In this stanza, the Lord concludes the topic of His discussion, which He undertook while commenting upon. His own statement, “ALL THIS IS STRUNG IN ME AS A ROW OF PEARLS ON A STRING.”
The term Maya, as used in Vedantic literature, is nothing other than the different impulses under which the mind and intellect of the living kingdom act. The infinite varieties of thoughts and ideas that rise in the heart of the living kingdom have been observed and classified under the three main moods, governed by which alone do the instruments of feeling, thinking and action come to play their parts everywhere. These three characteristics, the eternal moods of the “subtle-body,” are called ‘unactivity’ (Sattwa), ‘activity’ (Rajas), and ‘inactivity’ (Tamas).
With this knowledge of the three gunas, as they are called, when we try to understand the stanza, it becomes very easy reading. “Whatever states pertain to these three natural temperaments of the heart and the head, they all rise from the Self.” This is a statement which is only a re-interpretation, in philosophical terminology, of what has already been explained. The Infinite Consciousness is the Supreme Reality, the Spirit, upon which matter, constituting Its lower-nature, is but an APPARENT experience. They all rise from the Truth, inasmuch as all the waves rise from the ocean, all mud-pots rise from the mud, all ornaments made of gold come from gold.
This verse concludes with a beautiful statement which reads like a conundrum. The use of such arresting statements is an art deliberately indulged in by Hindu philosophical writers. It has the charm that invites an independent, intellectual investigation by the student, all by himself, upon the declaration, in order that he may find the sweet secret of its true import and significance. “STILL, I AM NOT IN THEM, THEY ARE IN ME.”Such a statement would necessarily be false in any situation because, if A is not B, the latter cannot be in the former — if “I am not in them, they CANNOT be in me.” This sweet paradoxical statement clearly indicates that the relationship between Spirit and matter is not in terms of cause and its effect, but it is only as a super-imposition of matter upon the Spirit. Addressing the deluded, the post can only explain, “the ghost of your vision had risen from me alone, inasmuch as, I alone lend to it its existence; but I, the post, am not in the ghost.” So, too, shall the ocean cry, “the waves rise, stay and dissolve away in me; but I am not in the waves.”
As Shankara would have it, the Self declares here that even though matter depends entirely for its existence upon the Conscious Principle, yet the Divine Spark is in no way under the thraldom of matter. Matter ekes out its existence from the Spirit; but, the Spirit is — in no way at no time, howsoever little — controlled, contaminated, or shackled by the sad lot of the finite, imperfect matter.
IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA, LORD KRISHNA REGRETS THAT THE WORLD DOES NOT UNDERSTAND HIM IN HIS TRUE NATURE. WHAT IS THIS IGNORANCE ON THE PART OF THE WORLD DUE TO? LISTEN:
