Let us turn back to the Gita.
Once the individual understands the distinction between matter and spirit, he will know that the cause of all our sufferings is due to spirit identifying with matter. When spirit is detached from all its identifications, it rediscovers for itself its own essential nature as Perfection and Bliss Absolute. The spirit identifying with matter or apara prakriti is called ego. This is also called super imposition on the Truth through ignorance. It is apara prakriti which is the cause of the world and by which the ego or Jiva gets bound. It is the ego that rediscovers itself to be nothing other than the spirit or para prakriti that presides over the matter. In order to make it clear Sri Krishna tells that the matter-aspect is distinct from the spirit-aspect in each individual.
The five elements are represented by the sense-organs by which the individual lives and gathers experiences in the world of sense objects as we have seen above. The sense organs are the channels through which the world of stimuli reaches the mind. The impulses received in the mind are classified and systematized as knowledge by the intellect. During all these assimilation the ego falsely identifies the body with the Spirit and the sense of `I' or `My' is produced.
Sri Krishna says that the equipments referred to in Verse 4 are not all that the Self possesses. The Self has, besides them, equipments of a higher nature which are Pure Consciousness or Awareness i.e. para prakriti (Verse 5). It is this spiritual aspect in everybody that makes it possible for the body, mind and intellect which are inert matters to function as if they are very cognizant and intelligent.
The spiritual factor is the entity with whose contact the body equipment works and without which it becomes dull and insentient. Without this spiritual spark man will be no more than a stone and he will not be able to experience the world outside or within him. The world of objects, the world of feelings and the world of ideas that we experience constitute in their totality the Jagat or universe which is supported by the principle of consciousness.
etadyoneeni bhootaani sarvaaneetyupadhaaraya
aham kritsnasya jagatah prabhavah pralayastathaa // 7.6 //
Know these two - My higher and lower natures - form the womb of all beings. Therefore, I am the origin and dissolution of the whole Universe.
The above mentioned higher and lower natures together cause the manifestation of the world of plurality. If there is no matter, the latent dynamic energy of the Spirit will not have a field for its expression. The matter by itself is dormant and it cannot function unless the Spirit is there to activate it, to enliven it. An example of this principle is electricity and the bulb. The bulb is the inert matter and the electricity is the dynamic spirit. It is obvious that one is of no use without the other. When the spirit functions through the five layers of the matter it finds a place to express itself.
The combination of the higher and lower natures (prakritis) is the womb of all beings i.e., these two are the cause for the origin of all creatures or manifestation. The lower nature manifests itself as the material body and the higher nature as the enlivening soul, the experiencer.
At the time of evolution, names, forms and life arise from prakriti and at the time of dissolution they go back into it. But prakriti, independent of the Lord (Consciousness or Brahman or Spirit) cannot generate anything. Prakriti is the Lord’s instrument of creation, preservation and dissolution. Hence the Lord is the ultimate cause of the Universe; as we have seen under the topic “Creation” above Brahman (the Lord) + Maya or Consciousness (Spirit) + Matter is the ultimate cause of the evolution and dissolution of the Universe or Creation or Manifestation.
These ideas constitute the nucleus of the knowledge about Brahman, Maya, Manifestation or Creation all of which are dealt with elaborately in the subsequent Chapters of the Gita especially in Chapters 8, 9, 13, 14 and 15. Hence these concepts and ideas should be thoroughly grasped and kept in mind for a fruitful study of the latter Chapters of the Gita.
mattah parataram naanyat kinchidasti dhananjaya
mayi sarvamidam protam sootre maniganaa iva // 7.7 //
There exists nothing whatsoever higher than Me, O Dhananjaya. All this is strung on Me, as a row of gems on a thread.
There exists no other cause of the universe except the Lord. To show that the Self is one and the same in all created beings on the earth it is stated here that The Lord is the supporter of the Universe just as the string is of the gems on a garland. Without the string the gems will be scattered.
The substance with which gems and thread are made is different. Similarly the world is constituted of infinite variety of names and forms which are held together by the Spiritual Truth into a complete whole. Even in an individual, the body, mind and intellect are different from one another but they work in harmony and in unity because of the same spiritual Truth, the principle of consciousness. Hence Sri Krishna says that there is no other cause of the Universe but Him; He alone is the cause of the Universe.
