21 Aug 2023
1. What is meant by Chaitanyam? Are atma, jeeva and chaitanyam mean same?
Swami replied:- Atma means the inert energy that is produced by the oxidation of food in mitochondria cells. This inert energy enters the functioning brain-nervous system and is transformed into a specific work form, called awareness and this awareness is called Jiiva. Chaitanyam is the name given to the general awareness in a living body.
2. Please explain the meaning of the following verse of the Gita.
[yā niśā sarva-bhūtānām
tasyāṃ jāgarti saṃyamī
yasyāṃ jāgrati bhūtāni
sā niśā paśyato muneḥ - Gita, Chapter-2, verse 69
Meaning given by ISKCON: What all beings consider as day is the night of ignorance for the wise, what is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the introspective sage.
This meaning is not clear to me. Please clarify this.]
Swami replied:- The above said meaning is only the literal meaning. The indicated meaning or the essence of this verse is that for worldly human beings, God is night and world is day. For devotees, God is day and world is night. Both devotee and worldly person sleep in the night and awake in the day as per their contexts. This means that a devotee is always awaken in the subject of God and sleeps (neglects) the subject of worldly affairs. The ordinary human being is reverse to this and is always aware of worldly affairs while sleeping in the subject of God.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★