November 30, 2023
yasya nā ’haṁkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate
hatvā ’pi sa imāṁl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate (XVIII-17)
XVIII/17. He who is free from the egoistic notion, whose
intelligence is not tainted (by good or evil), though he slays
these people, he slayeth not nor is he bound (by any action).
Swamiji's Commentary
This mysterious egoistic notion is the cause of all our sins and sufferings. In fact it is this notion that sins and that suffers, too. The ‘I’ creates its own ghosts, desire and hatred, clings to them and fears them. In the one it sees many and gets bewildered. Forgetful of God, the supreme bliss, it is subjected to frustration. Frantically working for happiness, it loses it! Man walks the burning sands of the desert in order to quench his thirst at a far lake, only to find that the lake is a mirage. How can these unreal causes produce such real effects? Because in the darkness of unawareness, the ‘I’ arises and thinks it is real, vainly imagining (and creating) evils and sufferings. This is the only sin.
Hence our Master insisted again and again: “Turn the gaze”. When you turn the searchlight of truth on this mysterious ‘I’, you will discover, not the ‘I’ nor its vanishing trick, but the substratum for the ‘I’ and for the whole universe, which is God, Brahman, the paramātman.
Even a dry blade of grass cannot be wafted by the wind except by God’s will. This has been the unanimous verdict of all sages, saints and prophets. The whole universe is run by his will.