Bhagavad Gita Summary: Chapter 15: Purushottamayoga orThe Yoga of the Supreme Purusha.

Chapter 15: Purushottamayoga (20 verses) The Yoga of the Supreme Purusha.

The last six chapters all deal with the relation between Purusha and Prakriti and the Three Gunas. This chapter uses the image of the world tree. According to H. P. Blavatsky: 'World. As a prefix to mountains, trees, and so on, it denotes a universal belief. Thus the “World-Mountain” of the Hindus was Meru. As said in Isis Unveiled: “All the world-mountains and mundane eggs, the mundane trees, and the mundane snakes and pillars, may be shown to embody scientifically demonstrated truths of natural philosophy. All of these mountains contain, with very trifling variations, the allegorically-expressed description of primal cosmogony ; the mundane trees, that of subsequent evolution of spirit and matter; (Theosophical Glossary)'

1- The Tree of Samsara. (1-5) 

1. They speak of the indestructible Asvattha having its root above and branches below, whose leaves are the metres. He who knows it knows the Vedas.

2. Below and above are its branches spread, nourished by the gunas, sense-objects its buds; and below in the world of man stretch forth the roots ending in action. 

Just as a person taking his meal runs away leaving the dish when he knows that it contains poison, similarly once the idea of the impermanence of this world gets stamped on the mind one runs away from attachment. The detachment thus gained does not leave you even if you try to get rid of it. In this fifteenth chapter Shri Krishna is explaining how the world is impermanent using the simile of a tree.

The entity which is known as Maya does not exist. Actually it is like the child born to a barren woman and is named Maya. It cannot be said that Maya is real nor can it be said that it is unreal. It cannot survive in the presence of knowledge and yet it is called beginningless. It is the holder of many principles and just as clouds are formed in the sky the universe is formed in her. All sorts of forms and shapes are folded into the folds of her fabric. She is the root of the world-tree, source of the worldly affairs illuminated by the dim light of improper unrighteous knowledge. Such an entity as Maya is takes shelter in the Brahman and appears through its power. The Maya which is created from Brahman makes it forget its own nature. This is the first root of the world-tree. Non-realisation of the Self as Brahman is the main root-bulb of the tree at its top. It is called "Beejabhaava" or "the root principle" in the form of Maya by Vedantis. The sleep state of deep ignorance is called its "Bijankurabhaava" or "seedsprout principle" while the dream and wakeful states are its "Phalabhaava" or "fruit principle". This is how Vedantins thus express these aspects of Maya but in all this understand that the basic root is the ignorance.

At the end of the Kali-Yuga the barks of the trees in all the four yugas are shed and the tree dries but when the Krita- Yuga starts again the barks grow many times faster. One cannot understand how many branches grow and how many fall. (Dnyaneshwari; 15:125-129, transl. M.R. Yardi) 

Cut the Tree and seek the Goal. (3-4)

3. Its form is not perceived as such here, neither its end nor its origin nor its existence. Having cut asunder this firm-rooted Asvattha with the strong sword of dispassion.

4. Then That Goal should be sought for, whither having gone none return again. " I seek refuge in that Primeval Purusha whence streamed forth the Ancient Current."

Strong : strengthened by a resolute bent of mind towards the Supreme Self and sharpened again and again on the whetstone of the practice of true discrimination. Cut asunder : uprooted the Tree of samsara with its seed.  (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

The Path to the Goal. (5) 

5. Free from pride and delusion, with the evil of attachment conquered, ever dwelling in the Self, their desires having completely turned away, liberated from the pairs of opposites known as pleasure and pain, the undeluded reach that Goal Eternal. 

2- The Goal of the Path (6-11)

The Goal is the Lord's Glorious Being. (6) 

6. That, the sun illumines not, nor the moon, nor fire ; That is My Supreme Abode, to which having gone none return.

The primeval place which is seen without seeing and known without knowing is called the Primeval Man (Adya Purusha). But even he is described by Shrutis by taking help of attributes and make meaningless noise that it has a name and form. But people who are disgusted with heaven and worldly life swear that they will not be reborn and turn to yoga and knowledge. Then they become detached and turn their back to worldly life and crossing the Brahmalok which is the highest stage attainable by the path of action they march ahead. (15:275-284). (Dnyaneshwari; 14:371 -398, transl. M.R. Yardi) 

Jiva is a ray of the Lord. (7) 

7. A ray of Myself, the eternal Jiva in the world of Jivas, attracts the senses, with manas the sixth, abiding in Prakriti. 

