Bhagavad Gita Commentary–Sixty–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

Universal Being

Finite minds cannot really comprehend the Infinite. Yet, even a dim idea will be of inestimable value to them in their spiritual seeking. Krishna is now about to explain the fundamentals of Infinite Being in relation to finite creation and the finite beings within it.

All-pervading Being

“This entire universe is pervaded by me, in that eternal form of mine which is not manifest to the senses. Although I am not within any creature, all creatures exist within me.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:4) Sargeant is a bit more on target: “This whole universe is pervaded by Me in My unmanifest aspect. All beings abide in Me; I do not abide in them.”

It is a mistake to think of creation and Spirit as two “layers” of reality like oil and water. Rather, Unmanifest Spirit (Avyakta) pervades everything. There is no point of existence where Spirit is not. On the other hand, there is the vast realm of Spirit in which there is nothing–or no thing–at all. Spirit pervades matter, but matter does not pervade Spirit. Nevertheless, there is an intimate connection between the two, for all relative existence exists within the Unmanifest.

The word translated “abide” is sthani, meaning a place of residence. Krishna is saying that all beings abide in the Unmanifest, for It is the basis of their existence. Without the Unmanifest they would not exist. But the Unmanifest Spirit does not depend upon those beings–It would remain unchanged if they ceased to exist.

Krishna’s purpose is to give us an order of priority. Spirit is not only first, it is all-encompassing. If we attain Spirit we will attain mastery over relativity. But if we only possess relative matter we will be “nothing” in the ultimate sense.

“I do not mean that they exist within me physically. That is my divine mystery. You must try to understand its nature. My Being sustains all creatures and brings them to birth, but has no physical contact with them.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:5) Krishna is giving a profound teaching here. Created things–including relative existence itself–never “touch” Spirit. In the same way, our energy bodies never “touch” our Self (atman).

If that is so, then how does creation exist? For I have said that it not only exists, it exists within God (Brahman). Creation is also called Maya–Cosmic Illusion. Creation “exists” within Brahman as a mirage, an illusion. A mirage is real, but what is seen (water, buildings, etc.) is not. Maya is like a motion picture. The epic begins, unfolds, and ends, but really nothing has “happened.” We were just watching images that were only light moving on a background. It was all an illusion. We could not see the motion picture if it was not projected onto a neutral background. We see the movie of Maya projected onto the “background” of Consciousness. Neither the background of the movie screen or that of Conscious are in anyway really touched or affected by the images. But without the screens there would be no movie or creation.

Moving within the Unmoving

“For, as the vast air, wandering world-wide, remains within the ether always, so these, my wandering creatures, are always within me.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:6) Incredible as the continual changes in creation are, and the untold numbers of life-dramas perpetually unfolding with it, it all takes place within God, the sense of independence and separation being totally illusory. The realization of this frees us from all fear.

Relativity cannot exist without an infinite chain of dualities. Creation takes place in a series of manifestations and dissolutions. Krishna described this in the previous chapter. Referring back to this, he says about all sentient beings: “These, when the round of ages is accomplished, I gather back to the seed of their becoming: these I send forth again at the hour of creation.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:7) Again, Sargeant is more literal: “All beings, Arjuna, go to my own material nature [prakriti] at the end of a kalpa; at the beginning of a kalpa, I send them forth.” At the end of a Day of Brahma–4,320,000,000 years–all those remaining in relativity merge into the primordial matter, or prakriti, and enter a state of dreamless sleep. Then, when an equally long Night of Brahma has ended, they emerge from that sleep and continue on their evolutionary way: “Helpless all, for Maya is their master, and I, their Lord, the master of this Maya: ever and again, I send these multitudes forth from my Being.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:8)

The divine actor

Since the Divine is at the root of all action, and without the Divine no action could take place, the question is then set forth: “How shall these acts bind me, who am indifferent to the fruit they bear? For my spirit stands apart, watching over Maya, the maker.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:9) The same is true of our immortal Self. Spirit is never touched, but is the silent, actionless witness of all that goes on. How, then, do we have karma? We do not. But within the dream of Maya we experience it as such. Consider how in dream you do so many things and undergo the consequences–yet it is only images, unreal. I have heard of people actually experiencing pain or nausea after awakening from dreams in which pain or nausea occurred. God has given us these dreams to teach us the truth about our greater span of life on earth. As Prabhavananda’s very interpretive translation says: “Do not say: ‘God gave us this delusion.’ You dream you are the doer, you dream that action is done, you dream that action bears fruit. It is your ignorance, it is the world’s delusion that gives you these dreams.” (Bhagavad Gita 5:14)

Let us awake!

Read the Bhagavad Gita online: The English text of the Gita posted on this Web Site is arranged according to the meter of the original Sanskrit text so it can be sung–as it is done every morning in our ashram and in most of the ashrams of India.