Bhagavad Gita Commentary–Eleven
by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
The Wonder of the Atman
The Seven Wonders of the World
Earlier generations grew up in awe of Richard Haliburton, the archeologist-explorer whose books read better than most novels, and whose every word was true. The most favored book was that in which he told of both the Seven Wonders of the modern world and the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Many readers felt a real pang at the thought that they would never see the Colossus of Rhodes, the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria, or the Mausoleum. I was one of them for a long time. But when I read the Bhagavad Gita (this very translation) my regret was transmuted into optimistic awe, for I came to understand that my own atman was a wonder beyond all earth or any other world could offer, and that I was destined to be established in permanent and perfect knowledge-experience of that Self.
The One Wonder of India
For thousands of years both readers and hearers in India (and in the West for a couple of centuries) have taken inspiration from the story in the Chandogya Upanishad about the sage Uddalaka teaching his son Svetaketu about the Self. In many ways he demonstrates the existence of the Absolute Self, concluding each time with the thrilling words: “All beings have their self in him alone. He is the truth. He is the subtle essence of all. He is the Self. And that, Svetaketu, THAT ART THOU.” As Sri Aurobindo has observed, even those that do not yet have direct knowledge of the truth of these words yet are inexplicably moved upon hearing them, knowing subliminally of their truth. Stirred to their real depths, the wise of many ages have been set on the path of Self-discovery by Uddalaka’s assurance that they, too, are THAT.
Knowledge and ignorance
The fact is that there is only one real problem for us as human beings: ignorance of the Self. And the solution is obvious: knowledge of the Self. For this reason Arjuna could not be swayed by Krishna’s exhortations to fight that were based on egocentric factors such as personal disgrace, hope of heavenly reward, social order, and such like. This much Arjuna understood. Having revealed this to Arjuna (for Krishna had no need to find it out for himself), Krishna went directly to the core issue of the Self and stayed there for the remainder of that miracle of wisdom we know as the Gita. Like Uddalaka he used many means to convey the single message: Know the Self.
The four states of understanding
After his initial exposition of the Self, already considered in previous essays, Krishna speaks of the various responses human beings have in relation to teaching about the Self: “There are some who have actually looked upon the Atman, and understood It, in all Its wonder. Others can only speak of It as wonderful beyond their understanding. Others know of Its wonder by hearsay. And there are others who are told about It and do not understand a word.”
It is intriguing to see how the number four has significance in many ways in the scriptures of India. We usually think of seven as the mystic number (and it is), but four also comes into the picture many times, especially in considerations of the development of consciousness. For example, there are four castes based on the level of the individual’s consciousness. (The present-day “caste system” is an unfortunate degeneration based on just about everything but the individual’s state of evolution.) The solar system is said to pass through four ages (yugas) in which the general consciousness of humanity ranges from only one-fourth to fullness of its potential. This numbering is the most important of all considerations, because it deals with the unfoldment of consciousness, consciousness itself being the nature of the Self.
Even in the life of Jesus we find this fourfold categorizing of spiritual consciousness. Toward the end of his public ministry, in response to his prayer God spoke in a great voice from the heavens. In the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of John we are told that those present reacted in four ways: 1) some knew it was the voice of God, 2) some thought it was the voice of an angel, 3) some did not hear it as words or a voice, but thought it was thunder, and 4) some did not hear a thing. If we analyze these responses will we find exactly the psychology of the four castes being expressed. But let us return to Krishna.
According to Krishna there are four states of awareness in relation to the Self: 1) direct knowledge, 2) deep faith and conviction–an intuition of the Self’s reality, 3) intellectual comprehension of the “theory” of the Self, and 4) complete non-comprehension.
Divine knowledge
“There are some who have actually looked upon the Atman, and understood It, in all Its wonder.” In the ultimate sense, to know something is to be something. Although we are always our selves and incapable of being anything else, because we have fallen into the pit of delusion we are aware of and “know” just about everything but our selves. This is an awesomely horrible plight. But Krishna tells us that there are those who have actually regained their self-awareness, “seen” themselves in atmic vision and comprehended what they saw, coming to know the Self in the fullest sense.
Divine intuition
“Others can only speak of It as wonderful beyond their understanding.” Since we are the Self, we obviously know all about it on the real level of our being. Evolution consists mainly of development/elaboration of our body vehicles, including the mind, but it also entails a refining of those vehicles, a transparency in which intuition comes more and more into play. It is this which is the real transcendence of the mind (intellect) and entry into true knowing. As a prelude to the direct knowing of the Self, the intuition of the Self arises and increases, leading the sadhaka onward to that knowing.
Divine understanding
“Others know of Its wonder by hearsay.” Before intuition arises, the intellect is developed through evolution and becomes capable of grasping the concept of the Self–insofar as it can be intellectually grasped. No small degree of evolution is required before genuinely intelligent (buddhic) apprehension of the Self is possible. Therefore to simply have an intellectual comprehension of the incomprehension of the Self–to wonder at the truth of the Self–is itself a mark of significant spiritual development.
Uncomprehending ignorance
“And there are others who are told about It and do not understand a word.” This is not a matter of intelligence only, but also a matter of evolution of consciousness. I have met highly intelligent people who just could not comprehend even the simplest of the principles set forth in the upanishads or the Gita (which is a digest of the upanishads). No matter how I tried to make them clear by restating them in different ways they remained incapable of even a glimmer of understanding. For example, one very mentally active and intelligent man was thoroughly flummoxed by my statement that as long as we see life with the two eyes of duality we will wander in confusion and delusion, but as soon as we begin to see with the one eye of spiritual intuition we begin to understand our life and our selves. Again and again he asked me to explain, but he never got it in the least. He was very frustrated, at least realizing that I was making sense and the lack was on his part, but he never managed. On another occasion one of the sadhus of our ashram was speaking to a Fundamentalist Protestant minister. The sadhu told him that we believed everyone could become exactly what Jesus was. Over and over he asked the sadhu to explain–not that he was rejecting the idea; he just could not grasp it. And he never did. It was a matter of evolution in both cases, for non-comprehension is even lower than a mistaken understanding.
Of course sometimes incomprehension is a matter of negativity. The Tibetan Buddhists say that stupidity is “a daughter of hell.” Evolution of intelligence is a requisite, but it is certainly true that without purification of the intellect, however evolved, no understanding of higher spiritual realities is possible.
The four castes
Returning to the subject of caste, we can now realize in the light of Krishna’s exposition, that Shudras are those who are servants to materiality and ignorance, Vaishyas are those who have an intellectual understanding of the possibility of their betterment, Kshatriyas are those who, being close to apprehension of the Self, are able to intuit the truth of the Self while aware of their limitation, and Brahmins are those who see and know the Self. This is the sum of the entire matter.
Read the Bhagavad Gita online: The English text of the Gita posted on this Web Site is arranged according to the meter of the original Sanskrit text so it can be sung–as it is done every morning in our ashram and in most of the ashrams of India.
1) Bhagavad Gita 2:29
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