Gita 08.03 – Spirituality is our nature
Thank you Bhagavad Gita 8.1 sorry 8.3 so from here Krishna starts answering Arjuna's questions and he states Aksharam Brahma Paramam Aksharam the infallible Brahma spiritual reality Paramam it is supreme so Krishna is saying Brahma is the Akshara and the Parama to Arjuna's question that was the first question in 8.1 Krishna is answering that Brahma is the infallible Aksharam Brahma Paramam Swabhavo Adhyatmam Uchchate Adhyatma Adhyatma is what is Adhyatma? so Arjuna's question is answered by Krishna by saying that Swabhavo Adhyatmam Uchchate Swabhavo is Adhyatma Kim Karma Purushottama the third question and that is answered here by stating that Bhuta Bhavo Dbhava Karo Visargaha Karma Sangeetaha Karma Sangeetaha this is called as Karma, so what is Karma? Bhuta Bhavo Dbhava Karo Bhuta Bhava Udbhava Udbhava is creation Bhuta is here you can refer to the Bhava is to creation, production so that which leads to the production of the material bodies of the living beings that is called as Karma here we see how technical context specific definitions of words correlate with their generic definitions according to time place circumstance that means that there are certain words which have certain meanings in certain situations and we need to recognize that such words don't easily gel with the normal reality that we experience in material existence that means the word Karma or the word Brahma they can have many meanings and sometimes when we encounter words in specific context the meanings may differ from what we normally consider their meanings to be so here Krishna is telling Aksharam Brahma Paraman that which is infallible that which is transcendental is Brahma this can refer to the living entity, this can refer to the Supreme Lord so different Acharyas explain it differently and such explanations are perfectly fine as long as they are consistent with the overall message of the Gita so jara maran mokshaya mama shuddhi taddhiye te brahma tadviduh krishnam adhyatmam karma chaakilam so if you see in that context this was the it was in this context that Krishna Krishna used the word Brahma and it was this contextually used that Arjuna clarified that those who seek refuge from the miseries of old age and death mama shuddhi taddhi and they endeavor and take shelter of me and they endeavor de te brahma they become Brahma Krishna says de te brahma tadviduh krishnam and they know fully adhyatmam karma chaakilam they know adhyatma, their karma they also know karma you could say they know adhyatma karma or they become they become spiritualized in their action whichever way you want to take the meaning we will see according to the context how different meanings fit so now te brahma they become spiritual they themselves become Brahma what does this mean if you see the absolute reality is always Brahman it doesn't become Brahman at any time and what this means in this particular context is that the living entity becomes aware of its spiritual identity and glory that living entity whose spiritual consciousness is obscured now becomes aware of its spiritual glory so Krishna says so who is Brahma? aksharam brahma paramam when the living entity is situated in the transcendental position then the living entity has attained the infallible position that living entity is Brahma Krishna will talk later in the 15th chapter there are two kinds of living entities there are the conditioned and the liberated and the liberated are the highest they are the best and after that so the highest but they are not supreme Krishna says that uttama purusha is someone else now going beyond that Krishna says that I am Bhagwan so here svabhava adhyatma means svabhava one's own nature adhyatma so what is adhyatma its own svabhava is adhyatma so adhyatma in a conversational sense means spirituality we could say that's the meaning so here Krishna says the soul's nature is spiritual spirituality is its nature what is adhyatma its nature is adhyatma that means Krishna has said so the activity becomes spiritual so when the soul becomes spiritualized then all its activity becomes spiritual the soul doesn't act with selfish material motivation at that time the soul acts with pure spiritual motivation and so now after that if we see further what Krishna speaks here that which leads to generation of the material body to the living beings that is called as karma how does this work actually if you think carefully and if you understand then we will see that so Krishna states that karma leads to generation of our material bodies and when the karma becomes adhyatma karma as he mentioned in 7.28 then there will be no such generation of bodies now so here we see the word karma can in general refer to activity we discussed the four meanings of the word karma when we are talking about so karma can mean action, karma can mean reaction to action karma can mean the system of action reaction and karma can also refer to one category of action that is there is karma, vikarma and akarma so here Krishna is referring to karma more in the sense of action which produces reaction and he says that when the soul takes shelter of Krishna that is 7.28 then the karma will become spiritualized so to respond to Arjuna's questions Krishna answers very briefly over here saying that the living entity is Brahma the living entity when it comes to realize its infallible transcendental nature it is Brahma and we all have our material subhava which is according to which is according to Vanashram Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra but the Adhyatma spirituality that is the essential subhava of the soul the soul by nature is spiritual and then when the soul is in a conditioned or unnatural stage at that time the work that it does which leads to the development of material bodies bhuta bhavod bhavakaro visargah karmasangita and how our activity leads to the development of bodies that will become the theme based on which Krishna will say that we should always work for him think of him and then we will attain him thank you.