Sankhya Yoga: Shlokas 10 to 13
If you have not already done so, I would request you to review the Chapter 1, Arjuna Vishada Yoga before studying chapter 2 as that would help set the right context.
You can find the explanation of shlokas 4 to 9 here. Please go through that to get better understanding of the context.
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तमुवाच हृषीकेशः प्रहसन्निव भारत ।
सेनयोरूभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वचः ॥10॥
tam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ
prahasann iva bhārata
senayor ubhayor madhye
viṣīdantam idaṁ vacaḥ
तम् taṁ to him उवाच uvāca spoke हृषीकेशः hṛṣīkeśaḥ Hrishikesa प्रहसन् prahasan smiling इव iva as it were भारत bhārata O Bharata सेनयोः senayoḥ of the armies उभयोः ubhayoḥ (of) both मध्ये madhye in the middle विषीदन्तम् viṣῑdantam despondent इदम idaṁ this वचः vacaḥ word
O Dhritarashtra, thereafter, in the midst of both the armies, Shree Krishna smilingly spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे |
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिता: ||11||
śhrī bhagavān uvācha
aśhochyān-anvaśhochas-tvaṁ prajñā-vādānśh cha bhāṣhase
gatāsūn-agatāsūnśh-cha nānuśhochanti paṇḍitāḥ
अशोच्यान् aśocyān those who should not be grieved for अन्वशोचः anvaśocaḥ hast grieved त्वम् tvaṁ thou प्रज्ञावादान् prajñāvādān words of wisdom च ca and भाषसे bhāṣase speakest गतासून् gatāsūn the dead अगतासून् agatāsūn the living च ca and न अनुशोचन्ति na anuśocanti grieve not पण्डिताः paṇḍitāḥ the wise
The Supreme Lord said: While you speak words of wisdom like a pandit, you are mourning for that which is not worthy of grief. The wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.
न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपा |
न चैव न भविष्याम: सर्वे वयमत: परम् ||12||
na tvevāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na chaiva na bhaviṣhyāmaḥ sarve vayamataḥ param
न na not तु tu indeed एव eva also अहम् ahaṁ I जातु jātu at any time न na not आसम् āsaṁ was न na not त्वम् tvaṁ thou न na not इमे ime these जनाधिपाः janādhipāḥ rulers of men न na not च ca and एव eva also न na not भविष्यामः bhaviṣyāmaḥ shall be सर्वे sarve all वयम् vayaṁ we अतः ataḥ from this time परम् paraṁ after
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings and nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा |
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ||13||
dehino ’smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati
देहिनः dehinaḥ of the embodied (soul) अस्मिन asmin in this यथा yathā as देहे dehe in body कौमारम् kaumāraṁ childhood यौवनम् yauvanaṁ youth जरा jarā old age तथा tathā so also देहान्तरप्राप्तिः dehāntara prāptiḥ the attaining of another body धीरः dhīraḥ the firm तत्र tatra thereat न na not मुह्यति muhyati grieves
Just as the embodied soul continuously passes from childhood to youth to old age, similarly, at the time of death, the soul passes into another body. The wise are not deluded by this.
Pragmatic Explanation
Analysis Paralysis
In the previous shloka, we saw how Arjuna was having so many emotions and thoughts running through his mind and feeling totally confused and incapable of performing rightful action. In western philosophy, there is a term for a mental situation similar to this and it is called “Analysis Paralysis”. I am sure most of us have gone through this to some extent or other. It could be as simple as researching the net for which mobile phone is a good buy, spending days on research and then feeling lost and confused. That is “Analysis paralysis”. Too many thoughts, too much information overdose, too much confusion, having a paralyzing effect upon us and making us incapable of performing the right action confidently.
The best and easiest recourse to take during such situations is to approach an expert on the topic whom you can trust. For example, if you are having analysis paralysis about the person you want to marry, approach your parents for advice. If you are having analysis paralysis about which place to go for a vacation, consult a trusted travel agent. I am sure you get the idea. So here, Arjuna is consulting the Jagad Guru, Shri Krishna.
Lord Buddha taught about the perils of this ‘analysis paralysis’ and he termed it as ‘Papanca’ in Pali.
Papanca is a very important concept in Buddhist philosophy. It refers to the process of our mind creating multiple and unnecessary thoughts, and emotions, thereby leading to the creation of mental stress and suffering.
