Hey all!
So I was reading a chapter from The Bhagavad Gita (chapter 4) and I came across this line(36):



Bark of wisdom? Hmmm... Anyone have any ideas on this? Or better yet could anyone actually verify what this is a reference to? I have a Penguin Classic 1962 version, so I dunno if the translation has anything to do with it. I found a few other versions looking online where 'bark of wisdom' instead read 'transcendental boat'.

Thoughts?

I have two copies, though I can only find one at the moment.

The one I'm looking at is a translation by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

What I have in chapter 4.36 is this:



I also have a translation by Paramahansa Yogananda, but I can not seem to locate it right now.

What I will say is this. All translations of the original Sanskrit seem to lose something. Also the Bhagavad Gita and Indian religious text in general were always written in obscure parables and are meant to be interpreted by a teacher. For example the text I quoted above is followed by the words of the swamie:



dang it I wish I could find my other version. I'd like to see what Paramahansa has to say about this verse.

you read the whole Bhagavad Gita and this is what interests you ? , perhaps the correct quote should be

Here is another version:

http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-04-36.html

and another

http://vedabase.com/en/bg/4/36

Since the Gita is a chapter of a larger work i will check a version of the latter...

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m06/index.htm

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m06/m06028.htm



Nice passage:


I love the Mahabharata, can't say I like the Gita by itself... in the context of the larger work thought I do enjoy it.

This one is good too:
http://www.sanskrit-sans...glish-jn%C4%81nayoga/609

If you look thought you will find that some of the translations add extra content to the words that are not part of the original, these tend to come from devotees of Krsna... Here is an example:
(aśraddadhānaḥ)
This word means "without faith", but is translated by the Krsna devotees as "without faith in the revealed scriptures" which I think is an enormous distinction and difference.

Man, I haven't seen my copy of Sri Yogananda's translation and commentary, God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita, since the late 1970s. Lent it to a "friend" who left town with it.

Before Sri Swami Yogananda actually translated the Bhagavad Gita, himself, he was enthusiastic to present to the Western world, the translation of Sir Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial. Personally, it is one of my least favorite translations but I've still got in in hand (for sentimental reasons).

But Sir Edwin Arnold translated this same line as such, "Wert though worst of of all wrong-doers, this FAIR SHIP OF TRUTH should bear thee safe and dry across the sea of thy transgressions."

Master Yogananda was an exceptional, realized yogi himself, a traveler to ineffable heights of spiritual consciousness... but was not he himself, an expert Sanskrit scholar nor a seasoned literary pundit. How cares? For myself and what I value in a literal & experience translation, I prefer the direct knowledge of those who have firsthand knowledge of the Divine state, over the dry musings of intellectuals.

I'm not trying to be a smug dink here, just trying to keep it real. There can be little to no doubt, that Sri Krishna disguised as a simple charioteer, was making absolutely NO reference to the root bark of Mimosa Hostillas. India a is a looooooong way from the Amazon.

I do applaud such imaginative pondering, though. It's fun to look for interconnections that may or may not exist only within our own frame of referencing.

I believe the statement implies sailing the sea of mortal illusion, keeping buoyantly afloat by the light of the Atman within, seeking the eternal horizon line... the point of full spiritual immersion within the Unified Field of Being.

Furthermore, had Sri Krishna implied the aid of psychedelic interphase, he would have used the more familiar reference of Soma, so often mentioned in the Rig Vedas.

Without going into exhaustive detail about what is the specific formula for the legendary Soma or as neighboring Persians named it, "Haoma"... and who is correct in their recipe for Soma... it was not likely to be exactly akin to Ayahuasca. Most contemporary scholars lean towards a drink made form hashish or hash oil, ephedra and Syrian Rue but if Gordon Wasson is even partially correct, Amanita Muscaria may have been one of the psychoactive ingredients.

I suspect the ingredients were relative to the advance in time periods, environmental changes on the subcontinent and availability of said herbs. Much of the ancient science of Ayurveda is shrouded in total secrecy... so who really knows?

Now, I wouldn't be such an inflexible fool as to flatly refute any possibility that DMT containing Acacia Catechu, known as "Khair" within India, couldn't have been one of the changing list of ingredients within Soma... but it is certainly not what is being referenced specifically, with this line from the Gita.

But my main point here is that Lord Krishna speaks directly towards the immersion of the individual's subjective perception, with the Gnosis of the Supreme Godhead. Sri Krishna was advocating Yogic interphase with the indwelling Light of Lights. Entheogens are surely one approach to this union... but I feel it is clear that this line is not a direct or specific reference to a psychedelic substance.

Rather, I see this heavenly advice to Arjuna, as parabolic. A lesson aimed at sentient being's greatest challenges in seeking cosmic insight... an allegory of the journey of the individuated, relative self, merging within the limitlessness of the Absolute Self.

In other words, the process of the Egoself dissolving it's subjective perception into a fusion of conscious-awareness, within Omniscient God, thus, perceiving the greater parameters of the Omniself as oneself and so, awaken to the Sacredness and immanence of Infinite being (as it blooms effulgently, within our fleeting dream of relative being).

Lord Krishna is inarguably speaking about the necessity of a harmony and balancing of the internal & the external realms. I feel that the wisdom he teaches is aimed towards the path of kriya/karma yoga, that being, the art of cohesively uniting rational, conceptual pragmatism and the boundlessness and wholly formless shift of mindset... which generates an ego-freezing and all absorbing, perceptual experience of Divine Being.

