Bhagwad Gita - Post 191

Verse 19

He who, undeluded, knows Me thus as the highest Purusha, he, knowing all, worships Me with his whole being (heart), O Arjuna!

Undeluded means, one who has totally detached oneself from one's wrong identifications with body, mind, and intellect, and therefore, also from the world of perceptions, feelings, and thoughts, which these vehicles provide.

Thus Knows me --- To 'know' here is not a mere intellectual comprehension, but a deep subjective spiritual apprehension. That the undeluded one thus experiences in himself that he is the Purushottama-Principle Itself, seems to be the suggestion here.

Dear All,

While it seems difficult to understand that there is something even beyond Purusha and Prakriti, it is enough to understand one single point here.

All teachings of Upanishads, all descriptions of Brahman, are somehow with respect to the creation.

Let us recapitulate what Chinmaya wrote,

“If two trains are both moving at the same speed no movement is recognized by perceivers in both the trains…….”

Let us take one train in this example to be this Creation which we can perceive.

Since we are able to perceive Creation, there has to be a cause for this creation, who is the Supreme Creator, Brahman. Let us assume this to be the second train.

So, when we are keeping one train non-moved, we are able to comprehend or know or think about the second train.

That is, we can either think of Creation or about the Creator, at one point of time and when we think of one of them, the other one is not thought of (one train moves and another does not move).

Now, what would be the situation when we neither think of Creation nor about Creator, but transcend both of them??

That is, we transcend all the description of Brahman in Vedanta and exist as beyond all those descriptions as Pure Existence, without any awareness that we are existing thus.!!

This is what is described as Purushottama or Para Brahman.

In simpler words, let us be clear. The same Purusha, described in Vedanta with respect to the creation, when we transcend all reference of Purusha with respect to Creation, then the same Purusha now is Purushottama, in our transcendental state/ experience. 

Since we are all very clear about the Pure canvass analogy, let us be clear that as long as the thought of  subsequent processes-stiffening of canvass, outline, emerging of drawing, all these things somehow are there when we contemplate on the canvass, then the canvass is Purusha (as per Sankhya also).

But in the height of contemplation, when all the thoughts of further processes are gone and even the faintest thought of the pure canvass is also gone and we exist verily as the Pure canvass itself, then the same Purusha referred in Vedanta now exists as PURUSHOTTAMA.

Purushottama, in author’s humble thoughts, cannot be explained in a more easy way. Even Upanishads/ Gita has not explained in the manner explained above because, Upanishad is silent on the description of “Purushottama” as it is not a subject of description but it is the state to be experienced. 

Somehow, when the author sat and started writing on this verse, it flows from within as an intuition that the verse, along with the previous two verses, have to be explained further and this intuition and the flow of expressions, both flow at the same time.

Verse 20

Thus, this most secret science has been taught by Me, O sinless one! On knowing this, a man becomes wise, and all his duties are accomplished, O Arjuna!

This is a secret. This Fifteenth Chapter is a great secret—the most secret, not an ordinary secret. 

“It is not an ordinary secret, it is not a great secret, but it is the greatest secret that I have told you. Really you will be wise after having known the import of this teaching; and you have done what you wanted to do, you have known what is to be known, and you have obtained what is to be obtained. You become what is called kritakritya, jnatajneya and praptaprapya, which are the signs of perfection. 

You know whatever is to be known, you have done what is to be done, and you have obtained what is to be obtained. That state of affairs is called kritakritya. 

O Arjuna! You will attain to that state and you will know all things, if you have grasped the essential import of this teaching that I have given to you here in this Fifteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, which is known as Purushottama Yoga.”

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 190

Verse 17

But distinct is the Supreme Purusha called the highest Self, the indestructible Lord who, pervading the three worlds, sustains them.

Verse 18

As I transcend the perishable and am even higher than the imperishable, I am declared as the highest Purusha in the world and in the Vedas.

The Supreme Purusha is different from both the purusha and prakriti mentioned. He is called Paramatma, the Supreme Self. We may call the purusha of the Sankhya as a kind of self, but this is a Supreme Self which includes every other kind of self, and all selves are subsumed under this universal inclusiveness. 

