Gita Satsangh: Chapter 10 - Verses 12 to 13

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Gita Satsangh, Chapter 10: The Yoga of Divine Glories(VibhuutiyogaH)

Verses 12 to 13:

 

Arjuna Uvaacha:

Param brahma param dhaama pavitram paramam bhavaan;

Purusham shaashvatam divyam aadidevamajam vibhum. .. 12

 

Arjuna said:

Thou art the Supreme Brahman, the supreme abode (or the supreme

light), the supreme purifier, the eternal, divine Person, the

primeval God, unborn and omnipresent.

 

Aahustwaam rishayah sarve devarshirnaaradastathaa;

Asito devalo vyaasah swayam chaiva braveeshi me…. 13

 

All the sages have thus declared Thee, as also the divine sage

Narada; so also Asita, Devala and Vyasa; and now Thou Thyself sayest

so to me.

 

Easy references;

 

The Gita Supersite http://www.gitasupersite.org/ contains most of the

commentaries including commentaries in many languages.

 

Adi Shankara's commentary and Swami Chinmayananda's commentary are

available at the advaitin file folder at URL:

advaitin/files

Double click on the folders Sankara1 and Chinmaya to access the files.

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What nectarean words to read on the start of a work-week!

 

( Arjuna Uvaacha:

Param brahma param dhaama pavitram paramam bhavaan;

Purusham shaashvatam divyam aadidevamajam vibhum. .. 12

 

Arjuna said:

Thou art the Supreme Brahman, the supreme abode (or the supreme

light), the supreme purifier, the eternal, divine Person, the

primeval God, unborn and omnipresent. )

 

The Caitanya Caritramrita says :

 

advaya jnana tattva vastu krsnera svarupa

brahma atma, bhagavan, tin tanra rupa


 

Lord Krsna Himself is the one undivided Absolute Truth, the ultimate

reality. He manifests Himself in three features-as Brahman,

Paramatma and Bhagavan.

 

C.C.Adi.2

 

Paramacharya says :

 

"Mahavishnu has many names. In fact, there are a thousand names. Then

it may be asked why the Narayana name is chosen. The supreme

astakshari mantra of Mahavishnu has the Narayana name in it.

 

Ayana means path (marga). Ayana also means the end (goal) of the

path. In both these senses, Narayana is the Ayana for the Nara

(Jivatma). Bhrama Vidya Sastra gives the path to salvation. Narayana

is Bhrama Vidya. When He appears as Krishna Paramatma, he himself

says "Adhyatma Vidya Vidhyanam" in the Gita. The final goal of that

Vidya is also He only. Therefore it is that when Bhrahma Vidua Guru

Parampara is talked about, it starts with "Narayanam". So it is quite

appropriate that in the Bhashya books, which are Bhrahma Vidya

Sastras, the Narayana name is used."

 

Om Namo Narayana!

[Guest guest]

Namaste Satsanghis:

 

Here are some additional explanations on these verses.

 

By the first half of the twelfth verse Arjuna intends to say that the

absolute known as the transcendent Eternal is no other than Sri

Krsna; that His supreme Abode too, being the embodiment of Truth,

Knowledge and Bliss, divine in character and hence identical with

God, is the same as Sri Krsna; and that His names, virtues, glory,

stories and character, when heard, reflected on and chanted, are

supremely purifying in every way.

 

The word 'Rsayah', qualified by the adjective Sarve, stands for Rsis

like Markandeya, Angira and so on, whom Arjuna mentions as the

authority for his statement.

 

The following are the marks of a Devarsi or celestial sage:-

"Seers living in the celestial regions should be known as the

blessed Devarsis". Besides them, there are other Devarsis as well who

are distinguished by their knowledge of the past, present and future

and strict adherence to truth. In other words celestials, Brahmanas,

and members of the royal class who are self-illumined and have

established contact with the world of their own free will who are

famed throughout the world for their austerity, who have imparted

spiritual knowledge to devotees (like Prahlada) even in their mothers

womb, who are the revealers of Mantras or sacred formulas, who by

virtue of their supernatural powers (Siddhis) have unrestricted

access everywhere, and are ever surrounded by Rsis, are all Devarsis.

 

"The two sons of Dharma, Nara and Narayana, Kratus sons,

collectively known as the Valakhilyas, Kardama, son of Pulaha,

Parvata, Narada and the two sons of Kasyapa, Asita and Vatsara,

because they an exercise control even over the celestials, are called

Devarsis."

 

Devarsi Narada, Asita, Devala and Vyasa-all these great Rsis know of

the real truth about God, and are great lovers and devotees of God,

and possessed of supreme wisdom. They are regarded as highly

respected and truthful sages of their time; that is why their names

have been specially mentioned in the verse. Moreover, they are ever

engaged in singing the praises of God. The chief mission of their

life is to propagate the glory of God.

