II: 53

[Krishna Jaya]

Chapter 2, Verse 53

 

“At present, your mind is bewildered

By conflicting interpretations of the scriptures.

When it can rest, steady and undistracted,

In contemplation of the Self,

Then you will reach union with the Self.”

 

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:

 

“The Vedas expound the wisdom of right and wrong at various levels of evolution.  When one sees the different perspectives in the Vedic literature, one may be confused by the varieties of opinion about the path of realization.  But when the mind comes to rest in Samadhi (super-conscious absorption), the goal of all paths is reached.  From the center of reality, the whole circumference of life is seen to be completely harmonious, for when the center is found, it becomes clear that the innumerable radii all converge from the circumference towards a single point.  If the center is not found, then the various radii will be regarded as separate and unrelated.  That is why Krishna stresses the importance of the direct experience of pure consciousness.  This alone can dispel the uncertainties that are inherent in the thinking process.”

 

Alan Watts:

 

“When it was found out that the Earth was not the center of the cosmos, but that we were a small planet in a rather insignificant solar system, way out on the edge of a galaxy that certainly wasn't the biggest galaxy there was in all space, and people began to say, 'Oh, dear me. Man is nothing. He's merely a fungus on this little rock that goes around the sun, and nature couldn't care less.' And so all the poets of the new 19th century philosophy of science said 'Man is nothing.' But at the same time, man was saying he was the spearhead of evolution, the farthest that life had progressed, and he was going to conquer nature, because he's just a poor little accident, and if he's going to make his way of life successful, he's got to fight all this nonsense around him, all these other creatures that aren't even civilized, and beat them into submission so they'll be civilized.

 

Well that's a big story. You could equally say man is a mighty atom, tiny, way off in some funny corner of the universe--but don't forget, the universe has no corners. Everywhere in it is the middle, or can be regarded as such.  Any point on a sphere can be seen as the center of the surface of the sphere. So in the same way, anything in curved space can be seen as the middle of it all. And here in the middle of it all, once again the Earth has become the center of the cosmos. You can regard anywhere as central. So, here in the center is this extraordinary little being whose importance is not in his size--that's no criterion of value--but in his complexity, in his sensitivity, in the fact that these tiny creatures we call people are each one of them essential to the existence of the whole cosmos. That's the sort of relation we have here between the great and the small, the macrocosm and the microcosm.”