In this verse (no. 18), the Supreme Lord Krishna confirms His position as Purushottama the Supreme Being of all existence by His validation of transcendence to both the kshara or perishable and akshara or imperishable.

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad V.VI.I beginning manomayo-ayam puruso states: The resplendent Supreme Being is the ruler and lord of all governing all that exists.

Chinmaya explains in his own unique way, 

“If two trains are both moving at the same speed no movement is recognized by perceivers in both the trains. If the changes in the world of Matter --- the body, the mind and the intellect are recognized, then there must be a steady principle that illumines all these different changes. This constant factor among the Perishing is called the Imperishable.

This illumining factor gathers its status as the "Imperishable" only with reference to the "Perishable" realms. Once the perishable realms are transcended, the Imperishable amidst them Itself comes to shine forth as the Pure Infinite, which is the Purushottama. Since the Truth, Purushottama, is experienced only on transcending both the 'Perishable' and the 'Imperishable,' It is known by the term the 'Highest-Spirit' --- Purushottama. This term is used to indicate the Supreme-most Self, both by the ancient sacred volumes (Vedas), and by the poets and writers of the world.”

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 189

Verse 16

Two Purushas there are in this world, the perishable and the imperishable. All beings are the perishable, and the Kutastha is called the imperishable.

There are two realities in this world, one being imperishable, the other being perishable. Which one is perishable, and which one is imperishable? 

All visible objects, including all jivas, are perishable. 

Yaddrsyam tannasyam is a brief sutra of Acharya Sankara:

Whatever is visible is perishable. This entire world is visible and, therefore, it has to be considered as Kshara, or perishable. This is cosmically true as well as individually true. 

But there is a Kutastha Atman inside us which transcends the five Koshas, beyond the physical, subtle and causal bodies there is a transcendental light shining within us; that is our real Self, that is the Atman, that is the Kutastha Chaitanya. It is the imperishable in us. 

Thus, there appears to be a twofold reality in this world, almost amounting to the peculiar relationship between the Purusha and the Prakriti of the Sankhya. 

For the Sankhya, there is nothing above Purusha and Prakriti. According to the Sankhya, there are only two realities—Consciousness on the one side and matter on the other side—and everything can be explained by the juxtaposition and the interaction of Purusha and Prakriti.

But, interestingly and very specially, the statement made here in this Bhagwad Gita verse is that there is a Being transcending this so-called Prakriti, and it is above even the Purusha. 

The perceiving consciousness and the perceived object are transcended in a universal consciousness that absorbs both into its original essence. 

It is here alone, in the Bhagawad Gita, that a transcendent opinion is held that there is an Absolute beyond the seeing or witnessing consciousness and the witnessed world. God is not simply consciousness; 

He is not simply an object of perception in the form of the whole universe. “Unthinkable Reality, Supreme Transcendence, Purushottama am I.”

Reader’s attention is drawn to the relevant exposition already covered under the theme “Creation of the Universe”, as under:-

“…….In the Gita, an entity / existence beyond Purusha and Prakriti is explained as PURUSHOTTAMA.

In the Gita, Purusha and Purushottama words are used frequently and one is used for the other term. Thus, if the existence of Purushottama is not properly grasped by the readers, then Purusha word used in the Gita may be interpreted as Purusha explained in the Sankhya.

In the Sankhya, Purusha and Prakriti, where Prakriti is not different from Purusha but only the primordial matter of the Purusha existing as spirit, are understood to be responsible for the creation.

If that be so, where were this Purusha and Prakriti (or the identity of Purusha as Spirit and Matter) before the creation took place?

Vedanta gives the answer, which aligns with the flow given above:

“Purusha (as described in the traditional Sankhya philosophy) and Prakriti are both latent in the Supreme. At the time of creation, they became operative”.

Thus, Bhagawad Gita conveys in a subtle manner that though one talks of Kshetra and Kshetrajna with respect to their  activated human body and for all such bodies, there is Kshetra and Kshetrajna, there is one Kshetrajna common to all, who is the Purushottama.

Love.