BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:9

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:9

 

kavim puranam anusasitaram

anor aniyamsam anusmared yah

sarvasya dhataram acintya-rupam

aditya- varnam tamasah parastat

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

kavim--the one who knows everything; puranam--the oldest;

anusasitaram--the controller; anoh--than the atom; aniyamsam--smaller;

anusmaret--always thinks of; yah--one who; sarvasya--of everything;

dhataram--the maintainer; acintya--inconceivable; rupam--whose form;

aditya-varnam--luminous like the sun; tamasah--to darkness;

parastat--transcendental.

 

TRANSLATION

 

One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows

everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is

smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is

beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is

always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is

transcendental, beyond this material nature.

 

PURPORT

 

The process of thinking of the Supreme is mentioned in this verse. The

foremost point is that He is not impersonal or void. One cannot

meditate on something impersonal or void. That is very difficult. The

process of thinking of Krsna, however, is very easy and is factually

stated herein. First of all, the Lord is purusa, a person--we think of

the person Rama and the person Krsna. And whether one thinks of Rama

or of Krsna, what He is like is described in this verse of

Bhagavad-gita. The Lord is kavi; that is, He knows past, present and

future and therefore knows everything. He is the oldest personality

because He is the origin of everything; everything is born out of Him.

He is also the supreme controller of the universe, and He is the

maintainer and instructor of humanity. He is smaller than the

smallest. The living entity is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of a

hair, but the Lord is so inconceivably small that He enters into the

heart of this particle. Therefore He is called smaller than the

smallest. As the Supreme, He can enter into the atom and into the

heart of the smallest and control him as the Supersoul. Although so

small, He is still all-pervading and is maintaining everything. By Him

all these planetary systems are sustained. We often wonder how these

big planets are floating in the air. It is stated here that the

Supreme Lord, by His inconceivable energy, is sustaining all these big

planets and systems of galaxies. The word acintya

("inconceivable") is very significant in this connection. God's energy is

beyond our conception, beyond our thinking jurisdiction, and is

therefore called inconceivable (acintya). Who can argue this point? He

pervades this material world and yet is beyond it. We cannot

comprehend even this material world, which is insignificant compared

to the spiritual world--so how can we comprehend what is beyond?

Acintya means that which is beyond this material world, that which our

argument, logic and philosophical speculation cannot touch, that which

is inconceivable. Therefore intelligent persons, avoiding useless

argument and speculation, should accept what is stated in scriptures

like the Vedas, Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam and follow the

principles they set down. This will lead one to understanding.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.