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An Introduction to The Bhagavad Gita

Chapter 15 - THE SUPREME BEING

CREATION IS LIKE A TREE CREATED BY THE POWERS OF MAYA

Lord Krishna said: The universe (or human body) may be compared to an eternal tree that has its origin (or root) in the Supreme Being and its branches below in the cosmos. The Vedic hymns are the leaves of this tree. One who understands this tree is a knower of the Vedas. (15.01)

The branches of this eternal tree are spread all over the cosmos. The tree is nourished by the energy of material Nature; sense pleasures are its sprouts; and its roots of ego and desires stretch below in the human world causing Karmic bondage. (15.02)

HOW TO CUT THE TREE OF ATTACHMENT AND ATTAIN SALVATION BY TAKING REFUGE IN GOD

The beginning, the end, or the real form of this tree is not perceptible on the earth. Having cut the firm roots ¾ the desires ¾ of this tree by the mighty ax of Self-knowledge and detachment, one should seek that Supreme Abode reaching where one does not come back to the mortal world again. One should be always thinking: "In that very primal person I take refuge from which this primal manifestation comes forth." (15.03-04)

Those who are free from pride and delusion, who have conquered the evil of attachment, who are constantly dwelling in the Supreme Being with all lust completely stilled, who are free from dualities of pleasure and pain; such wise ones reach My Supreme Abode. (15.05)

The sun does not illumine My Supreme Abode, nor the moon, nor the fire. Having reached there people attain permanent liberation (Mukti), and do not come back to this temporal world. (15.06)

THE EMBODIED SOUL IS THE ENJOYER

The individual soul (Jiva, Jivatma) in the body of living beings is the integral part of the universal Spirit, or consciousness. The individual soul associates with the six sensory faculties ¾ including the mind ¾ of perception and activates them. (15.07)

Just as the air takes aroma away from the flower; similarly, the individual soul takes the six sensory faculties from the physical body it casts off during death to the new physical body it acquires in reincarnation. (See also 2.13) (15.08)

The living entity enjoys sense pleasures using six sensory faculties of hearing, touch, sight, taste, smell, and mind. The ignorant cannot perceive living entity departing from the body, or staying in the body and enjoying sense pleasures by associating with the material body. But those who have the eye of Self-knowledge can see it. (15.09-10)

The yogis, striving for perfection, behold the living entity abiding in their inner psyche as consciousness; but the ignorant whose inner psyche is not pure, cannot perceive Him even though striving. (15.11)

SPIRIT IS THE ESSENCE OF EVERYTHING

The light energy that coming from the sun illumines the whole world; and that in the moon, and in the fire; know that light to be Mine. (See also 13.17 and 15.06) (15.12).

Entering the earth, I support all beings with My energy; becoming the sap-giving moon, I nourish all the plants. (15.13)

Becoming the digestive fire, I remain in the body of all living beings; uniting with vital breaths or bioimpulses, I digest all types of food; and (15.14)

I am seated in the inner psyche of all beings. The memory, Self-knowledge, and the removal of doubts and wrong notions about God come from Me. I am verily that which is to be known by the study of all the Vedas. I am, indeed, the author as well as the student of the Vedas. (See also 6.39) (15.15)

WHAT ARE THE SUPREME SPIRIT, SPIRIT AND THE INDIVIDUAL SOUL?

There are two entities in the cosmos: The changeable Temporal Beings, and the unchangeable Eternal Being (Spirit). All created beings are subject to change, but the Spirit does not change. (15.16)

The Supreme Being is beyond both ¾ the Temporal Beings and the Eternal Being. He is also called the Absolute Reality that sustains both the Temporal and the Eternal by pervading everything. (15.17)

Because the Supreme Being is beyond both Temporal and Eternal; therefore, He is known in this world and in the scriptures as the Supreme Being (Absolute Reality, Truth, Supersoul) (15.18)

The wise one who truly understands the Supreme Being, knows everything and worships Him wholeheartedly. (See also 7.14, 14.26, and 18.66) (15.19)

Thus this most secret transcendental science of the Absolute has been explained by Me. Having understood this, one becomes enlightened, and one’s all duties are accomplished, O Arjuna. (15.20)

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