According to the Buddha, papanca arises from our tendency to cling to things and our craving for permanence and self-identity. This mental process creates a seemingly endless cycle of thoughts, feelings, and emotions, leading to feelings of restlessness, anxiety, and unhappiness.
There is a popular story of the Poisoned Arrow mentioned in Buddhist scriptures: In this story, a man is suffering from a serious illness and approaches a healer for a cure. The healer explains that he is suffering from a piece of a poisoned arrow that has got stuck inside his body. The man then starts asking questions about who shot the arrow, what family they belonged to, what could be the reason they targeted him, did they shoot anybody else, etc. By focusing on so many unproductive thoughts and negative emotions, the man was only causing more pain for himself. The healer then tells the man that he is happy to answer those questions if the man is confident that those answers are going to heal him and relieve him of the pain. At that instance, the man realizes that these questions and thoughts and emotions are not helping him and only making him suffer more and he should instead be focusing on how to get the poisonous piece of arrow out of his body as soon as possible. He realized the concept of papanca at that point and requested the healer to just remove the piece of the arrow from his body and cure him.
There is a very insightful poem that is believed to have been composed by Buddha, where he describes the sense of samvega, meaning agitation of the mind, that inspired him to look for an end to suffering.
I will tell
of how
I experienced
samvega.
Seeing people floundering
like fish in small puddles,
competing with one another—
as I saw this,
fear came into me.
The world was entirely
without substance.
All the directions
were knocked out of line.
Wanting a haven for myself,
I saw nothing
that wasn’t laid claim to.
Seeing nothing in the end
but competition,
I felt discontent.
He then looked inside to see why people would want to be such fish in the first place. What he found was an arrow embedded in his own heart.
And then I saw
an arrow here,
so very hard to see,
embedded in the heart.
Overcome by this arrow
you run in all directions.
But simply
on pulling it out
you don’t run,
you don’t sink.
This arrow has been termed as papanca in the Pali language as well as the Sanskrit language, and refers to a type of thinking that causes conflict within those who think it, and leads them into conflict with others.
Apart from causing pain and suffering, Papanca is considered an obstacle to progressing on the spiritual path. To overcome papanca, Buddha taught the practice of mindfulness, which involves observing thoughts and emotions without becoming attached to them. Once we become an observer, we are able to stay calm and focus on the solution. By doing so, one can break free from the cycle of papanca and attain peace and contentment.
As an example, if we see a person walking on the street slipping and falling down, we can calmly analyze the reasons for why they slipped and how it could have been avoided. However, if we were the one who fell, then we may not have a calm mindset at that point because we are overcome by so many negative thoughts and emotions. That is the power of being an observer. We remove the ego from the situation and that helps us stay calm and rational.
The Hrishikesha
Right in the middle of the battlefield of Kurukshetra, where Arjuna was getting anxious, depressed and going through a nervous breakdown, Shri Kṛṣṇa was fully composed and calm. In 2.10, Kṛṣṇa is referred to as “Hrishikesha”, meaning the master of the senses because Sri Kṛṣṇa had a tremendous control over his senses as well as the situation. In verse 2.10 the term used is prahasann iva, which means ‘smiling like that’. Shri Kṛṣṇa could smile in that situation, in between the two vast armies, right before the start of a great war. You cannot smile when you are in distress. That smile shows the control Kṛṣṇa had over the situation.
With a smile on His face, from verse 2.11 to 2.38, Shri Kṛṣṇa uses various reasoning and counter arguments to help Arjuna get rid of his confusion and see the big picture. From 2.39 onwards, Kṛṣṇa explains His own philosophy for the welfare of not just Arjuna but that of the whole of Humanity. Shri Kṛṣṇa ’s philosophy that He goes on to explain to Arjuna will help us all in our battles of life and in facing the various challenges that it throws at us.
In 2.11 Shri Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna that you are speaking wise words like that of a Panditah, and yet you are grieving for the potential loss of the human body. Shri Kṛṣṇa demonstrates His sense of humor by addressing Arjuna as ‘Panditah’.
In Sanskrit, the word Panditah refers to intellectually advanced people who have an even minded attitude towards everything. They are people who have control over their minds and who are established in Intelligence. We have seen that Arjuna was definitely not behaving like a Panditah.
Thus, Shri Kṛṣṇa is calling Arjuna as ‘Panditah’, both as a taunt and as a hint on how he is supposed to have control over his mind and behave like a Panditah instead of just talking like one.