'An integral portion of Myself—of the Supreme Self, of Narayana,—is the eternal Jiva (individual soul) in samsara, manifesting himself in every one as the doer and enjoyer. He is like the sun reflected in water ; the reflected sun is but a portion of the real sun; and on the removal of water the reflected sun returns to the original sun and remains as that very sun.—Or, it is like the akasa (space) in the jar, which is limited by the upadhi of the jar. This akasa of the jar is but a portion of the infinite akasa and becomes one with the latter on the destruction of the jar which is the cause of limitation ; then it returns no more. Thus the statement " to which having gone none return " is quite explicable.  (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

How Jiva dwells in the body and departs from it. (8-9)

The Self is visible only to the eye of knowledge. (10) 

10. Him who departs, stays and enjoys, who is conjoined with gunas, the deluded perceive not; they see, who possess the eye of knowledge. 

A person may attains this knowledge, his intellect may become so subtle as to penetrate even an atom and he may become learned in all branches of knowledge, but unless this learning is accompanied by detachment, he will not encounter me though I am all-pervasive. He may talk mouthfuls about discrimination but if he harbours sense-objects in his mind then definitely he will not find me. Even if all branches of knowledge are on the tip of his tongue as long as ego exists in the mind he will not attain me even after millions of births. (Dnyaneshwari; 15:391-397, transl. M.R. Yardi) 

No self-knowledge without Yoga. (11) 

11. Those who strive, endued with Yoga, perceive Him dwelling in the self; though striving, those of unrefined self, devoid of wisdom, perceive Him not. 

Those who strive, well balanced in their mind, behold Him, the Self, dwelling in their own mind (buddhi) : they recognise Him, " This I am. " But though striving to know Him by means of proper authorities such as the scriptures (sastra), men of unrefined self—whose self (mind) has not been regenerated by austerity (tapas) and subjugation of the senses, who have not abandoned their evil ways, whose pride has not been subdued,—behold Him not." (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

3- Immanence of the Lord (12-15)

Immanence of the Lord, (i) as the all-illumining Light of Consciousness. (12)

12. That light which residing in the sun illumines the whole world, that which is in the moon and in the fire, that light do thou know to be Mine.

(2) As the all-sustaining Life. (13)

(3) As the Digestive Fire in all living: organisms. (14)

(4) As the Self in the hearts of all. (15)

I dwell in the hearts (buddhi) of all sentient beings as their Self.''' Wherefore from Me, the Self of all sentient beings, are memory, knowledge, I as well as their loss. Just as knowledge and memory occur in righteous persons as a result of their good deeds (punyakarmani), so, as a result of their sins, loss of memory and knowledge occurs in the sinful. I, the Supreme Self, am to be known in all the Vedas. It is I who cause the Teaching of the Vedanta (Upanishads) to be handed down in regular succession, and It is I who know the Vedic Teaching. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

4- The transcendence of the Lord (16-20)

The Lord beyond the perishable and the imperishable universe. (16-18)

18. Because I transcend the perishable and am even higher than the imperishable, therefore am I known in the world and in the Veda as 'Purushottama,' the Highest Spirit.

The Glory of Self-knowledge. (19-20)

19. He who, undeluded, thus knows Me, the Highest Spirit, he, knowing all, worships Me with his whole being, O Bharata.

The Self is in all things, and all things are in the Self. Whatever there may be of “shining” through any form or under any condition, that “shining” is from and of the Self. If this is recognized and admitted, we must begin to regard all things and beings in that light and act towards them upon that basis; in this way we act for and as the Self, and as we hold to and follow that practice, all ideas, habits and desires that conflict become overcome little by little, until at last we have the supreme power for good that comes with selflessness. (Crosbie, Essays on the Gita, 206) 

Bhagavad Gita Summary: Chapter 14: Gunatraya Vibhagayoga or The Yoga of the Division of Three Gunas

Chapter 14: Gunatraya Vibhagayoga (27 verses) The Yoga of the Division of Three Gunas.

