October 24, 2023
sarvasya cā ’haṁ hṛdi saṁniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedāntakṛd vedavid eva cā ’haṁ (XV-15)
XV/15. And, I am seated in the hearts of all; from me are memory,
knowledge, as well as their absence. I am verily that which has to be
known by all the vedā; I am indeed the author of the vedānta and
the knower of the vedā am I.
Swamiji's Commentary
Here is a clear-cut statement of the sublime truth that all is God. Memory is from God; knowledge is from God; their absence is also from God! Good is divine, and that which men call ‘evil’ is also divine (though God does not call it evil).
If we wish to realize that the classification of good and evil are illusory and that they both are in God and from him, we should at the same time he prepared to regard, with equal eye, pain and pleasure which are extensions of evil and good! To one who has transcended the latter pair, the former does not exist.
Śaiva siddhānta also declares that it is God who veils and it is he again who reveals. Why does he veil? In order that we may seek him, and then he unveils, in order that we may realize him. There is no further ‘why’; this is the truth which has to be accepted.
It is this power to which the vedā offer their prayers. Its glory do they sing. Vedā might refer to all branches of knowledge, sacred and secular, including modern science. All of them will ultimately lead us to a realization of God’s omnipresence. For, if we pursue with an incisive ‘why’, the acquisition of any knowledge, we shall ultimately end up confessing “I do not know.” Only God knows why this unceasing and unquenchable thirst to know is there in the heart of man. Only he knows all knowledge (vedā) and the end of all knowledge (vedānta). When knowledge as subject-object relationship comes to an end, it shines in its own light as pure awareness (God) in which there is no distinction between the knower, knowledge and the object of knowledge.
Thus, from a look at the sun in verse 12, Krishna has brought God-consciousness closer to our very self. In that process the object (the experience) and the subject (the experiencer) seem to merge into one. This is yoga.