Microcosm & macrocosm in Gita

Courtesy: Thotalam Chellaswami

 

1. Arjuna's Seven inter-related Question on

the Manifestation of the Deity in the

Microcosm and Macrocosm:

The last two verses of chapter seven, especially the expression – te brahma tat viduh

kritsnam, inspired Arjuna to desire an integrated understanding of the various aspects

of the Brahman (Absolute) and hence he puts seven inter-connected questions: "These

are: (1). Who or What is the Absolute (kim tat brahma)? (2). What is the principle of self

(kim adhyaatmam)? (3). What is action (kim karma)? (4). What is said to be principle of

existence (adhibhootam kim proktam)? (5). What is spoken of as the principle of divinity

(adhidaivam kim ucyate)? (6). Here, in this body, what and how (to be understood) the

principle of sacrifice – adhiyajnah katham kah atra dehe asmin? [Arjuna desires to know

in what manner the Deity abides in this body, does He preside over the sacrifice.]: (7).

How are you to be known by the self-controlled persons at the time of death –

prayaan'akaale ca katham jneyah asi niyataatmabhih"? – [8.1, 2]: [We are not to miss

the significance of the term – niyataatmabhih – the self – controlled in (8.2). Arjuna has

already realized that the Deity can be known at the time of death only by the selfcontrolled

ad not by those who are under the sway of passion.]:

Krishna does not brush aside Arjuna's honest intellectual desire for knowledge of intricate

philosophical subjects, but gives the minimum of information on those recondite points which

have to be clarified only by realization or intuitive knowledge. The intellect, however, has to

be satisfied to some extent before it rests composed. Therefore Krishna briefly explains the

terms used by Him in the concluding portion of the previous chapter. God is Imperishable

and Supreme. His Nature is to present the world phenomena. It is thus clear that no rational

explanation of these phenomena is possible. God presents Himself in two aspects – the

lower and the higher. The lower is the form – giving perishable nature and the higher is the

seed – giving indestructible nature. (Vide 14.3, 4 and also 15.16): The interaction of these

two natures brings forth all creatures into existence, and this process constitutes the Lord's

karma. The whole process of creation is a tremendous act of sacrifice. The spirit of sacrifice

is the divinity inherent in man. Krishna responded by providing an integrated vision of these

various factors by meaningfully integrating and correlating these factors. This is done in a

language somewhat technical, which we present below in brief. The explanation on the

various terms used by the Lord drew varying comments by the commentators. The author

following the various concepts in the entire Sermon adopted what is considered to be

consistent with the general tenor of the Teaching and that seemed true to the text of the

Teaching.

2. Krishna's Short Response To

Arjuna's Questions:

"The Supreme immutable is the Absolute – Brahman (aksharam brahma paramam)".

["The term AUM mentioned in (8.13) is not the akshara mentiond here for it is qualified

as "Supreme – param". This qualification better suits Brahman – the imperishable and

unsurpassed".]: "Its own Nature (svabhaava) to manifest as the individual soul – (jeeva)

is called the adhyaatmam – svabhaavah adhyaatmamucyate. The creative urge or the

loosing forth (visargah), effecting the becoming that is the subjective and objective

states, and emergence (the cause of the origin of existent beings and things) is

designated as action (karma) – bhootabhaavodbhavakarah visargah karmasanjitah. –

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[8.3]: [The highest imperishable principle, the primal cause of the universe, is Brahman.

Brahman's own coming into being in part as the individual soul, is called svabhaava.]:

"The principle of the mutable-state of existence - ksharo bhaavah, His lower Nature - is

called adhibhootam. His principle of divinity, the Cosmic Soul or Is'wara, is called

adhidaivatam – purushah ca adhidavatam. I am Myself is the Lord of sacrifice

(adhiyajna) here in the body, O superior amongst the embodied beings – adhiyajna aham

eva atra, dehe dehabhritaam vara". – [8.4]: [What "relates to sacrifice" is the Deity styled

Vishn'u who claims all sacrifices as directed to Himself. – Vide "Sacrifice is indeed

Vishn'u (S'ruti)". That Vishn'u is none but Myself.]: "He, who, at the last moment, while

leaving the body – yah antakaale muktvaa kalevaram, departs - prayaati, remembering

Me alone smaran maam eva, attains My being – sah yaati madbhaavam; there is no

doubt of this – na asti atra sams'ayah". - [8.5]: [Remembrance of (meditation on) Me is

the means to knowledge and the attainment of My being is the end or the result.]:

"Whatever aspect a man might think of at the time of death, when he leaves the body –

yam yam vaapi smaran bhaavam tyajatyante kalevaram, that he reaches, whose

thoughts always conforming to that particular life-expression - tam tam eva eti sadaa tat

bhaavabhaavitah". - [8. 6]: [We are not to miss the significance of the expression -

smaran maam eva – thinking of Me alone (to the exclusion of all else). This aspect is

more emphatically stated in (9.22). Vide - "yasya smaran'a maatren'a

janmasamsaarabandhanaat – VSS.]:

Krishna's response is explained below in the light of Krishna's exposition in chapter 7,

discussed earlier and chapters 9, 13 and 15 to be discussed in the sections to follow.