 

Guṇa is a concept in Hinduism and Sikhism, which can be translated as "quality, peculiarity, attribute, property". Its original and common meaning is a thread, implying the original materials that weave together to make up reality. The concept is originally notable as a feature of Samkhya philosophy, now a key concept in nearly all schools of Hindu philosophy. Maitrayaniya Upanishad is one of the earliest texts making an explicit reference to Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and linking them to their Guna – as creator/activity, preserver/purity, destroyer/recycler respectively. Chapters 2, 3, 7, 13, 14, 17 and 18 of Bhagavad Gita discuss Guna, with chapter 14 being the basic one.

1- The supreme knoweldge. (1-4)

2. They who, having resorted to this knowledge, have attained to unity with Me, are neither born in the creation, nor disturbed in the dissolution, 

Evolution of the universe from the union of Spirit and Matter. 

Knowledge of the origin of the universe is necessary for Salvation. (3-4) 

3. My womb is the great Brahman ; in that I place the germ ; thence, O Bharata, is the birth of all beings.

My womb: My own Prakriti, — i.e., the Prakriti which belongs to Me, the Maya made up of the three Gunas, the material cause of all beings. This Prakriti is spoken of as great because it is greater than all effects ; and as the source and nourishing energy of all Its modifications, It is termed Brahman. In that Great Brahman I place the germ, the seed of the birth of the Hiranyagarbha, the seed which gives birth to all beings. I who am possessed of the two potencies (Saktis), the two Prakritis of Kshetra and the Kshetrajna, unite the Kshetrajna with Kshetra, the Kshetrajna conforming Himself to the upadhis of avidya (nescience), kama (desire), and karma (action). This act of impregnation gives rise to the birth of all beings through the birth of the Hiranyagarbha. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

2- The nature and functions of the gunas. (5-18) 

The gunas bind the soul. (5) 

5. Sattva, Rajas, Tamas, — these gunas, O mighty-armed, born of Prakriti, bind fast in the body the embodied, the indestructible.

6. Of these, Sattva, which, from its stainlessness, is lucid and healthy, binds by attachment to happiness and by attachment to knowledge, O sinless one. 

Thus it is through avidya alone—which forms an attribute (dharma) of the Self as the non-discrimination between the object and the subject,—that Sattva causes the Self to be attached as it were to happiness which is not His own, causes Him, who is free from all attachment, to be engrossed as it were in happiness; causes to feel happy as it were Him who does not possess the happiness. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

7. Know thou Rajas (to be) of the nature of passion, the source of thirst and attachment; it binds fast, O son of Kunti, the embodied one by attachment to action. 

8. But, know thou Tamas to be born of unwisdom, deluding all embodied beings; by heedlessness, indolence and sloth, it binds fast, O Bharata. 

9. Sattva attaches to happiness, Rajas to action, O Bharata, while Tamas, enshrouding wisdom, attaches, on the contrary, to heedlessness.  

The time when a soul reaches the status of an individual (i.e. is born) by adopting the I-am-the-body attitude is an inauspicious moment. From birth until death he imagines the functions of the body as his own. 

Sattva attribute The Sattva attribute traps the individual by the strings of pleasure and learning. The learned individual roars due to vanity and kicks around due to conceit and loses the bliss of the Self-realisation. He feels elated when people honour him for his learning. He feels happy by small gains and he brags around that very little satisfies him. He says how fortunate he is to have none as happy as himself. He is flooded with the eight righteous Sattva-attributed emotions.

As if this is not enough, another binding in the form of the pride of his being learned trails him. He does not feel sorry that he has lost the realisation of his being the Soul. On the contrary he swells with pride of his worldly knowledge. The soul in the body, because of worldly outward knowledge considers himself as the body. He knows the art of handling worldly affairs and becomes expert in the rituals of yajnas. His knowledge can take him up to heaven and he thinks that currently there is none as knowledgeable as he is and that he alone is clever. In this way the Sattva attribute pulls this lame individual like bull with the reins of pleasure and learning. 

