Verses 13.13–13.18🔗

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I shall explain the knowable, knowing which, you will taste the eternal Being, the beginning-less consciousness that lies beyond the causes and effects of this material world.’ In the previous verses, Kṛṣṇa talks about the qualities that happen with the flowering of the divine consciousness within. Now He reveals to Arjuna that this consciousness is eternal. Please understand that our mind associates a time and space with every incident or event. The mind can only think chronologically. It is like an inner reference chart and all incidents are placed in this chart of time and space. Modern science asks questions like, ‘How did this happen? What was there before this?

What came after this? What triggered this?’ When they asked about the creation of this Universe, they explained it with the Big Bang theory. They said that a tiny mass of fire exploded and gave rise to our Universe. What they could not answer was, ‘What existed before that?’ Kṛṣṇa says that this universal energy, the ultimate consciousness, always existed. It manifested in various forms as planets, as humans and so on, but it is eternal. It will continue to manifest itself and return to the Source and it will always exist. The concept of time and space that we have is based on our mind and senses. Whatever we perceive is a projection of our mind.

This understanding of time is different from an enlightened Master’s understanding. He measures time in terms of kṣaṇa. Kṣaṇa is the time between two thoughts. It is the space between two thoughts. Buddha referred to this time and space as śūṇya. Ādī Śaṅkarācārya referred to it as pūrṇa. It is the no-mind zone, the mindful zone, the space of completion in which we touch base with ourselves. It is the present moment, in which we come face to face with the divinity within, by which we recognize the Cosmic energy that is our essential nature. When we are caught in chasing one material pleasure after anotherwehavesomuchstress,tensionandworrybombardingourheads every second. Our kṣaṇa is very small because of the high number of KṣetraKṣetrajñaVibhāgaYogaḥ TheFieldAndTheKnowerOftheField 955 thoughts inside us.

This is why we get a suffocated, panicking feeling. We constantly feel time is running out. We are greedy for more and more experiences before this body dies and we are afraid that we might lose whatever we have come to possess. We feel this way because we associate ourselves with the kṣetra, the temporary body and mind. Please understand that the body and mind are made up of the five elements and they return to their source once they have served their purpose. On the other hand, an enlightened Master knows he is kṣetrajña. He knows that he is not the body-mind system. He has realized that he is the ultimate consciousness.

He has no urgency to run in the rat race because he knows that life goes on, even if this body perishes. He has become a witness to the mind. Any thought that springs up will be only an action-oriented authentic thought, never an unproductive thought. He expresses the power of words, vāk śakti. The moment the thought happens, it immediately expresses itself as an action. No thoughts accumulate inside him. He experiences eternity because of this thoughtless zone that he stays in. This is the beginninglessness of the consciousness that Kṛṣṇa explains here. The Master Exists Everywhere When we are in front of an Enlightened Master, one who is in a no-mind state of completion, the number of thoughts in us also comes down and our kṣaṇa becomes longer.

The gaps between thoughts increase. So without even trying, we become calmer, more peaceful, and more aware! The knowable that Kṛṣṇa explains is beyond any changes. It is eternal because it does not follow the laws of creation and destruction like other objects around us. It has always been there and will always continue to exist. Whatever physical matter we see around us follows a particular cause-effect relationship. However, our deepest core is untouched by these changes. Please listen! Every thought inside us affects the functioning of the whole Cosmos. Whether we want to accept it or not, we do not operate as separate islands. Thoughts that are present in the space that we live in affect our mental setup, that is the way we think and operate.

This positivity and negativity, creation and destruction, are all properties of the changing world around us, of the kṣetra that we live in. The minute we know that we are not this changing kṣetra but the eternal and unmoving kṣetrajñya (the consciousness that runs the kṣetra), we are liberated. Kṛṣṇa calls this eternal bliss jñeya, knowable. When the knowing happens, the knowable (jñeya), knower (jñātā), and the knowledge (jñāna) merge. In this experience, the knower, known, and knowledge become one. No separate experience, experiencer or object of experience exists. It is called triputi, where no difference between the three entities exists. It is like this: Imagine that you love driving and are sitting in a nice new car with all automatic systems and you are driving on a highway at full speed.

