239 - Essence of the Gita

Brahmā said: 

1. I shall now tell you of Brahmagită, the knowledge of which will release you from the bond of activities. The knowledge derived from the aupanişhadic text I am Brahma releases one from the tangle (of the senses). 

2. The knowledge of aham and Brahma leads to the knowledge of the meaning of aham and Brahma and it leads to the knowledge of the sentence aham Brahmdsmi. The sense of the two words: aliam and Brahina is twofold: denotative and indicative: 

3. The denotative sense of the sentence aham Brahmasmı is not so clear as the indicative one. The relationship between the two is like that between the body and the soul. 

4. The śhruti declares that denotatively the word aham refers to the personal self while indicatively it refers to the non dual Brahman. 

5. Indeclinable, blissful and unmanifested consciousness is denotated by the word Brahma while the personal self manifested in the body is denotated by the word aham. 

6. Indicatively the word cham refers to Brahma, while the word Brahma refers to the soul in the body. The two are identical). 

7-10. The word aham refers to the perceptible entity (Jivatman) and the word Brahma refers to the imperceptible (Brahma). By adopting the Indicatory process (lakshana) the person arrives at the meaning of aham Brahma which leads him to realize the non-dual supreme Self. The knowledge of the meaning of the Mahavákya aham Brahmasmi removes ignorance, enlightens the path and effects release.

Lord Hari said: 

11-16. From the eternal Brahma was originated the ether, from ether the fire, from fire the carth. The subtle body consisting of seventeen parts came into being; viz the five organs of action, viz, hands, feet, mouth, the generating organ, the organ of evacuation, five organs of intellect, viz. cars, skin, eyes, tongue, organ of smell, and five winds viz Praņa, Apāna, Samana, Vyảna, Udāna, and mind of which the nature is doubting and intellect of which the nature is ascertainment. This is the subtle creation. Hiranyagarbha is an individual soul which is ascertainable only by its actions. From the five subtle elements originated the five gross elements: earth, water, fire, wind and ether, from the five gross elements originated the universe. 

17. The body consists of feet, hands, etc is known as the gross body. It originates from five elements and functions as the base of all activities. 

18. The body consisting of organs of action is called gross but has its basis in the Supreme Self. 

19. The individual self pervades the subtle as well as the gross body; as the Shrutis declare, the very Brahma has entered the bodies. 

20. Like the Sun in the water, the higher self reflected in the intellect is called Jiva (the personal self) which sustains life and functions as the witness of three states, viz, the state of wakefulness, of dream and sound sleep. 

21-22. The supreme self is not associated with attributes, is distinct from threc states of consciousness, viz, the state of wakefulness, dream and sound sleep. It is not divided in parts, is non-dual, is of eternally pure nature. Scated inside the body and characterized by three states of consciousness, the individual self is no other than the higher self. 

63. A person who is ever intent on three states, viz., the state of wakefulness, of dream and of sound sleep can never realize Brahma. I shall now tell you something about those activities which are undertaken for the attainment of fruits and about the three states of consciousness jägrat etc. 

24-25. The knowledge of an object through the organ of senses is called jagrat. The seeker for the knowledge of an object goes in contact with that very object through the medium of senses. The same is repeated in dream (svapna). In sound sleep there is a total withdrawal of senses. The mind and intellect are concentrated in Brahman. 

26-31. Serially or non-serially, the individual soul passes through the three states. In the preliminary state of meditation, he is aware of the objective world. As soon as the desire for liberation is created in him he withdraws his senses from the outside world which being emanated from the creator himself appears to be distinct as the jar appears distinct from clay. The universe constituted of the five-fold elements is nothing but an aggregate of five subtlc elements which again are nothing but the indivisible Brahma itself. 

The earth as the substratum of all stationary and living beings has also a substratum in Brahma. There is no fire with out wind, no wind without ether, no ether without Brahma and no Brahma without ether. 

32-34. In pure consciousness there is no awareness of the states jagrat, svapna etc. and no sense of separateness. The personal soul loses its identity and merges into the eternally pure, intelligent, awakened and non-dual Brahma. Then 'thou' and 'that' are dropped and what remains is pure Brahma (indicated by asi). 

Just as in Om, the syllables a, u, m, are merged, losing their identity, similarly all appendages that create a feeling of separateness are merged into the Brahman. The expressions Brahmdhamasmi, aham Brahma serve merely to create confusion. 

35. The self is the supreme light, supreme consciousness, supreme joy, supreme truth, eternal knowledge, expressed by the word tvam. So declares the Shruti. 

36. I am Brahma, pure and simple. I am omniscient. That one is seen in the orb of the sun, that one I am, eternally. The lord conveyed this essence of Gitā to Arjuna who realized the Self.