Gita Satsangh, Chapter 10: Verses 14 to 18

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

Verses 14 to 18:

Sarvametadritam manye yanmaam vadasi keshava;

Na hi te bhagavan vyaktim vidurdevaa na daanavaah. …14

14. I believe all this that Thou sayest to me as true, O Krishna!

Verily, O blessed Lord, neither the gods nor the demons know Thy

manifestation (origin)!

Swayamevaatmanaatmaanam vettha twam purushottama;

Bhootabhaavana bhootesha devadeva jagatpate. .. 15

15. Verily, Thou Thyself knowest Thyself by Thyself, O Supreme

Person, O source and Lord of beings, O God of gods, O ruler of the

world!

Vaktum arhasyasheshena divyaa hyaatmavibhootayah;

Yaabhir vibhootibhir lokaanimaamstwam vyaapya tishthasi. ..16

16. Thou shouldst indeed tell, without reserve, of Thy divine glories

by which Thou existeth, pervading all these worlds. (None else can do

so.)

Katham vidyaamaham yogimstwaam sadaa parichintayan;

Keshu keshu cha bhaaveshu chintyo'si bhagavanmayaa.. . 17

17. How shall I, ever meditating, know Thee, O Yogin? In what aspects

or things, O blessed Lord, art Thou to be thought of by me?

Vistarenaatmano yogam vibhootim cha janaardana;

Bhooyah kathaya triptirhi shrinvato naasti me'mritam… 18

18. Tell me again in detail, O Krishna, of Thy Yogic power and glory;

for I am not satisfied with what I have heard of Thy life-giving and

nectar-like speech!

 

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.

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

I have provided below the commentary from Swami Chinmayanandaji. I

hope to see other members to provide commentaries from others which

will help us get better insights.

 

Harih Om!

 

Ram Chandran

 

Swami Chinmayanandaji's Commentary:

(List wants to thank swami Tejomayanandaji, the head of Chinmaya

Mission to permit us to post the commentary to the list)

 

14. I believe all this that You say to me as true, O Keshava; verily,

O Blessed Lord, neither the DEVAS nor the DANAVAS know Your

manifestation (identity) .

Here Arjuna exposes himself and expresses his unfaltering faith in

his teacher and confesses "I REGARD ALL THAT YOU SAY TO ME AS

TRUTH." 'Keshava' is "one who removes all sorrows of those who have

surrendered to him." Even though he accepts as truth all that Krishna

says, he cannot comprehend the significance of the Lord's

declarations. In short, Arjuna admits here that his heart is

satisfied and is overflowing with faith and belief but his intellect

is starved and thirsty.

The thirst-to-know, under which the famished personality of Arjuna

groans, is echoed in the second half of the second line, when he

admits that "NEITHER THE DEVAS NOR THE DANAVAS KNOW YOUR

PERSONALITY." The 'Danavas' are the sons of Danu, and frequently

challenge the heaven, obstruct the sacrifices, and lead generally in

undivine life. 'Devas' are highly sensitive denizens of the heaven

who are described in the Puranas as persons who have subtler

perceptions, stronger emotions and mightier intellectual

comprehensions than the mortals have.

Subjectively, 'Devas' stand for the nobler and the higher

comprehensions in us, and the 'Danavas' for the hosts of negative

urges. Arjuna, the son of Kunti, is expressing his despair that the

IDENTITY of the Self can be fixed up neither by the subtlest and the

noblest of our perceptions, nor can we apprehend this Self through

our 'Danava'-like challenge to possess, to acquire, to investigate

and to know. Neither the good in us can embrace the Truth, nor can

the bad in us challenge and bring up the Truth as an opposing force

right in front of us. There are only two methods of meeting another

being or thing; either as a friend or as a foe, either as something

that we like or as something that we abhor. In neither way can we

come to apprehend the individuality, the total personality (Vyakti)

of the Self --- It being the subject, both in Its expression as an

individual (Yoga) and in Its expansion as the cosmic (Vibhuti).

IF NONE CAN KNOW THE TRUTH, WHY IS ARJUNA ASKING KRISHNA TO EXPLAIN?

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE SPECIAL QUALITY THAT ENABLES HIM TO EXPLAIN THAT

WHICH NONE ELSE CAN EVEN KNOW?

______

15. Verily, You Yourself know Yourself by Yourself, O PURUSHOTTAMA

(Supreme PURUSHA) , O Source of beings, O Lord of beings, O God of

gods, O Ruler of the world.

