Summary:
Lesson 156 visually describes the samsara tree in action, pointing out it's limitations. What reality is samsara/world? Mithya.
Source: Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15, Verse 1, 2, 3
Revision:
- What is samsara?
- Must know it's limitations else won’t pursue means to it’s freedom (moksha), whose means is: Karma-Yoga > Upasana Yoga > Jnana Yoga. (All 3 comprise Bhakti).
- Krishna equates samsara to peepal (aśvatha tree).
- Comparisons:
- Avyaya (eternal): No beg, mid, end. First jiva? Seed/tree? Father/son? Samsara is circular.
- Inexplicable: Can’t put into any box. Neither absolute cause nor effect. Today cause & effect. Parent & child. Destiny & Free will.
- Roots invisible.
- Many branches. Type of experience.
- Full of leaves. Covers branches/trunk. Leaves = desires (constantly progressing, expecting to find something) > punya/papa > Demands tomorrow.
PART 1: SAṂSĀRA COMPARED TO PEEPAL-TREE:
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15, Verse 1:
ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śākham aśvattham prāhuḥ avyayam ।
chandāṃsi yasya parṇāni yaḥ tam veda saḥ vedavit ॥ 15-1॥
They say the imperishable aśvattha (peepal) tree (of saṃsāra) has its roots above, its branches below and the Vedas are its leaves. The one who knows that is a knower of the Veda.— VERSE 1 BELOW IS CONTINUING FROM PREVIOUS SESSION —
- Features of samsara-tree continued from previous session:
- Tree bears fruits of mixed tastes.
- SAMSARA TREE: Gives mixture of sukha/duhka tastes.
- Tree provides a cosy nesting domain for birds, which enjoy the fruits the tree grows. Birds enjoy/suffer the tastes of the fruit.
- SAMSARA TREE: Jivas are like birds. Some on higher, middle, lower branches. Consuming their fruits.
- Tree is in constant motion because of the wind. The birds on it constantly switch between branches due to instability.
- SAMSARA TREE: In constant motion because of winds of prarabdha-karma (past causes constantly fructifying into present effects).
- Forces jivas to change locations amidst the tree. EG: Inattentive jiva on Vedanta branch, blown to lower branch.
- SAMSARA TREE: In constant motion because of winds of prarabdha-karma (past causes constantly fructifying into present effects).
- A big tree can be uprooted with a very strong axe. Not easy.
- SAMSARA TREE: Uprooted with jnana-yoga. Not easy.
- Tree bears fruits of mixed tastes.
- Ūrdhva-mūlam: Whose root is above.
- Means (1) what is difficult to comprehend, (2) upward facing. Consciousness (parā-prakṛti [CH7] / puruṣa/kṣetrajña [CH13] / brahman [CH14]).
- Adḥaḥ śākham: Whose branches are below.
- Means (1) that which is inferior, (2) downward facing. Matter (aparā-prakṭi [CH7] / prakṛti [CH13] / 3 guṇas [CH14]).
- saḥ yaḥ veda tam vedavit: Those who understand the limitations of the samsara tree (with it’s branches, leaves, fruits, and the root), have properly understood the eternal message of the scriptures.
- NEXT VERSE: More about branches (names-forms)…
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15, Verse 2:
adhaḥ ca ūrdhvam prasṛtāḥ tasya śākhāḥ
guṇa-pravṛddhāḥ viṣaya-pravālāḥ ।
adhaḥ ca mūlāni anusantatāni
karma-anubandhīni manuṣya-loke ॥ 15-2॥
Its branches, which are nourished by the guṇas and whose shoots are the sense-objects, are spread below and above. Further, (its) roots are stretched below, causing actions in the world of men.
- ESSENCE OF VERSE: Tree’s branches (equated to world / body-mind) are nourished by the guṇas (intelligence that governs the world & jīva according to use/misuse of it’s freewill). Buds (shoot end of branch) are sense-objects (responsible for future births). The tree’s roots (jīvas causal-body) are unseen/hidden and compel actions.
- The branches represent field-of-experience (higher, middle, lower branches; 14 lokas that comprise creation). In each loka, the jiva (subtle body + awareness) wears an appropriate gross body.
- EG: Indra is a jiva with ordinary subtle body, enjoying Indra-sharira.
- Who decides what type of gross-body jiva receives? Not bhagavān, not fate, but jivas freewill (that’s either used or abused). This explains every birth privilege, abnormality, premature death, and what genes child gets.
- Even now, the jiva is deciding (on daily bases) what type of body will be worn next life.
- The sense-objects (sounds, tastes, smells, feelings, forms) are the buds (end of branches) which give rise to more branches (fields of experience in form of pleasure/pain). Branches support more leaves (desires), flowers (actions), and fruits (results of actions).
