Verse 11

The significance of this verse is that for the first time the Lord speaks and thus begins his teaching.  After having silently listened to Arjuna’s laments with a smile on his face, the Lord now begins his treatment of Arjuna’s condition.  Verses 11 through 25 deals with the spiritual standpoint where the Supreme nature of the Atma or Self-knowledge is revealed.

The conflict in Arjuna’s mind had arisen due to his attachments and his identification with the body, mind and intellect-ego.  This extreme grief led him to become helpless and incapable of fighting the war.  Indicating the eternal reality to Arjuna, Bhagwan states that men of wisdom-Pundits, grieve neither for the living nor the dead.  They understand the finite and perishable nature of these beings and objects.  Therefore grieving over Drona, Bhishma and the others is unintelligent because in essence, they are all eternal. 

(Pundits by definition are individuals whose actions-karma is burned away by the Knowledge of the Self.  These individuals also have sameness in vision-samadarshi.  They see oneness in all, the wise and unwise, plants, animals, birds, insects, animate and inanimate alike).

Krishna is advising Arjuna to renounce his physical, emotional and intellectual perception of his teacher and his grandsire, and to re-examine the situation of the battlefield from the spiritual standpoint.

Verse 12

In this verse Bhagwan describes the immortal nature of the Self-Atma.  The Lord says, “There has never been a time when I was not there.  There has never been a time when you were not there nor was there ever a time that these people were not there.  There will never be a time that we will cease to exist.”  

Atma being eternal-nithya, does not have birth (we understand birth as that which was not there before has come into being) and it does not have death (we understand death as that which was present has ceased to exist).  Birth and death is only at the level of this physical body.  Atma is changeless-avikari.  Atma is a witness to all the changes and therefore it exists at all times.  It is continuous, homogenous, and eternal. Unconditioned by anything the Atma is alway present.   This is the true nature of everyone.

Verse 13

Continuing with his description of the eternal nature of Atma, Bhagwan explains that the embodied soul goes through physical changes-vikaras such as childhood, youth, old age and finally death, which are all part of nature-prakruti.   After death the soul takes up another body according to its desires-vasanas. These changes come and go but Atma, which is changeless, continues to exist.  Just as we move from childhood to youth, then adulthood and old age in life, we also transition from one body to another.  This is part of life.  Just as we do not grieve with the passing of each stage in life, with the same approach we should accept the passing from one body to another.  Men of wisdom-dheerha purusha know the difference between the changing and the changeless.   Without being perturbed, these wise men leave the old body and accept a new one.   So the Lord asks Arjuna not to grieve as Drona, Bhishma and the others are all eternal.

Verse14

Addressing Arjuna as Bharata, the descendent of the illustrious Bharata dynasty and one who revels in knowledge, the Lord describes the finite and impermanent nature of this world of senses and objects. The Lord says that we measure (matraha) this world with our five sense organs.  The outcome of the contact of the sense organs with different objects of the world is either joy or sorrow.  The object itself does not determine whether it causes joy or sorrow; it is our state of mind or condition that determines whether something causes us joy or sorrow. Since these finite experiences have a beginning and an end, it is foolish to get carried away by them. The Lord asks Arjuna to develop forbearance or titiksha and endure them with grace.

In the previous three verses, the Lord spoke about the eternal-

nithya nature of the Self-Atma.  In this verse Bhagwan is showing Arjuna the perishable nature of the sense organs, organs of perception and the experiences obtained from their interaction.  The mental reactions, thoughts and emotions that arise out of their contacts are impermanent and perishable-anithya by nature.  Bhagwan asks Arjuna not to identify himself with these experiences by developing forbearance with the understanding that this is the nature of the world.

Verse 15

Addressing Arjuna as Rishabha meaning “bull”, someone who has enormous strength and nobility, Lord Krishna explains that when one has mental equipoise, s/he can go beyond the various experiences of life.  Such an individual alone is fit for immortality-amritatvam.  The bull, which is the vehicle of Lord Shiva, is also a symbol of righteousness-dharma.  An individual with these qualities of a bull is strong and balanced in the face of joy and sorrow - samadukha sukha. He has patience and strength to remain balanced in the ups and downs of life. As mentioned in verse 13 such an individual is a wise man- dheera purusha.

