Continuing the theme of the status of the Self as the very essence behind the seeming plurality of the world — recognised in our ignorance, and in fact nothing but a dreamy superimposition gathering its existence from the Reality behind it — the Lord describes Himself with a host of suggestive words strung together to form this exquisite verse, pregnant and full, for all students of meditation.
I AM THE GOAL (Gati) — All our seeking ends when all imperfections vanish in the total experience of the Perfect. To one frightened by the vision of a delusory serpent in a piece of rope, consolation and satisfaction can come only when his delusion has ended by the discovery of the rope. The Self is the Substratum of the sorrow-ridden universe of multiplicity; to realise the Self is to transcend all the choking sense of limitations. The Knowledge-Absolute by gaining which all becomes known, is shown here as the Self.
I AM THE SUPPORTER (Bharta) — Just as the desert supports the illusory pool of water, which the thirsty traveller sees in his delusion, so too, the Self is the Supporter of everything. As Absolute-Existence It lends a semblance of reality to the perceptions of the sense organs, and thus holds together the flood-of-change into a consistent pattern, called life.
I AM THE LORD (Prabhu) — Even though the Self thus lends Its grace to the realm of imperfections sustained and maintained by the agitations of the mind, as the Pure Awareness, It is ever beyond the sorrows and joys of the apparent and illusory universe. Through different equipments, electricity may pass, manifesting different expressions of its own glory, but in none of them does electricity lose itself, if we consider the current as pure energy.
In all this panorama of expressions, the Self, though It lends Existence to them, Itself remains as a mere Witness. “I am the Witness” (Sakshi) — he is considered a true witness of an incident, “who is not in the incident, but who happened to witness it, not from too far, with neither attachment nor aversion.” When things happen of their own accord in one’s presence then one becomes the witness of that happening. The Infinite is but a witness of the finite inasmuch as the Self is an uninterested illuminator of what is happening in the harem of the intellect, in the arena of the mind, in the courtyard of the body, and in the wide expanse of the world without.
I AM THE ABODE (Nivasah) — Truth is the House of all, of every being and thing. On an innocent wayside post, it is reported that some travellers saw a grinning ghost, others a smiling ghost, and yet others, a ghost with a bleeding mouth and sparkling eyes, naked and horrid, and some an innocent ghost, dressed in white, invitingly smiling and lovingly guiding them onto the right track. All of them saw delusory projections of their individual minds upon the same wayside post. Naturally, the post is the “Abode,” of the smiling, of the grinning, of the bleeding, of the horrid, and of the tender ghost, that different minds, on different occasions, projected upon the same post. Similarly, wherever our equipments of experiences gain the apprehension of the pluralistic phenomena, for all of them the Self, the Awareness, is the ABODE, the place of existence and security.
I AM THE REFUGE (Sharanam) — Delusion breeds sorrows, Knowledge produces joy. The universe is pain-ridden because it is delusion-projected. Naturally, the harbour of tranquillity, projecting a confused ego from the mountainous breakers of the stormy ocean-of-samsara is the rediscovery of the Substratum, the Essence of Self. When once the Self gets individualised, when it walks out to identify with the play, through the equipments of the intellect, mind and body, it is wandering away from the safety of the shore into the stormy, high seas of adventure. When the frail boat of the ego is thus threatened from all sides — the darkening clouds above, the bumping sea below, and the screaming storms all round — the sailor’s only refuge is to come back to the tranquil harbour, the Self!
The above descriptions put together, add up to give the conception of the Reality as a heartless noumenon, a dignified deity, an un-approachable realm of Perfection. To wipe off this idea from the tender heart of emotional seekers — and Arjuna was one — the Eternal, in the form of the beloved friend of man, Krishna, is using here more humane terms in defining himself.
I AM THE FRIEND (Suhrit) — The Infinite is a friend of the finite, not a nodding acquaintance from whom you can borrow a match-box, but a friend, whose only anxiety is for the security and the well-being of the befriended.
I AM THE ORIGIN AND DISSOLUTION, THE SUBSTRATUM, THE STOREHOUSE — As gold in all ornaments and mud in all pots, the Self is in the whole universe, and therefore, all things can come to manifestation from and dissolve into the unmanifest, the substratum, which can hence be considered as the “the storehouse” of all names, forms and qualities that constitute the multiple world.
I AM THE IMMUTABLE SEED (Beejam Avyayam) — There is a contrast here with all other seeds, which perish when they germinate and produce trees. The Self is no doubt the Origin of the “Tree-of-Samsara,” but in the production of this tree, the Self is not transformed, It being ever Immutable. The idea of the Eternal Principle, modifying itself to become the created world is a disgrace to the logic of human thinking, and Vedanta discards such a philosophically fallacious notion. The dualists, however, are compelled to take it up, or else, the very edifice of their arguments will crumble down like a castle of clouds, built upon an autumnal sky.
This, as we have already indicated, is a verse replete with simple terms, each an avenue for the meditator to reflect upon, and in a pleasant stroll reach the gateway of Truth.
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