This stanza indicates how Krishna is capable of explaining the

Supreme which is not known by the denizens of the heaven or the

hoards of the other kingdom. The Self is, of course, not known as

an 'object' through the intervention of our instruments of knowing,

nor can It be apprehended as the 'subject' --- either through the

best, or the worst in us. But, at the same time, the Self being

Awareness, It in Itself is Knowledge --- and to 'know' Knowledge, no

other knowledge is needed. Therefore, it is said by Arjuna "YOU

YOURSELF KNOW YOURSELF BY YOURSELF."

In the Sankhyan philosophy, the Spark-of-Life in each individual is

called the Purusha, in Whose presence, the matter-envelopments

constituting Prakriti, become vitalised. Here Krishna is addressed

as 'Purushottama' meaning "the Self of all selves, the One-without-a-

second." In the Geeta, the term Purushottama is sometimes used as

the 'most glorious of men' and sometimes in the purely technical

usage as the "Supreme Self."

Lord Krishna is now being recognised and glorified by Arjuna as the

Pure Brahman, when he addresses Him as "THE SOURCE OF BEINGS, THE

LORD OF BEINGS, THE DEVA OF DEVAS, AND THE RULER OF THE WORLD." The

essential stuff in any object is the ruler and maintainer of its

qualities. The quality of gold rules over all the qualities of

various gold ornaments whatever their shape, design, polish, etc.

More than this is the controlling and the ruling power of the

Consciousness in our lives, inasmuch as, without Consciousness, we

know nothing, can do nothing. An awareness or knowledge of a thing or

an event is possible only when the mental and intellectual

disturbances caused by it are illumined by the Pure Consciousness.

AFTER THE ABOVE INTRODUCTORY WORDS, EXPRESSING HIS SENSE OF WONDER,

REVERENCE, AND DEVOTION, ARJUNA IS NOW EXPRESSING DIRECTLY HIS

INTELLECTUAL DEMAND TO THE LORD:

______

16. You should indeed, without reserve, tell me of Your Divine

glories by which You exist pervading all these worlds.

The Prince is convinced that the Lord is the Essence without which

the multiple world cannot exist. At the same time, when he looks out

into the world through his familiar instruments of the intellect,

mind and body, he recognises nothing but ideas, feelings and objects;

and they are anything but divine.

When a building is illuminated on a ceremonial occasion, we see many

points of light emanating from the innumerable coloured bulbs of

varying intensity, but, when we are told that all of them are

sustained and fed by the same electricity, it would be quite natural

for the ignorant to demand that he be shown the electricity in each

of its manifestations! As the Cosmic-man (Ishwara), the Lord is both

Transcendental (Vibhuti), and Immanent (Yoga), in all names and forms

that constitute Samsara. This can be felt by a heart of faith but

cannot be comprehended by the intellect, even if it be sharp.

Naturally, Arjuna asked Krishna for an exhaustive discourse

upon "YOUR COSMIC-GLORY, VIBHUTI, BY WHICH, FILLING ALL THESE WORLDS,

YOU EXIST." Arjuna, being a man-of-action and supremely practical-

minded, wanted to gather sufficient data for his intellect to ponder

over, classify and understand It.

IS IT MERELY INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY IN ARJUNA THAT MADE HIM ASK THIS

QUESTION?... LISTEN:

______

17. How shall I, ever-meditating, know You, O YOGIN? In what aspects

or things, O Blessed Lord, are You to be thought of by me?

HOW AM I TO MEDITATE UPON THEE, SO THAT I MAY COME TO KNOW THEE? ---

The goal of a seeker is to KNOW the Truth in his own personal

experience, while he is in an intimate identification with It. The

Geeta was advocating, so far, not a life of retirement, for purposes

of quiet meditation, in solitary caves, on the banks of some river,

all alone! Krishna's call to man was a call to duty, the call of

work, the call of living the God-experience in and through life.

Geeta, the scripture, we should not forget, was declared in the

Mahabharata battle-field at a moment when the world of that time was

facing the greatest known historical crisis, both secular and sacred.

Arjuna has been completely converted into accepting the Geeta

Religion of Right Action. This is indicated especially when Arjuna

addresses Krishna in this stanza as "O Yogin" --- the greatest Karma

Yogin that ever freely lived in the thickest of life, yet, never let

himself down from the Consciousness of the Divine Essence.

Moreover, he makes it very clear why he has requested Krishna to

explain "without reserve," His Cosmic-Stature. Arjuna asks: "IN WHAT

FORMS ARE YOU TO BE THOUGHT OF BY ME?" Even while living life and

meeting its problems, if one were to remember constantly the Divine

Presence everywhere, one must know exactly where to see It, among the

individual objects of the world, among the combinations of things and

in the community of beings.