You are so immersed in that joy of driving the car that you forget yourself. After some time you suddenly realize you are not even driving; the driving is simply happening. You have become the experience of driving and there is no more a sense of you doing the driving. The car is moving forward on its own and you have become the experience. Similarly, if you are immersed and involved deeply in any other passion, the experience, experiencer and object of experience suddenly merge into the Eternal consciousness. You call it being in ‘the space of completion.’ Kṛṣṇa explaines that His eternal nature, the eternal Self, is not bound by time.

Now He says that He exists everywhere, sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati and He is not bound by space. Normally we understand the presence or absence of an object or person in terms of physical attributes. We function in our lives based upon what we see, smell, touch, taste and hear. If our pañca indriya, five senses, cannot sense anything, we think KṣetraKṣetrajñaVibhāgaYogaḥ TheFieldAndTheKnowerOftheField 957 nothing exists. sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat sarvato ‘kṣi-śiro-mukham I sarvataḥ śrutimal loke sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati II 13.14 One important and surprising thing is that an Enlightened Master is more present in his absence than in his physical presence. This means that his energy never dies nor does it know any barriers.

Many disciples in different parts of the world tell me, ‘Swamiji, we wish to be with you more often, please visit us.’ I tell them, ‘Truly, sixty six percent of Nithyananda is in the mission and the message; only thirty three percent is in this body.’ If we limit an enlightened Master to his form, we miss him completely. His energy transcends time and space and is always available everywhere, forever! When you are in the energy field of an enlightened Master who is no longer in his body, as in a jīva samādhi, the final resting place of the Master’s body, without even making an effort, you become calmer and experience that space of peace within.

Many great temples such as Tirupati, Tiruvannamalai, Mantralaya and Pazhani in India are built around the final resting places of Enlightened Masters. That is why these places serve as powerful energy centers today, drawing millions of people every year. Although physically the Master is no longer in the body, we feel his presence. Why? Because he is not bound in space by the body. The cosmic energy that he manifests transcends space and time. Only we know physical barriers. Here, Kṛṣṇa uses the phrase, ‘Hands and feet everywhere, sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ, eyes, heads, faces, ears everywhere, sarvato akṣi-śiromukham (13.14).’ What does He mean by this? This is beyond the comprehension of the human mind and needs a little bit of internalization.

We understand only one body—the physical body—because we associate ourselves with it completely. Let me explain with a small diagram: This diagram shows the seven energy bodies or layers that we have in us. The outermost layer is the physical layer, with which we associate ourselves all the time. We know this body as having a pair of eyes, hands, legs, one nose, head, etc. Now let us take a few points on that layer. Let us call them ‘you’, ‘me’, ‘your neighbor’, ‘Kṛṣṇa’, ‘Buddha’ etc. So, at the gross layer, you are different from your neighbor; your neighbor is different from me and different from the various forms of God.

You can see each point being distinct from the others. We are so rooted in this physical gross layer and so we see many barriers between us and everything around us, because everything appears to be different from the other in this layer. Now, for each point, if we follow the corresponding points in the inner layers, as we go deeper and deeper, we suddenly realize that we all merge in the nirvanic layer. It is here that the Universal Energy connects every being. There is no difference in this space between you and me. This is the space of consciousness that Kṛṣṇa talks about. Here, Kṛṣṇa and Buddha are no different.

All are various forms of God, all are manifestations of the same divinity. The women who used to look after the cowherds during Kṛṣṇa’s time, that is the gopīs, were great devotees of Kṛṣṇa. Despite their other household chores, they were soaked in devotion for Kṛṣṇa all the time. In the Rās līlā, divine play of Kṛṣṇa, He gave the experience of Universal consciousness to the gopīs; Kṛṣṇa danced with each of the hundred thousand gopīs in Briṇdāvan. Kṛṣṇa manifested a form for each of the gopīs KṣetraKṣetrajñaVibhāgaYogaḥ TheFieldAndTheKnowerOftheField 959 in order to dance with them individually. It was not merely one form, one body of Kṛṣṇa, but one hundred thousand forms manifesting simultaneously.

