Bhagwad Gita - Post 98

Verse 4

Adhibhootam ksharo bhaavah

Purushashcha adhi daivatam;

Adhiyajno’hamevaatra

Dehe dehabhritaam vara.

  

Adhibhuta (knowledge of the elements) pertains to My perishable Nature, and the Purusha or soul is the Adhidaiva; I alone am the Adhiyajna here in this body, O best among the embodied (men)!

ADHIBHOOTA

The perishable world is the adhibhuta prapancha. All the world of names and forms, including this body, is perishable. It is under mutation; it is a flux. It is a continuity of a succession of events, and no object in this world can be said to be existing individually or independently even for a second.

Persons like Buddha have highlighted this aspect by saying that the world is like a flowing river, where we cannot touch the same water the next moment. Like a flame that is burning and every minute, every second, there is a new set of atoms of fire rushing forth, the world is not a total indivisibility, but a movement. As a flame is a movement, as water in the river is a movement, the world is a movement. Therefore, it is perishable because when it moves, it is conditioned at every minute into bits of process.

ADHYATMA

The word Adhyatma can be split into Adhi+Atma.

Beyond everything that a human mind can think of, there is

the Supreme, which is being eternal, is also imperishable.  And that Supreme is none other than Brahman. 

The universe  of which all the beings form a part, is a physical manifestation of that Brahman. Since we are a part of this universe, there has to be a component of that Brahman in all of us. 

And that component is Adhyatma.

(When we the drawings have superimposed ourselves on the pure canvas Brahman, it is but natural that in all of us, there has to be Brahman, the part of that pure canvas on which we have superimposed ourselves)

ADHIDAIVA

There is a Supreme adhidaiva who brings everything together into a hierarchy of divine operations, even when the different Gods act. Indra, Varuna, Mitra, Surya, Agni, Devi, Narayana, Vishnu, Siva, Ganesha — all these divinities represent facets of the Supreme Absolute, and they have to be put into a pattern of harmonious action so that one will not do something which would contradict what the other does. Gods do not contradict themselves.

Siva does not contradict what Ganesha does, nor does Ganesha contradict what Narayana does. There is a harmony of principle in the mode of behaviour and action of these Gods. They are all conditioned by a supreme constitution of the Absolute, and that is the adhidaiva.

ADHIYAGNA

Yajna here means the "act of perception, feeling, or thought." As in the Yajna, here also oblations --- the sense-objects --- are poured into the Yajna altar --- the sense-organs --- when the Devata --- the particular faculty in it --- gets propitiated and invoked, and as a blessing from it we gain the "fruit" thereof, viz., the knowledge of the perception. In this Adhiyajna, in the subjective Yajna-act of perception, it is quite evident that the One Vital Factor that dominates the entire activity is the Self, the Principle of Life.

The spirit of sacrifice in human also originates from the Supreme, that is Brahman. Adhiyagna simply means the spirit of sacrifice originating from the Supreme.

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 97

Verse 1

Arjuna Uvaacha:

Kim tadbrahma kim adhyaatmam

Kim karma purushottama;

Adhibhootam cha kim proktam

Adhidaivam kimuchyate.

Arjuna said:

What is that Brahman? What is Adhyatma? What is action, O best among men? What is declared to be Adhibhuta? And what is Adhidaiva said to be?

Verse 2

Adhiyajnah katham ko’tra

Dehe’smin madhusoodana;

Prayaanakaale cha katham

Jneyo’si niyataatmabhih.

Who and how is Adhiyajna here in this body, O destroyer of Madhu (Krishna)? And how, at the time of death, art Thou to be known by the self-controlled one?

Verse 3

Sri Bhagawan Uvaacha:

Aksharam brahma paramam Swabhaavo’dhyaatmamuchyate;

Bhootabhaavodbhavakaro

Visargah karmasamjnitah.

The Blessed Lord said:

Brahman is the Imperishable, the Supreme; His essential nature is called Self-knowledge; the offering (to the gods) which causes existence and manifestation of beings and which also sustains them is called action.

Verse 4

Adhibhootam ksharo bhaavah

Purushashcha adhi daivatam;

Adhiyajno’hamevaatra

Dehe dehabhritaam vara.

  

Adhibhuta (knowledge of the elements) pertains to My perishable Nature, and the Purusha or soul is the Adhidaiva; I alone am the Adhiyajna here in this body, O best among the embodied (men)!

