Verses 15.11–15.14
यतन्तो योगिनश्चैनं पश्यन्त्यात्मन्यवस्थितम् | यतन्तोऽप्यकृतात्मानो नैनं पश्यन्त्यचेतस:
yatanto yoginaścainaṁ paśyantyātmanyavasthitam / yatanto’pyakṛtātmāno nainaṁ paśyantyacetasaḥ / / 15.11
The serious practitioner of Yoga, with an understanding of his self, can see all this clearly. But those who do not have an understanding of the self, however much they try, cannot see.
यदादित्यगतं तेजो जगद्भासयतेऽखिलम् | यच्चन्द्रमसि यच्चाग्नौ तत्तेजो विद्धि मामकम्
yad āditya-gataṁ tejo jagad bhāsayate’khilam yac candramasi yaccāgnau tattejo viddhi māmakam / / 15.12
The light of the sun, the light of the moon and the light of fire, all their radiance is also from Me.
गामाविश्य च भूतानि धारयाम्यहमोजसा | पुष्णामि चौषधी: सर्वा: सोमो भूत्वा रसात्मक:
gāmāviśya ca bhūtāni dhārayāmy aham ojasā / puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ / / 15.13
Entering into earth, I support all beings with My energy; becoming the watery moon I nourish all plant life.
अहं वैश्वानरो भूत्वा प्राणिनां देहमाश्रित: | प्राणापानसमायुक्त: पचाम्यन्नं चतुर्विधम्
ahaṁ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ dehamāśritaḥ / prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pacāmy annaṁ caturvidham / / 15.14
I am the fire of digestion in every living body and I am the breath of life, exhaled and inhaled, with which I digest the four-fold food.
Kṛṣṇa uses the word ‘yoginaḥ’ in this verse. It is important to understand what He means by this. Yoga has become a buzzword; a trendy, fashionable word for cool people. Yoga is the link, the union, between the individual self, ātman, and universal Self, cosmic consciousness, Brahman. Awareness of this link, awareness that the self is the same as the Self, leads to liberation. The understanding happens in an instant; however, the practice leading to it requires a disciplined approach. In today’s world, my opinion is that dhyāna, meditation, is best suited for spiritual progress and for the realization that one’s self is part of that cosmic Self. Kṛṣṇa says that until that awareness happens, however much one may strive, one will not reach Him.
Understand, here we are talking about awareness, not achievement. The truth is that our individual self is an integral part of the Universal consciousness, the Self. This truth is not something that we need to work towards. It exists. It is. We are blinded by individual ego, māyā, the illusion of our individual identity, in forgetting that we are part of the Collective consciousness. Yogis, sincere spiritual practitioners, lift this veil of māyā, destroy the illusion, to see beyond into the truth of their oneness with the Divine. Meditation is the path and technique to lift this veil. Meditation enables the practitioner to go deeper and deeper into himself. Meditation brings about awareness of what is.
Master —The Dispeller of Darkness Light is awareness. Light is the sustainer of life. Light is one of the first manifestations of the Divine in creation. Without light and heat from the sun, life as we know it would be impossible. Everything in this world revolves around energy received from the sun in the form of light and heat. The sun is also the dispeller of darkness. Not only does Kṛṣṇa establish that He is the creator of this Universe—the solar system, sun, moon and the fire which sustain our lives, but He also tells us that He is the Dispeller of darkness. Kṛṣṇa, as the Master, as the Guru, is the Dispeller of darkness.
Guru means one who dispels darkness. As the sun, moon and the fire, Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate Master who leads us into awareness of our natural state of completion. Please listen! Come to the listening space. You are vibrating a magnetic field. There are two frequencies inside you. There is a self in you which has a frequency of its own, this is what I call the energy of possibility of enlightenment. In Saṃskṛit we use the word jīvātma—individual soul. Then, there is the mind in you which it has the frequency of its own, this is the energy of the pattern and suffering Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1113 present in you, which derived energy from the ātman.