That being said... I wouldn't go so far as to say that entheogens are not employed to expand the perceptual horizons of earnest yogins. Speaking of Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, if one looks closely within the pages of the Swami's, Autobiography Of A Yogi, there are 2 definitive references to psychedelics.

When Lahiri Mahasaya first meets his Gurudev, Sri Babaji Maharaj, the great spiritual master reminds him of their past life connections. He says, "Behold your bowl, from which you often drank the NECTAR prepared by me! See how I have kept the brass cup brightly polished, that you might drink again therefrom! My own, do you now understand?"

Sri Babaji also states, "Lahiri, you need purification. Drink the oil in this bowl and lie down by the river." The still unrealized Lahiri Mahasaya, obediently drank the mysterious oil. He trips his brains out for 6-8 hours, barely aware of being a physical entity, wholly enraptured in bliss. Hash oil? Or perhaps harsh oil mixed with Syrian rue oil? That's my pet theory and one which may well be true. The Indians have imported rue seeds for millenniums, from neighboring Persian regions.

Anyhooooooo... he awakens to experience a vision of a shimmering, jewel-encrusted golden palace, which is actually physical and solidly material. I do not personally believe it was real... but I didn't experience his reality. Each persons dreamscape is equally valid. He maintained it was temporarily created out of the ethereal, matrix of Divine Mind. I have my doubts about this assertion.

But then again, what is reality and what is an illusion? I have envisioned fabulously intricate and geometric temples and palaces, on Hyper-spacial voyages, so where does the psychedelic/religious pilgrim draw a hard line in the proverbial sand? for my own sadhana, it helps if I am open to all experiences of alternate realities, levels and planes of conscious-awareness, and yet, question any and all of my perceptions, especially entheogenic visionary experiences.

As a wise friend of mine is known to say, "Believe Nothing. Allow Anything. Question Everything." With such sage advice, looking at anything can be an epiphany or an illusion. A clear glance into the eternal Spirit or a mirage as well, a conceptual hike through a revolving house of mirrors. Most importantly, I see this as our need to always seek to travel the Middle Road. Gotta love the clarity and practical wisdom of our esteemed Brother, joedirt.

I'll check my copy of Yogananda's commentary when I get home, but I think this may explain it.... translation


Related forms

bark

noun
1.
Nautical . a sailing vessel having three or more masts, square-rigged on all but the aftermost mast, which is fore-and-aft-rigged.
2.
Literary. a boat or sailing vessel.
Also, barque.

Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English barke < Old French barque ≪ Late Latin barca, Latin *bārica, bāris < Greek bâris Egyptian barge < Coptic barī barge


So the work "bark" used in the translation is an archaic use of an English word. The original sanskrit probably used a word for boat, but our esteemed translator decided to use a less common English word, that would eventually become unused in that context, but still remains used as defined much differently. Ergo the jump from "boat" to "tree skin".

Lots of knowledge here! I appreciate all of the insight.

I actually only just recently read through the Gita for the first time, and it touched me in a way no other spiritual literature has. In all honesty I couldn't say why, but a lot of it just really resonates with me, specifically at the point in my life that I am. I would love to read it in it's larger context, the Mahabharata, when I have the time.

And no Jin, I wouldn't say this is what sticks out in the Gita for me -- but it did strike a curiosity and I knew the Nexus was the perfect place to ask.

Beautiful post Spirit! I think your interpretation is much better suited, and there's a lot more context for it. I knew that the reference was not specifically to Mimosa Hostilis, as that is not geographically possible (as far as I'm aware). But I was curious if certain varieties of Acacia grew in India and if they may have been utilized for their DMT--but you answered that for me when you mentioned Acacia Catechu. I think you're right though; if the reference was to this, my guess would be that it would read "Khair" instead of eluding to the "bark of wisdom" (unless of course 'bark of wisdom' means something else). I say this because later in the Gita there is a direct reference to Soma; it is not eluded to.
(9.20)



Of course, Krishna goes on in the next verse to say that these mens' reward in heaven is shortlived and they return to the world of death because they "...lust for pleasures that pass away: in truth they attain pleasures that pass away." I wonder if this implies anything about the use of entheogens as just another attachment? As far as I can remember it's the only direct reference to Soma (or any entheogen) in the Gita.

But I am aware that Eastern philosophy, esotericism(?), asceticism, etc... is likely to have been influenced by the use entheogens. In fact, it is my humble opinion that these practices likely would not exist without these substances.

But keep the info coming! I've already learned an enormous amount from these few responses, and you've all helped shape the rest of the Gita for me in a way which allows me to explore it much deeper. So thank you!

All boats sail through the sea of evil, only the boats made with the bark of wisdom will cross to the other shore. The boats made of the rotted bark of ignorance shall drown therein.


Pretty clear meaning. It's a simple metaphor which just happens to coincide with the fact that mimosa/iboga barks bestow wisdom



But I do like it

In the greater work, the Mahabharata, from which the Gita was excised there are many many references to Soma, which appears to be a word closer to the word "entheogen" than it is a reference to any one thing, that is a side topic though.

I have to add, that for me taking the Gita out of the Mahbharata is like taking the letters N, O, and P out of the alphabet and then saying they are all you need...

I strongly suggest that people read at least the first book ADI PARVA and consider this.
The gita is good, but in my own experience it is missing a lot of material that is found in the work as a whole.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm