3 "I".

Incision into :

------------©-----------

The Inclination,

The Involvement, and

The Indulgence.

Gita chapter 1 is about the foreground what Maharshi VEDAVYASA turned into a greatest classic of all times.

This chapter 1 narrates about the situation in the battlefield where the Great war took place. And it was but natural that Arjuna was overwhelmed by self-pity and could not see what the war meant and was of worth.

So far, so good.

Sri-Krishna explained to him the essentials of Sankhya angle in the next chapter 2.

Arjuna was unable to grasp this teaching of the Sankhya Darshana so a dialogue started between the two. 

From the chapter 2 onwards till the end, that is the chapter 18, throughout this whole text of Gita, Sri-Krisna deals with Yoga aspect of the Karma-Darshana, on the (pretext of the) assumption that this may help Arjuna to take a decision with confidence.

In a way Sri-Krishna performed the role of a motivational speaker / Guru only. 

But the crux / the climax of this text comes and is to be seen in the chapter 18, where Sri-Krishna, - though well aware that Karma (deed), JnAna (knowledge) and the Karta (the notion of 'some-one' who is supposed to execute / perform the deed) are hypothetical, appear and disappear in thought only and as such they have no intrinsic truth whatever, assumes them as to be true for helping and convincing Arjuna.

Though Arjuna is quite unaware of this fact, he listens to Sri-Krishna with all due respect, care, and attention and follows his words.

Sri-Krishna further elaborates His point and takes it for granted, that not only the Karma (deed), but also the Karta (the one who is supposed to execute / perform a deed) along-with the JnAna (knowledge) are as much real and true, the result of the deed / action, -the  (Karma-phala) -is real.

That is how Sri-Krishna then classifies and categorizes the three hypothetical ideas / notions, namely the Karta, the Karma, and the JnAna, accordingly in terms of the three kinds of  satvika, rajasika and tamasika tendencies respectively.

satvika, rajasika and tamasika are the kinds of tendencies of mind that could be treated again as the synonyms of

The Inclination,

The Involvement, and

The Indulgence.

Accordingly the Karta, the Karma and the JnAna are also described in terms of these three tendencies, which are basically the 3 constituents of Maya only.

In conclusion, the whole text of Gita deals with beautifully and fits perfectly well with the way one would approach the Reality.

***

This Reminds me of -

(Thus spake Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj:)

"If you know what you teach, you can teach what you know".

***

नासतो विद्यते भावो

श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता :

--

अध्याय २,

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः।।

उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ।।१६।।

अविनाशी तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ।।

विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ।।१७।।

अध्याय ४,

तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया ।।

उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः ।।३४।।

--

भगवान् श्री रमण महर्षि कृत सद्दर्शनम् :

सत्प्रत्ययाः किन्नु विहाय सन्तं ।

हद्येष चिन्तारहितं हृदाख्यः ।।

कथं स्मरामस्तममेयमेकम् ।

तस्य स्मृतिस्तत्र दृढैव निष्ठा ।।१।।

--

प्रस्तुत प्रविष्टि (पोस्ट) के प्रारंभ के ३ श्लोक श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता से उद्धृत किए गए हैं किन्तु यहाँ इसका उद्दिष्ट प्रयोजन, श्री रमण महर्षि-कृत सद्दर्शनम् नामक ग्रन्थ के प्रारंभ में उल्लिखित :

"सत्प्रत्ययाः"

पद की विवेचना करना है।

जिस सत् (Reality) पद को अहम्, निज, सत्य, ब्रह्म, आत्मा, अव्यय, अविनाशी, ईश्वर, इत्यादि पदों के द्वारा अभिव्यक्त किया जाता है वह वाणी का विषय नहीं होने से उसका वर्णन करना  बहुत कठिन है। 

अतः उसके बारे में जानने और कहने के लिए एकमात्र उपलब्ध और संभव उपाय यही है, कि उस 'सत्' नामक तत्त्व के द्योतक उसके चिह्नों और लक्षणों, उसके अर्थात् उसे इंगित करने वाले उन संकेतों के माध्यम से ही उसकी प्राप्ति के लिए प्रयास किया जाए। 

उसके ऐसे कौन से चिह्न, लक्षण, द्योतक संकेत हैं, जिनके द्वारा  शास्त्रों में उसे इंगित किया गया है, और जिन्हें सामान्य बुद्धि से युक्त मनुष्य भी सफलतापूर्वक ग्रहण कर अन्ततः हृदयङ्गम कर सकता है?

अथर्वशीर्ष ऐसा ही एक उपक्रम है जिसका पाठ, अध्ययन कर अल्पबुद्धियुक्त ऐसा मनुष्य जिसका चित्त निर्मल, मन परिपक्व और विवेक जागृत हो, उस तत्त्व का साक्षात्कार कर सकता है। अथर्वशीर्ष उस परमात्मा के ऐसे चिह्नों या संकेतों के माध्यम से उसकी उपासना और स्तवन करने का अनुष्ठान है ।

संक्षेप में :

त्वं, अहम् तथा तत् (एवं यह) इन तीन सर्वनामों के माध्यम से उसे ही क्रमशः गणपति, रुद्र, देवी, नारायण तथा सूर्य आदि की संज्ञा देकर उसके ही स्वरूप का वर्णन श्री गणपति-अथर्वशीर्ष, शिव-अथर्वशीर्ष, श्री देवी-अथर्वशीर्ष, नारायण-अथर्वशीर्ष तथा सूर्य-अथर्वशीर्ष के रूप में किया गया है ।

***

 

मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् ...

गीता अध्याय ६

यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् ।।

ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ।।२६।।

--

(Gita 6/26)

Latent and Blatant :

Exactly, "Who" is there that is supposed to go through this exercise?

Is there another mind that is supposed to bring back home (home is where the heart is!) this wandering mind to its home / heart?

Here, may be the heart the same that has been pointed out in the following verses 4/42 and 61/18 of the chapter 4 and 18 respectively?  :

तस्मादज्ञानसंभूतं हृत्स्थं ज्ञानासिनात्मनः।।

छित्त्वैनं संशयं योगमातिष्ठोत्तिष्ठ भारत ।।४२।।

and, 

ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति ।।

भ्रामयन् सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ।।६१।।

This way for the time being, let us consider the two salient modes of mind. 

One is the superficial mind that is restless and keeps moving from one to another object.

There is yet another underlying deeper mind that is silent, taciturn, reticent, sitting at the core of the heart.

Though this division of mind into the superficial and the deeper too helps to some extent, the prime factor that governs the whole of this mind is the "attention" only that is the ever-existing fact within the grasp of all of us.

Still, the attention could be further viewed as the one and the same thing that has 3 components inseparable to one-another. This 3 components or the aspects of the "attention" could be again termed as the sense of being as the "I AM", the consciousness (knowing) and the intellect --the tendency of the mind.

The three aspects could be understood in the form of the Rudra-principle, the DevI-principle, and the gaNesha-principle as well.

Bringing back the wandering mind to its natural abode,  - the heart, could be done when these 3 principles are seen as the three marks of Reality that could be at once grasped by means of any or all of them together.

This is how one could 'meditate' and discover by reciting pATha of the three Atharva SheerShaM, namely :

The gaNesha Atharva SheerShaM, 

The Shiva Atharva SheerShaM, and the

Devi Atharva SheerShaM.

In the very process of reciting the pATha or the stotram one gradually discovers the mechanism of the mind at the two levels referred to above.

***