The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad gita-20.9.

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06/01/2018

Chapter 20: We are the Fruits and Leaves of the Cosmic Tree -9.

VERY IMPORTANT, FOLLOW CLOSELY:

This Supreme Master of the cosmos, the Soul of the universe, rules and operates through these properties of sattva, rajas and tamas; yet the Bhagavadgita wants to awaken us to another fact—that God is not actually threefold. This threefold activity can be boiled down or reduced to a twofold activity of the positive and the negative powers.

We need not call them by the terms sattva, rajas and tamas. They are only, to put it in the language of the Gita itself, the divine and undivine forces, which is another way of saying consciousness which moves us towards unity of comprehension, and that which moves us towards diversity, dissention and separation of one from the other.

Both these tendencies are present in everyone, and we as human beings are particularly concerned with our own state of affairs. We are urged in two ways—inwardly and outwardly. We have a loving, sympathetic, affectionate core within us, and also a devilish, separating nature. Both are working within us at different times—we are good people and bad people at the same time.

Any one particular characteristic can be evoked from us by the operating of a particular pattern in our personalities. Thus it is that we are god and devil at the same time, as it were, and any person can behave either way under different conditions.

There is no absolutely good person in the world, and also no absolutely bad person. Both these characteristics are mixed up in human individuals in certain proportions, and they are evoked by certain circumstances that take place outside.

Thus, finally, it can be said that there are two forces—daiva and asura. These are only theological terms representing the highly incomprehensible activity of the cosmos by which it evolves and involves itself in the process of creation, preservation and transformation, sometimes called destruction.

This cyclic movement of all things stands before us as a mighty mystery that we cannot understand. Thus, to put it concisely before you, it may be said that the whole universe is a drama, an interesting enactment of various dramatic personae coming in, and leaving when the curtain drops and the scene is over.

No dramatic persona is indispensable throughout the play, while everyone is necessary at the particular time when that personality is to be projected in the scene.

So nothing is necessary, and nothing is totally unnecessary in this universe. This puts the characteristic of impersonality and universality of operation in the hands of God.

To be continued ...
Swami Krishnananda

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