How Does The Book ‘Word of God Bhagavad Gita’ Explain the GitaVerses 18:21 and 18:22? Why Is It Necessary to Read All The 700 Verses of Gita?
Partial or incomplete knowledge can be misleading as the person may think that he knows everything to boost up his or her ego
It is like a person who sees a movie after the interval break, when half of the movie is already over, and the man does not know the full picture but pretends to know the full story.
Nobody will accept a pilot to fly a plane with a partial skill of flying, as he will not be able to handle the aircraft emergencies when the necessity arises. A surgeon with just a little knowledge of surgery is dangerous for the patients.
It is therefore necessary to read all the 700 verses of Bhagavad Gita to understand the full wisdom of the holy scripture.
Excerpts as sample page from the book’Word of God Bhagavad Gita.’
Out of the three types of knowledge enumerated in Bhagavad Gita; two types of knowledge are as given below:
Bhagavad Gita verse 18:21
The knowledge which divides living beings and creation into different entities, varying and different from one another, is known as ‘Rajasika Knowledge’. — -(Book ‘Word of God Bhagavad Gita’ verse 18:21): Ajay Gupta: Amazon.in: Kindle Store
The Spirit of God is complete and whole and does not depend upon others to make it full and whole.
A car has so many parts and the car runs as a whole. If you open the engine and remove the carburetor, then the car cannot run. No single part is whole.
The Sun, Moon, the Stars, the planets, Earth, Rivers, plant life, oceans, animals and human beings are all the glories of God. — If you take away anything from the Universe, then the ecological balance is disturbed and human life is adversely affected.
Animals, birds, sea creatures and plant life have existence of their own to enhance and support human life.
It is human beings who have polluted and disturbed the ecological balance by industrial pollution, by indiscriminate killing of animals and cutting of forests for their personal motives and benefit.
There is thus an emphasis to preserve rare species of animals and wild life, which is becoming extinct due to urbanization of the land areas. — Everything constitutes the whole, and everything is important.
The cosmic spirit is whole and complete; and the individual soul is also whole and complete but it is surrounded by a veil of ignorance. — Ignorance separates the individual soul from union with Super-consciousness, and it longs to unite back with its origin.
Knowledge and Self-realization remove the veil of ignorance from the Self-soul, and allows its merger with the Supreme Spirit.
The individual soul comes from the cosmic soul. The ‘whole’ comes from the ‘whole’; and the ‘whole’ still remains full and complete. If you add or remove anything from the infinite whole, it is still full and infinite.
The ocean is full and complete; the water evaporates from its surface and forms into clouds to shower rains and fill the rivers. The rivers again flow back to the oceans.
You cannot add or subtract from the oceans, as the oceans are complete and full on their own.
‘Isha Upanishad’ explains the insightful meaning of this wholeness and completeness. The meaning of word ‘Purna’ in Sanskrit means that which is full, Infinite, Whole, and Complete.
‘Isha Upanishad’ starts with this famous and insightful hymn: — -AUM…Purnamadah Purnamidam, Purnat Purnamudachyate; Purnasya Purnamadaya, Purnameva Vashishyate.
AUM! Shanti! Shanti! Shanti!
There are many translations of this hymn, each of which gives a different slant on its meaning. A sense of explanation of the nature of reality and wisdom on the path of Self-realization is explained in this hymn.
The meaning of this Isha Upanishad hymn is, “Aum!….That is infinite, This is infinite; from That infinite, This infinite emerges; — — From That infinite, when This infinite is removed or added; That infinite still remains unchanged and whole.”
‘That’ means the ultimate, the absolute, the hidden aspect of reality, the invisible, and the unmanifest. — ‘That’ has the connotation of the Spirit of God, Truth, Nirvana or enlightenment.
By ‘This’ is meant the individual souls and the phenomenal world, which has emerged from ‘That’ infinite Spirit.
The above hymn is also be translated as,…….. “Aum! — God is limitless and infinite.
Universe manifests out of the Spirit of God,
And merges back into the infinite Spirit of God,
The Spirit of God still remains the same, infinite and unchanged.
AUM! Peace! Peace! Peace!”
Bhagavad Gita verse 18:22
The knowledge which considers one single effect as if it were the whole, without a reason and without any basis of truth, and which is limited and not complete; is declared as ‘Tamasika Knowledge’. — (Book ‘Word of God Bhagavad Gita’ verse 18:22)
Read this story to understand the above verse.
Once, a person’s eyes, nose, and mouth had a meeting. First the eyes said, “We, the eyes, are the most important part of the body. Everything must be seen by us to know whether one is beautiful or ugly, big or small, tall or short and to see the outside objects to perform daily tasks in life.
Without eyes, life will be extremely difficult. So we the eyes, take precedence above other parts of the face. But we are improperly placed below the eyebrows, which are of no use. It is just not fair!”
Next, the nose said, “I, the nose, am the most important part of the body. Only I can distinguish a pleasant smell from a foul odor. The act of breathing is also dependent on me.
If I do not let the breath pass through my nostrils, then there will be no life. So I am the most important part on the face. But I have been unfairly placed beneath the useless eyebrows and this is not acceptable.”
Then the mouth said, “I am the most important part of the human body. If I do not speak, then there will be no communication among people. If I do not take the food inside the body then everybody will die.
Such an important part as the mouth has been placed in the lowest part of the face. — Those useless eyebrows however have been put on the highest part of the face. This is favoritism and there is no logic to it!”
After everybody had spoken, the eyebrows then spoke slowly, “Please do not fight, because of me. The eyebrows, as it seems to all of you are the most useless part of the face; I admit defeat and I am willing to be placed wherever you desire.”
Having said this, the eyebrows settled down below the eyes. Unfortunately the person no longer looked like a human being. — Next, the eyebrows settled down below the nose. It looked horrible and ugly.
The ladies objected that it looked like a mustache on their face, and their beauty is gone. Then the eyebrows settled down below the mouth. Then men objected and said they looked like animals. This is horrible and ghastly!
The eyes, nose and mouth finally huddled together in a meeting, to discuss the situation and find a solution. They concluded that it was best if the eyebrows returned back to their original place on the face.
It was the most appropriate place for the eye brows. The eyebrows thereafter returned back to the original spot, and the appearance of the human face was once again restored for human beings.
The attempt by the human beings to dominate others for selfish reasons has created so many complications and perversions in the society.
Things have to be viewed holistically as a whole, to get the complete picture. God made human beings in His own image, and everything is just perfect and in the right place. There is no need to alter what God has created.
Ajay Gupta is a former Naval officer who served onboard Indian Naval warships and aircraft. — He is the author of two books ‘Word of God Bhagavad Gita’ and ‘Want to Know God: For Young and Old.’
Copyright © Ajay Gupta — Reference books: Amazon: Ajay Gupta: Amazon.in: Kindle Store : Word of God Bhagavad Gita by Ajay Gupta: https://amzn.to/3h0fGiw: https://amzn.to/2C7vNfH :
