Gita 13.31 See variety not as illusion above the unity but as emanation from the unity

Transcript

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book of Gita 13.31 yada bhuta prathak bhavam ekastha manu pashyati tata eva chavistaram brahma sampadhyate tada here Krishna is continuing to speak about how we all can move towards getting jnana chakshu the eyes of knowledge by which we can see things as they are can see things in their philosophical truth so he says over here yada bhuta prathak bhavam that yada bhuta, the living entities they are having many different forms they have many different identities at the bodily level here is a dog here is a hyena, here is a eagle, here is a shark here is a human being bhuta prathak bhavam like that there are many living beings among them ekastha manu pashyati if we can see one one reality existing in them we can see one, what is that one reality that is a spiritual reality that they are all at their core spiritual beings tata eva chavistaram and from that one spiritual reality there is expansion into this variety and we can see like this brahma sampadhyate tada at that time one has attained the brahman level of realizing one has attained spiritual realization one has become spiritually situated so there are three stages here if you could see the first stage is talking about material variety second is talking about spiritual unity and third is talking about the variety as having emanated from the unity or the homogeneity so normally when our quest for knowledge begins it begins by trying to see some kind of category in variety for example when we are to eat food there are foods of so many different kinds and we could very well get overwhelmed trying to decide what food is suitable for my body what food is not suitable for my body so the way we deal with the innumerable varieties of foods that are available around us is by categorization so you say ok this is South Indian cuisine, this is Maharashtrian cuisine, this is Bengali cuisine this is Chinese cuisine so like that we categorize so when we see variety we try to reduce we try to make the variety manageable by bringing about categorization and we could say that beyond all the categorization there is a unity all this is food so we reduce the variety down to category so if you consider simply the number of varieties the variety could always be countless but then the categories can be less much less number and from that category we can go down further to unity so the same principle of trying to make what we see around us what we have to process manageable is to reduce it down to categorization so for example when we see the bewildering variety around the world then the question may come up ok what is the reality actually I want to hold on to something what is it that is real we see so much variety around us in the world but none of the variety lasts there can be irresistibly good looking people but then how long do their good looks last there may be fascinating varieties of places to go and see in this world but then sooner or later they will all be reduced to rubble they will rubble so they will just be destroyed by the power of time so what is it that endures is there something that endures just like a skyscraper building has to stand on some ground like that we understand that the variety of this world must be resting in some kind of existence that is lasting and that existence we understand is the existence of spiritual reality so thus we move from the variety of this world to the unity of spirit we move towards understanding that actually all this variety is intriguing but there has to be some higher reality beyond it and that higher reality beyond the variety that is spiritual that is what I will aim for that is what I will aspire to base my life in now this realization can lead one to monism so that especially spiritual monism which means that there is only one substance the spirit is all that exists and within this conception matter is considered to be simply an illusion but here it is said that matter is not an illusion matter is actually real in the sense that matter is also an emanation from the supreme spirit so when we see only matter and spirit we may tend to think that spirit is real and matter is false but if we think of matter and spirit and we think of spirit also as resting in the supreme spiritual reality the absolute truth then we understand that matter and spirit are both emanations from that absolute truth and thus this verse talks about rather than seeing matter as simply an illusory superimposition on spirit this verse is talking about matter the variety all that we see over here that is an emanation from spirit so Krishna has talked about this everything emanates from me and further he has stated that that he has also stated that the attractive things in this world are not to be rejected as false he says that they are all sparks of my splendor so here it is stated that Brahma that in this way from that one reality that one truth that underlies the variety from it the variety has come so it is not that the variety is false and the unity is true rather just seeing the variety is false what we need to see is that when we see the variety as emanating from the unity then we won’t get captivated by the variety in isolation but we will see the variety as pointing to the unity and we will get a proper understanding of the unity that means that when we look at attract good looking people of the world we don’t just say that all these good looks are temporary so they are false yeah they are temporary while they exist they do people look good but we can see that their good looks are going to last for a short time and the pleasure that we may get from their good looks it is like a the pleasure that is like the warmth coming from a spark of a fire the warmth that we get from the whole fire is what we actually need so like that the beauty the supreme beauty of Krishna is what we actually need and that we can move towards that we can attain if we recognize that this variety should point us towards the supreme reality and one who sees this one who sees beyond variety to unity and then one sees that the variety is coming from the unity then such a person has attained spiritual realizations such a person has attained spiritual vision Krishna is talking thus about helping us to not deny the to not reject the variety but to not be captivated by the variety also to move to the supreme spiritual reality beyond the endless variety thank you