Bhagavad Gita | The Essence of Vedanta 141 - Purushottama – The Supreme Divine Truth| Swami Tattwamayananda
Jun 23, 2023
56:53
15th Chapter: Verses 8, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
The 15th chapter discusses the idea of immanence, transcendence and omnipresence of the Absolute Reality. The Absolute Reality is beyond verbalization and description – it can only be experienced.
15th verse: “This divine principle is present as the indweller in every living being in this world. It manifests as memory, knowledge, ignorance, and forgetfulness. It is the one that is described and explored in all scriptures. It is the one to be known.”
16th verse: “There are two kinds of beings in this world: First, is ksharah, which is the perishable. Second, is aksharah, which is imperishable. Ksharah is this phenomenal world, which comes and goes. Aksharah is the jivatma, present as the indweller in all beings, and is imperishable.”
The anvil is installed on the ground and does not move. On top of it, metal pieces are hammered and shaped. Metal pieces undergo change – the anvil doesn’t. The jivatma is like the anvil and does not change – it assumes new bodies from birth to birth.
The 8th verse of the 15th chapter discusses transmigration of the soul. It says: “When this body is destroyed, the soul within is not destroyed. It leaves the body behind and acquires a new body taking with it the senses and the mind, just like the wind carries the scent away with it.”
We are born with the baggage of past samskaras (tendencies) – we cannot disown them. We collect these tendencies in our Antahkarana through actions involving the senses and the mind. When the body is cremated, the physical senses are gone, but the Antahkarana is retained. It accompanies the jivatma when it takes a new body.
We come out of the wheel of samsara – birth, old age, death, rebirth – when we dehypnotize ourselves into knowing that we are not this body, and we realize our true identity as Atman.
17th verse: “Purushottama is the supreme divine truth that is immanent, omnipresent and transcendental. It is distinct and different from both the phenomenal world and the jivatma.”
The jivatma is the supreme Atman manifesting through this body, in combination with the Antahkarana and past samskaras. When we remove the samskaras and the antahkarana from the jivatma, what remains is Purushottama – the supreme divine truth. To get back into our true identity is to realize that we are Purushottama.
In the Ashtavakra Samhita, there is a verse: “In the ocean, there are so many waves. Without any effort, by the characteristics of the ocean, waves come and go. They emerge by their own nature and then they disappear. The ocean is not distinct from the waves. The waves cannot exist without the ocean. But the ocean can exist without the waves.”
Similarly, in this Purushottama, the entire phenomenon of creation, dissolution and re-emergence of the world happens. Purushottama is like the ocean, and the phenomenal world is like the waves.
Purushottama is all pervading and is immanent in everything. It is present in all three states of consciousness – waking, dream sleep and deep sleep states. At the same time, it is transcendental.
The 17th verse emphasizes the spiritual oneness of existence. The whole creation is one spiritual family. We should maintain the harmony of nature and not deviate from the principles of Satyam, Ritm and Dharma.
Satyam means truth. A person will not deviate from the path of harmony if he practices truthfulness and feels content.
Ritm is the central principle of inherent harmony that exists in nature.
Dharma refers to the ethical and moral principles through which one practices Satyam. For example, it is immoral to pollute the earth and therefore against Dharma.
18th verse: “I am the Absolute Reality, the Purushottama, which is present everywhere.”
19th verse: “A person who is free from delusion, who has understood this supreme divine truth through spiritual practices, he becomes the knower of everything - he knows the essence of all knowledge.”
Shankaracharya explains this verse by reminding us of the inverted Ashvattha tree from the first verse. Roots represent the origin or the source. If the branches declare their independence from the root, the tree collapses. Similarly, a person who thinks that he is the body-mind-complex and forgets his connection to the Atman, he is deluded. The one who is not deluded, maintains his connection to the root – he understands that whatever he does, is powered by the Atman. Every action is an act of worship for him. For him, the line of demarcation between secular and spiritual disappears.
To him, his entire life is a divine act. He lives his life like the mantra in Rigveda which means: “Let every thought become a meditation, let every word become a mantra, let every action become an act of worship, let every travel become a pilgrimage, let every movement become a circumambulation around the deity, and let the whole life become an offering to God.”
20th verse: “I have now talked to you about this secret knowledge, which requires higher intuitive power to grasp.”
