Gita 17.25 Recitation of tad signifies and stimulates the pursuit of transcendence

Transcript

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thank you Bhagavad Gita 17.25 Krishna has talked about in the previous verse those who recite Aum now he is talking about those who recite Tat so Aum Tat Sat can be recited together as one but it can also be the words in it can have individual meanings which can convey which can be recited with different conceptions and can have different intentions Tat Ityabhisandhaya Anabhisandhaya Abhisandhaya is to do with attachment Anabhisandhaya refers to do without attachment attachment to what? Phalam so what are the things that one do? Yagyatapakriya without attachment to the phala of them so whatever Krishna has talked about in this chapter as the components of dharmic activities as indicators of one’s faith so those activities Krishna is including in the scope over here Kriyante Moksha Kangshi Bhi Moksha Kangshi Bhi refers to those who are seeking Moksha so here Krishna is contrasting these Moksha Kangshi Bhi, these seekers of liberation with Brahmavadi Nam mentioned in the previous text 24 which refers to the followers of the Vedas so are all followers of the Vedas not seekers of liberation? not immediately those who are pursuing Dharma Artha Kama they may have some conception of liberation but that may not be their priority at all their priority may be I want to gain more wealth I want to get more sensual pleasure it is only when their consciousness evolves to a particular level can they appreciate the need for transcendence can they appreciate that without transcendence life itself remains incomplete and therefore it is vital to pursue transcendence to the best of one’s capacity by incorporating within one’s overall framework of practice the chanting of Tad now just the recitation of the word Tad is not that important it is important of course but what it conveys when we just generically refer to the absolute by the word Om as is done by all Brahmavadi Nams somebody might be chanting some mantras for worldly gains and they may be reciting Om but at this point there is certainly some invocation of transcendence but for what purpose is that invocation it may be entirely for self-centered purposes that I have this problem and you solve this problem for me and there is no conception of service to transcendence there is no conception of pursuing transcendence in its own right so when this happens then at that time one’s spiritual growth may be very very gradual it is only when we recognize that we need to pursue spiritual growth steadily that we can move towards transcendence in a more steady way so Moksha as a conception might be known to a large number of people but Moksha as aspiration is something which is not very common, it requires a certain level of evolution generally those who study the Vedas themselves they may not go to the Upanishadic sections or they may not stress on the Upanishadic sections they might just read them, ok, yes we know about it but that is not their priority at a particular time so in that situation when that is not their priority they might simply focus on the rituals for improving their lot in this world but when a certain level of evolution of consciousness happens then they recognize that this world is a place of enticement and entanglement that there are many pleasures here and those pleasures captivate our consciousness but as soon as we start pursuing those pleasures we become entangled and thus we cannot grow spiritually as long as we are caught in the conceptions of this world giving us pleasure and this world giving us such pleasure as to make spiritual life seem unnecessary or at least unurgent so the evolution of consciousness how does this happen? it can happen through intelligence, it can happen through experience it can happen through a combination of both so it can be our intelligence or it can be other intelligence that we hear from them, it can be our experience it can be other experience which we reflect on so as an intellectual conception to know what moksha means, yes that is also one of the purusharthas that is what is something to be pursued later but right now let’s seek pleasure and then in future we’ll think about it, moksha kankshi bhi but when somebody comes to the level where that is my aspiration that is where I want to go I want to orient my life right now so that I go towards that and that is something which is a very different situation to be in and that is the situation which is being talked about over here kriyante moksha kankshi bhi when we have this kind of conception then no matter whatever happens we won’t let ourselves get consumed by worldly pleasures even if they start consuming our consciousness even if they start dragging us here and there and that focus on the absolute is indicated through the word tad tad is not just a citation but it is a bhav our interest is not in what transcendence can do for us our interest is in what transcendence is to the extent our interest becomes thus elevated to that extent we move ahead towards the principle towards growing in our spiritual life and that growth is both stimulated as well as signified by the recitation of sad tad that means when one starts becoming interested in the other not in just me and what that higher reality can do for me but what that reality is one starts becoming interested in that that increase of interest in higher reality is conveyed by by the focus on transcendence by the focus on by the recitation of the word tad and so it is signified by that and also it is stimulated by that when one begins a particular process which is what we know we need for our growth then we move forward from there and take steps which will enable us to realize our essential spirituality and to rejoice in it gradually so this is what is the significance of tad and it is so tad signifies and stimulates the pursuit of transcendence