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Likes/dislikes create delusion

When the knower is covered by māyā, how about Īśvara?


vedāham samatītāni vartamānāni cārjuna |

bhavisyāni ca bhūtani mām tu veda na kaścana ||7.26||

Arjuna! I know all beings that have gone before, that exist now and that will exist in the future. But no one knows me.


Īśvara knows the past (before creation), present (in the creation) and future (after resolution), it means he is not covered by māyā. Just like the magician who is never covered by his own illusion, in the same manner Īśvara is never covered by his own māyā-śhaktih.


But no one knows me, except my devotee who has taken refuge in me, committed to the knowledge that everything is Īśvara alone. There is no paroksa-īśvara (indirect/distance Lord) in reality. Only the person who does not have this knowledge looks upon Īśvara as another entity other then oneself.


icchādvesasamutthena dvandvamohena bhārata |

sarvabhūtāni sammoham sarge yānti parantapa ||7.27||

Bhārata (Arjuna), the scorcher of the enemies! All beings, due to delusion of the opposites arising from desires and aversion, go into a state of total delusion in this creation.


The mūla-ajñānam - fundamental ignorance in the creation is there because of māyā-śaktih. It is applied to all being in the creation. But the obstacles become intensify due to delusion of the pairs of opposites in the form of likes and dislike in every individual.

Pair of opposite like hot and cold, sweet and bitter, soft and hard etc have no problem at all, but our likes and dislikes towards them which create pleasure and pain to us. Likes/attachment is born of attainment of happiness when one contacts with certain object. On the other hand dislike/aversion is there when unhappiness arise in contact with certain object. But the problem get complicated when the source of our happiness and unhappiness changes all the time. Likes and dislikes create delusion in us, would not let us exercise our discrimination power due to intense attachment and aversion towards sense objects / situations. When one's mind is controlled over by attachment/aversion, one even couldn't see things in this experiential world objectively, then what to talk about to see the true nature of everything is ātmā - me alone.


Since this is so, because delusion caused by pairs of opposite, people have their knowledge obstructed, therefore they don't see Īśvara as themselves.


However some qualified people who are free from attachment/aversion understood this fact.


yesām tvantagatam pāpam janānām punyakarmanām |

te dvandvamohanirmukatā bhajante mām drdhavratāh ||7.28||

But people of good actions, for whom pāpa has come to an end, being released from the delusion of the opposites and firm in their commitment, they seek/reach me.


Some people refuse to be under the spell of their likes and dislikes and instead use their free will to do good karma and refrain from pāpa-karma. Punyakarmanām - people who do punya-karma as karma which causes purification of the mind. For whom pāpa has come to an end, means the tendency to do wrong actions is no longer there for them. Tendencies for pāpa-karma cannot remain in you when you keep doing punya-karma, because the more you do an action, the more you reinforce a tendency for that type of samskāra (impression) action. Karma creates a samskāra and because of samskāra we tend to repeat the same karma. Therefore to breakout of the tendency, we need to use our will.


Next two verses sow the seeds for next chapter.


jarāmaranamoksāya mām āśritya garanti ye |

te brahma tadviduh krtsnam adhyātmam karma cākhilam ||7.29||

Having taken refuge in me, those who make effort for freedom from old age and death, they know that Brahman wholly as themselves and they also know karma in its entirely.


Everybody wants different kind of freedom, but they are all freedom from undesirable. And most common undesirable for everybody are old age and death. Aging and death stand for the other changes a body goes through - birth, growth, metamorphosis, decline, death, as well as the mental modifications. All our notions about ourselves are based on these modifications and it is from these modifications that we want to be free. Therefore old age and death is stated by Lord Krsna here.


Frankly speaking our body is not afraid to old age, but our notional thinking that "I am subject to old age and death" is fearing us. Therefore moksa is not for physical old age or physical death. To be free from the fear of old age and death, taking refuge in Īśvara knowing my true nature which is free from all modification.


Taking refuge in Īśvara, they make effort, by giving up those pursuits based on likes and dislikes. After analysing our own experiences, we find that fulfilment of likes and dislikes is not exactly what we are seeking. We are seeking freedom from likes and dislike, the true nature of ourselves is not subject to them. If that is very clear to a person, one's take refuge to Īśvara and he/she becomes a jijñāsu, who dwells upon the true nature of oneself which is not different from Īśvara through the enquiry into the śāstra.


sādhibūtādhidaivam mām sādhiyajñam ca ye viduh |

prayānakāle'pi ca mām te viduryuktacetasah ||7.30||

Those who know me as centred on the physical world, the devatās and the ritual, whose minds are absorbed in me, even at the end of their life, they know me.


yuktacetasah - those whose minds do not have any inhibiting factors, especially at the time of death. There is a belief, that what kind of course the departing soul takes depends on what the final thought of the person was while dying. That is why in Hindu culture, there is custom of naming people with the names of the Lord. When a person is dying he/she is likely to call out his son/daughter name and if the name is of the Lord he/she will be reminded of Īśvara and it would give him/her a good path. However, it is not easy to remember the Lord at the time of death. Unless all one's lifetime one has lived a life keeping the Lord in mind all the times , otherwise it is very difficult. Because there are so much attachment one has towards one's own children, wealth etc, one will remember only those things. Or one will think of one's omissions and commissions and will be riddled with guilt and hurt. But if one knows the truth of Īśvara as one's self and as everything that is here, no question of one losing sight of Īśvara. One who has gained this knowledge is free while living and free after this body has fallen.

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