“The Blessed Lord then said: This body, O son of Kunti, is called the field, and one who knows this body is called the knower of the field.” (Bhagavad-gita, 13.2)

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श्रीभगवानुवाच
इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते
एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहु: क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विद:

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya
kṣetram ity abhidhīyate
etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ
kṣetra-jña iti tad-vidaḥ

1. What is a living being?

What does it mean to be alive? There is the famous quote from the philosopher René Descartes which states, “I think, therefore I am.” Is that the actual answer? Since I have the ability to reason, to deliberate, to contemplate, to accept information through hearing and then to subsequently process that information to form conclusions, to create a knowledgebase around those conclusions – is that what defines an existence?

What about during the period prior to full development? Infancy. The time spent in the womb. There is predictable regression with old age. If someone is no longer able to think properly, do they cease to exist? What about other forms of life, which behave similar to the human being? His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada enumerates the similarities. The humans and animals both eat, sleep, mate, and defend. There is no denying this reality. Are the animals not living, then? If they have death, then they must have life, no?

“There is no difference between a man and an animal as far as the four principles of animal life are concerned, for every living being exists by eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating. But only the human life is meant for relevant inquiries into the facts about eternal life and the Transcendence.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Science Of Self-Realization, 1f)

2. What is not a living being?

If we are identifying the qualifications necessary to have life, then it means that certain factors, principles, and realities will have to be eliminated. Set aside. Placed into a different category. There is the living being, and then there is everything else. What is that “everything else”? Why is it here? Why does the living being have to interact with it?

Why are there varieties in that interaction? If consciousness is what determines the presence of life, why is there so much which lacks consciousness? Why is someone enamored with an inanimate object like an expensive car, for instance? Why does the child take pleasure from a simple toy, while the adult requires a video game for stimulation? The objects of interaction have no life of their own; it seems. They are not living beings, but why is there an attraction towards them?

3. Do actions have consequences?

The living beings interact with that which is not living, but what is the result? There appears to be variety within the field. That is to say, the results are not always the same for every type of action. Is there such a thing as consequence? Or is it merely a figment of the imagination that a certain set of steps predictably lead to the same result, almost every single time? If the results were not predictable, how would fields of knowledge such as science and medicine ever emerge?

What actions should be encouraged? What actions should be discouraged? What is the range of applicability to the result? In other words, does the result have to manifest immediately? How long will that result remain visible? Is there a system to describe how everything works? Is there a label or name which can be used to identify the mechanisms?

अदृष्टगुणदोषाणामध्रुवाणां तु कर्मणाम्
नान्तरेण क्रियां तेषां फलमिष्टं प्रवर्तते

adṛṣṭaguṇadoṣāṇāmadhruvāṇāṃ tu karmaṇām
nāntareṇa kriyāṃ teṣāṃ phalamiṣṭaṃ pravartate

“Unseen and indefinite are the good and bad reactions of fruitive work. And without taking action, the desired fruits of such work cannot manifest.” (Lakshmana speaking to Lord Rama, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 66.17)

4. What role does time play?

We have a living being, operating within a field that is not living, with certain actions and their consequences, but with unknown delivery schedules. What role does time play? When and where is it relevant? Does it apply to the entire picture? How can time be defined? We know that some living beings stay here for thousands of years, like the tree. Some can be expected to live for one hundred years, while others do not make it out of the womb alive. Why is there variety in the application of time? Why do the experiences not last for the exact same duration across every instance of life? What is the proper understanding of time? We have our current lifetime, but we take it on authority that people lived before us. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of years before us. Where were we? Where will we be in the future?

लव निमेष परमानु जुग बरस कलप सर चंड
भजसि न मम तेहि राम कहँ कालु जासु कोदंड

lava nimeṣa paramānu juga barasa kalapa sara caṃḍa
bhajasi na mama tehi rāma kaha~ kālu jāsu kodaṃḍa

“Mind, why are you not worshiping Shri Rama, whose bow is like time, with weapons of arrows representing the different units of time, such as paramanu, lava, nimesha, barasa, yuga, and kalpa?” (Dohavali, 130)

5. Is there an individual standing above everything?

This whole system appears to be rather complicated. Who instituted it? We see that the smartphone does not appear at random. There is precise configuration required. There is intelligence to the assembly. We see that one seed will only produce certain fruits, while a similar looking seed will only produce a different fruit. The two never switch places. There is nothing obviously different between the two seeds, based on a visual examination. So what is responsible for the configuration? There must be intelligence. If randomness is the cause, then the seeds would not have predictable outputs.

…

The above are topics of consideration in a sacred text like Bhagavad-gita. Within such discussion, we see no references to a Hindu religion or a Hindu faith. There is no “ism” attached to any of the principles. Rather, the truths emerging from the answers to the questions, the principles at the foundation, are not tied to religion, ethnicity, gender, language, or country of origin.

This is one way to understand why sanatana-dharma is different. It is not religion. It may be considered a religion for the purposes of discussion, but the associated information applies to all aspects of living, beyond even the human species. Sanatana-dharma is for everyone, and it can answer all of life’s mysteries, provided a person enters the period of study with an open-mind and a non-challenging spirit.

भक्त्या त्व् अनन्यया शक्य
अहम् एवं-विधो ऽर्जुन
ज्ञातुं द्रष्टुं च तत्त्वेन
प्रवेष्टुं च परन्तप

bhaktyā tv ananyayā śakya
aham evaṁ-vidho ‘rjuna
jñātuṁ draṣṭuṁ ca tattvena
praveṣṭuṁ ca parantapa

“My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can I be understood as I am, standing before you, and can thus be seen directly. Only in this way can you enter into the mysteries of My understanding.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 11.54)

In Closing:

Have you ever thought about time?
Like right now here to find.

But what about before?
Or future years numbering four.

Change witnessed steady throughout,
But identity same whether with or without.

To contemplate such principles and more,
Sent to this human life for.

Categories: the five

Tags: bhagavad-gita, dailyprompt, life, philosophy, poem, poems, poetry