Briefly, the Hindu metaphysical universe has much in common with many other cosmogonies. From Nothingness (0) you get One (1), the Creator of the manifested world. In order for this creative principle to create, its splitting into opposites is necessary. Therefore, from the One you get two (2)—Puruja and Prakriti, roughly corresponding to the active and passive principles, male and female, dark and light, yin and yang. Puruja is a world of ideas, or the male creative principle. Prakriti is best thought of as the fertile ground into which these ideas fall and take root—the “dark face of the waters” from Genesis. Those dark waters are Prakriti—the female principle, the fertile ground into which an idea falls and is made manifest.
Here we encounter our first paradox. Although the female principle is completely passive, letting ideas fall into it and nourishing them indiscriminately, still—because it makes manifest—it is considered the active principle. Puruja, although it is completely active in constantly coming up with new ideas—meaning forms or modes of creation—still it is considered the passive principle, because it takes no interest in those ideas—and identifies with them not at all. The passive Puruja male principle, together with the active Prakriti female principle, are what makes the manifested world possible. These two principles are eternal and unmanifested—meaning that their existence doesn’t depend on manifestation. They have always existed as principles, and they will always continue to exist.
Prakriti, or the active principle, gives birth to the three (3) gunas, or three forces that interact to give movement to all creation. These forces are sattva, the angelic or upward-tending motion; rajas, the worldly or outward-tending motion; and tamas, the demonic or downward-tending motion. These three are not necessarily as spiritually exotic as they sound; rather, they can be thought of as three ways to move within the manifested world. Through them, every act and interactive scenario becomes possible.
It will not have failed the attentive reader that the progress from the unmanifest to manifestation took a course familiar to every grade-school student: that of the ascending numbers. From zero (0) we get One (1)—the eternal and infinite Godhead; from One we get two (2)—the male and female eternal creative principles; from two we get three (3)—the three gunas, or three forces that interact to move the created world. This ascent is the foundation of Hindu metaphysics.
Along with these, you need one more concept: that of the Self, or Atman. God—or Brahman—exists outside of creation and independent of it. Creation is limited and finite; Brahman is eternal and infinite. Brahman is the eternal and infinite Godhead; Brahman is the One. And yet, there is a personal equivalent of Brahman—this is the Atman, or personal manifestation of God in the soul. And here we encounter our second paradox. Atman is the same as Brahman. Brahman is the Creator, Atman is the living soul—and yet they are the same. That is to say, God is indivisible. The same infinite God (Brahman) lives inside the heart of every person as the Self (Atman).
To become immanent, Brahman makes use of the divine power of manifestation known as Maya. Maya is both positive and negative. Maya is synonymous with “illusion.” To express the eternal and infinite in a finite form, the divine power of illusion is necessary. Maya is positive because it makes our illusory world possible; Maya is negative because it imprisons our eternal Self within that finite world. To review: Maya is the divine power of manifestation; and Maya is also the illusory prison of the manifested world. Above all, Maya is illusion. It makes the manifested world possible; but it also underlies the world's ultimate lack of reality.
Let’s look at a few quotes from Chapter 2. On the eternal Self:
2:11-12
You speak sincerely, but your sorrow has no cause. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead. There has never been a time when you and I and the kings gathered here have not existed, nor will there be a time when we will cease to exist.
2:19-20
One believes he is the slayer, another believes he is the slain. Both are ignorant; there is neither slayer nor slain. You were never born; you will never die. You have never changed; you can never change. Unborn, eternal, immutable, immemorial, you do not die when the body dies.
2:40
On this path effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure. Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will protect you from the greatest fear.
The Path of Selfless Service
Sri Krishna lays out several paths for the seeker of spiritual fulfillment to follow.
Asked by Arjuna to lay out just one path for the spiritual aspirant to follow, Sri Krishna describes karma yoga, or the path of “knowledge through action.”
To follow this path, the practitioner continues working in the world, but changes the scope and purpose of that work. There are two ways to look at what that scope is. From a spiritual perspective, the goal is to rise above the causes of action and reaction—or the way the average person lives. To stop worrying about your well-being day-to-day is to free up an enormous amount of energy to focus on the spiritual life. In fact, it can be said that Sri Krishna picks this as the one path, if he had to choose one, because it is the first step on the spiritual path—or the one that the greatest number of people have yet to take. By picking this one step, "Sri Krishna" is betting that it’s the one most readers will need.
From a day-to-day perspective, the goal of work becomes the welfare of others, the greater good. For this reason, karma yoga is also known as the path of selfless service. The spiritual exercise of working for the good of others dissolves ego boundaries and prepares the practicant for spiritual experience. Sri Krishna also promises that following the path of selfless service can, in itself, bring you all the way to the supreme goal.
Let’s look at a few particularly inspirational passages from Chapter 3:
3:15-16
Every selfless act, Arjuna, is born from Brahman, the eternal, infinite Godhead. Brahman is present in every act of service. All life turns on this law, oh Arjuna. Those who violate it, indulging the senses for their own pleasure and ignoring the needs of others, have wasted their life.
3:25
The ignorant work for their own profit, Arjuna; the wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought of themselves.
3:35
It is better to strive in one’s own work than to succeed in the work of another. Nothing is ever lost in following one’s own work, but competition in another’s work breeds fear and insecurity.
3:10
At the beginning, mankind and the obligation of selfless service were created together. Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires—this is the promise of the Creator.
3:17-18
Those who realize the Self are always satisfied. Having found the source of joy and fulfillment, they no longer seek happiness from the external world. They have nothing to gain by any action; neither people nor things can affect their security.
The Royal Path
In Chapter 9 of the Gita a profound secret is revealed. That secret is called the Royal Path that anyone can follow to reach the ultimate goal. That is Sri Krishna’s promise. Let’s take a look at some passages:
9:2
This royal knowledge, this royal secret, is the greatest purifier. Righteous and imperishable, it is a joy to practice and can be experienced directly.
Here Sri Krishna continues with the theme from the previous chapter, that the universe is subject to an infinite cycle of creation and destruction. Manifestation is brought forward, it persists for a time, and then it’s dissolved again. The only way to escape this cycle is to look beyond manifestation to the unmanifested nature of God; then, by merging yourself with that nature—your true nature, your very Self—you can escape the cycle of death and rebirth.
8:21
Those who realize life’s supreme goal know that I am unmanifested and unchanging. Having come home to me, they never return to separate existence.
This unmanifested nature is beyond form and beyond even the formless. It is beyond Puruja and Prakriti, which work together to give form to creation. If Puruja and Prakriti are two (2), and the eternal Godhead is One (1), then God’s unmanifested nature, zero (0), is unnameable and unknowable. This is what Meister Eckhart, Dominican monk and mystic of the Middle Ages, called “God beyond God.”
The question is, how do we reach this unmanifested nature, this God beyond God? This is where the Gita excels in laying out a practical path to reach that goal. The answer is, we must first work our way back to the One. After loosening our attachment to selfish desire through the practice of karma yoga, we can now use the practice of jnana yoga—or the path of spiritual wisdom.
This practice of unification is performed through meditation—or training the mind to dissolve itself. The mind—or ego—is fearful for its own existence, so the more you can prepare it for the experience of its own unreality—for the experience of its own death—the easier it will go at the moment of the sacrifice.
This sacrifice, called adhiyajna, is the Ego surrendering to the Self or Atman—no longer caring for its own safety, no longer defending itself, no longer protecting its boundaries. It simply surrenders to the greater power. That surrender, that placing of complete trust in the higher Self, can only be an act of love. But God doesn’t require it—it can be delayed ad infinitum; therefore it’s a choice.
It's really a question of identification: a person can choose to identify either with his mortal ego or with his immortal Self, which is the same as Brahman. As habit reinforces identity, so practicing each of these choices will lead to a stronger identification over time. So it is that the worldly and materialistic person has a very hard time believing in the divine, doesn't see its influence anywhere, and has to demand proofs in order to start believing. And so it is that the detached and calm person, having stilled his mind and overcome his ambition, sees the divine everywhere, and sees the materialist's struggle as a self-propagating illusion.
Some of the most inspirational passages in the Gita come from Chapter 9, from that description of jnana yoga which unifies the mind. Let’s take a look:
9:13
Truly great souls seek my divine nature. They worship me with a one-pointed mind, having realized that I am the eternal source of all.
9:16
I am the ritual and the sacrifice; I am the offering and the fire which consumes it, and he to whom it is offered.
9:17
I am the father and mother of this universe, and its grandfather too; I am its entire support.
9:18
I am the goal of life; I am the only refuge, the one true friend; I am the beginning, the staying, and the end of creation; I am the womb and the eternal seed.
9:19
I am immortality and I am death; I am what is and what is not.
9:20
Those who worship me and meditate on me constantly, without any other thought, I will provide for all their needs.
9:21
Those who worship other gods with faith and devotion also worship me. I am the object of all worship, its enjoyer and Lord.
And here we come to the heart of the Gita, its gift to everyone who approaches it:
9:26-27
Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart—a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water—I partake of that love offering. Whatever you do, make it an offering to me—the food you eat, the sacrifices you make, the help you give, even your suffering. In this way you will be freed from bondage.
Live your life not for yourself but for God. Treat your experiences not as good or bad, but as interactions with God. Remaining unattached to laziness or pleasure or success, you will be free to experience the universe as a coherent whole held together by God’s love. That experience is the unitive state.
After that, loving God is all that’s needed to break free from the cycle of death and rebirth. That is Sri Krishna’s promise: “All those who take refuge in me, whatever their birth, sex, race, or caste, will attain the supreme goal” (9:32); and again: “No one who is devoted to me will ever come to harm” (9:31); and again, remarkably like the famous passage in the New Testament that says, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17), the Gita reiterates: “Those who worship the gods go to the gods; but my devotees come to me.” (7:23) This third way is called bhakti yoga—or the path of devotion.
