Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

Prakriti, which is the objectivity of the purusha, i.e. consciousness, is constituted of three properties, called sattva, rajas and tamas. Tamas is inertia, pure inactivity; rajas is dynamism, distraction and action; and sattva is balance and harmony. The permutation and combination of these three gunas are the very substance of prakriti. The redness of a flower is a quality of the flower, but the redness itself is not the flower; whereas the three strands of a rope are not the quality of the rope, the strands themselves are the rope. In the same way, the three gunas that are mentioned – sattva, rajas and tamas – are the very substance of prakriti, and they are the very essence of movement in this world. These three gunas, by permutation and combination, create a situation of transparency in the cosmos, and the indivisible consciousness gets reflected, as it were, in this transparency, which is suddha tattva. It is the beginning of the process of the creation of the universe. It is a dream condition, as it were, where sketches of the future creation are drawn on the canvas of the mind itself. Thus, from the point of view of Vedanta terminology, there is a coming down of consciousness, which is Absolute, to the state of Isvara, Hiranyagarbha and Virat, or in the language of Sankhya, prakriti becomes mahat, and mahat becomes ahankara. Up to this level, from the top level to the Virat, or from the level of consciousness to ahankara, there is a universal awareness. Virat is universally aware. Hiranyagarbha and Isvara are universally aware. Mahat is universally aware, and the ahankara that is spoken of in Sankhya parlance is not the egoism of the human individual. It is the self-consciousness of the cosmos itself.

A tragic event takes place. The one indivisible ahankara, or Virat, gets divided into a three-partite state, as it were – the object, the subject, and the connecting link between the object and subject. These are known as the adhibhuta, adhyatma and adhidaiva. Thus, we see there is a world outside on account of the division that has taken place, and we are set aside as subjects perceiving the object outside, not being aware that there is a connecting link, which is called the adhidaiva, between the object and the subject. Then there is a continuous solidification of this objectivity into tanmatras, called sabda, sparsha, rupa, rasa, gandha –  prithvi, ap, teja, vayu, akasha – the five elements; and we have come down into the solidity which is this earth. 

The individual, who is the perceiver of this so-called external world, is also constituted only of the three gunas. The bricks out of which the world is made are the very bricks that also make our body. The mind is subtle matter and the physical body is gross matter, and this grossness and subtlety depend upon the extent of the rarification of the gunas of prakriti that have gone into the composition of this body. Nevertheless, whatever is the world outside is also within us. So there is an organic connection between the subject and the object;therefore, our judgments about things will not be finally tenable if we do not take into consideration our own involvement in the process of judgment. The mind of the judge plays an important role in making judgments. What kind of mind does that person have? A disturbed mind, an emotional mind, a prejudiced mind, an impartial mind or a conditioned mind – whatever the mind be, it will determine what kind of judgment can be expected. In a similar manner, this perception by the subject of the object, varies from person to person, from individual to individual, among the 84 lakhs (8,400,000) of species of creation, as they say. An ant’s perception may not be the same as an elephant’s perception, and so on. The judgment of values varies in accordance with the capacity to perceive in the case of different species of creation. The human being is one species, and he cannot take upon himself the privilege of knowing everything as if he is omniscient. He has  only human eyes and, therefore, he sees only human values, and can see nothing else in this world.

So, Arjuna, you have made a mistake by not counting yourself as one of the persons in this world. The people in the world are not only those outside. You are also one of the persons in this world. Hence, your judgment of people in the world also includes judgment of yourself, which you are not doing. You think the world is constituted of people who are totally cut off from you – as in the story of ten people crossing a river. Ten people crossed a river, and the water was neck-deep. With great difficulty they waded across. After reaching the other side, they wanted to check whether or not all of them had crossed, so one of them started counting, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.” He said, “Only nine are here.” The others said, “How is it possible? Has one of us is drowned? Oh, count again.” Another said, “You stand there. I’ll count.” Again only nine people were counted. Every time they counted they found that one man was missing. They started beating their chests and crying that one of them had been drowned in the water. A passerby saw this and asked, “Why are you all crying?” “Oh, one of us has drowned,” they replied. “How many were you?” “Ten.” “But you are ten,” he said. “Where are the ten? No, there are only nine. See!” He counted again, and again counted nine. “You are the tenth!” said the passerby. “Oh, I see! I am the person that is responsible for all these troubles,” exclaimed the man. The world is not the maker of troubles.

Modern science, in its profound discoveries, has now come to the conclusion that scientific observations are conditioned by the instruments that are used in science, and even by the structure of the scientist’s eye; and, therefore, all scientific perceptions are conditioned. Unconditioned knowledge of the world is not possible even for the best of scientists.