Now, Sri Krishna takes over and starts answering to Arjuna’s questions on who / what is,

-                  Brahman

-                  Adhyatma

-                  Adhibhuta

-                  Adhidaiva and

-                  Adhiyagna

BRAHMAN

IMPERISHABLE IS THE SUPREME BRAHMAN - The term Brahman indicates the one changeless and imperishable subjective Essence behind the phenomenal world. It becomes the Self, the Conscious Principle which illumines the body, mind and intellect from birth to death in all births.

It exists everywhere, and yet it appears to be nowhere. It exists everywhere and, therefore, everything lives and exists. It appears to be existing nowhere because it is not the object of the perception of anybody’s sense organs. Inasmuch as the world is an object and the Absolute Brahman is not an object, the world appears to exist and the Absolute does not appear to exist anywhere at all. 

continued....

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 96

Chapter VIII (Continued…)

Verse 19

Bhootagraamah sa evaayam

Bhootwaa bhootwaa praleeyate; Raatryaagame’vashah paartha Prabhavatyaharaagame.

This same multitude of beings, born again and again, is dissolved, helplessly, O Arjuna, (into the unmanifested) at the coming of the night, and comes forth at the coming of the day!

Verse 20

Parastasmaat tu bhaavo’nyo’vyakto’vyaktaatsanaatanah;

Yah sa sarveshu

Bhooteshu nashyatsu na vinashyati.

But verily there exists, higher than the unmanifested, another unmanifested Eternal who is not destroyed when all beings are destroyed.

Verse 21

Avyakto’kshara ityuktastamaahuh

Paramaam gatim;

Yam praapya na nivartante

Taddhaama paramam mama.

What is called the Unmanifested and the Imperishable, That they say is the highest goal (path). They who reach It do not return (to this cycle of births and deaths). That is My highest abode (place or state).

Verse 22

Purushah sa parah paartha

Bhaktyaa labhyastwananyayaa; Yasyaantahsthaani bhootaani

Yena sarvamidam tatam.

That highest Purusha, O Arjuna, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone within whom all beings dwell and by whom all this is pervaded.

Verse 23

Yatra kaale twanaavrittim

Aavrittim chaiva yoginah;

Prayaataa yaanti tam kaalam

Vakshyaami bharatarshabha.

Now I will tell thee, O chief of the Bharatas, the times departing at which the Yogis will return or not return!

Verse 24

Agnijyotirahah shuklah

Shanmaasaa uttaraayanam;

Tatra prayaataa gacchanti

Brahma brahmavido janaah.

Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern path of the sun (northern solstice)—departing then (by these), men who know Brahman go to Brahman.

Verse 25

Dhoomo raatristathaa krishnah

Shanmaasaa dakshinaayanam;

Tatra chaandramasam jyotir

Yogee praapya nivartate.

Attaining to the lunar light by smoke, night-time, the dark fortnight or the six months of the southern path of the sun (the southern solstice), the Yogi returns.

Verse 26

Shuklakrishne gatee hyete

Jagatah shaashwate mate;

Ekayaa yaatyanaavrittim

Anyayaa’vartate punah.

The bright and the dark paths of the world are verily thought to be eternal; by the one (the bright path) a person goes not to return again, and by the other (the dark path) he returns.

Verse 27

Naite sritee paartha

Jaanan yogee muhyati kashchana;

Tasmaat sarveshu kaaleshu

Yogayukto bhavaarjuna.

Knowing these paths, O Arjuna, no Yogi is deluded! Therefore, at all times be steadfast in Yoga.

Verse 28

Vedeshu yajneshu tapahsu chaiva

Daaneshu yat punyaphalam pradishtam:

Atyeti tatsarvam idam viditwaa

Yogee param sthaanamupaiti chaadyam.

Whatever fruits or merits is declared (in the scriptures) to accrue from (the study of) the Vedas, (the performance of) sacrifices, (the practice of) austerities, and (the offering of) gifts—beyond all these goes the Yogi, having known this; and he attains to the supreme primeval (first or ancient) Abode.

Hari Om Tat Sat

Iti Srimad Bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu Brahmavidyaayaam Yogashaastre Sri Krishnaarjunasamvaade Aksharabrahmayogo Naama Ashtamo’dhyaayah

Thus, in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the eighth discourse entitled:

“The Yoga of the Imperishable Brahman”

                          

Love.