The Lord is the support of the universe, as the string is of the gems on a garland. Without the string the gems will lie scattered; without the Lord, the planets, the stars and all else will be dispersed. The Lord, manifesting Himself through the physical and moral laws, sustains the relative world. He is also the Unity that underlies the diversity of names and forms.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LORD’S MANIFESTATIONS
raso'hamapsu kaunteya prabhaasmi shashisooryayoh
pranavah sarva vedeshu shabdah khe paurusham nrishu // 7.8 //
O Son of Kunti, I am the savor of waters, the radiance of the sun and moon, the syllable OM in all the Vedas, the sound in ether and the manliness in man.
punyo gandhah prithivyaam cha tejashcha'smi vibhaavasau
jeevanam sarvabhooteshu tapashchaasmi tapaswishu // 7.9 //
I am the sweet fragrance in earth and brilliance in the fire, the life in all beings and I am the austerity in the ascetics.
In these two verses the doubt as to what is the eternal factor which is common in all and yet not readily perceptible to anybody is cleared.
That which remains always from beginning to end and without which the thing cannot be identified as such is declared to be its essence, its Dharma - the law of its being. All examples given here by The Lord like savor in water, radiance in the sun and the moon, syllable OM in the Vedas, the principle of sound in Space, manliness in man, brilliance in the fire, life in all beings etc. indicate that the Lord is that factor or subtle principle which gives the individual creatures different characteristics of their own..
beejam maam sarvabhootaanaam viddhi paartha sanaatanam
buddhir buddhimataamasmi tejastejaswinaamaham // 7.10 //
Know Me, O Partha, as the eternal seed of all beings that exist; I am the intelligence of the intelligent and the splendor of the splendid (things and beings).
balam balavataamasmi kaamaraagavivarjitam
dharmaaviruddho bhooteshu kaamo'smi bharatarshabha // 7.11 //
Of the strong, I am the strength - devoid of desire and attachment and in all beings, I am the desire unopposed to Dharma, O Best among the Bharatas.
The Lord continues to indicate the same truth by means of some more analogies. Sri Krishna tells that He is the strength among the strong but devoid of desire and attachment.
The terms desire and attachment are not synonymous. Desire is for what is absent at present in the scheme of life and attachment or affection is for what one has already obtained. These two emotions are generally the cause of conflict between individuals, communities and countries assisted by their respective strength.
Another concept is brought in here - Desire unopposed to Dharma. All actions, thoughts and ideas entertained by an individual which are not contrary to his own nature of Divinity make up his Dharma. Such actions, thoughts etc. which lead him to discover his nature of Divinity are considered righteous actions. Those actions which remove him from his inherent nature of Divinity are called unrighteous implying that The Lord is all the desires that are not wrongful to a living being.
ye chaiva saatvikaa bhaavaa raajasaas taamasaashcha ye
matta eveti taanviddhi natwaham teshu te mayi // 7.12 //
Whatever things there be that are pure (pertaining to Sattva), active (pertaining to Rajas) and inert (pertaining to Tamas), know them to proceed from Me alone; yet I am not in them, they are in Me.
This verse concludes the discussion started with the statement “all this is strung in Me as a row of pearls on a thread”. All things (including the different states of mind) are in The Lord but He is not in them just as all waves are in the ocean but the ocean is not in them. The universe is only an appearance superimposed by illusion (Maya) on the Lord. It is like a mirage in the desert. From the standpoint of the onlooker, the illusory water exists in the desert; but the desert does not depend upon or exist in the mirage. Likewise this universe, apparently superimposed on the Lord, exists in the Lord, but the Lord is not in the universe. None of the properties of the universe touches the Lord, just as the waters of the mirage cannot soak a single grain of the desert sand.
The gunas constitute prakriti or nature which is the lower manifestation of the Lord. Therefore the Lord is their ultimate cause. But the Lord is not, as in the case of worldly men, under the control of the gunas. The gunas, on the contrary, are subject to Him.