Gita 09.19 – In Krishna contradictions are transcended and reconciled
He reproduces in a new way by producing without undergoing any transformation himself. Krishna is speaking here. And he says I give heat.
And the rains also. I hold it back and I send it forth. I am immortality and I am that also.
I am the temporary and I am the eternal. So this was addressed as a theme of how contradictions are reconciled and transcended in the absolute. That there are three sets of contradictions I talked about.
The sun gives heat and when it gives heat it takes away water. It evaporates the water from the earth, from the oceans. And in contrast the rains they give water.
So Krishna says it is I as the sun who give heat. It is I as the rains. It is I who give rains.
And it is that he withholds the rains and he gives the rains also. So withholding the rains is a continuation of the theme of taking water as it comes from the sea. The sun.
And then the next two contradictions are more direct. That he is immortality and he is death. Now this is a direct contradiction.
Life and death are considered opposite. And then Sadashat can refer to sometimes true and false. It can refer also to temporary and eternal.
As it is referred in the 8.16. Na asato vidyate bhavo. That of the, Krishna says asato, of the temporary, of the material, there is no endurance. Bhavo.
Na bhavo vidyate sadaka. In the eternal there is no cessation. Here what is being stated is that Krishna is the person whom various contradictions are resolved.
Now how can we understand this? That normally we think in terms of dualities. This is good, this is bad. This is material, this is spiritual.
And that is an important initial analytical division that aspiring spiritualists should make. Differentiating between the material and the spiritual. So that we can focus on the spiritual and we can harmonize the material with the spiritual.
At the same time we need to know that in a higher vision the material and the spiritual are not just separated. But they are also integrated. Not in nature but in purpose.
That means the material and the spiritual are seen as coming from the same transcendental source. They are both seen as energies of Krishna. And when they are seen as connected with the source and when we understand that in a sense the energies are non-different from the energetic.
Then it is Krishna who manifests as the temporary and it is Krishna who manifests as the eternal. So contradictions are reconciled by resulting to the one who is beyond contradictions. So Krishna in him there is not the differentiation between the material and the spiritual because they are both his energies.
And they both work under his control serving his purpose. Of course the way we serve that purpose varies. But still the principle is that they do serve his purpose.
Now what does this refer to? That Krishna says I am that Krishna and I am that. Actually later in the next chapter 11th chapter as well as the 10th chapter it is mentioned how Krishna is that. Krishna also in 11.32. And we will say similar thing when talking about the Vibhuti yoga also.
How he is. I am in this practical time. So here ultimately no matter how much we achieve.
No matter how much we conquer. The conqueror of all conquerors will conquer by death. So death is the supreme conqueror.
And it is this supremacy of the absolute truth manifested as death that is talked about that is conveyed in this verse. When he stated. It is not that God is cruel wanting to separate us from our loved ones.
It is just that. God is our eternal master. We are his eternal servants.
And we are always under his control. He destroys the temporary so there is to make room for the eternal. When we see the inevitable destructibility of the temporary.
We are entitled to redirect our heart towards the eternal. In that way. He serves a beneficial purpose even by his destructive manifestations.
So it is he who is also the deliverer of immortality. It is he who takes the sadhakas to the spiritual world. It is he who enables.
It is he who as is beautifully told in 12.7. It is he who raises us. Lifts us out of material existence. Taking us to his eternal abode.
In this way it is he who grants deathlessness. And further. This material world also.
Is there are mechanisms by which the sun is light. There are mechanisms by which. The clouds do rains.
And science focuses on the mechanisms. Where the materialistic world sees. Mechanisms operated according to impersonal laws.
Underlying those. The way the eye sees. Conscious agents.
And above all these conscious agents. For example above Surya and above Indra. There is the supreme being.
And. Thus. It is that.
Krishna reconciles within him. Everything contradictory. By his.
Supreme. Existence. Transcendental to all worldly contradictions.