Please understand the deeper meaning in this līlā. Each gopī was so deeply connected with that divine consciousness, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that each one felt His presence. When we go within, into our core, we see divinity in everything. The gopīs saw Kṛṣṇa everywhere and in everything they did. This universal consciousness knows no physical barriers. That is why Kṛṣṇa says He is ‘all pervading, sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati.’ He is all enveloping. He is omnipresent. That is why I say, ‘All those who I ordain as healers are my hands, all our ācāryas (initiated teachers) are my vāk (energy of power of words), and all our organizers are my mind.’

I can only heal a limited number of people with these two physical hands. I can only conduct a limited number of programs with this one mouth, and I can only organize a limited events with this one brain. That is why I operate through my healers, teachers and organizers. The Cosmic Nithyananda operates through them! For a phone connection to happen from one country to another, we need to have the infrastructure: all the cables installed below the sea and so forth. But for this cosmic connection to happen, nothing is needed. If we simply connect to the Self within, suddenly there will be no barriers. We will simply fly!

Kṛṣṇa goes on to give further qualities of the Self. But understand that all this is said only to inspire us to experience it first hand ourselves. If somebody asks us, ‘What does sugar taste like?’ and if he has never tasted anything sweet before, how will you explain to him? You may tell him, ‘It will be in the form of white cubes, transparent, very sweet.’ When he asks, ‘What does ‘sweet’ mean?’ You can continue to tell him other things, ‘Sugar is made from sugar cane, which is full of sugary syrup, it is fibrous, you can chew on it.’ What is the use? Instead if he puts a handful of sugar in his mouth, he will automatically say, ‘This is how sugar tastes!

This is how something sweet tastes!’ Unless he experiences what ‘sweet’ means, things will remain a theory for him, although the conviction about sugar might grow in him. In Chapter 11, when Kṛṣṇa gives His Cosmic form vision, the Viśvarūpa Darśan, Arjuna feels intimidated within a few moments and cannot handle the energy. He pleads with Kṛṣṇa, ‘I cannot understand You. I cannot withstand Your glory.’ But Arjuna wants to know what Kṛṣṇa is talking about. So once again Kṛṣṇa gives all kinds of descriptions to penetrate Arjuna’s doubts and fears. The compassion of an Enlightened Master is so great. In spite of the doubts and skepticism, he quietly and patiently sits with the disciple until, one by one, all doubts are washed away.

You see, our self-doubts and questions arise from our mind, forming a thick layer over us. A Master’s grace gently dissolves this layer. Kṛṣṇa says all life happens because of the thread of the Universal energy flowing through. You see, so many things are happening around us, on their own, beyond our awareness. The life force that conducts the whole show, that controls every breath we take, the same energy that maintains an order in the chaos of the Universe, is pure intelligence. In Saṃskṛit, there is a saying that means not even a blade of grass can move without the will of the Divine. Kṛṣṇa is sending a message to us about how much we depend on Him, who is the Cosmic intelligence, for anything to happen.

At the same time, without getting involved, the Universal energy is a witness to all activities and all life forms. If we look deeper, we realize that whatever we see and perceive as objects, are creations of the mind along with the senses. We create a world of our own. Deep down, the true Self watches the whole thing without getting involved. The mind projects some people as good, some as bad, some incident as painful, others as joyful, etc. and then runs after or away from the people and experiences. For an enlightened being, a knower of the truth, everything is the same. He stops labeling because he has moved KṣetraKṣetrajñaVibhāgaYogaḥ TheFieldAndTheKnowerOftheField 961 beyond names and forms, and beyond the dualities of good and bad.

Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahamsa gives a beautiful analogy. When we stand in a valley, we see pits and depressions on the ground if we look down, and mountain cliffs when we look up. But when we climb up to the summit, we observe that all the ups and downs below no longer matter. We have transcended the ups and downs that we saw when we were on the ground. How to climb to the summit above all the ups and downs? You must relax. You must realize that you are already on the summit. You are beyond the ups and downs. But no, we don’t want to believe it. Our mind tells us, ‘No.