Now listen to the characteristics of Tama attribute. Tama attribute is that which veils the practical view of a person as if the sky is covered by dark clouds of delusion, which grows by ignorance, and makes the whole world dance with delusion, of which thoughtlessness is the password and which is the pot of honey of ignorance which keeps individuals under illusion. This Tama attribute chains those who consider the body itself to be the soul.  (Dnyaneshwari; 14:145-158, transl. M.R. Yardi) 

How to know when a particular guna is predominant. (11-13) 

Out of these the Raja and the Tama cause one's downfall while without the Sattva attribute one does not attain Knowledge. Therefore just as some people renounce everything to adopt the fourth type of life (i.e. that of sanyasin) a Sadhak (aspirant) should give up all and live throughout his life with the Sattva attribute. (Dnyaneshwari; 14:265-270, transl. M.R. Yardi) 

Life after death as governed by the gunas. (14-16) 

16. The fruit of good action, they say, is Sattvic and pure; while the fruit of Rajas is pain, and ignorance is the fruit of Tamas. 

The functions of the gunas summed up. (17-18) 

18. Those who follow Sattva go upwards ; the Rajasic remain in the middle; and the Tamasic, who follow in the course of the lowest guna, go downwards.

Those who follow the course of Sattva-guna will be born in the region of the Devas or the like. The Rajasic will dwell among men ; The Tamasic—those who follow the course of Tamas, the lowest guna—will go down, i.e., they will be born in the wombs of cattle and the like creatures. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

3- Transcending the gunas (19-27)

Realisation of the Self beyond the gunas leads to immortality. (19-20) 

19. When the seer beholds not an agent other than the gunas and knows Him who is higher than the gunas, he attains to My being.

When a man is enlightened and realises that there is no agent other than the gunas which transform themselves into the bodies, senses and sense-objects, when he sees that it is the gunas that in all their modifications constitute the agent in all actions ; when he sees Him who is distinct from the gunas, who is the Witness of the gunas and of their functions, then he attains to my being : i. e., seeing ' that All is Vasudeva, he becomes Vasudeva. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

The marks of a liberated soul. (21-22) 

21. By what marks, O Lord, is he known who has crossed beyond those three Gunas ? What is his conduct, and how does he pass beyond those three gunas ?

Unlike a man of Sattva (or Rajas or Tamas) who longs for the Sattvic (or Rajasic or Tamasic) states which first presented themselves to his consiousness and then disappeared, he who has risen above the gunas does not long after things which have disappeared. — This is a mark which others cannot perceive; it serves as a mark for the individual himself, as it can be perceived by himself alone ; no man indeed can perceive the hatred or the desire which presents itself to another man's consciousness. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

The conduct in life of the Liberated one. (23-25) 

24. Her to whom pain and pleasure are alike, who dwells in the Self, to whom a clod of earth and stone and gold are alike, to whom the dear and the undear are alike, who is a man of wisdom, to whom censure and praiseare same;

Moreover, 25. The same in honour and disgrace, the same towards friends and enemies, abandoning all undertakings,—he is said to have crossed beyond the gunas. 

The same : unaffected. Though neutral from their own standpoint, some appear to others as if they were on the side of friends or on the side of foes ; but this man appears to be same to friends and foes. He renounces all actions, productive of visible and invisible results, except those which are necessary for the bare maintenance of the body. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

Devotion to the Lord leads to liberation. (26) Unity of Atman. (27) 

The dust particles on the earth or the snow particles in the Himalayas are not different similarly I am in me (i.e. the universe). When the outlook of equality that one is not different from God is developed I call it devotion. This outlook is the best knowledge and the essence of yoga.  Because of it the attitude that "I am Brahman" comes to the surface. With this attitude that knowledge also dissolves. When the difference vanishes the knowledge also vanishes. The illusion that the devotee is on this shore and I am across disappears and what remains is only the oneness between the two. Then the question of conquering the attributes does not remain because with the entwinement of oneness they also disappear. Arjuna, this state is called the state of oneness with Brahman. He who is devoted to me is the one to attain it. Brahman weds him who carries devotion to me in this manner. He who serves me with the outlook of knowledge is the crown jewel of the oneness with Brahman. Attaining this state of oneness is called the liberation while in body or the fourth achievement. Devotion to me is the ladder for reaching the oneness with Brahman. (Dnyaneshwari; 14:371 -398, transl. M.R. Yardi) 

