In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna explaining a beautiful philosophy to Arjuna in His usual riddle-like format! This directly signifies how the “Deham” and “Atman” are two different entities and how the permanent “Atman” gets embedded into the temporary “Deham” during every birth. Thus, if we say that Bhishmachaarya is currently standing in front of the battlefield and is alive, we cannot say that he would be dead if his “Deham” is destroyed by Arjuna. Since his “Atman” is permanently existing, Bhishmachaarya will still be alive, but in a different form! Hence, there is no question of the “Atman” getting destroyed at any point in time. This is what Bhagawan is explaining through His riddle-like point that those who lived yesterday are continuing to live today and will also be living tomorrow as well! We might not be able to make sense directly in what Bhagawan is mentioning here, but the “Sookshama-Artham” (in-depth meaning) is what we’ve witnessed yesterday.
Moving on further, we can decipher many other points from what Bhagawan Krishna had mentioned just now. When we talk of “Atmans” like ours, all of us are “Jeevatmas” and are innumerable in number. However, there is one supreme “Atman” that controls all these several “Jeevatmas”. This is nothing but “Paramatman” or “Brahman”. Thus, we should understand here that not all “Atmans” are the same – It can be classified into two categories – “Jeevatman” and “Paramatman”. The “Paramatman” is none other than Bhagawan who resides in all the “Jeevatmans”. However, both the “Jeevatman” and the “Paramatman” are permanent. The only difference here is that, the “Jeevatman” can search its way through to reach the “Paramatman” at some point in time.
Moreover, Bhagawan Krishna subsequently asks Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! As a warrior, you should not cry like this! You should get up and wipe your tears! Moreover, I do not understand one thing in this world – If a person takes birth, all the people around that person celebrate with a lot of joy. However, if the same person is dying, all the people around him / her are crying! Why is this happening? Don’t we know that a person taking birth in this world is definitely going to die some day or the other? While some people have a lifespan of around 90 years, many others have significantly lesser lifespans, don’t they? Hence, whenever we celebrate a birthday, aren’t we realizing that we’re going to live one year less in this world? In spite of this fact, why are we celebrating birthdays? We should instead cry that we’ve lost one more year of our lifespan, shouldn’t we? But the opposite is what is happening in this world! Why is this so?”
As Bhagawan Krishna asks thus, Arjuna replies immediately – “Oh Bhagawan! Why are you asking such a question? Isn’t it normal to celebrate one’s birth and mourn one’s death? Isn’t it normal to celebrate one’s birthday as well? Why are you saying it is abnormal?” As Arjuna asks thus, Bhagawan Krishna laughs internally within Himself! He knows that Arjuna is asking this question without the basic understanding that the ‘“Deham” and “Atman” are different entities. Arjuna is still asking this counter question because he is not able to realize that the “Atman” is undestroyable and the “Deham” is destroyable! So for this, Bhagawan has to give a much detailed explanation to make Arjuna understand. There is no use of giving riddle-like answers to him! Arjuna is not in the mind state of picking things up at the moment easily! So Bhagawan Krishna has to change His strategy a little bit.
So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall ponder over what Bhagawan has asked Arjuna today! We shall wait for the next episode for answers from Bhagawan Himself! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 