In the previous episode, we had commenced a very important discussion on the “Deha-Atma-Viveka-Gnyaana” as explained directly by Bhagawan Krishna Himself. This context comes at a time when Arjuna is wrongly interpreting that by killing Bhishmachaarya, both his “Deham” and “Atman” would be destroyed. Bhagawan Krishna sorts to clarify this to Arjuna by making him understand that the “Deham” and the “Atman” are two separate entities, but they co-exist with each other. Thus, Bhagawan Krishna’s first point of contention is that, by killing Bhishmachaarya, Arjuna will only be destroying the “Deham” of Bhishmachaarya and not his “Atman”. Bhishmachaarya’s “Atman” is going to live permanently, but it is the “Deham” which is going to be destroyed. Moreover, Bhagawan asks a simple question to Arjuna – If he doesn’t kill Bhishmachaarya today, is he going to live permanently in this world with this same “Deham”? Isn’t the “Deham” going to undergo a natural process of death sooner or later? Hence, what is Arjuna going to achieve by refraining from killing the “Deham” of Bhishmachaarya today?
Thus, we can understand the philosophy behind what Bhagawan Krishna is saying here – We might be thinking that a living being in this world takes birth and dies in due course. But little do we understand that this living being can neither be created nor be destroyed! It exists permanently in the form of “Atman”, which takes numerous physical bodies (“Dehams”) according to the birth that it is taking. For instance, if this “Atman” has to take a birth of a mosquito, it would get into the “Deham” of a mosquito and live a life in this world. Subsequently at the time of death, the “Deham” of the mosquito undergoes destruction and the “Atman” gets freed from it. Subsequently while taking the next birth, if the “Atman” is destined to take a human birth, it goes into a human body (inside the mother’s womb) and commences its life there. Hence, this cycle continues. Thus, we can clearly see here that the “Deham” is the one which is destroyable and the “Atman” is not! The “Atman” is a permanent entity which assumes different births in different “Dehams” from time to time.
Now this is what we understand by the term “Deha-Atma-Viveka-Gnyaanam”. Moreover, there is one more point that we should understand here – The “Atman” is the one which possesses the intellect and the “Deham” is something which doesn’t have it. The “Atman” has the “consciousness” and the “consience” embedded into it and this is why any living being has the basic capability to process information. Of course, it is different for human beings as compared to other forms of living beings, but the basics are the same. However, the “Deham” cannot process or assimilate information and is incapable of thinking and making decisions. Thus, we can understand this concept like this – The “Atman” is the commander and the “Deham” is the implementer! The “Atman” can understand and differentiate between what needs to be done and what shouldn’t be done. Once the appropriate command comes from the “Atman”, the “Deham” will commence the implementation. For instance, if Arjuna has to kill Bhishmachaarya in the war – Arjuna’s “Atman” will give the command to go for the kill. Subsequently the “Deham” will take the “Gaandeepa” in hand and start the process of war. However, the “Atman” cannot fight the war on its own. In similar lines, the “Deham” cannot make the decision to go for the war. Thus, we should understand the sequence clearly here – The “Atman” can only decide and command, while it cannot take the arrow and fight. It has to depend on the “Deham” for implementing its commands. Similarly, the “Deham” cannot command, but it can only implement. The “Deham” cannot take a decision to go for the war or not. Thus, we should understand here that the “Atman” and the “Deham” coexist and complement each other in terms of commanding and implementing! This is the next level of understanding with regards to the “Deha-Atma-Viveka-Gnyaanam”!
So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 