. The beginning of a kalpa is when creation occurs and at the end of the kalpa, there is destruction.

³²⁰
There is an emphasis that it is the same beings that are born again and again.

³²¹
The first unmanifest is Brahma when he is sleeping, or nature (prakriti). The second unmanifest is the brahman or paramatman.

³²²
Kala
should actually be translated as time or period. But, in what follows, the enumeration is of path or road. Broadly, there are two roads to liberation—
devayana
and
pitriyana
. Devayana is the path of austerities, penance and knowledge, leading to the attainment of brahmaloka (Brahma’s world). Pitriyana is the path of action, righteous householder duties and action, leading to the attainment of chandraloka (the world of the moon).

³²³
Shuklapaksha
.

³²⁴
Uttarayana
, when the sun is in the northern
solstice
.

³²⁵
This is descriptive of devayana. Those who follow devayana are said to first attain energy and then, in ascending order, day, shuklapaksha, six months of uttarayana, the year, the sun, the moon, lightning, ending with brahmaloka.

³²⁶
Krishnapaksha.

³²⁷
Dakshinayana
, when the sun is in the southern solstice.

³²⁸
Is subject to rebirth. This is descriptive of pitriyana. Those who follow pitriyana are said to first attain smoke and then, in ascending order, night, krishnapaksha, six months of dakshinayana,
pitriloka
(the world of the ancestors), and the sky, ending with chandraloka.

³²⁹
The nature of the paramatman has been discussed in the preceding chapter and that chapter also explained bhakti yoga. This chapter extends those arguments and it is argued that compared to jnana yoga, the path of bhakti yoga is easier. In addition, the path of bhakti yoga is one that is available to everyone.

³³⁰
The Sanskrit can be translated as someone who is not envious or not a detractor who finds fault. Had Arjuna been such a person, secret knowledge shouldn’t have been divulged to him.

³³¹
As mentioned earlier, knowledge is jnana and self-realization is vijnana.

³³²
Both for secret and knowledge, the qualifying word raja is used. This can also be translated as royal. That explains the title of the chapter.

³³³
This apparent contradiction is the reason why the word yoga is used in this shloka. The paramatman is both with qualities (saguna) and nirguna (without qualities). In saguna form, beings are established in the paramatman, but not in nirguna form. Also, the paramatman is not established in beings because it is more than beings and the universe taken together.

³³⁴
At the end of a kalpa, destruction takes place and creation occurs when a new kalpa starts.

³³⁵
The beings are helpless because their rebirth and nature is preordained by their earlier action.

³³⁶
Alternatively, because of this, the universe goes round and round.

³³⁷
That is, those who are ignorant and show disrespect. Actually, the words asura and rakshasa are both used in the Sanskrit and we have captured both as demons. However, asura is the antithesis of gods (sura) and rakshasa is a separate species.

³³⁸
The subject is actually suppressed in the Sanskrit.

³³⁹
Worshipping as one means regarding the worshipper and the worshipped as identical. This can be called the
advaitva
attitude. Worshipping as separate is the
dvaitva
attitude, where the worshipper and the worshipper are regarded as distinct.

³⁴⁰
Kratu, yajna and svadha are all words for sacrifices, but they have been listed separately in the shloka. Svadha is a sacrifice performed specifically for dead ancestors, like
shraddha
ceremonies. Kratu is a ritualistic yajna, with prescribed rites. The word yajna can be used in the broader and non-ritualistic sense.

³⁴¹
The respective hymns that collectively constitute the Rig, the Sama and the Yajur Veda.

³⁴²
The repository of everything after destruction, and the seed of creation.

³⁴³
I provide heat as the sun and attract water up in the sky as clouds. The Sanskrit uses the words
sat
and
asat
and we have translated these as eternal and the transient, meaning the indestructible brahman and the transient universe. However, sat can also be translated as unmanifest nature and asat as its manifest counterpart. Indeed, in some Upanishads, sat is taken to mean what can be seen, that is, the universe and asat is taken to mean what cannot be seen, that is, the brahman. This will then be exactly the opposite of what we have translated. However, our translation is in conformity with usage elsewhere in the Gita.

³⁴⁴
The three Vedas—the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda and the Yajur Veda. The Atharva Veda came later.

³⁴⁵
Here, heaven can also be translated as the abode of Indra.

³⁴⁶
The three Vedas again.

³⁴⁷
What is yet to be attained is yoga and what has been attained is kshema.

³⁴⁸
To rebirth on earth.

³⁴⁹
Pitri
s or manes.

³⁵⁰
Alternatively, the spirits. The worshippers of yakshas or
raksha
s are examples.

³⁵¹
My worshippers.

³⁵²
As has been said earlier, sannyasa doesn’t mean asceticism and the abjuring of action. It means detachment and offering all action and its fruit to the paramatman.

³⁵³
The most evil of persons.

³⁵⁴
The idea is that the shastras are prohibited to women, vaishyas and shudras. But bhakti yoga is available to everyone. Those of evil birth means people whose evil actions in earlier lives have led to their present lowly stations. The construction doesn’t suggest ‘those who are of evil birth’ as an adjective for women, vaishyas or shudras. Instead, a separate category seems to be meant, perhaps those who were outside the fourfold caste system.

³⁵⁵
That they will attain supreme liberation.

³⁵⁶
This shloka causes a translation problem because the sentence is incomplete. Having attained what? One possibility is—having attained the status of pure brahmanas and royal sages. Another possibility is to link it to the clause about the earth being temporary and the source of unhappiness. Hence, having attained a status that is permanent and the source of happiness and so on. Either way, the translation, or the interpretation, doesn’t seem very convincing.

³⁵⁷
This is a continuation of the topics covered in the immediately preceding chapters. The nature of the paramatman is described. Thereafter, there is a listing