The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad gita-20.8.

31/12/2017

Chapter 20: We are the Fruits and Leaves of the Cosmic Tree -8.

VERY IMPORTANT, FOLLOW CLOSELY:

8.1
The term purusha is used in a highly philosophical sense, and not in the sense of any gender. It is intended to express the characteristic of the ruling consciousness, and not of the ruled object.

Thus it is that wherever two people sit together, there is a third person between them. Purushottama is between kshara and akshara.

When one whispers into the ear of another, there is a third one seeing what is going on and listening to what is spoken, and there is no chance of two people existing without a third being there at the same time.

These two persons do not necessarily mean two human beings. It is only a way of indicating the presence of a supreme principle operating between the subjective individual and the objective atmosphere, whatever be its nature.

It may be a person, it may be things, and it may be mere space and time—whatever it is. So we cannot escape God’s hands. Wherever we go—even if we fly to heaven or descend to the nether regions—there we find the great Being Himself greeting us.

The glory of God and the omnipresence of His Being are such that we cannot go outside the boundary of His existence. Whatever be the power of our wings and the speed with which we fly, even before we reach our destination He is already there to greet us.

8.2
This purushottama is not a person, like a judge in the court or a head of a country governing subjects, but is a pervasive power, an omnipresent reality, and is inescapably present in every little nook and cranny of the world.

The implication of this is not visible in the words of the verses of the Bhagavadgita, but if we read between the lines we will find the glorious message that is embedded within these verses, in the midst of these words, as a string passing through various pearls or gems.

To be continued ...

Swami Krishnananda