The Eternal Message Of The Gita-The Seer And The Seen

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If it is important to distinguish that which changes, the 'seen', from that which doesn't change, the 'seer', it is even more important, following the analysis to its end, to understand that this 'seer' is the ultimate Reality. For it is not the analysis of the 'seen', of the many different objects appearing in our field of enquiry, that can give us the wisdom we are aspiring for. The Gita teaches us that the only true knowledge consists in knowing both the 'seen' and the 'seer' at the same time.

The notion of a 'seen' implies the corresponding notion of a 'seer'. One cannot think of either term without necessarily having the other in mind. Now pure knowledge (vijnna) is not applicable to an object that could be opposed to a subject: It is non-dual, and for this reason Sri Krishna declares that He is the only true 'seer' of all objects perceived, meaning that His vision is without any sense of multiplicity. This is no longer the vision familiar to us, the vision proper to the creature, necessitating the existence of an object seen. In the vision of the 'seer' such a relation does not exist, because it does not admit of any multiplicity. Therefore, we say that it is 'without object'.

The created being considers the vision to be 'his' and, by thus differentiating himself from the 'seen' of which he himself nevertheless never ceases to be a part, he creates multiplicity, so to speak: his vision is a vision of multiplicity. Ignorance (ajnna), therefore, consists in appropriating the vision to oneself. In order to remove this ignorance Sri Krishna reveals that the Lord is the true 'seer'. It is enough to realize this truth so that the error may disappear once and for all. 'After numerous births the man who is full of wisdom comes to Me, knowing that all is Vasudeva, the Lord. Such a sage is rare to find,' says Sri Krishna (Gita, 7.19).

The Kshetrajna, the Knower of the field who is present in all the Kshetras or fields, is without any conditioning (updhi). Thus he cannot be said to be existent or non-existent, sat or asat (cf. Gita, 13.12), nor can he ever become an object of perception. In fact, one of the criteria of absolute reality is that It cannot be contradicted by anything. Now in all objects that are perceived the updhis or conditionings change, and when a change is effected, the subsequent state is a contradiction of the previous state. Of course both states cannot exist simultaneously: The clay that serves to manufacture a jar cannot at the same time be used to make a jug. The two forms are mutually exclusive. When, in speaking of the nature of an object, we say that 'it exists' or that 'it doesn't exist'; the 'it' we are referring to is not an object of observation. We say, 'it exists', 'it is blue', 'it is big', but that 'whom' we are attributing these qualities to is, in truth, intangible. We only perceive aspects of 'It'.

About the author

Swami Siddheswarananda

Swami Siddheswarananda (1897-1957) was a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, and for twenty years until his death, the spiritual head of the Centre Vedantique Ramakrichna at Gretz, France. This commentary of the learned Swami on the various themes of the Gita was orginally published in French in the 'Bulletin of the Centre Vedantique' during 1955-57. This article is the fifth instalment of a series of about a dozen articles, each independent in itself. English translation and editing was done by Mr. Andre van den Brink.

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