Bhagavad Gita Summary: Chapter 13: Kshetra Kshetragya Vibhagayoga or The Yoga of Difference between the Field and Field-Knower

The first six chapters of this book declared the nature of the individual spirit ; the six succeeding chapters dealt with the nature of the universal spirit; with this chapter begins the final hexad, which declares the relation between the two to be identity, — the Spirit or Consciousness as itself being one and indivisible. (Mohini Chatterji, Bhagavad Gita, 1887)

Image: Ardhanarishvara

Chapter 13: Kshetra Kshetragya Vibhagayoga or The Yoga of Difference between the Field and Field-Knower (34 verses)

This chapter is similar to the philosophy of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras in that it posits a psychological aspect to Purusha and Prakriti. The soul has a microcosmic correspondence to the Macrocosmic principles of Purusha and Prakriti, and the recognition that the Purusha is not involved with Prakriti allows for the transcendent union with the Purusha.

1- The field and its knower.  (1-11)

The body and the soul. (1) 

The Blessed Lord said : 1. This, the body, O son of Kunti, is called Kshetra ; him who knows it, those who know of them call Kshetrajna. 

Matter in all its forms. (5-6)

5. The Great Elements, Egoism, Reason, as also the Unmanifested, the ten senses and one, and the five objects of the senses; 

6. Desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate, intelligence, courage ;—the Kshetrahas been thus briefly described with its modifications. 

If we can grasp the idea of the perishable nature of Ahankara-egotism, the perishable nature of the other elements can be understood. It is a fact that we do identify ourselves with the ever-changing perishable body, and with its conditions and relations, which are also ever-changing. We say, “I am happy, or I am sad,” “I am sick or I am well,” “I am contented or I am dissatisfied,” all of these expressions being due to some form or condition which is changeable. 

We should observe that the self-identifying attachment is chiefly concerned with the present form and conditions, although we are aware that other forms and conditions have existed in the past, to which we were attached by like or dislike, and that still others will exist in the future. (Crosbie, Essays on the Gita, 190-91) 

2- Virtues conducive to Self-knowledge. (7-11) 

7. Humility, modesty, innocence, patience, uprightness, service of the teacher, purity, steadfastness, self-control; 

8. Absence of attachment for objects of the senses, and also absence of egoism ; perception of evil in birth, death and old age, in sickness and pain;

9. Unattachment, absence of affection for son, wife, home and the like, and constant, equanimity on the attainment of the desirable and the undesirable;

10. Unflinching devotion to Me in Yoga of nonseparation, resort to solitary places, distaste for the society of men;

11. Constancy in Self-knowledge, perception of the end of the knowledge of truth. This is declared to be knowledge, and what is opposed to it is ignorance. 

Self-knowledge : knowledge of the Self and the like. Perception, etc : Knowledge of truth results from the mature development of such attributes as humility (xiii. 7), which are the means of attaining knowledge. The end of this knowledge is moksha, the cessation of mortal existence, of samsara. The end should be kept in view ; for, it is only when one perceives the end of the knowledge of truth that one will endeavour to cultivate the attributes which are the means of attaining that knowledge. 

These attributes — from humility to perception of the end of the knowledge of truth —are declared to be knowledge, because they are conducive to knowledge. What is opposed to this — viz., pride, hypocrisy, cruelty, impatience, insincerity and the like is ignorance, which should be known and avoided as tending to the perpetuation of samsara.  (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

3- Brahman, the Knowable. (12-18) 

Brahman is all. (15)  Brahman is the one Self in all. (16) 

Moreover, 16. And undivided, yet remaining divided as it were in beings ; supporter of beings, too, is That, the Knowable ; devouring, yet generating. 

Brahman is the Illuminator of all. (17) Seek the Light through devotion. (18) 

17. The Light even of lights, That is said to be beyond darkness. Knowledge, the Knowable, the Goal of knowledge, (It) is implanted in the heart of every one. The Light is in the heart of every one. 

