Arjuna's 8 questions...

**yajvan** · 03 February 2011, 12:07 PM

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

In the 8th chapter ( prapāṭhaka&#185

of the bhāgavad gītā, 1st & 2nd śloka, arjun (some spell arjuna) asks kṛṣṇa-ji 8 questions:

What is brahman?
What is adhyātman ?
What is adhhibhūtam ?
What is karma ?
What is adhidaivam?
Who is adhiyajña ?
How does He exist in the body ? ( what is inferred is adhiyajña) ?
How can you (kṛṣṇa) be known at the time of death by the self-controlled ?

There are some that say a 9th question is inferred, How is it ( adhiyajña ) to be known ?

Perhaps we can review these.
It is interesting to me that there are 8 questions. This number 8 from a jyotish POV points to a mokṣa house ( that of liberation), and is also call the house of life ( and its length) , so for me these questions are very insightful as they deal with the subject matter of liberation, brahman.

What is brahman?
What is adhyātman ?

Śrī kṛṣṇa (addressed as madhusūdhana in these śloka's) answers arjuna and reveals some profound knowledge that ( IMHO) is worthy of one's full attention and study.

Śrī kṛṣṇa calls out that brahman is svabhāva . This one word sets the tone for the answers śrī kṛṣṇa offers. This word svabhāva is defined as own's condition or state of being , natural state or constitution. This would be Being, brahman. Yet as you would expect there is more to this word then meets the eye.

Let's look at svabhāva as sva+bhāva.

sva = one's own (my own); yet sva is a name for viṣṇu. We know viṣṇu is rooted (√) in viṣ meaning all-pervading, here and below.
- viṣ is another way of saying vyāpana , pervasion; being all pervading all inclusive.
bhāva = becoming , being , existing

Hence brahman = svabhāva ( my own condition) = sva+bhāva - one's own all pervading, all inclusive nature, or viṣṇu.

But there is more.

bhāva is that level of Being
sva brings us to viṣṇu is rooted (√) in viṣ meaning all-pervading, yet viṣ also means to flow.

Now we have that level of Being that flows continuously ( via the notion of all-pervading). We check this meaning via the word brahman. This word itself means expansion. It is rooted in bṛh defined as grow great or strong , increase , expand , further , promote.

We know that brahman = svabhāva = sva+bhāva = one's own Being = viṣ or all-pervading.
And what is this brahman in us? It is adhyātman or adhi + ātman meaning the receptacle of the Self, of ātman¹. We are the receptacle of this brahman in our own being.

praṇām

words

prapāṭhaka प्रपाठक - a lecture ; also a chapter or subdivision of a book
ātman -for those that for those that appreciate the etmology of words adhi + ātman would also mean over and above the ātman. This ātman is also defined as the body/breath.
So if we are over and above it, we are beyond the body and hense arrive at the Self, brahman, beyond the body.