 Site menu |
|
| Login form |
|
| Search |
|
| Our poll |
|
| Statistics |
Total online: 1 Guests: 1 Users: 0 |
|
| Welcome, Guest · RSS |
2024-04-24, 1:19 PM |
|
|
Chapter 22: Prakriti and Purusha: Nature and the
Enjoyer
(1-3)
S'rî Uddhava said: 'O Lord of the
Universe, how many basic elements of creation have been enumerated by the seers? O Master, I
heard You speak about nine, eleven and five plus three basic elements
[see also 11.19: 14]. Some say there are [not twenty-eight but] twenty-six,
others speak of twenty-five or seven, some speak of nine, some of four
and others of eleven, while some speak of sixteen, seventeen or
thirteen. You should, o Eternal Supreme One, explain to us what the
sages have in mind who so differently express themselves.'
(4) The Supreme Lord said: 'With them [the
elements] being everywhere speak the brahmins the way it suits them,
after all, what would for those who concern themselves with [the
mystical potency of] My mâyâ be the wrong thing to
say? (5) 'It is not the way you say it, it is the way
I state it': this is what my unfathomable energies do to those who
argue logically [see darshanas and 6.4:
31]. (6) Because My energies interact rise
differences of opinion among the ones who talk about this subject, but
when one finds peace in the control over one's senses subsides the
controversy and stops the arguing [one reaches the true nature of the
supreme spirit, âtmatattva]. (7)
Because the various elements [subtle and gross] mutually pervade one
another, o best among men, a speaker wants to provide a division of
causes and consequences. (8)
With those divisions refers one element to the other elements: whether
it is there as a cause or a consequence, in one element [viz. the
ether] one finds all the other elements and vice versa [*]. (9)
When people departing from a certain division for that reason express
themselves in terms of cause and effect, I accept that which is voiced
with such a point of view on the condition that it is guided by reason
[by scientific proof, by specificity about time and place]. (10) A person who inevitably is born in ignorance
cannot all by himself figure out what the process of selfrealization
all means, that knowledge is derived from someone else who is known
with the principle of reality [compare 11.21:
10]. (11) There is according to this knowledge in the
material mode of goodness not the slightest difference between the purusha,
the original person, and îs'vara, the controller. To
suppose that there would be such a difference is a useless endeavor
[see B.G. 18: 20 and 9: 15
and **]. (12)
Material nature [prakriti] is what binds the modes. These modes as the causes of
keeping, producing and ending that accordingly are said to be of
goodness, passion and ignorance, belong to the material world and not
to the spirit soul [see also B.G. 3:
27]. (13) In this world is the mode of goodness of
knowledge, the mode of passion of fruitive labor [karma] and the mode
of darkness of ignorance; the interaction of the modes is called Time
and that what's there by nature constitutes the thread [the mahat-tattva is the sûtra, see also 11.12:
19-21].
(14)
The soul enjoying [purusha], material
nature [prakriti], the intelligible [mahat-tattva], the
identification with the form [ahankâra], ether, air, fire,
water and earth are thus My nine elements of creation referred to [in
verse 1]. (15) Hearing, touching, seeing, smelling and
tasting are the five [senses] by which one acquires knowledge; the
speech organ, the hands, the genitals, the anus and the legs constitute
their operation, o dear one, and the mind is there for both. (16) Sounds, tactile qualities, tastes,
fragrances, and forms [or colors] are the categories of the sense
objects [see vishaya] and speech, manufacturing, excretion [by anus and
genitals] and locomotion are the functions covered by them. (17) In the beginning of creation is the person
of the enjoyer uninvolved given to witnessing the material nature of
this universe, the universe that by the operation of sattva and
the other modes assumes the forms of the gross manifestations and
subtler causes [see also 2.10: 10]. (18) All the elements that received their
potencies from the glance of the Lord, in the manifest reality undergo
transformation and form, amalgamated by the power of nature, the egg of
the universe [see also 2.5:
35, 3.20: 14-15, 3.26: 51-53, 3.32: 29, 5.26: 38, 11.6: 16]. (19)
When one speaks about the creation as having only seven elements: the
five of the physical elements beginning with the ether on the one hand
and the individual knower with the Supreme Soul on the other hand,
there are as a consequence of this fundamental, dual basis the body,
the senses and the life air. (20)
And when one departs from six elements: the five elements with the
Transcendental Person as the sixth element that is conjoined with them,
He has first projected this creation and next entered it. (21) When one speaks of four elements fire, water
and earth arise from the Original Self; from these elements there is
then the manifest product of this cosmos. (22)
Counting seventeen there is the consideration of the five gross
elements, the five objects and the five senses along with the one mind
and the soul as the seventeenth. (23)
So too one is counting with sixteen elements when one identifies the
soul with the mind. With thirteen elements one has the five gross
elements, the five senses, the mind and the [individual and supreme of
the] soul. (24) Counting eleven elements in this one has the
soul, the gross elements and the senses. One also knows nine of them
with the eight natural elements [the five gross ones, mind,
intelligence and false ego] and the Enjoyer in the beyond. (25) Thus have various enumerations of the
elements been contrived by the sages. They are all logically supported
by rational arguments, that is the brilliance one finds with the
learned.'