What is he saying? I have important things to do in life. How can I relax?’ We love our tensions and problems too much. We like to clutch onto our lives. We do not want to let go because we think this is all there is. We do not realize that if we relax, we can fly. A small story: A hunter in a forest came across a clearing where there were many birds. He took a twig and tied a rope at the center of the twig. Then he took the two ends of the rope and tied them firmly to a pole on each side. Now the twig was hanging by the rope.

He sprinkled a few grains around the setup. He was a clever hunter. Happily, he went away for a nap. After some time, a bird was attracted by the grains and sat on the twig. The minute it sat on one side of the twig, the whole twig turned upside down due to the bird’s weight. The bird now saw the whole world upside down and became frightened. It thought it was trapped! It clasped to the twig harder than ever and prayed to God to be set free. After an hour, the hunter returned leisurely and caught hold of the bird. After that, you know what happened. This is what we do in our lives.

The bird did not realize that it was always free! All it needed to do was let go of the twig and fly away. We do the same thing. We grasp and clutch onto our past. We clutch onto the pains and joys and keep missing the space of completion. We miss eternity. We miss our Consciousness inside. The supreme truth is inside and outside all living entities. It is moving and non-moving on account of being subtle. It is near and far. Kṛṣṇa uses all these terms and concepts such as moving and non-moving, near and far, inside and outside because these are the only terms we can understand.

He is giving us an idea to tell us that Supreme Consciousness is beyond these concepts and terms that we know. The Indivisible Space Within You see the world full of objects with different qualifiers because you associate yourself with a fixed entity. You say something is far or near based on the physical boundaries, with respect to the coordinates of your body. Whatever you do, what you think, is based on this reference point. You live in this space enclosed by your physical boundary called ghaṭākāśa. There are three spaces we can live in: The space that is covered by the body, the space that is covered by the mind, and the space that cannot be covered by body and mind.

The first is ghaṭākāśa, or the space enclosed by this physical body. Most of us live in this space nearly all the time. The next is cidākāśa, the space that you are aware and conscious of. Right now, if you are aware of this hall it is your cidākāśa. This is the space of the thoughts and mind. The third is mahākāśa. This is the whole space, cosmos, everything put together. The ghaṭākāśa is made up of the five elements that are: earth, water, fire, air and ether. These elements become subtler as we move up, from earth, to water, to fire, to air, to ether. None of the first four reflect consciousness.

Ether, the subtlest element, connects with consciousness. It reflects consciousness. And that is the reason why we are alive. The problem is, we think consciousness is bound by ghaṭākāśa. We think it is limited to this body. That is why we make this body the reference when we view the outer world. We think this body is the ‘I’ that sees the rest of the world. You see, KṣetraKṣetrajñaVibhāgaYogaḥ TheFieldAndTheKnowerOftheField 963 all science had this as its basic foundation: we are separate entities defined by physical boundaries. Enlightened Masters who have moved beyond ghaṭākāśa into mahākāśa understand that all this division of space is due to our ignorance. Please understand that space can never be divided.

Yet we divide it into boundaries and associate terms: within, inside, outside, near, far, etc. because of our limited understanding. This is the cause for our suffering. First of all, we divide the space because of our ignorance. Second, we try to possess the space that we think is in our control. And third, we fear that the space might be taken from us. All fears, including the fear of death, happen because we constantly try to protect the space covered by our body and mind. Understand the basic truth that space cannot be divided. When we understand that we are mahākāśa, we transcend all boundaries. Whatever space we may be in, the possibility of achieving a higher space is available to every one of us.

Man, as such, is only potentiality. He is not actuality. He is not what he is supposed to be. As of now we are in seed form and have not expressed our potential fully. We have not become trees yet. But that does not mean we cannot grow and become trees. When we transcend these relative boundaries we will understand through experience what Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa says that the supreme truth is inside and outside all living entities, bahir antaś ca bhūtānām. It is moving and non-moving on account of being subtle, acaraṁ caram eva ca (13.16). This is the space of mahākāśa, which includes the space of everything. This space is absolute.

