1.The Seekers And The Sought

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Jnana-Vignana yoga/Topic of indirect and immediate knowledge (Chapter7)

The first six chapters of the Gita revealed the truth predominantly from the standpoint of the individual, the next six chapters do the same predominantly from the standpoint of Ishwara or the totality.

In the seventh chapter called `Jnana-vijnana Yogah’/ `Topic of indirect and immediate knowledge’, Krishna unfolds  what he calls his two-fold prakriti in verse 5.

Apareyam itastvanyam prakrtim viddhi me param

Jivabhutam mahabaho yayedam dharyate jagat

Arjuna, the mighty armed! This is (my) lower (prakrti). Whereas,  please understand the one other than this, my higher prakriti (my very nature), which is the essential nature of the individual, by which this world is sustained.  (Verse 5)

He presents one prakriti or nature as Ishwara. The understanding of  Ishwara in India, as we have seen in an earlier post, is one in which existence-awareness is manifest as the whole universe , meaning there is a physical creation which forms the body of the Lord. There is a cosmic mind of which my mind is a part and so is my ignorance, which would be called the creative power or the maya shakti of Ishwara. This he calls the manifested nature of Ishwara. If you understand Ishwara in this manner, then everything is Ishwara, and there is nothing that is not Ishwara. Therefore, Ishwara can be invoked in any form because all forms are his forms. Therefore, the invocation, he says, can be as water, earth, the moon, sky, stars…In fact, in the tenth chapter, we will see this being elaborated. So anything can be used to invoke Ishwara. This is one prakriti, one nature, the manifested.

He says, `As they seek me, so I respond to them.’ If they seek me for finite things, then I give them finite things. 

But when you use the word `manifestation’, there has to be something to manifest. What is the reality behind the manifestation? He calls that `para-prakriti’,  pure existence-awareness, which is what we have been referring to right from the second chapter—limitless awareness. This is a pure, unmanifest form. In fact, at this level there is no difference between Ishwara and me. If you are looking at the manifestation, then I am a part of the whole. If you are looking at the true nature of what Ishwara is, as pure existence-awareness, then I am non-different from Ishwara. This is what has to be understood. And he says, in the second and third verses, that thousands of people try to worship me, but among those thousands very few really come to know me. Then he says, therefore, if existence-awareness itself is manifest as Ishwara, then Ishwara is that from which everything is born, that by which everything is sustained, that into which everything is resolved. This he highlights in the sixth verse.

Etadyonini bhutani sarvanityupadharaya

Aham krtsnasya jagatah prabhavah pralayastatha

Understand that all beings and elements have their cause in this two-fold prakrti. (Therefore,) I am the one from whom this entire world comes; so too, I am the one into whom everything resolves . (Verse 6)

Therefore, now look at it….If I take myself as an individual, then I relate to the Lord as a totality. If I take myself as a wise person does, as pure existence-awareness, then God and I are one and the same. It’s at this absolute level, at the level of para-prakriti, that we talk about self-realization, self-knowledge, etc. At the other level, one is a karma-yogi, a bhakta, whereas at this level one is a wise person. Therefore, in keeping with this understanding, Krishna says that hundreds of people worship me but very few come to know me. Why is that, asks Krishna. Simple, he says. He divides all the people who relate to the Lord and are, therefore, called devotees, into four categories.

Caturvidha bhajante mam janah sukrtino ‘rjuna

Arto jijnasurartharthi jnani ca bharatarsabha

Arjuna, the foremost in the clan of Bharata! People given to good actions, who worship me are four-fold—the distressed, the seeker of security and pleasure, the one who desires to know (Me), and the one who knows (Me) (Verse 16)

1)      He calls the first kind the `arthi’, the kind who will pray to the Lord only in times of trouble. When things are fine, God is out of sight and out of mind for such people. But when they are in a soup, they ask God to save them. Which is fine, because at least at that time they are thinking of God.

2)      The second category of devotee is `artha-arathi. He prays to the Lord not only when he is in trouble but also when he wants things. So his prayer will go: `God, give me this, give me that…’ That’s fine too—it’s better to ask for things from God instead of Godfathers…

3)      The third type of devotee is the `jignasu’, who wants to know what is Ishwara, what is the reality behind Ishwara as existence-awareness. He is a seeker. The seeker has a chance of finding out what Ishwara is, the other two are so caught up in managing their own lives that they will have no time to think of anything higher. And the vast majority of people will fall into those first two classes.

4) The jnani:  Seekers are few, and the seeker has a chance of knowing the truth and becoming a jnani. As far as the jnani is concerned, even though he is classified among the four kinds of bhaktas, Krishna says let us not discuss about the wise person because the wise person is one who is not different from me. Because he has understood Ishwara not only in terms of the form, in terms of manifestation, but has also understood the reality behind Ishwara and, therefore, has discovered his identity, the identity that he has with Ishwara. They are nothing but pure  limitless existence-awareness, so there is no difference between them and the Lord. So, he says, let’s leave that guy aside.

And then he reassures the other three. He says, `As they seek me, so I respond to them.’ If they seek me for finite things, then I give them finite things.  These people will be carried away by the small things, they will be busy with the so-called normal things and, therefore, have no time to even think of something higher. Therefore, even though many come to me, only a few will really understand.

In the 22nd verse, he says, `How does someone even start being religious?’ It starts with a matter of faith. Someone points out and says, `Hey, go to Siddhi Vinayak temple for five Tuesdays and you’ll get a job’. Now this person goes for five Tuesdays and he gets a job. His faith is now strong, and so he believes that God is Siddhi-Vinayak and nothing else. Therefore, his vision of God is in a very limited sense. Not that you cannot invoke God as Siddhi-Vinayaka, of course you can, but this person is now limiting God only to Siddhi Vinayak, and probably will pray to Siddhi Vinayaka only when he wants something. This sort of person has a long way to go before he becomes a seeker. He has to understand what is missing in life, he has to learn to move from mere ideas of getting things to success to fulfilment. Therefore, unless he understands that what he really is looking for in life is fulfilment, which I equate to your freedom from your sense of limitation, unless he even recognizes that, he is not going to become a seeker. When one starts looking at life more fundamentally, when one starts looking at something higher, starts questioning where am I going rather than just managing my life, it is at that time that the spiritual questions come up. At that time, if a person has an exposure to some of this learning, to a traditional master, then, naturally, that person can become a jignasu and then move on to becoming a wise person.

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