To summarize, the purpose of the 15th chapter is to understand the true nature of Purushottama, and the impermanence of this material world.
The 15th chapter discusses the idea of immanence, transcendence and omnipresence of the Absolute Reality. The Absolute Reality is beyond verbalization and description – it can only be experienced.
15th verse: “This divine principle is present as the indweller in every living being in this world. It manifests as memory, knowledge, ignorance, and forgetfulness. It is the one that is described and explored in all scriptures. It is the one to be known.”
16th verse: “There are two kinds of beings in this world: First, is ksharah, which is the perishable. Second, is aksharah, which is imperishable. Ksharah is this phenomenal world, which comes and goes. Aksharah is the jivatma, present as the indweller in all beings, and is imperishable.”
The anvil is installed on the ground and does not move. On top of it, metal pieces are hammered and shaped. Metal pieces undergo change – the anvil doesn’t. The jivatma is like the anvil and does not change – it assumes new bodies from birth to birth.
The 8th verse of the 15th chapter discusses transmigration of the soul. It says: “When this body is destroyed, the soul within is not destroyed. It leaves the body behind and acquires a new body taking with it the senses and the mind, just like the wind carries the scent away with it.”
We are born with the baggage of past samskaras (tendencies) – we cannot disown them. We collect these tendencies in our Antahkarana through actions involving the senses and the mind. When the body is cremated, the physical senses are gone, but the Antahkarana is retained. It accompanies the jivatma when it takes a new body.
We come out of the wheel of samsara – birth, old age, death, rebirth – when we dehypnotize ourselves into knowing that we are not this body, and we realize our true identity as Atman.
17th verse: “Purushottama is the supreme divine truth that is immanent, omnipresent and transcendental. It is distinct and different from both the phenomenal world and the jivatma.”
The jivatma is the supreme Atman manifesting through this body, in combination with the Antahkarana and past samskaras. When we remove the samskaras and the antahkarana from the jivatma, what remains is Purushottama – the supreme divine truth. To get back into our true identity is to realize that we are Purushottama.
In the Ashtavakra Samhita, there is a verse: “In the ocean, there are so many waves. Without any effort, by the characteristics of the ocean, waves come and go. They emerge by their own nature and then they disappear. The ocean is not distinct from the waves. The waves cannot exist without the ocean. But the ocean can exist without the waves.”
Similarly, in this Purushottama, the entire phenomenon of creation, dissolution and re-emergence of the world happens. Purushottama is like the ocean, and the phenomenal world is like the waves.
Purushottama is all pervading and is immanent in everything. It is present in all three states of consciousness – waking, dream sleep and deep sleep states. At the same time, it is transcendental.
The 17th verse emphasizes the spiritual oneness of existence. The whole creation is one spiritual family. We should maintain the harmony of nature and not deviate from the principles of Satyam, Ritm and Dharma.
Satyam means truth. A person will not deviate from the path of harmony if he practices truthfulness and feels content.
Ritm is the central principle of inherent harmony that exists in nature.
Dharma refers to the ethical and moral principles through which one practices Satyam. For example, it is immoral to pollute the earth and therefore against Dharma.
18th verse: “I am the Absolute Reality, the Purushottama, which is present everywhere.”
19th verse: “A person who is free from delusion, who has understood this supreme divine truth through spiritual practices, he becomes the knower of everything - he knows the essence of all knowledge.”
Shankaracharya explains this verse by reminding us of the inverted Ashvattha tree from the first verse. Roots represent the origin or the source. If the branches declare their independence from the root, the tree collapses. Similarly, a person who thinks that he is the body-mind-complex and forgets his connection to the Atman, he is deluded. The one who is not deluded, maintains his connection to the root – he understands that whatever he does, is powered by the Atman. Every action is an act of worship for him. For him, the line of demarcation between secular and spiritual disappears.
To him, his entire life is a divine act. He lives his life like the mantra in Rigveda which means: “Let every thought become a meditation, let every word become a mantra, let every action become an act of worship, let every travel become a pilgrimage, let every movement become a circumambulation around the deity, and let the whole life become an offering to God.”
20th verse: “I have now talked to you about this secret knowledge, which requires higher intuitive power to grasp.”
To summarize, the purpose of the 15th chapter is to understand the true nature of Purushottama, and the impermanence of this material world.