Theos-Talk Archives (June 2005 Message tt00411)

June 18 2005

Dear Friends:


KARMA & SUPREME SPIRIT


If we understand that Sri Krishna speaks as a personification of the SUPREME SPIRIT from which all emanates in manifestation. 

HE says impersonally, and to establish an immutable basis for manifestationand personal growth that culminates in WISDOM:
 
  
"I established this whole Universe with a single portion of myself, and remain separate." - Tenth Chapter. p. 76 



“Those who are wise in spiritual things grieve neither for the deadnor for the living. I myself never was not, nor thou, nor all the princes of the earth; nor shall we ever hereafter cease to be.” G. p.11
 
 
 
“There is no existence for that which does not exist, nor is there any non-existence for what exists. By those who see the truth and look intothe principles of things, the ultimate characteristic of these both is seen. Learn that He by whom all things were formed is incorruptible, and that no one is able to effect the destruction of IT which is inexhaustible. 

These finite bodies, which envelope the souls inhabiting them, are said to belong to Him, the eternal, the indestructible, unprovable Spirit, who is in the body: wherefore, O Arjuna, resolve to fight. 

The man who believeth that it is this Spirit which killeth, and he who thinketh that it may be destroyed, are both alike deceived; for it neither killeth nor is it killed. “ G. p. 12
 
 
 
"There is nothing, O son of Pritha, in the three regions of the universe which it is necessary for me to perform, nor anything possible to obtain which I have not obtained; and YET I AM CONSTANTLY IN ACTION. 
 
If I were not indefatigable in action, all men would presently follow my example, O son of Pritha. 

If I did not perform actions these creatures would perish; I should be the cause of confusion of castes, and should have slain all these creatures. 

O son of Bharata, as the ignorant perform the duties of life from the hope of reward, so the wise man, from the wish to bring the world to duty and benefit mankind, should perform his actions without motives of interest. He should not create confusion in the understandings of the ignorant, who are inclined to outward works, but by being himself engaged in action should cause them to act also. All actions are effected by the qualities of nature. 

The man deluded by ignorance thinks, 'I am the actor.' But he, O strong-armed one! who is acquainted with the nature of the two distinctions of cause and effect, knowing that the qualities act only in the qualities, and that the Self is distinct from them, is not attached in action. 

"Those who have not this knowledge are interested in the actions thus brought about by the qualities; and he who is perfectly enlightened should not unsettle those whose discrimination is weak and knowledge incomplete, nor cause them to relax from their duty. 

"Throwing every deed on me, and with thy meditation fixed upon the Higher Self, resolve to fight, without expectation, devoid of egotism and free fromanguish. 

"Those men who constantly follow this my doctrine without reviling it, and with a firm faith, shall be emancipated even by actions; but they who revile it and do not follow it are bewildered in regard to all knowledge, and perish, being devoid of discrimination. 

"But the wise man also seeketh for that which is homogeneous with his own nature. 

All creatures act according to their natures; what, then, will restraint effect? In every purpose of the senses are fixed affection and dislike. 

A wise man should not fall in the power of these two passions, for they arethe enemies of man. It is better to do one's own duty, even though it be devoid of excellence, than to perform another's duty well. It is better to perish in the performance of one's own duty; the duty of another is full of danger."
G. Pp. 25-27
 
 
 
"All this universe is pervaded by me in my invisible form; all things existin me, but I do not exist in them. Nor are all things in me; 

behold this my divine mystery: myself causing things to exist and supporting them all but dwelling not in them. 

Understand that all things are in me even as the mighty air which passes everywhere is in space. O son of Kuntî, at the end of a kalpa all thingsreturn unto my nature, and then again at the beginning of another kalpa I cause them to evolve again. 

Taking control of my own nature I emanate again and again this whole assemblage of beings, without their will, by the power of the material essence.  

These acts do not bind me, O conqueror of wealth, because I am as one who sitteth indifferent, uninterested in those works. By reason of my supervision nature produceth the animate and inanimate universe; it is through this cause, O son of Kuntî, that the universe revolveth. Pp 64-5
 
[Therefore HE (as primordial spiritual emanator) is not involved in Karma as a "person." ]
 
 
"Others with the sacrifice of knowledge in other ways worship me as indivisible, as separable, as the Spirit of the universe. 

I am the sacrifice and sacrificial rite; I am the libation offered to ancestors, and the spices; I am the sacred formula and the fire; I am the food and the sacrificial butter; I am the father and the mother of this universe,the grandsire and the preserver; I am the Holy One, the object of knowledge, the mystic purifying syllable OM, the Rik, the Saman, the Yajur, and allthe Vedas. 

I am the goal, the Comforter, the Lord, the Witness, the resting-place, theasylum and the Friend; I am the origin and the dissolution, the receptacle, the storehouse, and the eternal seed. 

I cause light and heat and rain; I now draw in and now let forth; I am death and immortality; I am the cause unseen and the visible effect." P. 66
 
 
 
“Those who are free from pride of self and whose discrimination is perfected, who have prevailed over the fault of attachment to action, who are constantly employed in devotion to meditation upon the Supreme Spirit, who have renounced desire and are free from the influence of the opposites known as pleasure and pain, are undeluded, and proceed to that place which endureth forever. Neither the sun nor the moon nor the fire enlighteneth that place; from it there is no return; it is my supreme abode. 
 
"It is even a portion of myself which, having assumed life in this world ofconditioned existence, draweth together the five senses and the mind in order that it may obtain a body and may leave it again. 

And those are carried by the Sovereign Lord to and from whatever body he enters or quits, even as the breeze bears the fragrance from the flower. Presiding over the eye, the ear, the touch, the taste, and the power of smelling, and also over the mind, he experienceth the objects of sense. 
 
The deluded do not see the spirit when it quitteth or remains in the body, nor when, moved by the qualities, it has experience in the world. But thosewho have the eye of wisdom perceive it, and devotees who industriously strive to do so see it dwelling in their own hearts; whilst those who have notovercome themselves, who are devoid of discrimination, see it not even though they strive, thereafter. 
 
Know that the brilliance of the sun which illuminateth the whole world, andthe light which is in the moon and in the fire, are the splendor of myself. I enter the earth supporting all living things by my power, and I am thatproperty of sap which is taste, nourishing all the herbs and plants of thefield. 
 
Becoming the internal fire of the living, I associate with the upward and downward breathing, and cause the four kinds of food to digest. 
 
I am in the hearts of all men, and from me come memory, knowledge, and alsothe loss of both. I am to be known by all the Vedas; I am he who is the author of the Vedanta, and I alone am the interpreter of the Vedas. Pp.106-8
 
 
 
 
"There are two kinds of beings in the world, the one divisible, the other indivisible; the divisible is all things and the creatures, the indivisible is called Kûtastha, or he who standeth on high unaffected. 
 
But there is another spirit designated as the Supreme Spirit― Paramâtma― which permeates and sustains the three worlds. As I am above the divisible and also superior to the indivisible, therefore both in the world and in the Vedas am I known as the Supreme Spirit. 
 
He who being not deluded knoweth me thus as the Supreme Spirit, knoweth allthings and worships me under every form and condition.”  
p. 108
 
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The BHAGAVAD GITA makes this clear: “HE” The SUPREME SPIRIT is not involved in Karma. 

HE is NOT a “person.”  

He is a Universal Principle. The Causeless Cause of All things and forms.

Best wishes,

DTB