(26) S'rî Uddhava said: 'Because both nature
and the enjoyer, even though they are constitutionally different, cover
one another o Krishna, there seems to be no difference between them:
one sees the soul within nature and nature within the soul [see also
B.G. 18: 16]. (27) Please, o
Lotus eyed One, as the Omniscient, Very Expert in Reasoning, cut with
Your words down the great doubt in my heart. (28) The living beings have from You indeed the
knowledge and by the potency of Your outer illusion it is stolen away.
Only You understand the ins and outs of Your illusory power and no one
else [see also B.G. 15: 15].'
(29) The Supreme Lord said: 'Prakriti and
purusha [nature and the enjoyer] are two distinct matters, o best
of all persons, and both are subjected to the transformation that is
based upon the mixing of the gunas of
creation. (30) Dear Uddhava, My deluding energy consisting
of the three modes is responsible for the diversity of manifestations
as well as for the variety of different forms of perception. This
changeable nature based upon the gunas knows three aspects: one
is called adhyâtma, then there is adhidaiva and
the other is called adhibhûta [see also kles'as and
1.17: 19]. (31) Alike the
independently of these existing Supersoul who constitutes the actual
cause of the subjective experience [adhyâtma], nature as
the source of one's perception [adhidaiva] and the phenomenon
one perceives [adhibhûta], is there similarly the sun in
its independent position in the sky, that is responsible for the power
of sight [adhyâtma], the external of nature [adhidaiva]
and the distinct, reflected image [adhibhûta] that
together contribute to that what can be seen through the opening of the
eye. (32) Next to the eyes the same [trinity] applies
to the sense of touch and what one feels with it, the ear and what one
hears, the tongue and its occupation, the nose with what is smelled and
with one's consciousness and its attributes. (33) The transformation effected by this
agitation of the modes which rooted from the primary nature [pradhâna], leads to bewilderment and gives all kinds
of trouble with the by the greater reality [the mahat-tattva] raised threefold, false ego which,
subjected to change, in ignorance wants to take matters into its own
hands [see also ***]. (34) When there is not the full knowledge of the
Supersoul one will, eager as one is in one's desire to discuss matters,
get entangled in useless speculations about the fact whether or not
there would be a difference [between purusha and prakriti]
with statements like 'this is real and that is not', and those
speculations continue as long as one has diverted one's attention away
from Me, I who am [qualitatively] equal to oneself.'
(35-36) S'rî Uddhava said: 'In what way do those
whose minds diverted from You by the fruitive activities they
performed, o Master, accept and give up higher and lower material
bodies? Please Govinda explain that to me what by those who are not so
spiritual isn't understood since they, predominantly being of material
knowledge, are illusioned.'
(37)
The Supreme Lord said:
'People's minds that are shaped by their fruitive labor are bound to
the five senses from one world to the next. The soul, existing
separately, follows that mind
[see also linga, vâsanâ and B.G. 2: 22].
