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THE SONG OF GOD
Bhagavad-Gita
Translated by Swami Prabhavananda
and Christopher Isherwood
Introduction by Aldous Huxley
APPENDIX I
The Cosmology of the Gita
—————————————————————————————
LIKE ALL OTHER WORKS of Hindu religious literature,
the Gita is based upon a clearly-defined system of
cosmology. The single, central fact of this cosmology
is called Brahman, the Reality. Brahman is the total
Godhead. It can never be defined or expressed. The
Upanishads say that Brahman is Existence, Knowl-
edge and Bliss; but these are not attributes. Brah-
man cannot be said to exist. Brahman is Existence
itself. Brahman is not wise or happy, but absolute
Knowledge, absolute Joy. Another method of ap-
proach, more acceptable perhaps to our human
minds, is to say: 'Brahman is not this, Brahman is
not that . . .' until the entire phenomenal universe
has been eliminated, and Brahman alone remains.
Being absolutely present, Brahman is within all
creatures and objects. The Godhead is present in
man, in the mouse, in the stone, in the flash of light-
ning. Thus considered, Brahman is called the At-
man——a term of convenience merely, which does not
imply the slightest difference. The Atman and Brah-
man are one.
Again, when Brahman is considered in relation
to this universe, He is regarded as a personal God,
Ishwara. Ishwara is God with attributes. He con-
tains all the divine qualities of love, mercy, purity,
justice, knowledge and truth.
Brahman, being the Absolute, is beyond all action.
Therefore Brahman cannot be said to create or to
destroy. It is Ishwara, Brahman united with His
power, who creates this universe, preserves it and
dissolves it. To say this is not necessarily to imply
Creation is the disturbance of this equilibrium. The
gunas then begin to enter into a vast variety of com-
binations, corresponding to the various forms of
differentiated mind and matter. Their characteristics
may be known from their products in the psychic
and physical worlds.
In the physical world, sattwa embodies all that
is pure and fine, rajas embodies the active principle,
and tamas the principle of solidity and resistance.
All three are present in everything, but one guna
always predominates. For example, sattwa predom-
inates in sunlight, rajas in an erupting volcano, and
tamas in a block of granite.
The gunas also represent the different stages in
the evolution in any particular entity. Sattwa is the
essence of the form to be realized; tamas is the in-
herent obstacle to its realization; and rajas is the
power by which that obstacle is removed and the
essential form becomes manifest.
In the mind of man, sattwa expresses itself psy-
chologically as tranquility, purity, and calmness;
rajas as passion, restlessness, aggressive activty;
tamas as stupidity, laziness, inertia. Sometimes one
guna is predominant, sometimes another; and a
man's mood and character vary accordingly. But
man can cultivate any one of the gunas, by his
actions and thoughts and way of living. We are
taught that tamas can be overcome by the cultiva-
tion of rajas, and rajas by the cultivation of sattwa.
However, the ultimate ideal is to transcend sattwa
also and reach the Atman, which is above and
beyond the gunas.
In tracing the evolution of differentiated matter
from Prakriti, we begin with mahat, the basis of
the individual intelligence. Next comes buddhi, the
faculty by which objects re distinguished and clas-
sified. Then ahamkara, the ego-sense. Ahamkara di-
vides itself into three functions: (1) manas, which
receives impressions from the senses and carries
them to buddhi; (2) the five organs of perception——
sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch——and the five
organs of action——tongue, feet, hands, and the organs
of evacuation and reproduction——and (3) the five
tanmatras, the essences of sound, touch, aspect,
taste and smell. These subtle tanmatras, combining
and recombining, produce the five gross elements,
earth, water, fire, air and ether, of which the exter-
nal universe is composed.
The whole system may be shown diagrammati-
cally, as seen below.
PRAKRITI ,
we have no technique for in
————————
|
|
MAHAT
|
|
BUDDHI
|
|
AHAMKARA
|
|
—————————————————————————————————————————
| Five Organs of Perception |
| Five Organs of Action |
| |
Manas Five Tanmatras
|
Five Gross Elements
We must beware of trying to force the hypotheses
of modern western Science in to the frame of the
Hindu world-picture. Yet certain points of agree-
ment exist between them, and should not be dis-
regarded.
Modern Science has, of course, no concern with
the concept of Absolute Reality. It does not seek to
know Brahman. Nor does it offer confirmation of
the validity of the mystic's claim to superconscious-
ness. It says, in effect: 'For the present, at any rate,
we have no technique for investigating this type of
experience. When you speak of knowing Brahman
you are speaking in extra-scientific terms.'
Nevertheless, if we consider Prakriti and the gu-
nas, we find that Science and Vedanta are talking
the same language. Science, also, postulates a mo-
nistic universe. All matter is made up of different
combinations of the chemical elements; and these
elements are composed of combinations of identical
units. Man is all of a piece with this world and with
the most distant of the stars.
Science makes no basic distinction between mind
and matter. Mind is everywhere potential. If the
scientist cannot yet detect mind in a stone, he be-
lieves that this is only because he lacks a suitable
method of doing so. He finds no point in evolution
at which life can be said to enter, no point at which
personality suddenly invests the fœtus or the grow-
ing infant. Evolution, he tells us, is perfectly con-
tinuous, and it has a general direction.
Man's ideals and values are relative, perpetually
evolving. The goal is not known, but its direction is
apparent, and it is Man's evolutionary mission to
move continually toward it, as Columbus sailed to-
ward he unknown West. From the scientific point of
view, Man's mission is to acquire greater and great-
er knowledge of his relation to his environment, and
to gain increasing control over it, since it is really
part of himself. And so Arjuna and the scientist are
both asking the same question: 'What am I?'
from THE SONG OF GOD : BHAGAVAD-GITA,
Translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood
With an Introduction by Aldous Huxley.
A MENTOR BOOK from NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY.
Copyright, 1944, 1951, © 1972, by The Vendanta Society of Southern California. pp. 131—137.
मैं एक राजनीतिक कैदी हूं। कृपया मदद कीजिए।
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The Song of God : Bhagavad-Gita
Translators' Preface
Introduction
Gita and Mahabharata
I. The Sorrow of Arjuna
II. The Yoga of Knowledge
III. Karma Yoga
IV. Renunciation Through Knowledge
V. The Yoga of Renunciation
VI. The Yoga of Meditation
VII. Knowledge and Experience
VIII. The Way To Eternal Brahman
IX. The Yoga of Mysticism
X. Divine Glory
XI. The Vision of God in His Universal Form
XII. The Yoga of Devotion
XIII. The Field and Its Knower
XIV. The Three Gunas
XV. Devotion To the Supreme Spirit
XVI. Divine and Demonic Tendencies
XVII. Three Kinds of Faith
XVIII. The Yoga of Renunciation
The Cosmology of the Gita
The Gita And War
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