🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 12.3

12.3 ये who? तु verily? अक्षरम् the imperishable? अनिर्देश्यम् the indefinable? अव्यक्तम् the unmanifested? पर्युपासते worship? सर्वत्रगम् the omnipresent? अचिन्त्यम् the unthinkable? च and? कूटस्थम् the unchangeable? अचलम् the immovable? ध्रुवम् the eternal.Commentary Anirdesyam That which cannot be actually shown or which cannot be defined -- the Akshaa or Satchidananda Para Brahman is beyond the reach of the mind and speech. Why can It not be defined Because It is unmanifested. It does not have the four alities of manifested beings? vi.z? Jati (caste such as Brahmana? Kshatriya? etc.)? Guna (attributes such as blueness? whiteness? tallness? shortness? etc.)? Kriya (reading? walking? etc.)? and Sambandha (like the relation between father and son).The unmanifest Incomprehensible by any of the organs of knowledge not manifest to any of the organs of knowledge.Upasana (worship) means sitting near. It is approaching the chosen ideal or object of worship by meditating on it? in accordance with the teachings of the scriptures and the spiritual preceptor? and dwelling steadily in the current of that one thought like a threat of oil poured from one vessel to another. It means continous and uninterrupted contemplation of God.The imperishable Brahman is omnipresent? pervading everything like the ether. It is unthinkable? because It is unmanifest. Whatever is visible to the senses can be thought of by the mind also. That which can be grasped by the organs of knowledge can be thought of by the mind also. But the Supreme Being is invisible to the senses and so cannot be grasped by the organs of knowledge and is? therefore? unthinkable. All thoughts of God ultimately lead the aspirant to iescent meditation.It is Kutastha (unchangeable). Kutastha means remaining like a mass or a heap. Therefore It is immutable and eternal. Just as the anvil remains unchanged though the ironpieces which are beaten on the anvil change their shape? so also Brahman is unchanging though the forms are changing. Hence Brahman is called Kutastha. Kuta also means a thing which appears to be good externally but which is full of evil within. Hence it refers to that seed of Samsara? viz.? ignorance? which is full of evil within and which is known as the Avyakrita (undifferentiated) in the Svetasvataropanishad (Mayam tu prakritim vidyat? Mayinam tu mahesvaram) and in the Gita (Mama maya duratyaya -- The illusion of Mine is hard to pierce -- VII.14). Another interpretation for Kutastha is that which is at the root of everything. He Who is seated in Maya as its witness? as its Lord? is Kutastha.Achalam Immovable? that which is free from change. Therefore the imperishable Brahman is Dhruvam? eternal. (Cf.VIII.21)

12.3 Ye, those; tu, however; who, pari-upasate, meditate in every way; aksaram, on the Immutable; anirdesyam, the Indefinable-being unmanifest, It is beyond the range of words and hence cannot be defined; avyaktam, the Unmanifest-It is not comprehensible thrugh any means of knowledge-. Upasana, meditation, means approaching an object of meditation as presented by the scriptures, and making it an object of one's own thought and dwelling on it uniterruptedly for long by continuing the same current of thought with regard to it-like a line of pouring oil. This is what is called upasana. The Lord states the characteristics of the Immutable [Here Ast. adds 'upasyasya, which is the object of meditation'.-Tr.] : Sarvatragam, all-pervading, pervasive like space; and acintyam, incomprehensible-becuase of Its being unmanifest. For, whatever comes within the range of the organs can be thought of by the mind also. Being opposed to that, the Immutable is inconceivable. It is kutastham, changeless. Kuta means something apparently good, but evil inside. The word kuta (deceptive) is well known in the world in such phrases as, 'kuta-rupam, deceptive in appearance,' 'kuta-saksyam, false evidence', etc. Thus, kuta is that which, as ignorance etc., is the seed of many births, full of evil within, referred to by such words as maya, the undifferentiated, etc., and well known from such texts as, 'One should know Maya to be Nature, but the Lord of Maya to be the supreme God' (Sv. 4.10), 'The divine Maya of Mine is difficult to cross over' (7.14), etc. That which exists on that kuta as its controller (or witness) is the kuta-stha. Or, kutastha may mean that which exists like a heap [That is, motionless.]. Hence it is acalam, immovable. Since It is immovable, therefore It is dhruvam, constant, i.e. eternal.

12.3 - 12.5 The individual self meditated upon by those who follow the path of the 'Aksara' (the Imperishable) is thus described: It cannot be 'defined' in terms indicated by expressions like gods and men etc., for It is different from the body; It is 'imperceptible' through the senses such as eyes; It is 'omnipresent and unthinkable,' for though It exists everywhere in bodies such as those of gods and others, It cannot be conceived in terms of those bodies, as It is an entity of an altogether different kind; It is 'common to all beings' i.e., alike in all beings but different from the bodily forms distinguishing them; It is 'immovable' as It does not move out of Its unie nature, being unmodifiable, and therefore eternal. Such aspirants are further described as those who, 'subduing their senses' like the eye from their natural operations, look upon all beings of different forms as 'eal' by virtue of their knowledge of the sameness of the nature of the selves as knowers in all. Therefore they are not given 'to take pleasure in the misfortune of others,' as such feelings proceed from one's identification with one's own special bodily form. Those who meditate on the Imperishable Principle (individual self) in this way, even they come to Me. It means that they also realise their essential self, which, in respect of freedom from Samsara, is like My own Self. So Sri Krsna will declare later on: 'Partaking of My nature' (14.2). Also the Sruti says: 'Untainted, he attains supreme eality' (Mun. U., 3.1.3). Likewise He will declare the Supreme Brahman as being distinct from the freed self which is without modification and is denoted by the term 'Imperishable' (Aksara), and is described as unchanging (Kutastha). 'The Highest Person is other than this Imperishable' (15.16 - 17). But in the teaching in Aksara-vidya 'Now that higher science by which that Aksara is known' (Mun. U., 1.5) the entity that is designated by the term Aksara is Supreme Brahman Himself; for He is the source of all beings, etc. Greater is the difficulty of those whose minds are attached to the unmanifest. The path of the unmanifest is a psychosis of the mind with the unmanifest as its object. It is accomplished with difficulty by embodied beings, who have misconceived the body as the self. For, embodied beings mistake the body for the self. The superiority of those who adore the Supreme Being is now stated clearly:

12.3 See Comment under 12.5

।।12.3।। See Commentary under 12.4