 

The Mahabharata too contains several references to these and many

other Rsis and Maharsis singing the glories of God. The patriarch

Bhisma recapitulates in the Bhisma-Parva what one or other of those

sages spoke about Bhagavan Sri Krsna. Sri Krsna has already referred

to His own incomparable glory in IV.6 to 9; V.29, VII.7 to 12; IX. 4

to 11, and 16 to 19; and X.2, 3, 8. This is what Arjuna has in mind

when he says that Sri Krsna is revealing His own glory to him. Arjuna

is, therefore, convinced that what he says in these verses about Sri

Krsna is, quite correct, and he has no doubt about it.

 

The title of 'Brahma Rsis' represents Rsis who have achieved the top

cadre of rsis through austerity (Tapas). Sage Viswamitra wanted

Brahma rsis, Sage Vasista (the author of Yogavasista) to call him as

a Brahma Rsis and he finally achieved this remarkable feat through

Tapas. A sage who attains the status of 'Brahma Rsis' when he/she is

slef-realized. A Brahma Rsis knows all the glories of the Lord

(Brahman). Even a Brahma Rsis's wisdom is a second-hand knowledge and

the best source of the Brahmanic Wisdom is one and only the Brahman!

 

Harih Om!

 

Ram Chandran

 

 

 

 

advaitin, "adi_shakthi16" <adi_shakthi16>

wrote:

>

> What nectarean words to read on the start of a work-week!

>

[Guest guest]

Namaste Satsanghis:

 

Here are the commentary from Swami Chinmayanda for these two verses:

 

 

Arjuna said:

 

12. You are the Supreme BRAHMAN, the Supreme Abode, the Supreme

Purifier, Eternal, Divine PURUSHA, the God of all gods, Unborn,

Omnipresent.

 

13. All the RISHIS have thus declared You, as also the DEVA-RISHI

Narada, so also Asita, Devala and Vyasa; and now the same You

Yourself say to me.

 

Arjuna confesses that he had already been taught, through the Vedic

passages, that the great seers of old had indicated the INFINITE, the

ETERNAL, through suggestive phraseologies, such as "THE SUPREME

BRAHMAN, THE SUPREME ABODE, THE SUPREME PURIFIER, THE ETERNAL

BRAHMAN, THE SELF-LUMINOUS PURUSHA, THE FIRST DEVA, THE BIRTHLESS AND

THE ALL-PERVADING." In all these cases he had heard them only as

attributes of the Truth. So when he heard in his own presence, the

same phrases used by Krishna, in the first person singular, he, the

son of Kunti, feels lost, not knowing how to comprehend that Krishna,

his charioteer, is the Source of the Whole Universe!

 

A practical man-of-the-world as Arjuna was, he needed more data, and

we shall discover that in order to satisfy this demand, Krishna

supplies enough information in this very same chapter. But, instead

of satisfying Arjuna, it only sharpens his curiosity and compels him

to demand from Krishna an experimental demonstration, which also is

provided by Krishna in the following chapter (Chapter XI).

The ancient seers mentioned here, "Narada, Asita, Devala, and Vyasa,"

cannot be very familiar to the students of the Upanishads. Vyasa,

perhaps, deliberately quotes these Rishis mentioned in his Puranas.

Arjuna acknowledged and recognised these phrases, indicating the

attributes of the Lord, only as empty and purposeless words, though

they had come from accepted great teachers. His actual surprise was

clearly expressed in his words "SO ALSO YOU YOURSELF REPEAT TO ME."

Here the occasion for Arjuna's staggering confusion was, how his own

contemporary, Lord Krishna --- a living creature standing right in

front of him, whom he knew all these years, and was even related to --

- could Himself be the Infinite, the Supreme, the Birthless, and the

All-pervading.

 

Arjuna looks at Krishna with his physical eyes and he sees only

Krishna's physical structure. Krishna has been declaring Himself as

the pure Self throughout the Geeta and not as a living member of the

society. "Sri Krishna Paramatman" is the teacher in the Geeta and not

the son of Vasudeva, or the lover of the gopis. Arjuna could not

comprehend 'Krishna-the-Spirit,' in his pre-occupation with 'Krishna-

the-friend,' 'Krishna-the-lover,' 'Krishna-the-dependable man of

intellect and diplomacy.' Hence the Pandava prince's wonderment and

confusion.

 

advaitin, "Ram Chandran" <ramvchandran>

wrote:

>

> Gita Satsangh, Chapter 10: The Yoga of Divine Glories

(VibhuutiyogaH)

> Verses 12 to 13: