मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दु:खालयमशाश्वतम् | नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मान: संसिद्धिं परमां गता: || 15 || |
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“Attaining Me, those who reach the supreme eternal abode do not incur rebirth on Earth, which is the realm of suffering.”
Commentary: Lord Krishna emphasizes the profound outcome of attaining Him. He states that those who reach Him do not undergo the cycle of repeated birth and death. These cycles relate to Earth which is characterized as duḥkha-ālayam (place of suffering) and aśhāśhvatam (impermanent).
The human mind and heart resist the notion that earth is a place of suffering! Moreover, the senses deceive, working against any contrary beliefs. The ignorant person believes that his body, family, relatives, and all his possessions belong to him and that he belongs to them forever. Everything and everyone belong only to God. However, with misplaced identity, he rolls the dice in a gambling match with Desire (Duryodhana). The six sides of the dice are the shadripus- Kāma: Desire or lust, Krodha: Anger, Lobha: Greed, Moha: Attachment or delusion, Mada: Pride or arrogance, Matsarya: Envy or jealousy
Rolling this dice, the ignorant person gambles, risking his own kingdom of well-being, health, wisdom, and divine grace. After losses accumulate, he forfeits his inner strengths – self-control, discrimination, calmness, patience, and foresight at each of the five chakras or energy vortices along the spine. Unfortunately, his deluded identity blinds him to the inevitable outcome of losing the game. In desperation, he puts in jeopardy his own life force, the kula-kundalini, symbolically referred as Draupadi, flowing through all the five chakras. Grasping the profound loss of bodily kingdom on Earth and facing imminent death, his soul-consciousness within the life force turns to God before utter annihilation. This tragic episode of loss is common to millions of people and only those who fight the battle of life (Kurukshetra) with God as their charioteer, can emerge victorious.
Lord Krishna therefore, refers to those special people who have attained Him as “mahātmānaḥ”, which signifies individuals of great spiritual stature. These enlightened beings have realized their true nature and have achieved the highest state of spiritual fulfillment. By attaining the Supreme, they have reached the goal and purpose of human existence.