1. There is the Brahman, the Imperishable and the Supreme being (principle or tattva), the

Absolute Deity (aksharam brahma paramam: – this cryptic definition means – the

Imperishable is the Absolute Supreme, the Supreme is the Imperishable Absolute or the

Absolute is the Supreme Imperishable) – sat-cit-aananda, who transcends all, "the

immutable self-existence which is the highest self-expression of the Divine and on whose

unalterable eternity, all the rest, all that moves and evolves, is founded – aksharam

paramaam. The reference is to a single immutable and unchanging homogeneous Reality -

the general ground of all – the Absolute. The terms – akshara and brahma, stand for both

the qualified (8.21, 22) and Absolute (8.3, 11) aspects of the Deity and the appellation of the

Deity – Om is also designated as akshara and brahman (8.13).

2. The intrinsic merit or property of a thing is called its svabhaava. The intrinsic nature

(svabhaava) of this Brahman is to manifest Himself as the multitudinous conscious beings

(jeevas) – designated as adhyaatma, the individual soul dwelling in the body of every being

with organs of senses and mind (15.7) – the Deity's higher Nature (paraa prakriti). Thus by

adyaatma is meant the collectivity of jeevas or individual souls. [It is, Brahman's Own coming

into being in part as the individual soul, is called svabhaava. The same principle existing as

the experiencer presiding over the body, is called - adhyaatma.]:

3. The perishable material existence (the physical universe) – the mutable becoming

(ksharobhaavah), which depends on the spirit soul is designated as adhibhoota. This is the

macrocosmic objective material universe and also its modification, the microcosmic material

physical body of all beings. This is the Deity's lower Nature (aparaa prakritih). Both these

two prakritis (higher and lower Natures of the Deity) – the collectivity of jeevas (adhyaatma)

and the material universe including the bodies of all beings (adhibhoota) constitute the body

of Brahman (My prakriti – me prakritih, as the Lord stated and explained in some detail in

chapter 7 discussed earlier).

4. The discharge of spirit (visarga) which brings forth the existence of beings (bhoota bhaava

udbhavakarah) is called karma (action). The cause of this activity is the Deity's pursuit of

mind – will – (14.3), called yajna, to become manifold from being one. This is the cause of

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creation (manifestation). Karma is the vibration or the act that is taking place in the universe.

It is the only all-powerful agency for human origin, growth and prosperity. The whole process

of creation is a great act of sacrifice by the Deity. "By sacrifice does God evolve to man and

by sacrifice does man evolve to God. The spirit of sacrifice is the divinity inherent in man".

Thus yajna (sacrifice) is called karma (action) through which all manifestation (creation)

takes place and every activity gets going. In other words by action we are to understand that

which causes the origin and growth of all living beings, preserves each individual and helps

in the manifestation of the living beings, existing in a dormant or latent state before the

beginning of evolution. All such works are designated as 'action' or karma.

5. The Supreme Divinity (adhidaivatam) is called purusha, the universal spirit (paramaatma),

which is the soul of Deity's entire manifestation (creation), the unifying and illuminating

principle between adyaatma and adhibhoota – the nominal behind the phenomenon. He is

the cosmic being (Is'wara) who rules and controls the entire creation from within (7.7). The

purusha, designated here as adhidaivam – the Soul of His (Brahman's) body – the entire

creation (manifestation), constituting the collectivity of jeevas (adhyaatma) and matter or

prakriti (adhiboota). The adhibhoota is the form – giving perishable nature and adhyaatma is

the seed giving indestructible nature. The interaction of these two natures brings forth all

creatures into existence (13.26; 14.3, 4; 15.16): "Purusha is a word pregnant with

etymological meaning. Literally it means 'that by which everything is filled'. It comes from the

root pri, to fill. Again, pura or puri means a city or fortress. He who resides in a puri or

fortress is purusha – designated as adhidaivata". – [Swami Chidbhavananda]:

6. When this Divinity (purusha) dwells in the hearts of all beings presiding over the life of all

beings as kshetrajna of chapter 13 and as Is'wara of (18.61), He is designated as adhiyajna,

the Deity presiding over activities of all beings. He knows all our inner thoughts and outer

actions and is ever ready to guide us if it is sought in utter humility and supreme surrender to

Him. He distributes karma (work) and its phalam (fruits) to one and all according to one's

desert, ruling over the individual souls and everything else from within (18.61, 62). "By

adhiyajna, the Lord of works and sacrifice, I mean", says Krishna, "Myself, the Divine, the

Godhead, the purushottama here secret in the body of all these embodied existences".