- Order:
- Sense objects give rise to desires.
- Desires compel participation in the field-of-experience.
- Participation in field-of-experience generates punya-papa.
- Punya-papa demands new birth because their results can’t all be fructified in a single life.
- SAMSARA CYCLE: Sense objects of the world cause rebirth. Rebirth demands new mixture of sense-objects.
- Also the type of sense objects surrounding the jīva, influences type of involvement jiva engages in.
- Thus samsara gets more complex/sophisticated, the more jivas want newer/fresher combinations of experiences (3 gunas). Meaning the branches are nourished by the 3 gunas, which are in turn constantly modified by jiva’s use/misuse of free will.
- Order:
- Guṇapravṛddha: Branches are of the 3 guṇas which propel jīva into action for sake of experiencing pleasure and avoiding pain.
- Therefore, jīva’s actions alone is reason why the universe (branches) are sustained eternally, because world needs to continue for sake of providing results of jivas past actions.
- Meaning there will never be a time when all jivas collectively agree samsara is pointless. Because jivas also include insects, bacteria, plants, other worlds.
- Therefore, jīva’s actions alone is reason why the universe (branches) are sustained eternally, because world needs to continue for sake of providing results of jivas past actions.
- SECONDARY ROOTS: mūlāni anusantatāni adhaḥ karmānubandhīni: Tree’s (secondary) roots are stretched below, compelling actions.
- These are unplanned/secondary roots result of rāga-dveṣa-vāsanās. IE: Repeated performance of past actions creates deep impressions/habits, which keep jīva attached/rooted to manuṣyaloka-branches.
- They keep jiva helplessly stuck in samsara-cakra. Merry-go-round.
PART 2: FOUR ANTITIDOTES TO SAṂSĀRA:
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15, Verse 3:
na rūpam asya iha tathā upalabhyate
na antaḥ na ca ādiḥ na ca sampratiṣṭhā ।
aśvattham enam suvirūḍha-mūlam
asaṅga-śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā ॥ 15-3॥
The form of this (tree) is not perceived here. (It has) no beginning, middle, or end. One should cut this well-rooted fig tree firmly with the weapon of detachment.
- ESSENCE OF VERSE: This saṃsāra-tree is imperceptible. It has no beginning, middle, or end [because it stretches infinitively]. Only way is to cut it is with axe-of-dispassion (weapon of detachment) [CH13 value 10].
- STATE OF SAMSARA IS MITHYA:
- How to find the center-middle of something? By measuring the beginning and end (EG: Room). However Krishna says universe is immeasurable-incomprehensible because no aspect of it has a beginning, middle or end. Because the samsara tree is mithya (dependent on something else; mere name-form at each level).
- NO BEGINNING EG:
- “Beginning of creation” involves beginning of time. But “beginning of time” is a contradiction; means some other time was needed, in which time could begin. IE: Time started at 2pm.
- Since everything is within beginningless creation, then anything experienced is beginningless in nature, it’s not away from the beginningless-creation. Meaning, everything experienced has been experienced since the beginningless beginning.
- Chicken-egg. Father-son.
- “Beginning of creation” involves beginning of time. But “beginning of time” is a contradiction; means some other time was needed, in which time could begin. IE: Time started at 2pm.
- MITHYA EG:
- From mountain, tree is small. From ground-level, it’s big. From particle level, there’s no tree.
- Shirt > cotton > yarn > fibers > molecules > atoms > electron/neutron > space/time > Intelligence > Awareness (because even Ishvara needs Awareness to Intelligently puts things together).
- Mithya definition: It’s neither non-existent nor absolutely-existent. But has a dependent existence.
- Indicated by: na antaḥ na ca ādiḥ na ca sampratiṣṭhā; That which exists neither before, nor later, cannot be real right now.
- EG: Before new wave was born, it wasn’t there. After it recedes into ocean, it’s not there. Thus it’s in-between birth-death existence is also seemingly-real.
- Indicated by: na antaḥ na ca ādiḥ na ca sampratiṣṭhā; That which exists neither before, nor later, cannot be real right now.
- Because samsara is mithya (reality within reality within reality, etc) – it's fruitless knowing the intricacies of Samsara (age of Earth, current cycle, other lokas). Only duty is to identify it’s nature (anything that’s born in time), so one can engage ātmā-anātmā-viveka.
- EG: No matter how much try to understand the dream / oasis in the desert, it’s still a dream / oasis (unreal).
— VERSE 3 TO BE CONTINUED NEXT SESSION —
Keywords:
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Credit for help in Bhagavad Gita teaching given to Swami Dayananda (Arsha Vidya), Paramarthananda & Chinmaya Mission.
Recorded 18 Jan, 2022