The Ultimate Kshetra – Satsangh Takeaways

In this Saturday’s Satsangh I spoke on the last few verses of the 13th Chapter. In summing up the essence of the Chapter, we talked about how to see the one Brahman in the variety of creation.

We looked at a number of simple examples to understand this concept and I thought these might be worth sharing. When we go to a restaurant, each of us may place an order for a different dish – one wants paneer makhani, a second orders chole and a third person asks for mixed vegetable curry. All 3 orders come to our table in a just a few minutes time, while at home, we wouldn’t even have finished cutting the veggies for a dish. This is because, almost all the curries that they make have the same tomato onion base. When we place the order, in a short time, they are able to take the base, quickly add vasanas of panneer or mattar or chole and deliver it to us piping hot. When we see each dish, we think these are different while in reality, the base is the same.

Another example we can look at is the relationship between the various rivers, ponds, lakes and seas to the ocean. They are all none other than small parts of the same ocean. When we take a globe and look, we see that all the oceans are actually one continuum each connected with one another. We have given these names like Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean, but in reality it is one huge mass of water and the place where it mixes we cannot distinguish the Pacific and Atlantic. It is therefore essentially one Brahman that exists in continuum in all beings spreading forth and interconnected.

A third example is that of a jigsaw puzzle. When it comes in the package, the completed jigsaw looks as though it is one picture. However, when we take it out, we see all the individual pieces – some corner pieces, some edges, each of a different shape, colour, size and texture. As we solve the puzzle, it is necessary for us to visualize the full picture and only when are able to do this, we can put the jigsaw together. In order to see Brahman in everyone, we therefore need to see the big picture.

Once a person is able to see that Brahman is present in everything, he is able to see that he also is Brahman. When a piece of ice is dropped in water, it melts and becomes water. Similarly, once I understand that it is the same Brahman that is within me and everything I see, I lose my individuality in the form of name and other limitations and become part of the Brahman.

In day to day life, if we understand this concept, then there would be no room for enmity with anyone. At the end of the discourse, Suguji gave a wonderful example which further illustrated this concept.

When Adi Shankara first came to Sringeri, he came to the banks of a river, looking for a place to build a temple.

There was a torrential downpour and he saw a frog that was pregnant and struggling in labour. There was a cobra there. Although a natural sworn enemy of the frog, it had spread its hood and was providing shelter to the frog. When he saw this sight, then and there he decided that this was the ultimate “Kshetra” – the site for the temple.

We have each of us been given a Kshetra in the form of our body and it is in these temples that the Kshetrajna, the Lord is residing. We should therefore strive to make this Kshetra the best possible place for the Lord.

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