So going back to the origin of Prakriti, let us now discuss the other category of the prakriti that has been described in Bhagavad Gita ch:7,Sh:5. The Lord says:
अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम् l
जीवभूतां महाबाहो ययेदं धार्यते जगत् ll
apareyam itas tvanyāṁ prakṛitiṁ viddhi me parām
jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat
aparā—inferior; iyam—this; itaḥ—besides this; tu—but; anyām—another; prakṛitim—energy; viddhi—know; me—my; parām—superior; jīva-bhūtām—living beings; mahā-bāho—mighty-armed one; yayā—by whom; idam—this; dhāryate—the basis; jagat—the material world
O mighty Arjun, this Apara prakriti (eight fold energy as described previously) is the inferior energy. There is another superior energy, Para Prakriti, the jīva śhakti (the soul energy), which is beyond this, and which pervades all the basis of life in this world.
In the last post we mentioned Ahanakara as one of the eight fold prakritis. It is important to note that the pañch-tanmātrās, the five perceptions—taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound and the five gross elements—space, air, fire, water, and earth come out of Ahankarara. Mind, Ego and Intellect are basically inert elements like the five perceptions and gross elements. That means, they don’t exist independently. Another energy is required to activate these elements or in other words put these energy in to activity.
Shree Krishna now goes totally beyond the realm of material science. He explains that the eight-fold prakṛiti mentioned in the previous verse is his inferior material energy. But it is not all that exists. There is also a superior spiritual energy, which is completely transcendental to insentient matter. This energy is the jīva śhakti, which encapsulates all the souls in this world.
The relationship between the jīva (individual soul) and God has been described from various perspectives by India’s great philosophers. The non-dualist philosophers state: jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ “The soul itself is God.” However, this contention raises a number of unanswerable questions:
- If the soul is God, then how come it has been overpowered by Maya? Is Maya stronger than God? No, the non-dualist says, it is covered by a veil of ignorance although it is not that.
- How can the soul that is subject to the ignorance be considered as God, who is all-knowing? Soul, in its purest form, does not suffer from ignorance. Ignorance is created by Maya due to excessive attachement to the material aspects of the world.
- If the soul is God then the soul must exist everywhere at the same time; so where is the question of going to heaven and hell after death? There is no heaven or hell, it all exists in the minds of an individual which is another form of ignorance created by Maya.
- However, God is one. Now, if the soul itself were God, then God would also have been many. No, it is like waves of the ocean. As one ocean has many waves so does one God has many. They are not different from God though they seem to be different as a child does not relat the waves to te oceans. No matter how many the oceans always a part of the ocean. If one adds all the waves it would not be equal to the ocean. It is only perception that creates the confusion.
It is an incomplete understanding compared to what Shree Krishna states in this verse. He says that the soul is a part of the spiritual energy of God. So God is the one Supreme Energetic, and everything that exists—both spiritual and material—is composed of all his various lower and higher energies.
“Just as the sun resides in one place, but its sunlight pervades the entire solar system, similarly there is one God, who by his infinite powers pervades the three worlds.” “The soul is an energy of God, while he is the Supreme Energetic.”
Once we accept the concept of the soul as a form of his energy, then the non-duality of all creation becomes comprehensible. Any energy is simultaneously one and different from the energetic. For example, a fire and its heat and light can be considered as different entities, but they can also be clubbed together and considered as one. Thus, we can consider the soul and God as one from the point of view of the energy (soul) and the Energetic (God). But we can also consider the soul and God as different, since the energy and Energetic are also distinct entities.
“The soul and Maya are both energies of God. Hence, they are both one with God and also different from God.” From the perspective of the unity between the energies and Energetic, the entire world is non-different from God. Thus, it is stated that the whole world is the veritable form of God.
“The Supreme Divine Personality is everything that exists;” meaning only the Creator is the permanent existence rest all are temporary beings who are created and destroyed ie; takes birth and dies. This also includes the whole Universe and with all its aspects.
At the same time, from the perspective of diversity between the energy and the Energetic, we can understand that within that unity, there is also tremendous variety. The soul is different; matter is different; God is different. Matter is insentient, while the soul is sentient, and God is the supremely sentient source and basis of both soul and matter.
“There are three entities in existence: 1) Matter, which is perishable. 2) The individual souls, who are imperishable. 3) God, who is the controller of both matter and the souls. By meditating upon the absolute Truth which is the Creator or God, and by uniting with him and becoming more like him, the soul is freed from the illusion.” In the sense that the ignorance is unveiled and the true aspect of the soul is manifests. That does not mean that the Universe gets annihilated at that point of time. It is like a matured person who is watching a movie and knows that this is just a movie and child or immature person gets so involved that he starts crying or laughing at such situations.
The primordial form of the material energy is prakṛiti. When God desires to create the world, he takes help of the prakṛiti. Which unfolds to create the creation. There is no equivalent word for prakṛiti in the English language). The word nature normally used to define prakṛiti is far away from the Sanskrit word prakṛiti. Prakṛiti with the help of the power bestowed upon Her, i.e; Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect, and ego—these are the eight fold division of the Prakriti, as we know from the previous Shloka further unfolds, and creates the whole creation. These are also subtler than any entity known to science. In this verse, Shree Krishna not only includes the five gross elements as different manifestations of his energy, he also includes the mind, intellect, and ego, as distinctive elements of his energy. Shree Krishna states that all these are simply parts of his material energy, Maya or Prakriti.
To be continued…
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