Help Understand meaning of Gita 10.25

August 18, 2005

Namaste Sri Yaduji:

Here is the translation along with commentary by Swami Dayananda

Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam (in his Gita Home-study notes).

His commentary probably will clarify your question.

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

maharsmam bhrguraham glramasmyekamaksaram

yajnanam japayajno'smi sthavaranatn himalayah (25)

maharsinam - among the sages; bhrguh aharn - I am Bhrguh;

gleam - among words; asmi ekam aksaram - I am the single syllable

(Om):

yajnanam - among rituals; japayajnoah asmi -I am the ritual of japa,

sthavaranam - among the mountains; himalayah - the Himalayas

Among the sages I am Bhrgu, among words I am the single syllable

(Om), among rituals I am the ritual of japa, among the mountains, the

Himalayas.

Among the ancient maharsis, Bhrgu was considered to be the greatest

of them all. He is mentioned in the Taittiriyopanisad which says

Bhrgu who is the son of Varuna got this knowledge from his father.

Here Bhagavan says I am this Bhrgu.

Gira means speech. Sankara says that here it means words, pada

laksanam. Among the many words, giram, in all languages, there is one

phonetic, single syllable, all-inclusive word. That is Om.

Phonetically, the word Om does not belong to any language. It is a

universal sound consisiting of three vowels, A-U-M. When anybody

opens his mouth and makes a sound, it is " a," When he closes his

mouth and makes a sound, "m 'is the sound produced. The same "a"

becomes "u" when the mouth is rounded. So these are sounds which come

naturally to any human being and all other sounds are modifications

of "a."

All words are combinations of these sounds and all names are words in

all languages. So Om. the name of the Lord, is a single syllable

representing all words. It is a perfect name for the Lord. How,

otherwise, are you going to give him a name? If you give him one name

you are excluding all other names - as though, they are not the names

of the Lord. This is the difference between the Lord and an object.

When you say apple, it means only one object and excludes all others.

All other fruits, all other objects are excluded. Similarly if you

say Rama, then Krsna, Siva, you and everybody else are excluded. So

the Lord's name has to be such that it includes all names. That is

why in prayer we repeat a given name 108 times. The Sanskrit letters

from "a" to "h" are 54 in number when you include certain forms of

letters which are not generally counted. All names are names of the

Lord and all names are but words which in turn are letters. The

letters in ascending order, arohanam, then descending order,

avarohanam amount to 108. Within this alone all words are possible.

Therefore if you repeat one name 108 times, you have symbolically

repealed all the names of the Lord, known and unknown. That is for

Sanskrit. Then phoenetically, all sound in all languages are

between "a" when you open your mouth and "m" when you close it. The

letter "u" stands for all other sounds in between. So we have Om.

When you say Om all names are included so the whole jagat, the

apparent form of Isvara, the Lord, are covered. Once you have said

Om, you require nothing more. It is a non-linguistic phonetic symbol

for the Lord.

The Lord is one and non-dual containing within himself all things

which are expressed by Om. So Om is non-dually one and "Among the

words, I am Om" That is why Omkara is the sound symbol, pratikafov

meditation upon Isvara. "A" stands for the waking world, "U" for the

thought world and "M" for the unmanifest. It starts with creation,

srsti, and resolves into Brahman. Om is this word-symbol for

meditation upon parambrahma. It is also a word through which you

understand parambrahma. Thus it becomes both a word revealing Brahman

and a verbal symbol for meditating upon Isvara.

Om as a word means that which protects and sustains everything, avail

raksati. In that sense, Om is the name for Isvara. There are many

rituals called yajnas, for which you require a number of

ingredients. You need a fire which means some small creatures living

in the wood you offer may be unwittingly destroyed. You need money

to buy the things required to perform the yajna and that money you

obtain by competing in the world. In doing so, you may hurt somebody.

Your gain is necessarily at the expense of someone else's gain. So in

the process of performing the ritual, we unwittingly hurt or destroy

many things. To offset these papas we say a few prayers. All rituals

and prayers help in acquiring antah-karana-$uddhj. But among them,

japa-yajna or mental repetition of the Lord's name is the greatest

because you do not harm anything. So among all these various yajnas

I am this japa-yajna which incurs no papa.

Sthavaranam himalayah, among the mountains, I am the Himalayas. Here

about the mountains which may or may not have peaks. Sthavara means

that which does not move. So among these immobile mountains, I am the

Himalayas, alafam, abode of himam, snow. The distinction of the

Himalayas among all the mountains is the vastness of their range.

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

This verse is an important verse in chapter 10 of Gita providing His

glories. Swamiji correctly observed the implied non-duality between

the Lord and everything other than Him.

Warmest regards,

Ram Chandran

advaitin, "ymoharir" <ymoharir> wrote:

> Dear List Members:

>

> I am trying to understand the significance of the following shloka:

>

> maharshhiiNaaM bhR^igurahaM giraamasmyekamakSharam.h |

> yaGYaanaa.n japayaGYo.asmi sthaavaraaNaa.n himaalayaH || 10.25 ||

August 18, 2005

Thank you for Swami Dayananda's interpretation.

Is there a link for the home study notes? I think that would really

be helpful for many.

The question I have is why did kR^iShNa comprre himself with Sage

bhR^Iguu?