4- Prakriti and Purusha are eternal. (19-23)

Prakriti and Purusha as the Cause of samsara. (19-20)

19. Know thou that Prakriti as well as Purusha are both beginningless ; and know thou also that all forms and qualities are born of Prakriti. 

Play of Prakriti: This Prakriti which is like a big island of illusion, which pervades everything, has created emotions. Passions are fostered with her support. Delusion blooms because of her. She is known as divine Maya.  She makes the language grow, creates this material world, and ceaselessly invades it with materialistic way of life. All arts, skills are born of her. Desires, knowledge and actions are created from her. All the tunes and sounds are minted out by her. She is the home of miracles. 

In fact everything that happens in the world is her play. The creation of the world and its dissolution are her morning and evening respectively. She is thus the wonderful illusionist. She is the mate of the lonely Purush, companion of the unattached (Brahman) and she resides in the void. Her capability is so high that she keeps the uncontrollable Purush under control.  (Dnyaneshwari; 13: 991-1021, transl. M.R. Yardi) 

Avidya and Kama are the cause of rebirths. (21) 

21. Purusha,when seated in Prakriti, experiences the qualities born of Prakriti. Attachment to the qualities is the cause of his birth in good and evil wombs.

Self-knowledge removes the cause of samsara. (22-23) 

22. Spectator and Permitter, Supporter, Enjoyer, the Great Lord, and also spoken of as the Supreme Self, (is) the Purusha Supreme in this body. 

5- The Union of Kshetra and Kshetrajna (24-34)

The four paths to Self-knowledge. (24-25) 

24. By meditation some behold the Self in the self by the self, others by Sankhya-Yoga, and others by Karma-Yoga. 

Meditation (Dhyana) consists in withdrawing by concentration hearing and other senses into the Manas away from sound and other sense-objects, then withdrawing Manas into the Inner Intelligence, and then contemplating (that Inner Intelligence). Hence the comparison, " the crane meditates as it were; the earth meditates as it were the mountains meditate as it were" (Chha. Up. 7-6-1) Dhyana is a continuous and unbroken thought like a line of flowing oil. By meditation the Yogins behold the Self, the Inner Intelligence, in the self (Buddhi) by the self, by their own intelligence, i.e., by the antah-karana refined by Dhyana. — 

Sankhya consists in thinking thus : 'these, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, are Gunas, Atman is the witness of their acts, eternal, and distinct from the Gunas.' By Sankhya- Yoga "some behold the Self in the self by the self. "—  

Karma is Yoga, i.e., that Karma or action which is performed in the service of the Lord (Isvara). Such a course of action is Yoga—only by a figure of speech—inasmuch as it leads to Yoga. Some behold the Self by this Yoga of action, which, causing purity of the mind (sattva), gives rise to knowledge. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

The one Self in all. (27) 

27. He sees, who sees the Supreme Lord, remaining the same in all beings, the undying in the dying. 

Knowledge of the one Self leads to moksha. (28) 

28. Because he who sees the Lord, seated the same everywhere, destroys not the self by the self, therefore he reaches the Supreme Goal.

Prakriti acts, not the Self. (29) 

29. He sees, who sees all actions performed by Prakriti alone and the Self not acting. 

What is known by the name Supreme Soul, even though it exists in the body, always remains in its pure state. Actually it is not correct to say that Soul resides in the body. The soul is said to be in the body in the same way as when one looks at one's face in the mirror and say it is his face. It is totally meaningless to say that soul is related to the body.  Body is strung in the thread of the five principles and it rotates in the wheel of birth and death. 

This body is like a ball of butter inserted in the mouth of the fire that is Time. It vanishes in the short span of time that a fly takes to flutter its wings. If he falls in fire it turns to ashes and if it falls prey to a dog then it turns to fecal matter. If it escapes these two then a bunch of worms is created in it. Thus the this body comes to a disgusting end. Though the body reaches this fate the soul is eternal, selfilluminating, self-sufficient and beginningless. (Dnyaneshwari; 13: 1094-1107, transl. M.R. Yardi) 

The self is the source and the abode of all. (30) 

30. When a man realises the whole variety of beings as resting in the One, and as an evolution from that (One) alone, then he becomes Brahman.