STATING AGAIN PRECISELY WHAT HE WANTS KRISHNA TO EXPLAIN, ARJUNA

MAKES IT CLEAR THAT EVEN IF THE ANSWERS BE RATHER LENGTHY, HE WILL

NOT FEEL TIRED OF LISTENING TO THEM AND UNDERSTANDING THEM ALL:

______

18. Tell me again, in detail, O Janardana, of your YOGA -power and

Immanent glory; for I do not feel satisfied by hearing your (life-

giving and so) nectar-like speech.

A student of philosophy --- and for that matter, a true student of

any knowledge --- should have, first of all, an insatiable thirst to

understand, to know, and to appreciate. Without this appetite, no

knowledge can be digested by the student with profit. This is

especially so in the SUBJECTIVE SCIENCE of self-development. For,

here, as nowhere else, the knowledge gained is not only to be

digested and assimilated, but lived intensively. Therefore, anxiety

to listen (Jijnasa) has been recognised as one of the noblest

qualities, unavoidable for a fit student in Vedanta, if he is TO BE

ASSURED OF ANY PROGRESS on the Path-of-Knowledge.

Arjuna, the Pandava Prince, had this noble trait to a large extent,

for he confesses, "I AM NEVER SATISFIED WITH LISTENING TO THE

NECTARINE WORDS OF YOUR DISCOURSES." No doubt, it is true, Satsanga

has a chastening effect upon all intelligent and interested

listeners. This intoxication, vicariously experienced by the students

when a true teacher discourses upon the Truth, is only a temporary

exhilaration, a passing mood of false peace, which cannot stand in

good stead when the student is left all alone by himself.

And yet, however volatile it may be, it can enchant the new

initiates, and some, like Arjuna, may become addicted to it. This

state of fascination for hearing more and more spiritual discourses

is amply indicated here. Though this is not the end, this is a good

beginning, no doubt, and those who feel a fulfilment in the study of

philosophy are certainly much more noble than the thousands who

cannot even stand a philosophical discourse, discussing the Nature of

the Divine!!

THE TIRELESS MISSIONARY IN KRISHNA, WITH MOTHERLY PATIENCE, ANSWERS

ARJUNA:

[Guest guest]

Namaste Satsanghis:

 

This week started with the Gita Jayanthi and I am surprised not to

see an enthusiastic participatin in the Satsangh. The conversations

between Lord Krishna and Arjuna in verses 1 to 18 should motivate all

the Satsanghis to pay attention to the subtle principles implied in

spiritual learning.

 

Let us further explore what Arjuna tries to convey to Lord Krishna as

a response to What Lord Krishna. In verses 1 to 11, the teacher

(Lord Krishna) conveys to the student (Arjuna) that He is very

pleased to teach him everything that He knows. Arjuna in response

through verses 12 to 18 assures the teacher that he follows

everything what He said and he is very eager to hear from Him more

and more. In the Gurukul system of learning, teacher-student

interaction is quite important and both the teacher and student will

express their true feelings without fear. The trust between the

student and teacher is mutual and this conversation in verses 1 to 18

provides us the flavor of Vedic teaching and learning methods. It

should be pointed out that in Gita, Krishna addresses Arjuna using

different names and/or adjectives with special significance and

similarly Arjuna does follow his Guru with similar gesture. For

example, in verse 1, Krishna calls him as mahabahu and also

priyamanaya. In verse 14 Arjun calls Lord Krishna as Kesava and the

special significance of this name is explained below.

 

Verse 14 :

The monosyllable word 'Ka' represents Brahma (the Creator), 'A'

signifies Vishnu (the Protector) and 'Isa' synonym of jiva (Destroyer

of the universe). Kesava, therefore represents the Deity with all

these three aspects of God. Addressing Sri Krishna's 'Kesava' in this

verse, Arjuna, therefore, intends to convey that unquestionably He is

the Supreme Lord responsible for the creation, sustenance and

destruction of the whole universe.

 

The pronouns 'Etat' and 'Yat', used in this verse, point to all that

has been stated by the Lord from the beginning of Chapter 7 to verse

11 of the present Chapter regarding his own virtues, glory,

character, greatness mystery and supernatural powers. Arjuna's

statement constitutes that he recognizes His divinity. And

recognizing Sri Krsna as God Himself, Arjuna conveys to Him that he

fully understood that He represents the integral Brahma, the

embodiment of Truth, Knowledge and Bliss, the god of gods, the

creator and destroyer of the universe, all-sustaining, all-pervading

and omnipotent, the ruler and inner controller of all.. VisnuPurana

says:- (VI.v.74) "Entire glory, entire virtue, entire renown, entire

prosperity, entire wisdom and total dispassion-these six are

collectively known as Bhaga." He who combines in Himself all these

virtues is called Bhagavan. The Visnu-Purana further says:- "He who

is aware of the creation and dissolution of the universe, of the

appearance and disappearance of beings, as well as of Vidya (wisdom)

and Avidya (conscience),should be designated as Bhagavan.." By

addressing Sri Krsna as Bhagavan, Arjuna means to say that he is God

Himself, the repository of all glory and omniscient.