Krishna means to say that He is the principle of sacrifice (worship), designated here as

adhiyajna, enjoying and fructifying all works done as worship (5.29), abiding in the bodies of

all beings as kshetrajna (13.2) along with jeevaatma or the individual soul - the Is'wara of

(18.61). He rules the individual souls and everything else, from within the body. So Vedas

declare: "yajnah vai vishn'uh – yajna is verily vishn'u". The Is'wara abiding in the hearts of all

beings to whom supreme surrender is exhorted in (18.62) and Krishna's immediately

following exhortation in (18.66) to supremely surrender to Him alone, suggest the identity of

Is'wara and Krishna, the purushottama. The observation in (8.4) that what pertains to the

principle of sacrifice is Himself (Krishna), here in this body; in (5.29) that He (Krishna) is the

enjoyer of ritual sacrifice; and in (13.2) that He (Krishna) abiding in the beings and things

(sarva kshetreshu) is the kshetrajna; All these consistent observations suggest that

kshetrajna and yajna purusha both abiding in all beings are one and the same. Putting all

these together it can be stated that Is'wara, yajna purusha, kshetrajna and purushottama are

one and the same Krishna (the Brahman). Just as the individual soul abiding in a particular

body, governs the body and directs the mind and different organs, so also the cosmic Soul

abiding in the cosmic body (sarvakshetra of chapter 13) rules and governs the cosmos, the

divine plane.

7. Here it may be stated that – adhibhoota stands for physical dimension, adhiyajna for

moral-ethical dimension and adidaiva for spiritual dimension, of our personality.

8. To sum up: By using basic Vedanta concepts Krishna has explained clearly and with no

ambiguity the truth of three Realities (tattva-traya) – matter, the individual soul and the

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Supreme Soul or Deity (Brahman). By the three expressions – Brahman, Purusha

(adhidaiva) and karma, Krishna had explained the macro aspect of creation of this universe

of things and beings by the all-powerful and all-knowing Deity (Brahman) on the basis of

karma of individual souls. These aspects are further discussed in (9.8, 9) to be presented in

the chapter to follow. The micro aspect in the embodied state is explained by the terms

adhibhoota (perishable body) and adyaatma (the individual soul) that uses the body for its

own purpose and adhiyajna representing the Deity as the inner controller of the individual

souls (kshetrajna – as antaryaamin).

9. By addressing Arjuna as "dehabhritaam vara – supreme among the embodied ", Krishna

is telling Arjuna that he should know that he is an embodied person, not just a body-complex

and that, within him, mysteriously abides one (kshetrajnah) to whom all his actions done with

dedication and devotion (yajna) can be an acceptable offering, a ritual offering, who will

gladly accept such dedicated offerings and shower His Grace of peace in return. – (vide –

"jnaatvaa maam bhoktaaram yajna tapasaam, s'aantim ricchati – Knowing Me as the enjoyer

of ritual sacrifices, one attains peace" – (5.29):

10. The discussion above explains six pairs of terms – (i) aksharam – paramam; (ii)

adhyaatmam – svabhaava; (iii) visarga – karma; (iv) adhibhoota – ksharobhaavah; (v)

purusha – adhidaiva; and (vi) adhiyajna – kshetrajna or Is'wara. In these expressions

kshetrajna and Is'wara are the two words not explicitly mentioned in Krishna's response.

[Immanent aspect of the Absolute is recognized in Vedanta as Is'wara or kshetrajna or

God.]: In these expressions, the essential truths of the Lord's manifestations in the cosmos,

their various aspects and functions seem to be described. As S'ri Aurobindo observed "All

the originative and effective aspects of it are there, all that concerns the soul in its return to

integral self-knowledge". The terms denote the different forms into which the principles of

matter and spirit are cast and the general relation that subsist between such forms and the

Deity. These relations can be stated as follows:

11. "It is the Supreme Being of perfect intelligence and boundless powers who brings about

the various conditions; (ii). The individual souls that should, under those conditions, work out

their own destiny; and (iii). The conditions themselves are, either the modifications of the

unintelligent substance or the states to which the modifications may subject the soul; A

knowledge of all this is imparted to indicate the necessity of following the course dictated by

Krishna to get out of the misapprehension which swayed Arjuna, the jeevaatma". – (Sri

Aurobindo).]:

12. Commenting on (8.4), Paramahansa Yogananda stated: "In the macrocosm and

microcosm the Lord is truly the Adhiyajna or the one indweller. In the gross material

universe, the manifestation of Spirit has to be inferred. In the astral universe of vibratory life,

the manifestation of Spirit has to be felt. In the causal universe of ideational consciousness,

the manifestation of Spirit is known through intuitive perception".