February26 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 2; Verses 2.69 (Day 57) Sankhya Yoga

 February 26 – Day 57

Verse 2.69

या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी ।

यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुनेः ॥ २-६९॥ 

yā niśhā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti samyamī
yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśhā paśhyato muneḥ (2.69) 

யா நிஶா ஸர்வபூ⁴தா¹னாம் த¹ஸ்யாம் ஜாக³ர்தி¹ ஸம்யமீ |
யஸ்யாம் ஜாக்³ரதி¹ பூ⁴தா¹னி ஸா நிஶா ப¹ஶ்யதோ¹ முனே: ||69|| 

69. That which is night to all beings, in that the self-controlled man is awake; when all beings are awake, that is night for the sage who sees. 

Commentary: That which is real for the worldly-minded people is illusion for the sage, and vice versa. The sage lives in the Self; this is day to him. He is unconscious of worldly phenomena; this is like night to him, as it were. The ordinary man is unconscious of his real nature. So life in the Self is like night to him. He is experiencing the objects of sensual enjoyment.  This is day for him.  The Self is a non-entity for him! For a sage this world is a non-entity.

The worldly-minded people are in utter darkness as they have no knowledge of the Self.  What is darkness for them is all light for the sage.  The Self, Atman or Brahman is night for the worldly-minded persons.  But the sage is fully awake.  He is directly cognizing the supreme Reality, the Light of lights.  He is full of illumination and Atma-Jnana or knowledge of the Self. 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda:

The worldly man is ignorant. The sage ‘does not understand’ how the worldly man finds his pleasure in the objects of the world, in spite of the fact that the daily deep sleep experience teaches him that all happiness is within and life teaches him that pleasure is inseparable from pain.

The worldly man is ignorant of the path that leads him to bliss of the self. The sage turns a blind eye on worldly pleasures which do not attract him. For him they are like an object lying in a dark chamber. At night one who is in a brightly illumined room sees only darkness outside, even if there is moonlight; in the divine light of his self-realisation, the sage sees the world as a pale and misty illusion.

Tamas or darkness or ignorance is exceedingly difficult to remove. Illusion dies hard. It is possible to remove the pain in an aching hand; but sometimes there is pain ‘in’ an amputated hand – the hand that is not there or the phantom limb! This pain is extremely difficult to cure.

The worldly man has no idea at all of the inner world of the qualities of nature, the senses, the mind, the buddhi, etc. He is completely at the mercy of nature which, in his case, is base nature, the large residue of past incarnations. The sage is aware of this inner world and is also aware that the outer world is part of the body of God. The earth disappears from his view; the whole space looks blue – the colour of the body of God! A word of caution: there is no use in attempting to gain this vision without practising self-control. This vision is not imagination nor is it psychedelic experience. It is the vision of the unconditioned when all conditioning has dropped away. 

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