Samsara and God

Today Swami discussed the 3rd shloka from the 13th chapter of the Gita;

'Kshetrajnam capi mam vidhi, sarvakshetreshu bharata,
Kshetrakshetrajnayor jnanam yat tat jnanam matam mama.' 13.3

This is a very important shloka for Shankara's commentary. The Lord says, 'Know Me to be the field-knower in all fields, Arjuna! That knowledge which is of the field and the field-knower, that is what I consider true knowledge.'

Here, there is a very long commentary by Shankaracharya, as this shloka is in his favor. This is because the Lord says that it is He Himself who exists as the knower of the body, or the individual soul. The Lord says this directly. Therefore, Shankara says that this proves that the jivatma and paramatma are only one. That is a central point of Advaita.

However, in Shankara's commentary, many opposing arguments are brought forth in order to make Shankara's ideas clearer. This is a technique used in all of Shankara's commentaries. In this, the side of Shankara's Advaita philosophy is called the 'Siddhanti,' and the sides opposed to this are called 'Purva Paksha.' These opposing sides may represent different philosophies, such as Sankhya, Dvaita, Purva Mimamsa, and even Yoga.

Here, the opposing side asks, 'if it is God that exists as the individual soul, then wouldn't that make God subject to samsara? This is because we see that the jiva experiences happiness and sorrow. If it is God who is the jiva, then that makes Him subject to those as well, isn't it?'

To this, Shankara says, 'no, because there is a difference between knowledge and confused knowledge, or ignorance. One who mistakes the body as the Self is prompted by attachment and aversion into performing virtuous and sinful acts, and thus travels through births and deaths. At the same time, one who realizes one's Self as separate from the adjunct of the body destroys attachment, etc., and is thus liberated.

Living beings super-impose the non-self on the Self, like how a person mistakes a pillar for a person in a dark place. But even in that case, the pillar doesn't gain the qualities of a man, and a man doesn't gain the qualities of a pillar. Likewise, though the limitations of individuality are super-imposed on the pure Self, or God, that doesn't affect God in any way. God remains free from any of the defects of samsara, and pure.

Piyush,
July 17, 2007