A calm continued existence is a prerequisite for attaining the knowledge of the true Self.  Such an existence with endurance will lead to dispassion and help individual to rise above the temporary vicissitudes of life, and seek the eternal, which is permanent.  The Supreme is indicated here as Purusha-all complete.  Thus, one who attains this knowledge of his true Self is all complete-Purusha.  The method to seek the real Self is through studying scriptures-shruti, using logic-yukti and through experience-anubhuti.  An individual is known as an enjoyer/sufferer-bhoktha when s/he is identified with this physical body and sense organs.  Using logic-yukti one understands that the joys and sorrows are impermanent by nature.  By experience-anubhuti we see that the identification with this physical body, desires, joys, sorrows etc., is only in the waking state that is when the intellect is awake.  In deep sleep-sushupti all these experiences are not available.  Hence they are impermanent, and our true Self is all bliss and beyond all the above experiences.

Verse 16

 This is one of the powerful verses of the Bhagawad Gita.  Here, Bhagawan distinguishes between what is unreal-asat which has no existence, and that which is real-sat, which never ceases to exist.  The knowers of the truth have understood the difference between existence and non-existence. 

The unreal-Asat is conditioned by space-desha, time-kaala, and objects-vastu.   When an object exists in one place at a given time and not in another place at the same time, it is said to be conditioned in space.  That which is true now, but was not true earlier in time nor will be true in future, is conditioned in time and when an object conditions another object, it is conditioning of the object.  Taking our physical body as an example we see it is present here and not there so, it is conditioned in space.  This physical body undergoes modifications-vikaras; it was an infant at one time, is youth now and will grow into adulthood, old age and finally result in death; hence it is conditioned in time.  Finally this body is not somebody else’s body or an object and hence it is conditioned as an object.  As the body undergoes changes at every moment, so does the mind.  It constantly evolves and the intellect grows with it.  Therefore these conditionings are finite, limited and constantly changing and are hence unreal-asat.

On the other hand Sat is that which defies all changes and remains the same in all periods of time: past, present and future.  It is not conditioned in space, time or as an object. Thus, that which is changing, the objects are asat and the existence which is constant in all is Sat.  This is deathlessness-amrittvam.   This is the truth.  This is “I” the Self.

Verse 17

In this verse Bhagawan goes on to describe the real-Sat to be everlasting by which all this-idam (the world of names and forms) is pervaded.  None can cause destruction of this imperishable-avinashi, Infinite-ananta, and Changeless-avikari-the Atma.

Space, time and objects cannot destroy this Sat or Atma, it being imperishable.   Not having any boundaries, it has no worldly or chronological limitations.  Neither does it have any limitations of purpose or intent.  Sat being the absolute substratum, is witness to all changes-vikaras.  It continues to exist in the absence of the body, mind, intellect and the sense organs as seen in deep sleep-sushupti.  Therefore, even Ishwara cannot destroy this Sat-the Self.

Verse 18

In this verse the Lord elaborates on what asat is.   Bhagwan says, the indwelling Self-Atma is incomprehensible, changeless, eternal-nithya has no beginning and therefore it has no end. This Atma, which is the same in all, is enveloped by a physical form made of the five elements (space, air, fire, water and earth)–panchamahabhuta and mixing of these five elements-panchikarana.  This physical form is finite, ever changing and has an end.  Therefore, everything else other than Atma has an end-antavanta. This is unreal.  It is asat.

The attainment of this physical body-deha is due to ignorance-avidya of the true Self.  Ignorance does not have a beginning but it has an end.  Desires-vasanas arise due to this ignorance.   These desires prompt us to perform actions.  The actions performed result in fruits thereby causing more desires.  This vicious cycle is the cause for the birth of this physical body.  Only when the true Self is known that the ignorance-avidya will end.

This true Self cannot be known through the organs of perception since it is not an object, rather it is the very subject-aprameya.  Using scriptures as the means of knowledge-Pramana, Atma is indicated as one’s own true Self.  Therefore Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to fight the war since the whole or even partial destruction of the Supreme is not possible.

(Pramana- scriptural authority that cannot be contradicted)

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