Contents
Shri Sankara's Gita Bhashya
(Sri Sankaracharya's Commentary on the Gita)
CHAPTER -9
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19. I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality and also death; the being and the non-being am I, O Arjuna! I give heat: as the Sun, I give heat by some strong rays; by some rays, I send forth the rain, and having sent forth (the rain) I withhold it, capture it again by some rays during eight months, and again send it forth in the rainy season. I am the immortality of the gods (devas) and also the death of mortals. I am the being, the manifested (effect) which manifests itself in relation (to the cause), and the non-being, the reverse[1], am I, O Arjuna! In truth, however, the Lord is not, in Himself, absolutely non-existent; nor can the effect and the cause be respectively said to be'being'and'non-being I[2] The men of knowledge who adore Me, worshipping Me through'sacrifices'according to the modes mentioned above, i.e. with the knowledge that I am One or that I am distinct,-they reach My self alone according to their knowledge. But those who are ignorant and long for objects of desire- |
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References and Context
- ↑ The cause, the un-manifested in name and form, is called'non-being'(asat): and the effect which manifests in relation to that cause is called'being'(sat). (A)
- ↑ 'Being'and' non-being'have been used (in the verse) as related terms, referring to the manifested effect and the un-manifested cause. The effect is, in truth, not absolute'being'—because all effects are mere name and form, (Ch.VI.i.4-6); nor is the cause absolute'non-being'-because of the im possibility of existence coming out of non-existence. (Ch.VI.ii.2). (A)