So the movement of prakriti within itself in the form of the sense organs and the mind on the one hand, and the objects on the other hand, is taken by us as two different activities taking place. Actually, prakriti is cognising prakriti – guna gunesu vartanta, iti matva na sajjate (3.28). One wave is dashing against another wave in the ocean, and two persons are not actually involved there. The structure of the sense organs and the mind is responsible for the kind of consciousness that is passing through that particular structure, and yet we should not forget that the sense organs and the mind are composed of the very same gunas of prakriti – sattva, rajas and tamas – and, in different permutations and combinations, the objects are constituted of the very same three gunas. So when something is known, when we cognise or perceive an object, it is prakriti that is colliding with prakriti. Therefore, we are not doing anything. But we think that we are isolated individuals, sitting and judging things. No judgment is possible, individually. Therefore, nobody does any action, ultimately.

Sri Krishna’s philosophy, finally, is that no individual action is possible. All action is cosmic action, as the very concept of individuality is ruled out in the light of this predicament of all perception being only a collision of the subjective side of prakriti with its objective side. Hence, who does anything in this world? It is prakriti doing within itself whatever it wants to do, as the rumbling within the bowels of the ocean may rise up as billowing waves on the surface, yet it is one activity taking place. If something is happening in the Atlantic, it can be felt in the Arabian Sea, and we cannot say that there are two different seas working. It is one impulse working through different areas.

All perception – finally, all knowledge – is a conditioned observation of things through the mind and the sense organs on account of prakriti  conditioning things, subjectively on the one hand and objectively the other hand. Thus, sensory perception cannot be regarded as correct perception. Even pure mental cogitation cannot be regarded as correct perception, because the externality characterising the object vitiates the validity of any perception. The error of perception of any kind is the introduction of space and time in the midst of the otherwise indivisible movement of prakriti – subjectively as gunas and also objectively as gunas. Between two waves in the ocean there are gaps, but the gaps are filled with a basic fundament of the very same substance of the wave, and two waves which are different from each other are connected by a basic ocean. In a similar manner, individual perceptions in respect of objects outside are actually a dancing of the waves of the gunas of prakriti within themselves. “The whole universe is a dance of prakriti. Neither you do anything, nor I do anything. So, Arjuna, you are unnecessarily racking your brain by trying to tell me whether the war is to be undertaken or not, and what kind of consequence will follow, etc. How do you draw these conclusions, and on what grounds have you drawn these conclusions, not knowing the fact that your judgment in respect of the Kauravas, or the world, is misconstrued on account of your standing outside, like the tenth man not counting himself and therefore always finding that there is one person less?”

The world is defective on account of our not being able to isolate and identify ourselves with the world structure. There is no harmony between ourselves and the world of objects. There is a tension between the subject and object. The tension is caused by the vitiating habit of love and hatred, because the limited mind cannot love all things in the world, nor can it hate all things in the world. It is impossible. The mind works in fractions – little bits of thought, of cogitation, arrange themselves into a particular pattern at some time and classify them as desirable or undesirable according to the condition through which the body and the mind pass; therefore, the whole of perception is not given to the mind. We neither like the whole world nor hate the whole world. Thus, neither of these attitudes of ours can be regarded as finally tenable.

Psychological judgment charged with sentiment is no judgment. It should be a super-rational judgment arisen on account of the inference that the reason can draw on the basis of a universal substance that is there. The premise has to be Universality, and from there we can deduce particularity. But we cannot rise from particularity to Universality, because particulars cannot tell us that there is a Universal.

All logic in India is deductive in the sense that it takes its stand on the Supreme Reality first, as Sankhya has taken. The essence of thinking is consciousness; it has to be indivisible and, therefore, it is Universal. So, there is a distinction between the approach of Western philosophers and Indian philosophers. The empiricists, such as Bacon and others, count things: “The sun rises in the east.  The sun rose in the east yesterday, the sun rose in the east today; millions of times sun has risen in the east and, therefore, it must be always rising only in the east.” This kind of conclusion is called induction. From many particulars we gather a generalisation; but it may not be a correct conclusion because even if the sun has been rising in the east for millions of years, one day it may not rise in the east. For some reason the whole thing may change and it may rise in the west. Therefore, induction is not correct. Indian philosophy never relies on induction. It relies on deduction. The fundamental reality has to be ascertained first, and that is possible only by an investigation of the investigator himself. As Ramana Maharshi was fond of saying, “Whenever you put a question, tell me who is questioning.”

Therefore, go deep into yourself.

This Arjuna could not do. Sankhya is the knowledge of the structure of the world as it is really constituted, inclusive of the perceiving individual, on account of which fact there is no such thing as individual action at all. Therefore, there is no individual judgment either. Hence, whatever Arjuna had been saying was gibberish; it was nonsense. Now Arjuna says, “Please lead me into the right path of action in this world, in the light of this great knowledge that you have given to me.” “I have told you Sankhya, now I shall tell you Yoga,” replies Sri Krishna. Esa te'bhihita sankhye buddhir yoge tv imam srnu (2.39): “All that I have been telling you up to this time is the wisdom of the Sankhya, which is the knowledge of the structure of the universe as it is in itself, including you. Now I shall tell you how to live in this world – how to live in this kind of world where you are also involved in it – and how to act in an impersonal manner, not in a personal manner.” That is the yoga of action, which Sri Krishna will subsequently give.