Hello Newbee_b,
I mentioned briefly the reason for this in my previous post;My ISKCON friend says that,if Lord Krishna and Arjuna are indeed same Brahman,why is he using plural tense?
Krishna is gradually teaching Arjuna the real nature of the Self because Arjuna takes himself to be an embodied being.
Arjuna doesn't know he is Brahman. Krishna speaks to Arjuna from the standpoint of his self-ignorance and gradually reveals Arjuna's real nature throughout the Gita as the Atman, which is identical with the content of the word 'Me' when Krishna speaks of himself as the Knower and the Self of all beings (Brahman). So as not to confound Arjuna, Krishna reveals his identity with Brahman methodically and speaks of the knowledge of Brahman as the goal to be attained through sadhana and prescribes all the various converging paths towards that goal in detail.
We find in the thirteenth chapter, an extremely concise exposition on the real nature of the jiva's identity with Atman/Brahman in such verses as;
Whereby Krishna, who is Brahman, is identifying himself as the conscious witness (saakshin) in all bodies. The Knower, the Witness, is none other than the Atman of each embodied being- one's actual nature which is partially covered over by ignorance (but which truly reveals it). Krishna is saying that knowledge of the Knower and the field (ie discrimination between the Self and the body, elements etc) is called Knowledge because it results in the eradication of superimposition and therefore the removal of the ignorance which creates the impression of being a transmigrating, (individual) jiva. When this ignorance is uprooted by knowledge, then the svarupa of the Self shines forth as Brahman.13.1 O son of Kunti, this body is referred to as the 'field'. Those who are versed in this call him who is conscious of it as the 'knower of the field'.
13.2 And. O scion of the Bharata dynasty, understand Me to be the 'Knower of the field' in all the fields. In My opinion, that is Knowledge which is the knowledge of the field and the knower of the field.
What is the real nature of that Self? He says;
It is eternal and untouched by the fruits of actions, just like space is not defiled by its contents. Also, just as space is all pervading and one only, so too is the Self;13.31 Being without beginning and without qualities, O son of Kunti, this immutable, supreme Self does not act, nor is it affected, although existing in the body.
13.32 As the all-pervading space is not defiled, because of its subtlety, similarly the Self, present everywhere in the body, is not defiled.
It is one and non-dual Brahman, but appears to be many due to false superimposition. The Self of each being is not the transmigrating jiva, but the Atman which sustains it and is what Krishna refers to when he says 'Me'; the Knower of the body in all bodies- one alone.13.6 And that Knowable, though undivided, appears to be existing as divided in all beings, and It is the sustainer of all beings as also the devourer and originator.
13.22 He who is the Witness, the Permitter, the Sustainer, the Experiencer, the great Lord, and who is spoken of as the transcendental Self is the supreme Person in this body.
Krishna then enjoins various methods and meditations conducive to self-knowledge, such as seeing the Self as a non-agent, seeing God as the Self in all beings etc.
The nature and fruit of Knowledge is restated again;
Krishna reveals to Arjuna that Knowledge is to discriminate, to distinguish between oneself as the knower, the witness and everything that is known ie the field of the body, mind, world etc. When we discriminate properly between them, then the essence of both is understood. The ignorance which previously prevented this vision through false superimposition (or a conflation of the field and the knower of it) is burned up, along with the notion of being a jiva in a world of jivas (Matrix of beings), and only Brahman, the Supreme, remains, and the Upanishad says 'that thou art'.13.23 He who knows thus the Person and Nature along with the qualities will not be born again, in whatever way he may live.
13.30 When one realizes that the state of diversity of living beings is rooted in the One, and that their manifestation is also from That, then one becomes identified with Brahman.
13.34 Those who know thus through the eye of wisdom the distinction between the field and the Knower of the field, and the annihilation of the Matrix of beings,- they reach the Supreme.
The content of the word 'Me' when Krishna speaks is identical to the content of the word 'You' (thou) when there is correct understanding. The deep import of the word 'You' is not a transmigrating jiva called Arjuna or Devadatta or Ananda, it is the conscious knower, the witness, the hearer, the smeller; the Atman. Of this Self it is said in the Upanishads 'There is no other Witness but Him, no other hearer but him...' Who is He? He is the content of the word 'That' in the Upanishadic saying, and 'That' is Brahman. Hence, the Self is Brahman, and Krishna is That, and Arjuna is That- but for his want of knowledge Krishna must teach him this fact.
To summarise, plurality is accepted prima facie by Krishna (and so spoken of figuratively as Shankara explains) because Arjuna is ignorant of the non-dual Self. It is later that we see Krishna revealing to Arjuna what the Self really is and refuting the notion of plurality of selves. As yajvan says, plurality must be assumed and utilised for teaching when ignorance is present, otherwise there is no possibility of imparting knowledge through teaching, and therefore no way of dispelling ignorance.
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