 

The word 'Vyaktim' denotes all the various forms assumed by God by

way of sport from time to time for the creation, maintenance and

destruction of the universe, for the rehabilitation of virtue, for

redeeming the devotees by blessing them with His sight, for the

protection of gods and destruction of the demons, and for various

other reasons. By saying that the secret of His manifestation in

various forms is known neither to the demons nor to the gods Arjuna

intends to convey that even though the demons are endowed with the

capacity to assume various forms by dint of their Maya or conjuring

power and the gods are capable of perceiving super sensuous objects,

yet they are unable to perceive the divine character of His various

forms, or to comprehend His divine power, and art of assuming those

forms, the scion for such manifestation and the an ordinary mortal

expect to know these inwardness of His sports much less can things.

Verse 15.

By the vocatives used in this verse for Sri Krsna Arjuna seeks to

convey that He is the creator of the whole universe, the controller

and supporter of all, the object of universal adoration and higher

than perish-able matter and the imperishable soul known as His Apara

and Para nature respectively.

Again, Sri Krsna is the beginning of the entire creation; His

virtues, glory, sports greatness, and form's etc, are all infinite.

Hence no one else can have full knowledge of His virtue's etc; they

are known to Srimad alone. His knowledge of His own self is not as

the knowledge of an external object acquired by an individual through

his or her intellect, and with the help of the scripture's etc, God

being the very embodiment of knowledge, He knows Himself through

Himself. There is no distinction of knower, knowledge and the object

of knowledge in Him.

Verse 16

The word 'Atmavibhutayah' qualified by the adjective Divyah, covers

all those objects or beings in the universe that are possessed of

luster, strength, learning, glory, virtue and power. Since all those

glories regard own manifestations and because no one other than He

knows them in their entirety, He alone no one else can describe them

in full. Again, by the latter half of the verse Arjuna seeks to

convey that he would not be contented with a description of only

those glories which are manifested in this mortal world alone, but

that he should like to hear a full account of all His glories by

which He stands revealed in various form in all the worlds including

the celestial regions.

 

Verse 17

Arjuna puts two questions to the Lord in the present verse. Firstly,

he seeks to know some device whereby he may be able to practice

constant remembrance of the Lord with faith and love, and may know

Him fully well along with His virtues, glory and reality.

Furthermore, he is eager to be told which particular objects, forming

part of this universe of sentient and insentient beings should be

taken to be His manifestations and meditated upon as such. In other

words, Arjuna wants to know how and in what particular forms he

should constantly think of Him so as to be able to comprehend His

virtues, glory, truth and secrets easily.

 

Verse 18

By addressing Sri Krsna as Janardana, Arjuna indicates that all human

beings approach Him for the attainment of their desired objects, and

that He is fully capable of granting all their prayers. Arjuna

thereby hopes that his prayer too will be granted by the Lord.

'Yoga' is that divine potency of God by which He manifests Himself in

the form of this universe and thereby reproduces Himself in various

forms; and His manifestation in those forms is called His Vibhuti or

glory. Realization of God through unfaltering devotion has been

mentioned in verse 7 as the reward of knowing His Yoga and Vibhuti in

reality. Therefore, with a view to knowing full well the secret of

His Yoga and Vibhuti, Arjuna requests the Lord to describe them in

detail again and again.

 

The words of Sri Krsna appear very sweet to Arjuna; he finds such a

stream of joy flowing from them that his mind never is wearied of

drinking of it. The more he drinks of that nectar, the more his

thirst for the same grows. He feels as if he should goon drinking

that nectar for ever. Therefore, he prays that Sri Krsna should go on

pouring that divine nectar into his ever thirsty ears. He should not

feel deterred by the thought that such and such a thing has already

been said or that the subject has-been amply thrashed out so that

there is no need to dilate on it any more.

 

Harih Om!

 

Ram Chandran

 

Easy references;

 

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

commentaries including commentaries in many languages.

 

 

advaitin, "Ram Chandran" <ramvchandran>

wrote:

>