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SHREEMADBHAGAVADGEETAA
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Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure.
This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again,
and fillest it ever with fresh life.
-Gitanjali
Jai Maharaj (cy717@cleveland.Freenet.Edu) wrote:
: "The foolish regard Me, the unmanifested, as come into
: manifestation, not knowing My supreme state -- immutable
: and transcendental."
: SHREEMADBHAGVADGEETAA, Adhyaaye 7, Shloke 24.
That's an apt translation. Another is "Men of no understanding think of Me,
the Unmanifest, as having Manifestation, not knowing My Higher Nature,
Changeless and Supreme." Another is "Foolish men think that the Unmanifested
manifests; they do not know My Immutable Unsurpassed Being."
Scripture tells the unmanifested precedes surrounds pervades and concludes
the
manifested. The metaphor is likened to the ocean as the unmanifest, eternal,
and the wave as the manifest, temporary. The two exist eternally together,
even though only the wave appears and disappears.
We are the wave, You are the Ocean.
We are the lamp, You are the Light.
We are the wing, You are the flight.
You are the Love, we are devotion.
To discern for oneself which among many is the most apt translation, one
looks
at the text in context.
avyaktaM vyaktim ApannaM
manyante mAm abuddhayaH
paraM bhAvam ajAnanto
mamAvyayam anuttamam
The words mean:
avyaktam- not manifest or unmanifested
vyaktim-- to manifestation [ie, the _positive_ of the preceeding negative]
Apannam -- come to, or achieved, or presented
manyante -- think
mAm -- me;
abuddhayah -- foolish or confused or misinformed persons
param -- the highest or supreme
bhAvam -- inherent nature or specific quality of a being
ajAnantaH -- not knowing [ie the negative of knowing]
mama -- My
avyayam -- immutable, unchanging, the imperishable
anuttamam -- the best, the most excellent, the finest
I note that Krishna begins the verse aptly with The Unmanifest, for He tells
that beings have their origin in the unmanifested, are seen only in the
middle
as Manifest, and then disappear again into the Unmanifest. The ocean produces
waves, they end, the ocean continues.
Sure enough that is the very process He reveals in this verse: from
Unmanifest
to Manifest to Unmanifest. He dwells in both, is immanent and transcendent at
once. From the way He presents that knowledge, chapter by chapter, one then
intuits that only foolish people mistake any wave, any manifestation for full
reality. To secure that insight, one recalls how Krishna teaches that all
beings are eternal in the unmanifest, yet constrainted by time in the
manifest.
Thus one sees how the first word of the verse is key, for it is a positve
word
made negative. If one translates the word Avyaktam as UNmanifest, clearly the
apt translation of the positive form, which is the next word, vyaktam, is
Manifest. That may yet become manifest to all, even to those who deny it
now.
For example, already one finds that most translators are agreed that the apt
word for avyaktam is the unmanifested, or nonmanifested. Logically one then
concludes that the next word, which is the postive form, vyaktam, means
`Manifested.'
There is a school of thought which disagrees, and gives different meanings to
words than are commonly used. For example of the Tenth Canto of Srimad
Bhagavatum there are opiners who translate Krishna saying He is everywhere,
yet comment that He is not everywhere. Arguments like that are mostly for
those interested in man-made doctrine about the Divine, and are best
disdained
by those who instead seek experience of The Divine. For the sage of steady
wisdom all such doctrine is as useful as a well in a flood.
In fact, if one looks at the next verse, one appreciates why Manifest is
an accurate translation of vyaktam.
nAham prakAShaH sarvasya
yoga-mAyA-samAvRtaH
mUDho 'yam nAbhijAnAti
loko mAm ajam avyayam
The words mean:
na-- not
aham-- I
prakaaSaH-- revealed
sarvasya-- of all
yogamAyAsamAvRtaH--- veiled in or by My creative power
mUDhaH-- deluded
ayaM-- this
na-- not
abhijAnAti-- knows
lokaH-- world
ajaM- born
avyayaM- Imperishable, or Unchanging
"I am not revealed to all, for I am veiled by My creative power. This
deluded
world knows Me not, the Unborn, the Unchanging." Krishna tells in this verse
that the foolish and the unintelligent do not cognize His Presence either
Unmanifest nor Manifest. Avarna and vikshepa veil Him from the outward sight.
Even when delusion ends, and no deluded person espies Him at all, even then
He
is veiled by His Power of Illusion. I think He is talking about the human
union with illusion, which persists as long as there is individual
consciousness. Illusion continues even when Delusion ends, as long as there
is ahamkaram- the sense of self-doing, the sense of separation.
Since He tells that all beings have their ORIGIN in the Unmanifest, and even
when Manifest, not all discern Him, one might therefore conclude that it is
unintelligent persons who view Krishna as being anything other than
UNmanifest
originally. After all, Beings do come from the Unmanifest to the Manifest
then
back to the Unmanifest. That means the unmanifest is the original, ie the
Formless exists before Form.
In Hebrew that sounds like `Tohu Bohu'.
Yogis understand The LORD to be eternally Unmanifest AND manifest at once,
not
merely as a body born and killed by being pierced, but ever in the heart of
all, simultanesouly Name and Form yet above Name or Form, as the all
encompassing satchidananda and as Vaishvanaro. Those who are steady in wisdom
and have cleansed their lower and higher senses of bawdy consciousness need
not depend on even the idea of spiritual bodies, and so actually see The
Cosmic Form of the Lord in all forms, and hear His Name in all names, for He
is the support of all names and forms.
Bearing this in mind as one reads 13:20 the reader recalls that Prakriti (of
which there is a higher and a lower) is but the instrument of cause and
effect, while the Purusha is but the instrument of happiness and sorrow. The
word `Instrument' is apt, for instruments are not a cause, they are but
guided
by A Higher Power; instruments are not self-determining. The Higher Power
managing both Purusha and Prakriti is The Supreme. It is that which unites
Purusha and Prakriti, Disciple and Supreme, and it is that which Geetaa
details. It shows how to joyfully realize one is His instrument. Geeta
reveals
Yoga.
So, even if one doesn't accept the translations or ideas given above, which
come by logic and experience rather than by theological acrobatics or rote
memorization, just consider the verses in total context of what The Lord
teaches. When a sincere person does that, one may see that the meaning of
these verses clearly indicate the supernal nature of the Supreme Lord is not
limited to the concept of BODY- not mental, physical nor spiritual body. To
see Him here and now it is not enough to eschew those five sheaths of
bawdy-consciousness by means of the intellect; one must rise above even the
intellect that posits spiritual bodies, planets, or Being. Doing so, moment
by
moment, wave upon wave, is to live as a yogi.
Surf's up.
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