Namaste,
I revisited the first two slokas Of Bhagavad Gita few days ago. Mostly if honest previously I went to quickly with the first chapter, and did not give it enough time and attention, second chapter and chapter 6 were always the ones that I liked the most and chapter 13 and some various key slokas all over. But since looking at the first 14 slokas its opened up a whole new study if thats the right word,or look more closely at the slokas and revisit mahabharata.
It occured that no word in Bhagavad Gita can be without reason, since its known as being essence of all Upanishads.
In Sloka 1
dhṛitarāśhtra uvācha
dharma-kṣhetre kuru-kṣhetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāśhchaiva kimakurvata sañjaya
Dhrtarastra said: O Sanjaya, after assembling in the place of pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do, being desirous to fight?
dhṛitarāśhtra is blind, blinded by the attachment to his Hundred sons who wanted to rule and own the whole were about to start the war with Pandavas.
This has many inner meanings, to much to say here, and others know better than me, and I am just revisiting this part also, but so much has fell into place. dhṛitarāśhtra is stuck in external Mind and Sense world due to his attachment Jagrat and Svapna, here dhṛitarāśhtra seeks council from sanjaya. Its opened up a lot for me to revist this part and reflect on.
dhṛitarāśhtra is torn between two worlds turns to sanjaya who is always in equanimity. Sanjaya is the one that interest me the most. In Mahabharat Sanjaya is always neutral, he has all good qualties but he is equal to all. Sanjaya is given divya chaksu, divine vision, prasade. Divya Chaksu also opens in Arupa Jhana in abhidhamma also divine hearing , same in the Mahayana states. Sanjaya here is entering sushupti, prajna, bardo, arupa, mahayana middle way, majjhima nikaya formless realm, seeing and hearing with supra mental abilities the divine song between Sri Krsna and and Arjuna, without awareness of jagrat and svapna. The first 14 verse are very interesting until he meets Krsna in the sound of conch, nada brahma, he heard the divine sound or Sri Krsna's conch, in sushupti state. Sanjaya is like the external Guru who is connected to internal Guru.
I have thought so many ways to write it but will leave it there, and just share as passing thoughts on Bhagavad Gita. It opens up a lot, all texts are in prajna, prajna state chitta knows of Atma, prajna removes advidya, prajna is medium of Brahman I noticed the same thing in Patanjali. All texts somehow describe that normal jagrat and svapna is not present All Sutras I read start with Om or Uvacha, Uvacha is Guru Vak, Guru Vak is prajna, experienced in Sushupti, mind and sense consciousness suspended, guru vak is turiya para vak, there will be some way to explain that whats being said is prajna, transcendent wisdom and knowledge, beyond all mundane concepts and ideas.
I had a bit of unusual experience recently, with some staunch Adavita Vedanta practitioners on their understanding of Samadhi in Advaita. Sticking ardently that Sushupti as deep sleep and ignorance, dream as mind night times dreams and jagrat as the waking normal state, when I saw that Sushupti was related to lokas and yigas a couple of years back and then later fitted it in with arupa jhana and mahayana it helped the understanding of texts and vedanta much better. The reason and the cause for this is what I would consider as prasade, or fruit of sadhana, something beyond the mind gives right jnana. From every angle I look at over every span of experience, teaching or whatever I find it gains much more support and strength.
Prajna state is what the conditioned being aims at, this involves the cultivation of samadhi, its part of the evolution both in the less stage of accumulating merits, cultivating sattva and balancing the mind by owns sadhana, this in itself is hard work and requires support for most, good sangha, good attitude to texts and study devotion, inner courage and strength.
Self realization is not easy or cheap like one can just skip over samadhi and just focus directly on the Atma. Atma is within all ways to approach him. In Gita Krsna says that everyone who attempts to find him is udarah magnanimous, dear to him. I have nothing against Advaita of Adi Shankara or his followers, I havent given myself a label of what I am, I would consider Adi Sankara a Guru and He is fully Shiva, its about translations, I am just a seeker, a learner who is discovering whats lost, what ever helps me find is good enough, I am am just learning and am clumsy in many ways, but I dont understand why they are all saying sushutpi is useless deep sleep and Adi Shankara dismissed Samadhi as ultimately useless. This is what they are saying, they are from Sringeri, I was so suprised. Sushupti is where we hear veda in divine way. It purifies and retrains the chitta, it brings success to the sadhaka, it still may take time, the individual yukta is given by universal guru in form of vak in sushputi, samadhi brings together inner compounds that help chitta remember the Atma without this mind and sense consciousness by its own power cannot jump straight to knowing Atma, middle way is wisdom, it retrains the chitta to see clearly Atma.
dhṛitarāśhtra is already starting his inner journey also. and Sanjaya is given straight away by Sri Krsna Divine Vision. dhṛitarāśhtra is at his end, deep down he already knows that defeat is just a matter of time. This is important for stages, sometimes one can hit rock bottom, or we find mind senses and intellect just dont have enough power by themselves, many meanings to it and by that sincere frustration and giving up on all things prasade comes.
When I look at older translations into English of the texts and how they were spoken about and maintained, two things always comes up which I could never quite get my head around or accept. One is Monotheism and the other is the very and often damging way that Sushupti, sunya, middle state is spoken about. Ok if you are Brahm Jnani Avadhuta one can see the independent Atma who does not need samadhi or anything to support its own self existence, fair enough. It cant be explained directly, it needs a medium. To know Atma one has to go to sleep in one way or another from sense Jagrat chetana consciousness and Svapna Mind consciousness. Mind when in normal deep sleep is just Jagrat and Svapna resting, it is not sushupti. Its normal unconscious sleep. Svapna is our awakened normal state, it can condition by avidya or trained and reconditioned by vidya, Svapna can also have swarupa lakshanam, jagrat senses can be purified.
I am only saying things from how its translated and seen mostly in English speaking circles of Vedanta, which is an international global group.
I am not saying all Advaita Sampradaya is like this, I have some friends from Sringeri and they dont think like this and also says its a problem.
As a passing comment I do think that the understanding of samadhi and the necessity for sushupti and sthitha prajna and not this intellectual classifications of the Atma is more healthy.
Ground work is best, building right foundations is the best knowledge of atma meaning direct experience where all avidya is removed and highest blessing comes in its own time and will be known without any mistake. I think it ends in simplicity and love and if the human gets full realization of Atma he is supra~mundane human being but also full human being and transcendent at the same time. Not ordinary, rarely found. I know more mature advaitist do not think like this, but it does seem to be a problem, of translation. Its just an observation.
sorry for large caps, it helps me see the screen and type words better.
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