I know there are two entities living inside me. There is one that is fully active, making a lot of noises, running here and there, both physically as well as mentally. And second is that does not engage with anything and is fully at peace. First one is the body-mind organism which is always in motion and on the go. This is the part that is in touch with the world. It acts, reacts, gets angry, raises demands, and go out and acquire things. This is kinetic energy which is always in action. This is confused and in conflict all the time. This is the part that logically thinks, set goals, performs calculations, seeks profits and pleasures and avoids loss and pain. It is worried and anxious. It is this that gets fearful, ruminates about the past or broods about the future. It does make plans about the future. It is the one that is agitated and always want to do something else and be somewhere else compared to what is doing and where it is currently. Always on the move.
The other piece is like potential energy, complete stillness. It does not have any urge to get into this action or that. It remains unperturbed like an unparticipating witness. It watches the other part acting and reacting. It watches thoughts and emotions rise and subside. It is full awareness. It is like the riverbank or the seashore which remains still and where the waves come and go.
If we observe ourselves all the time, we will see these two distinct parts very clearly. We would notice how these two parts behave differently.
After discovering this, do we know which of the two are we? Let's look at this a bit more closely.
The former, which acts and does things all the time, we would notice is also the one that holds all our beliefs and opinions. It has both gross and subtler aspects, body being the grossest part and thoughts, emotions, intellect, etc. on the subtler side. I cannot be this part as this keeps on changing, it never remains the same. Our body changes, our mind changes, emotions, beliefs, opinion everything changes. But deep down I know that I am always the same, I never change. In our childhood, despite being small, I could feel myself the same way as I do even now, when I have grown to be a middle-aged person. Thus, I cannot be this changing entity.
Then I must be the other never-changing entity, the witnessing one.
So, then who is it that is acting? It can't be me because I am only the witness. It is the body-mind part that acts. Thus, I am not the doer. I am only the witness.
The body-mind part is of this material world, but the witnessing part is not of this world. It cannot be because I can't see or feel it. I simply know that this is. It is thus of another world. We call it divine. God is something which always is and never changes. Thus, this part of ours that we are in reality, is God or a fragment of God or something that could put us in touch with God.
In BG, Krishna asks Arjun to leave everything and go back to him. Who is this Krishna and who is Arjun? What is this going back to him all about?
In one interpretation, Arjun (in the current state) represents the body-mind part of us that engages in this world pursuing its goals and objectives. Krishna is the wise one that does not engage in the world but is always with Arjun guiding him. Arjun needs to identify this and go back to Krishna, focusing all his mind and energy on him.
Kurukshetra is symbolic which symbolizes the battlefield of life. Arjun must fight this battle and should not run away to forests. But while he is engaging in the fight, his mind should always remain firmly on Krishna. Krishna does not engage in the battle, but Arjun must. No one can abstain from action.
Krishna also represents the "purusha" aspect and Arjun's current state the "prakriti" aspect. Prakriti is the manifested aspect of the world that represents the energy and the matter born out of that. This by its nature always engaged in action. But "purusha" which is said to be the source of "prakriti" performs no action.
In BG, Krishan also talks about the upside-down peepal tree. This could be understood in two ways. One, in context of the human body, where the root that is the brain is on the top and the branches and leaves, which represent the limbs of the body are below. Another interpretation is made in the context of the manifested universe, which is the branches and leaves but the root of all of this is in an unmanifested source which is above.
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