(38) The mind faithfully meditating on what is
heard [from the traditions] or what is seen of the sense objects comes
into being because of its being bound to the karma and dissolves again
[with the vanishing of the sense objects]. As a consequence the
remembrance [of past lives] is lost. (39)
This total forgetfulness of not remembering one's previous self that
for this or that reason was absorbed in the objects of the senses, is
what one calls death. (40) O man of
charity, what one calls birth is when a person completely identifies
himself with the body he assumed, just like what one does when one
dreams or when one has a fantasy. (41)
And just as one in a dream or fantasy has no remembrance of a previous
dream or fantasy, one has likewise no notion of a previous existence [*4 en B.G. 4:
5]. (42) Because of obtaining a new material body and
a corresponding mind, the truth of the threefold reality imposes itself
upon the soul, with the consequence of an inner notion that differs
from the outer appearance, like one gave birth to bad natured
offspring. (43) For created bodies, My best, find and lose
their existence by the force of time which operates invisibly, that
isn't seen because of its subtlety. (44)
The lifespan, the circumstances and such of all created beings are
determined by it, just as the flame of a candle, the stream of a river
and the fruit of a tree are determined by it. (45) The way one has it wrong when one says 'this
light is the same as this lamp' and 'this stream of water is the same
as this river' it is also wrong to say that 'this body is the same as
this person', it is a way of reasoning of men who are wasting their
lives [see also 6.16: 58, 7.6: 1-2]! (46) A person
doesn't die, nor is he born from the seed of his actions, he is
immortal. It is because of illusion that one, like fire locked up in
wood, is united [with one's material existence. See B.G. 2:
24]. (47) Impregnation, gestation, birth, infancy,
childhood, youth, middle age, old age and death are the nine states of
the body one thus has. (48) These more or
less elevated states of the body that one owes to one's own motives,
are because of his being bound to the modes by a soul accepted as one's
own, while the other soul [with due effort in yoga] distances himself
from them [by the grace of God]. (49)
The incidence of one's own birth can be inferred from the birth
of one's son and the incidence of one's death can be derived from the
death of one's father [or ancestors], [but] he who remembers himself
with all the things of birth and death is never subject to that what is
ruled by this duality. (50) The way
someone, who knows about a tree its seed and maturity, is the witness
distinct from the birth and death of that tree, is one analogously the
witness standing apart from the [birth and death of] the physical body.
(51) An unintelligent person who fails to
distinguish this way the person from his material nature, enters,
completely bewildered in taking material forms for real, the material
ocean [see also B.G. 9: 21-22 and 1.7: 5]. (52) Wandering
around because of his karma he will, following the mode of goodness,
head for the sages and the gods; following the lead of passion he will
move among the common people or fall into the grip of darkness; and by
the mode of ignorance he will find himself among the ghosts and spirits
or reach the animal kingdom [see also B.G. 6: 41-42, 9:
25; 17:
4]. (53) Just as with observing dancing and singing
persons one comes to imitate them, one is, even though being a silent
witness who doesn't do anything, when one is placed before the
qualities of matter the same way inclined towards a material
intelligence [see also 11.21: 19-21]. (54-55) The way
trees seem to be moving when they are seen in moving water and the
world seems to spin when one's eyes are spinning around, one's mental
impressions of the sense object are also not real. Just like the things
one sees in a dream are but figments, also the soul's image of a
material life in which he experiences sense gratification is a phantom.
(56) For someone who meditates the objects of the
senses material life will not stop, even though it is an illusory
affair, just as the unpleasant things one experiences in a dream [may
repeat themselves over and over *5].
(57) Therefore Uddhava, do not delight in the
sense-objects that play games with the senses, just see how based upon
the illusion of the material duality one fails to realize the soul. (58-59) When one is insulted, neglected, ridiculed
or envied by bad people, or else chastised, held captive or deprived of
his means of livelihood, or when one is repeatedly spat or urinated
upon by ignorant people, someone desiring the Supreme who thus being
shaken is having difficulties, should save himself by resorting to his
essence [see also 5.5: 30].'
(60) S'rî Uddhava
said: 'How can I keep that in mind? Please, o Best of All Speakers,
tell us that. (61) The attacks
of other people on my person is what I find most difficult. Except to
those who fixed in Your dharma in peace reside at Your lotus feet, even
for the learned, o Soul of the Universe, no doubt the material
definition constitutes the greatest burden.'
|
|
