Gita Satsangh, Chapter 9 Verses 4 to 6 - Advaitic Significance of Krishnavatara

[Guest guest]

Namaste

 

I am glad that Savithri Devaraj brought us back to Gita

Satsangh. It appeared as if we have forgotten the Gita

satsangh!. Well, I want to pinpoint one paragraph of

Savithriji’s posting, namely, the following:

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"All beings are in Me, I am not in them". Sri krishNa showed

this to yashoda devi in his childhood play. Yashoda actually saw

the 14 worlds in krishNa's mouth, but soon the truth was lost on

her due to her accustomed moha for krishNa. – "pashya me

yogamishvaram" – Look at the power of yogamAya! The Lord, as

paramArtha for the jnAni, appears as world to the ajnAnis. This

is the power of yogamAya.

-------------------------------

In fact the story of Krishnavatar is a great lesson in

advaita. The one thing great about Krishna that is revealed in

all the stories about his life, from childhood onwards, is that

He is everywhere but also nowhere. The Gopis come and complain

that He has stolen butter from their houses but they find Him

already at home in the lap of His mother! The mother looks into

His mouth expecting to find the morsel of mud and clay He is

supposed to have just put into His mouth, but instead she finds

the whole universe there. The Gopis revel in the thought that

they are playing with Him; but they discover they have actually

been playing with their own husbands. Almost every story of

Krishna goes on in this manner and brings out the miraculous

behaviour of Krishna’s manifestation, namely, He is everywhere

but He is also nowhere. So it becomes impossible to point out to

Him out that He is here and not there, He is this and not that.

He is anirdeshya-vapuH (one of His names in the vishNu

sahasra-nAma) – the form which cannot be pointed out as this or

that.

This leads us on to another connected observation. In the

vishNu-sahasra-nAma, (the thousand names of Lord VishNu) there

occurs the following sloka:

atIndriyo mahA-mAyo mahotsAho mahAbalaH /

mahAbuddhir-mahAvIryO mahAshaktir-mahAdyutiH //

This sloka could be interpreted as the secret of Krishnavatara

embedded in the vishnu sahasranAma. What does this sloka mean?

It simply lists eight names of the Lord, among his thousand

names. The eight names describe Him as follows:

He is beyond the senses;

He possesses the greatest magical faculty, namely, mAyA;

He has a great enthusiasm and dynamism for the acts of creation,

etc.;

He is the strongest among the strong;

He is the wisest among the wise;

He possesses ‘Energy’ in the form of Cosmic Ignorance which

generates the entire world, therefore His prowess is great;

He has great resources of strength and power;

He is intensely brilliant within and without.

(By the way, these meanings are from the commentary of Sankara).

 

Now remember we said that this sloka may be interpreted as the

secret of Krishna avatar. But where is Krishna referred to here,

which is not mentioned in the rest of the Vishnu sahasranAma?

That is the punchline of this whole discussion.

Yes, there is no specific reference to Krishna here. But you

know Krishna. He will not be there where you look for Him. So He

is not in this sloka, but He is in the next name that follows

this sloka in the sequence of slokas in the vishNu-sahasranAma.

That name is anirdeshya-vapuH - the one who cannot be pointed

out as this or that!

Incidentally, Sankara’s genius goes one step further in

assigning a meaning to this name: ‘He cannot be pointed out as

this kind or that kind – that is His form!’

 

This miraculous impossibility of visualisation of the Lord was

also talked about in slokas 24 and 25 of the seventh chapter of

the gita itself.

 

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaste Savitri-Ji, Namaste Prof. Krishnamurthy-Ji,

 

Read your beautiful posts just before closing office. Returned home

with the Yogeswara closely following. Why should the guy follow this

personification of imperfection? His ways have always been

inscrutable. So, no questions, please.

 

He was right there staring at me from the idiot box (Asianet

channel). The scenario – "The Slaying of Duryodhana" – a very famous

Kathakali dance drama. The performers – the best Kathakali artistes

of Kerala. On stage, Krishna pleading to Duryodhana on behalf of His

friends – the Pandavas. One of the best Kathakali scenes of

unparalleled artistic consummation.

 

Perhaps, He wanted me to wonder about His leelAs. There is no other

explanation for his chasing me home from office. I forsook my lunch

to watch Him doing the pleading with the bombastic and arrogant

Duryodhana. Five districts please, five villages please, five houses

please till Duryodhana declares that he won't grant the Pandavas any

land - even of the size of a needle-point.

 

Then follows a wordy duel, with Duryodhana insulting the Pandavas and

the Lord retorting in the same coin. At last, Duryodhana gets hold

of a rope and chases the Lord to bind him and falls unconscious as

Krishna reveals his cosmic form. Blind Dhritarashtra, who then

enters the scene, can see the Lord and admonishes the unconscious

Dhuryodhana to wake up and see the Vishwaroopa. Dhuryodhana does not

recover. How can he? Isn't he the real blind?

 

Perhaps, the Yogeswara was telling me – see, boy, my yoga does not

end with Bhagwat Gita 9 : 4-6. I am the charioteer, I am the envoy,

I am the unending length of Draupadi's attire, I am in the dice that

Yudhishtira cast (dyUtam chalayatamasmi) (Sunderji, please check this

arrogant boy's (56 years old!) grammar and spelling), I am the

Madhava of the gopis, I am all the roles – but I am not in any of

them. The gopis, their dance and merriment are lighted up by me.

They dance because I am, as your thoughts are because you are.

Similarly, you are not the roles you are playing; get into them and

get out untainted. That is the yoga for you, Nair.

 

Thank you, Sir. I understand. I belong to the land where your

famous Guruvayoor temple is located. Am I being chauvinistic? I

can't be. I am the one who says : Swadesho bhuvanatrayam! Your

devotees Vilwamangalam, the man who "felt" he sinned and gouged his

eyes and offered them to you, is my ancestor. You were, thereafter,

available to him at his beck and call. Weren't you, dear Krishna?

And the danseuse who enchanted him, Chintamani, is my ancestor too.

Didn't you follow her unceasingly without revealing yourself as she

called out your name and wandered lands far and wide and raised

herself to the lofty heights of Meera? Oh, what an ecstasy,

Krishna! Won't you grant me an infinitesimal part of it, Krishna?

Don't reveal yourself. At least, tell me you are with me!

 

Dhuryodhana is my deluded ego who sees not the real me (my

vishwaroopa). He is after the rope to literally bind everything. His

very nature is binding. He is not happy if anything is left

unbound! Dhritarashtra sees although he is physically blind. Who is

he? My spirit of enquiry and discrimination? Can someone please

tell me?

 

My vagabond thoughts, please abide. Krishna, the receptacle is

awaiting chasing unceasingly. There isn't a moment he is nought.

The naughty boy!

 

Pranams.

 

Madathil Nair

advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk> wrote:

>

> Namaste

>

> I am glad that Savithri Devaraj brought us back to Gita

> Satsangh.