Matter and spirit

Matter and Spirit are beginningless. Matter is the primordial substance, Matter is ever changing. Spirit is always static. Matter is the possessor of infinite qualities. Spirit sees and sanctions. Matter does, grows and becomes. Spirit is consciousness. Spirit is the Witness. Matter is the Creativity Infinite. Spirit is the Reality in man. Spirit is the Perceiver of Matter. He who has realised Spirit’s eternal Silence and Matter’s (Prakriti’s) cosmic dance may live in any walk of life, whether as a doctor or as a philosopher, a poet or a singer; he has achieved the perfection of supreme realisation. There are some who realise the Supreme Spirit in meditation; others by knowledge (the Sankhya philosophy). There are also others who realise the Supreme Spirit by the Yoga of Action and Selfless Service. Still there are others who are not aware of It, but who have heard of the Supreme Spirit from others and who have started worshipping it in devotion and cling firmly to the Truth. They also pass on beyond mortality and cross beyond the snares of death.

Spirit is in Matter. It tastes the qualities born of matter. It does experience the physical existence. The qualities acquired determine its rebirth. Spirit is the Supreme Himself. Although Master of the body, It experiences mortal life.

The way to God is to see the Eternal Life in the fleeting life, to know that Prakriti, not Purusha, is to action attached. All activities, says the Gita, divine and undivine, arise in Prakriti. Purusha is actionless. No action is possible in Purusha, for Purusha transcends both time and space. Yet without Prakriti, there can be no universe, no manifestation.

Spirit is self existent and all-pervading, whether within the body or without the body; always unaffected the Spirit remains.

To know that Purusha and Prakriti are one and inseparable is to know the Truth, the Truth of Unity and the Divinity in humanity which will eventually be manifested as the Divinity of humanity.

The Gita does not house arid, logical metaphysics. At the same time, its teachings have no need for any support from intellectual argument. Human reason cannot knock at the door of Transcendental Reality. Never. What is the Gita, if not the Transcendental Reality supremely and divinely embodied?

Each human being has to learn five supreme secrets from the Gita.

1). See the Truth.

2). Feel the Truth.

3). Be the Truth.

4). Reveal the Truth.

5). Manifest the Truth.

In this chapter we observe that the Gita is at once the significance of life and the divine interpretation of life. Unfortunately, this particular chapter has become the victim of dire contradiction in spite of the very fact that the Gita, from its journey’s start to its journey’s close sees not the face of contradiction. The Gita sees and reveals only the face of Truth’s unity in multiplicity. Scholars and commentators are at war with each other over their theories. Nor have the philosophers the inclination to shun this battle. Each is inspired to impose his lofty theories on the others. But a genuine seeker of the Supreme Truth is truly wise. He prays to the Lord Krishna to have the Gita as his personal experience. Sri Krishna smiles. The devotee cries out:

> "Thou that hast given so much to me,

> Give one thing more, a grateful heart.

> Not thankful when it pleaseth me,

> As if thy blessings had spare days;

> But such a heart, whose pulse may be Thy praise."

> — G. Herbert

Lo, the devotee has won the race! The devotee needs a Guru, master. Sri Krishna is the Guru and Arjuna is the disciple. An eminent Indian scholar, Hari Prasad Shastri writes:

> "Is the Guru, or Master, an absolute necessity to the realisation of Truth? The reply, according to the Gita, is "Yes". The Guru is the person who teaches the unity of the soul with the Absolute and who lives the life of Sattva. He can be of either sex and according to the Gita, need not be a recluse, living in the snows of the Himalayas, cut off from the world, speaking through chosen apostles only and sending fantastic letters through the "astral mail”. The Guru of the Gita is a man like any other good man, whom anyone can see at any convenient time, who lives in human society and does not claim any superiority over others."

Finally the Gita tells us that the Guru of all gurus, the real Guru is God.

From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol. 6, No. 6, 27 Jan. 1971, AUM Centre Press, 1971
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