The doctrine summed up. (34)

The teaching of the whole discourse is concluded as follows : 34. They who by the eye of wisdom perceive the distinction between Kshetra and Kshetrajna, and the dissolution of the Cause of beings,—they go to the Supreme. 

Astrology: Summer Solstice, June 21 2022

Some of the most important aspects of the year occurred during the Spring season: The Jupiter-Neptune conjunction on April 12, Jupiter sextile Pluto on May 3rd, a New Moon/Solar Eclipse on April 30,  and a Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse on May 16.

It seems that the powerful May 16 eclipse had quite an impact, with several high-profile elections coinciding with that period:  Russia lost an important ally as Pakistan president Imran Khan was voted out (April 9). Hong Kong Pro-Beijing candidate John Lee was elected as democratic structures were radically curtailed (May 8). Emmanuel Macron’s party was re-elected in France (May 10). A financially struggling Sri Lanka elected a new government (May 17). The Philippines made a decidedly conservative new government choice (May 17).  Columbia is in a tight two-way race (June 19) (Gustavo Petro won, Colombia will have a leftist president for the first time.)

Moreover, Sweden and Norway have made steps to join NATO (May 26). Additionally, an epidemic of mass shootings reached a crisis-point in the US, for example, Buffalo, (May 14), Uvalde, Texas (May 24).

Love in a Dangerous Time

For the Summer chart, which can be considered as a snapshot of the whole quarter, the tightest aspect is one I don't usually consider, but it seems significant here:

Sun quincunx Pluto indicates a mini-crisis or threat. You may feel a buildup of pressure to an intense level that results in neurotic, obsessive, or destructive behavior. An event or person may trigger this tipping point by taking away your personal power. In relationships, you could react by trying to control and manipulate the other person which would result in conflict and bruised egos.This crisis, turning point, or serious decision is best viewed as a self-improvement exercise. You can transform your life for the better and have a positive effect on someone or humanity in general. (Astrology King).

Some other fairly tight aspects include:

Venus square Saturn brings difficulties relating to others, anxiety, stiffness with your affections, emotional distance.

Moon square Sun brings conflict between what you want and what you need. a discrepancy between the demands of your personal life and what is expected of you at work.

Sun square Neptune  can  can be a time of illusions and confusion, or it can be a very inspired time. Recognizing that you need more on a spiritual level can help you handle the transit more constructively. Energy levels may be low or up-and-down. (Café Astrology)

With Mars in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn here, there begins roughly a month of volatile energies, going exact on July 1^st . Desires are intense and difficult to satisfy under this influence. A tendency to bully and confront may dominate. Efforts to make changes could be thwarted, or power struggles emerge. It would be wise to observe whatever powerful feelings that confrontations or conflicts arouse under this influence, as this transit has a way of pulling out suppressed matter, or emotional “slush”.  The trick is to remain flexible and to develop strategies. (Astrology King)

On a more positive note, we have a pretty tight minor grand trine with Venus, Neptune and Pluto which can be a useful support to help cut through all the static generated by the other aspects:

Venus in Taurus sextile Neptune in Pisces is imaginative and attuned to the world of beauty and romance,  a “magical” time on a romantic and social level relationships or with your personal finances.

Venus trine Pluto in Capricorn  can awaken deeper aspects of love, a renewal of a commitment. Feelings are intense and impassioned, and one could discover something intimate and relevant about a partner or about your own love nature.(Café Astrology)

Upcoming

Although overall, the planetary aspects will be evolving toward more peaceful figures over the next year, it seems possible that turbulant times could continue until Pluto leaves Capricorn in January 2024.  The difficult Saturn-Uranus square will have faded by January 2023.

from September 23 to October 23 Saturn and Uranus are within 1° of a square aspect

Oct 25 – Solar Eclipse  

References

https://astrologyking.com/mars-square-pluto/

https://astrologyking.com/sun-quincunx-pluto/

https://cafeastrology.com/thisweekinastrology.html