Everything is included in this space. When there is no ‘two,’ how can we compare? How can we say something is near or far when there is only one? The truth is absolute and one. avibhaktaṁ ca bhūteṣu vibhaktaṁ iva ca sthitam I bhūta-bhartṛ ca taj jñeyaṁ grasiṣṇu prabhaviṣṇu ca II 13.17 Although the supreme spirit appears to be divided as the Cosmic and individual entities, it is never divided, avibhaktaṁ ca bhūteṣu. It is the basis of generation, maintenance and destruction of life. When we pour water into containers of different shapes and sizes, it takes on their shapes. If we carefully examine their contents, all of them contain the same water.

Similarly, the world of many forms and shapes, so many species of plants and animals, appears as though there is so much variety. Underlying them all is the same energy. The prāṇa śakti, life force, running in each of them is the same. If we understand this simple tattva (principle) of life—that we came from the same Source and we return to it—we will realize that we are connected to something much greater than our individual self. I am the Source of All Light The Universal consciousness manifests in numerous ways and is also responsible for destruction. When the same Universal energy is unmanifest, unexpressed, it exists in potential form.

This is referred to as puruṣa in the scriptures. When this energy manifests itself in this world, taking various names, forms, and shapes, it expresses itself as prakṛti. Prakṛti is the creative expression of puruṣa. The life force that caused us to be born also maintains us. Every little thing happening within us is carried out by the same intelligence that brought us into this world. Similarly, the same intelligence accompanies us when we leave the body. The water of the ocean is the puruṣa and the waves that dance and play are prakṛti. The water appears to be divided in the form of waves of many shapes and sizes.

In reality it is one mass of the same water. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa reminds Arjuna that the supreme spirit appears to be divided into puruṣa and prakṛti because of the different creations and expressions of prakṛti. However, He is beyond all this and exists undivided. At their core, all are creations of the universal energy. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘He is the Supreme Self, or witnessing consciousness that is the source of all light in all luminous objects. He is knowledge, He is KṣetraKṣetrajñaVibhāgaYogaḥ TheFieldAndTheKnowerOftheField 965 the object of knowledge, and He is the goal of knowledge. He is situated in everyone’s heart.’ jyotiṣām api taj jyotis tamasaḥ param ucyate I jñanaṁ jñeyaṁ jñana-gamyaṁ hṛdi sarvasya viṣṭhitam II 13.18 The sources of light as we understand them are the sun, moon, lightning, fire or artificial means like electricity.

All these produce light, which makes life possible. An object that is around us becomes visible because of the light energy. The cakṣu, the energy behind vision, can perceive that object when the surroundings are lit up. The light energy from the sun is responsible for the birth and growth of all living beings. All beings on planet Earth depend on the sun for their survival. What gives these sources of light the energy to run? What drives them? The Universal consciousness gives energy to all sources of light. Kṛṣṇa calls this Self the ‘Source of light—jyotiṣam api taj jyotis’. The sources of light—the sun, the moon and lightning derive their energy from that self-luminous Self.

That is why there is a common adjective given to the Self as ‘effulgent’ or ‘luminous’. In a deeper sense, when the Self is referred to as luminous, it is not what we normally understand. The Self is pure intelligence and this knowledge dispels ignorance. An Enlightened Master sees everything with clarity. He sees truth as it is. You see, when you are in a dark room you are ignorant of what is present in that room. When the lights are switched on, you become aware of things around you. An Enlightened Master uses the lamp of consciousness to see the truth as it is, without any filters. Using this lamp, he experiences his surroundings in totality, in completion with the whole.

This lamp is not like any other lamp; it cuts the layers of ignorance, however deep they may be. That is why the Master sees 360 degrees around him. He does not filter what he sees like we do. Please understand, the filtering that we do is the cause of our problems, our incompletions. We do not see whatever exists as it exists. We distort it to suit our inadequate, limited ideas, that are born out of our root thought patterns. The ego is like darkness; it has no positive existence. Just as darkness is the absence of light, the ego is the absence of awareness. To struggle to kill the ego is like struggling to push darkness out of the room.

To expel the darkness, what you need to do is to forget about dealing with the darkness. Focus your energy on light instead. Bring a small lamp into the room and the darkness will leave on its own! This lamp of Consciousness is available to all of us. It lies within us. Forget all about the ego. Instead, focus on bringing the lamp into your being. When your entire Consciousness has become a flame, the ego is no more. Understanding The Energy