Please listen! You need to understand: there is a mirror in front of me. I always saw the mirror only reflecting these lights. Because, I have always seen this mirror lit up, I forgot that it only reflects, it does not have its own radiation, its own natural light! In the same way, because you always see the Moon reflecting the Sun, you forget Moon does not have its own light! Same way, your mind does not have its own energy. But, from the time you saw your mind, it was always reflecting the consciousness. Because of that you started thinking, you started feeling your mind as independent energy, which is not!
So, the patterns you carry inside you have no independent energy or power. At any given point in time, you are either used by the frequency of your self or the frequency of your mind. Please listen to the truths. First, you have a frequency of consciousness in you. Second, you have the frequency of mind in you. The frequency of the mind is the pattern, incompletion, suffering present in you. Third, at any given point in time, you are either used by the frequency of your soul, ātman, consciousness or the frequency of your mind, the patterns. Kṛṣṇa is the destroyer of our root thought patterns, saṁskāras. Saṁskāras are products of darkness, our unconscious.
Darkness is not a positive entity. It cannot be shifted from point to point. However, it can be destroyed by light. The presence of light dissolves darkness. The presence of awareness of completion, our frequency of consciousness destroys saṁskāras. Darkness has no existence of its own. It only exists when there is no light. We cannot create darkness. It is the absence of something. When someone cannot see, he is not bothered by darkness. He is not afraid of darkness. To a blind man, darkness is his nature. A blind man will not say that he sees ghosts and spirits in darkness. Darkness is the state that he exists in.
A truly courageous man established in completion is also not disturbed by darkness. Someone who is not afraid of anything does not fear the loss of ego, loss of identity and death. To him, darkness poses no fear as well. He can equally handle darkness and light, without fear or attraction. Other than these two classes of people, darkness poses problems and presents fears for everyone else. In this sense, Kṛṣṇa is not only the Lord of light, but of darkness as well. From Me comes Light, Fire, Life energy Kṛṣṇa further expands on His pervasiveness. In the form of light and heat, He is the Sustainer of all beings within this Universe.
He says that He is the energy of the watery moon and through this energy He is the life energy within plant life, puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ (15.13)’. Kṛṣṇa affirms that He is Brahman and through His manifestation of the various natural elements of space, air, fire, water and earth, He is responsible for plant life and therefore for food and human beings. Without plant life, there is no food. Without food, there is no body and mind. Body and mind become food for others after death. Food is an expression of divinity. The energy behind food is both the creator and destroyer of saṁskāras. Most of us treat food as a basic necessity or an object of sensual pleasure.
We ignore it or become addicted to it. We need to be aware of what we eat. Before eating, offer gratitude to the Universe for what you have received and meditate upon the food. Traditionally Hindus offer oblations to the Divine and chant prayers before eating. Major changes happen when you follow these customs with awareness. A person who can be so settled in the present is one who is aware and complete. He is one with Kṛṣṇa. The role of the sun as the giver of light and heat energies is obvious. It is also obvious that without the sun, all life forms will cease to exist. However, the fact that the moon is a nourishing energy providing life energy to plants and therefore to humans is not that well appreciated.
The Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1115 moon controls our behavior, moods and minds. Soma, the name for the moon, refers to its fluidity and the transient nature of waxing and waning. Kṛṣṇa then talks about vaiśvānara, prāṇa and apāna. ahaṁ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ deham āśritaḥ I prāṇapāna samāyuktaḥ pacāmy annaṁ catur-vidham II 15.14 The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad says: ‘This fire that is within the human being and which digests the food that he eats is vaiśvānara. The sound of this fire vaiśvānara is that which one hears by closing the ears. When death nears and the spirit is about to leave the body, he no longer hears this sound.’
This Upaniṣad goes on to say that neither āhāra (food), nor prāṇa (breath), can function alone, one without the other. Food will decay without breath and breath will dry up without food. Together, when the awareness of their union happens, true consciousness results. Food is also related to the four elements other than space: air, fire, water and earth. The ancient Hindu traditional medicine system, Ayurveda, works on this principle of vaiśvānara. The quality of this inner fire determines our state of hunger or lack of hunger as well as the state of health. What Kṛṣṇa implies here as well is that food is divine since it has His imprint on it.
We tend to take food for granted. Offering food to other living beings, has been considered a form of worship in Hindu tradition. Food has always been considered the repository of the Divine. From Me Comes Memory And Knowledge