“Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.16)

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नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः

nāsato vidyate bhāvo
nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ
ubhayor api dṛṣṭo ’ntas
tv anayos tattva-darśibhiḥ

“There is a confusion in my mind which I am looking to resolve. I seek clarity and understanding. I am looking for someone who knows more than me to explain. If they do not know more, they should at least have a way of presenting the contradicting principles and giving a meaning for the presence of both within sacred texts.

“His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains that there are five principal topics discussed within Bhagavad-gita. They are: the living entity, the material nature, fruitive activity, time, and the Supreme Controller. The Sanskrit terms are: jiva, prakriti, karma, kāla, and ishvara. Of these five, only karma is not eternal.

“This means that prakriti is eternal. Something eternal exists throughout the time continuum. There is no pause or break. There is no temporary period of inoperability. It is not like the avocado in the fridge that gets consumed. Once it has gone through the digestive system, there is nothing more to be used. We have to visit the supermarket again to purchase another avocado.

“Prakriti is the material energy, but since it is tied to the Supreme Lord, Ishvara, it is always there. It never ceases to exist. That is well and good, but at the same time we have repeated emphasis on the need to focus on spirit. We should identify as jiva instead of the jiva-prakriti combination. The reason is that the prakriti aspect is always changing. One day I am a child crawling on the floor. Another day I am a student who feels trapped in the classroom at school. Eventually, I might reach old age and completely shed the prakriti covering, which was temporary the entire time.

“The Mayavada philosopher refers to everything as false. The covering is false. The whole experience is like a dream. The goal of self-realization is to realize the self, the jiva, and to wake up from the dream. You have similar references to the dreamlike experience from people who are on the opposite side, who are not Mayavadis.

“Well, which one is it? Is prakriti real or not? Is the experience a dream or are we factually associating with material nature, which has its three modes and the infinite combinations and permutations of those modes: goodness, passion, and ignorance? If prakriti is real, why do we speak of it as unreal? Why does Shri Krishna draw the distinction between that which has endurance and that which lacks endurance? Obviously, the individual, the jiva, has endurance. If prakriti lacks endurance, why do we say that it is eternal?”

The truths do not actually overlap or collide. God is the source of prakriti. He is also the source of jiva. Everything emanates from Him. We are atma of the jiva category at the moment. This means that we can transition between illusion and enlightenment. That we have vulnerability to illusion means that we are jiva.

God is also atma, but of a different category. He is Paramatma because there is no vulnerability to illusion. If He were ever actually in illusion, He could not be God. Some other force would stand above everything, instituting the rules and regulations, in creating the dreamlike experience in the first place.

It is indeed an experience that resembles a dream. There are different conditions. There are different people, places, and things. There are different interactions. In the morning, the dream completely vanishes. It becomes a relic of the past. We reference the dream as something which occurred prior to the present.

At the same time, the fear, the elation, the sadness, the heartache, the joy in victories, the despondency from defeats, the fits of rage, the disbelief from reuniting with long-lost loved ones – these are real. The various settings are not real, but the experience of the dream is. This is how we can make the comparison to our interaction with prakriti. We are alive today. We are associating with prakriti. We cannot deny our existence. At the same time, that interaction will change. We will not always be here. The current dream will end and another will begin soon thereafter.

The comparison to the dream is for encouraging the jiva to abandon identification with prakriti. The temporary manifestations of that energy create the illusion of permanence. This explains why those who are wildly successful in business ventures sometimes feel an emptiness at the conclusion. They want more meaning. They are looking for a permanent solution, while engaging with something that is always changing.

महात्मानस् तु मां पार्थ
दैवीं प्रकृतिम् आश्रिताः
भजन्त्य् अनन्य-मनसो
ज्ञात्वा भूतादिम् अव्ययम्

mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
bhajanty ananya-manaso
jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam

“O son of Pritha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.13)

Bhagavad-gita explains that there is a divine version of the same prakriti. This energy protects rather than inhibits. The mahatmas, or great souls, are under the protection of this prakriti. One way to understand liberation is to change from the dreamlike experience to one of reality. The results from working under the divine prakriti are permanent.

The mahatma glorifies the Supreme Lord, who is the overseer of all energies, without deviation. When they operate under this mindset, the entire dichotomy of matter and spirit, endurance and nonendurance, temporary and permanent, and the like vanishes. They are reestablished in their eternal occupation, which is known as dharma.

In Closing:

Like from the dream to quit,
Prakriti abandoned to be fit.

But also eternal considered,
Thus contradictions delivered.

Truth that just view another way,
Under divine version to stay.

Such that protection even changes through,
Connected to source of everything who.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, life, maya, mayavada, poem, poems, poetry