Krishnas call to battle - nimitta maatram bhava... Death of Ego

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Namaste.

 

Like to add this message as a continuation of my previous post:

 

yasya nAhaMkRto bhAvo buddhir yasya na lipyate

hatvA 'pi sa imAM lokAn na hanti na nibadhyate

 

(Gita- 18.17)

 

" He who is FREE from the notion of EGOISM and whose

understanding is NOT tainted - though he kills these people,

he kills NOT, NOR is he BOUND. "

 

Modifications such as agency and egoism create difference between man

and man. But as man EVOLVES high, he is able to outgrow ALL

modifications and be established in Pure Consciousness.

 

Let us take cases of men being affected by modifications and those not

being affected by them. Men ACT on the stage as murdering and as being

murdered. These acts being MERE pretence, agency and egoism are ABSENT

in them. The ACTORS are NOT affected by the staged modifications. But

where actual murder takes place, the concerned men are affected by the

modifications of agency and egoism.

 

Whereas to a spiritually EVOLVED man stage act and life act are one

and the same. Because of the ABSENCE of EGOISM, NO modification of any

kind takes place in his MIND.

 

There are instances of this in the Mahabharata war itself.

 

Arjuna vanquished his grandfather Bhishma in the encounter. But he did

NOT harbour the egoistic feeling that he caused the death of the

grandsire. His MIND was FREE from that modification.

While waiting to give up the body in the auspicious northern passage

of the sun, Bhishma DID NOT feel that he was vanquished.

 

Non-ego was the cause of it. As a man casts off a worn-out clothing,

Bhishma cast off his old body, unattached as he was to it.

 

The reflection of a moving body is seen in a mirror. That mirror is

NOT the creator of the reflection and its movement. The reflection

leaves no impression either in the mirror. While reflecting the things

as they are, the mirror is ever itself, UN-attached, UN-affected and

UN-modified.

Like the mirror is Atman, the pure Consciousness. It reveals the

activities of the Prakriti. But Atman is NO doer of karma. It is NOT

bound in spite of Its being the lord, ruler and regulator of the

Prakriti. That 'Jivatman' who TRACES his ORIGINAL STATE to this Pure

Consciousness REGAINS his taintless understanding.

 

Freed that he is from EGOISM, he is NOT affected by the actions of the

body and the senses. Happenings such as KILLING and being KILLED are

ALL modifications of the Prakriti. As Atman is supremely above karma,

the KNOWER of Atman also RISES above the turmoils of karma.

 

" Purusha is free from karma. No vibration of any kind takes place in

him. Prakriti is the doer of all karma, while Purusha is MERELY the

WITNESS to it. But for the presence of the Purusha, NO action is

possible for the Prakriti. So say the scriptures. "

 

- Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

 

Another explanation of: Gita 18.17

 

yasya nAhaGkRtI bhAvo buddhir yasya na lipyate

hatvApi sa imAn lokAn na hanti na nibadhyate

 

In the state where one no longer thinks he is the doer,

whose intelligence is not tainted by the modes of nature,

he may kill all these worlds,

and yet not really be killing, nor be bound by his acts.

 

Radhakrishna interprets this as follows--

 

The freed man does his work as the instrument of the Universal Spirit

and for the mainenance of the cosmic order. He performs even terrific

deeds without any selfish aim or desire but because it is the ordained

duty. What matters is not the work but the spirit in which it is done.

" Though he slays from the worldly standpoint, he does not slay in truth. "

 

Zaehner thinks this is a " disturbing doctrine. " He writes: " Killing

only takes place on the phenomenal plane, not on that of the Absolute.

This disturbing doctrine had already been proclaimed in Gita 2.18-19

as it had in the Upanishads.

.......

 

, pyari_h <no_reply wrote:

 

> Spiritual seekers should 'study' the entire Gita, 18 chapters.

> We cannot draw simple conclusions based on one or two verses.

>

> We all know Bhagavadgita is known as 'Gitopanishad', as another

> Upanishad itself and is considered being one of the esteemed'

> Prasthana Trayam'.

>