Most of his contributions in R^igveda like 65th in 9th Mandala is

cridited for bhR^iguu & jamadaagni. 19th suukta from 10th mandala

is cridited with bhR^iguu, cyavana & mathita. He is referred is a

referred in over 19 time but always as plural not singular.

Although some stories tell his lineage with varuNa, in taittiriiya

brahmaNa associated the birth indra. Where as a bhaagavata (4.5.17-

19) the bhR^iguu's birth is described from brahmaa's skin.

yasakaa finds the vyatpatti to "bhR^ij" = meaning to roast. In

mahaabhaarata the word bhR^ik signifies flames. Some have

interpreted bhR^ik as lightening as well.

To really top this off bR^iguu was an extremely short tempered but

he through his efforts he became sarvadnya and went to svargaloka.

bhR^iguu had cursed agni and dethroned nahuSha who was about to

acquire indra-pada. He tried to wake up lord vishNuu by essentially

kicking him in the chest and then cursed him to take a birth on this

Earth. he had cursed Shiva to become the represent linga and his

curse on brahma was the really topper that no one will ever worship

you.

Considering all of the above, the question I am deliberating what

may have been the real rational in such a comparison.

Hope full this will explain my dilemma in trying to understand the

significance. I am convinced that there must be a reason but have

not yet come up with a satisfactory rational. Any thoughts?

Thank you,

Dr. Yadu

advaitin, "Ram Chandran" <RamChandran@a...>

wrote:

> Namaste Sri Yaduji:

>

> Here is the translation along with commentary by Swami Dayananda

> Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam (in his Gita Home-study notes).

> His commentary probably will clarify your question.

>

> ----------------------------

> maharsmam bhrguraham glramasmyekamaksaram

> yajnanam japayajno'smi sthavaranatn himalayah (25)

> maharsinam - among the sages; bhrguh aharn - I am Bhrguh;

> gleam - among words; asmi ekam aksaram - I am the single syllable

> (Om):

> yajnanam - among rituals; japayajnoah asmi -I am the ritual of

japa,

> sthavaranam - among the mountains; himalayah - the Himalayas

>

> Among the sages I am Bhrgu, among words I am the single syllable

> (Om), among rituals I am the ritual of japa, among the mountains,

the

> Himalayas.

>

> Among the ancient maharsis, Bhrgu was considered to be the

greatest

> of them all. He is mentioned in the Taittiriyopanisad which says

> Bhrgu who is the son of Varuna got this knowledge from his father.

> Here Bhagavan says I am this Bhrgu.

>

> Warmest regards,

> Ram Chandran

>

August 19, 2005

He tried to wake up lord vishNuu by essentially

kicking him in the chest and then cursed him to take a birth on this

Earth.

praNAms

Hare Krishna

Yes, in purANa-s bhrugu is well known for his short temper & one can say he

is next to dUrvAsa in anger :-)) despite all these notority about bhrugu,

lord still identifies himself with him!! what a leela..another interesting

identification is *nArada* (dEvarshiNam nAradaM), as we all know the

rapport of *sage* nArada in hindu mythology is not so good (let there be

aside his bhakti sUtra) ..his mischievous deeds in bringing quarrel between

dEva-rAksha-s (and sometimes among dEva-s themselves!!) is well accounted

in pUrANa-s & his another name is *kalaha priya* (name itself is self

explanatory)...but still lord says I am nArada among dEva rishi-s:-))

Likewise, dyUtaM chalayatAsmi..forthat matter any gambling not good but

still lord identifies himself with dice play!!

It is also interesting to note that lord first say vEdAnAm sAma vEdOsmi

( in vEda-s I am sAma vEda) & subsequently he says bruhatsAmaM tathA sAmnAM

(in sAma vEda I am bruhatsAma)..I am not able to understand why first lord

said I am sAma vEda & then declares that he is only part of that vEda i.e.

bruhatsAma?? what exactly is this bruhatsAma?? can any sAma vEda scholars

clarify this??

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

August 19, 2005

Namaste Yaduji:

Swami Dayananda's Gita Homestudy Notes are available only in

printed form at the Arsh Vidya gurukulam website

(http://www.arshyavidya.org. I have bought few years back for $200

and it came in 2 binders along with 3 casettes of Gita recitation

rendered by Swamiji. The notes contain over 2000 pages and they

provide elaborate commentary along with substantial supporting

explanation on advaita philosophy.

Since chapter is the Vibhuti Yoga, Lord Krishna's reference of

Bhrigu should be understood should be understood with the correct

context. A careful reexamination of all the verses in chapter would

indicate that Lord Krishna compares Himself to the superaltive

qualities exhibited. Maharishi Bhrigu is superlatively wellknown for

his 'wisdom (vivekam)' and all other qualities such as anger gets

dissolved! Everything that is 'super' in the universe (effect)

exist only because of the Lord (cause). In otherwords, He says that

He is the cause of everything that we observe and recognize.

Warmest regards,

Ram Chandran

advaitin, "ymoharir" <ymoharir> wrote:

> Thank you for Swami Dayananda's interpretation.

>

> Is there a link for the home study notes? I think that would

really

> be helpful for many.

>

August 20, 2005

The books are also available as 2 large pdf files on 2 cd's for $40. I

bought them recently.

http://books.arshavidya.org/cgi-bin/process/shop/display/item?prrfnbr=60315

_____

advaitin [advaitin] On Behalf

Of Ram Chandran

Friday, August 19, 2005 9:52 AM

advaitin

Re: Help Understand meaning of Gita 10.25