Different types of bodies
Now let us try to understand the basics of Sankhya Yoga. In Sanskrit, the word ‘sharira’ is used to denote our body. As documented in the vedas and explained in Sankhya yoga, we have three types of bodies. Karana sharira (causal body), sukshma sharira (subtle body) and sthula sharira (gross body).
The Karana sharira is actually the seed and gives rise to the subtle body.
Our subtle body is indestructible and continues to exist until we achieve liberation or mukthi.
Jīva (soul) is of two types: liberated (mukta) and conditioned (baddha). The liberated souls are eternally engaged in the service of God in His abode. They never fall down to the lower planets. Whereas, the conditioned souls have forgotten the service of God since time immemorial, and thus being covered by the two types of material bodies, gross and subtle, they are suffering from miseries in the material world.
We should understand this and stop having so much attachment to our gross bodies. We should get over the fear of death and strive hard to attain liberation through devotional service to God.
We are not the body but the soul
The body we have when we are an adult is entirely different from the body that we had when we were a baby. Yet, we still feel that we are the same person. So we cannot really be the body because we identify ourselves with something higher, something that has not changed since we were a baby. This thought process should help us realize that we are not our material body, we are the soul which is eternal, just as God is eternal.
Very renowned medical expert by the name of Deepak Chopra who is also a very popular spiritualist, once gave a very insightful lecture about the nature of consciousness. One of his arguments was that every cell in our body dies after a certain period of time.
Here are some medical facts on the average time it takes for various cells in the human body to regenerate:
Blood cells: Blood cells, including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, regenerate every few days to several weeks.
Skin cells: Skin cells regenerate every 28-30 days.
Intestinal lining: The cells that make up the lining of the small intestine regenerate every 5-7 days.
Liver cells: Liver cells have a remarkable ability to regenerate and can do so in just a few weeks.
Bones: Bone cells, called osteoblasts and osteoclasts, work together to renew bone tissue. The process can take several months to several years, depending on factors such as age, health, and injury.
Based on these facts, by the time we are a teenager, we have none of the cells that we had when we were born. In other words, physically, we have a totally new and different body than what we had at birth. However, we still feel like we are the same person. That means there has to be some unchanging aspect to us beyond our body. ‘That’ he says is what consciousness is.
Ramana Maharishi, a renowned saint and jivanmukta (liberated being), taught a method of self-enquiry called “Who am I?” which involves negating all qualities and attributes that are not the true self. This process is intended to lead to a direct realization of the self as pure consciousness, beyond body and mind. Here is a quote from Ramana Maharishi that describes this technique:
“The mind should be restrained and made to remain in the Heart. Then the Self will shine forth of Its own accord, without the least effort on your part. This is like gold, which remains pure when impurities are removed from it, or like fire which, when wood is added to it, blazes forth. The Self is always shining, but it is covered by impurities.” – Sri Ramana Maharshi
In this method, one starts by negating all qualities and experiences that are known to be external to the self, such as the body, thoughts, emotions, and experiences. By repeating the question “Who am I?” and examining each answer that arises, the mind is gradually stripped of its attachments and limitations, until only the unchanging, self-luminous consciousness remains. This is one way to realize that true self.
Phases of the body
In 2.13 Shri Kṛṣṇa explains how the human body goes through various stages, from childhood to adulthood and old age. He explains that the journey of the soul continues after we leave this body and our soul gets another body as per our karmic entitlement. This process continues until we have settled our karmic balances and realized the true eternal self after which we get liberation from this cycle of birth and death.
The great sufi saint Rumi wrote a beautiful poem which Swami Mukundananda quotes while explaining these verses. The poem goes like this:
I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and became animal,
I died as an animal and I was human.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die, to soar
With angels blest; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God perishes.
Only when I have given up my angel-soul,
Shall I become what no mind has ever conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones, To God we shall return.
This concept of the soul being eternal and passing on from body to body has been accepted by many religions and cultures. This is the same truth that is explained in Sankhya yoga that Shri Kṛṣṇa is now teaching to Arjuna. The soul being eternal and the body being very temporary, is a very important and crucial concept that is central to all of Vedanta. Once we understand and accept this fact, we will be able to understand and appreciate the rest of the teachings of Shri Kṛṣṇa.
You can read the next set of shlokas, 14 to 18 over here:
kṛṣṇadaasa
Servant of Krishna
Aka +Vinayak Raghuvamshi