Smaller of the smallest and bigger of the biggest

[Avinash]

Bhagavad Gita says that soul is smaller of the smallest and bigger of the biggest. Let me know which verse says this. Thanks.

[Guruvani]

 

Bhagavad Gita says that soul is smaller of the smallest and bigger of the biggest. Let me know which verse says this. Thanks.

 

that is not correct.

there is no verse in Gita that says that about the soul.

[Avinash]

If not about soul, then does it say so about anything/anybody else? If not smaller of the smallest, then it may be "finer of the finest". I remember that there is some similar verse in Gita. But which verse?

[Guest guest]

Chapter 8. Attaining the Supreme

 

TEXT 9

 

kavim puranam anusasitaram

anor aniyamsam anusmared yah

sarvasya dhataram acintya-rupam

aditya-varnam tamasah parastat

 

SYNONYMS

kavim--one who knows everything; puranam--the oldest; anusasitaram--the controller; anoh--of the atom; aniyamsam--smaller than; anusmaret--always thinking; yah--one who; sarvasya--of everything; dhataram--the maintainer; acintya--inconceivable; rupam--form; aditya-varnam--illuminated like the sun; tamasah--of the 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, being transcendental, is beyond this material nature.

[Avinash]

Thanks. So, B.G. 8.9 says God is smaller than the smallest. From Internet search, I found a verse in Kathopanishad.

Kathopanishad 1.2.20 says:-

The Atman is subtler than the subtlest and larger than the largest.

I think the above verse was in my mind. It is in Kathopanishad but I was wrongly under impression that it is Bhagavad Gita.

[Avinash]

I understand that material science is not sufficient to explain spiritual topics. But I was wondering if material science can explain the apparent contradiction that something can be larger than the largest and subtler than the subtlest.

If something is very large, then how can it be very subtle? It seems to be contradictory and hence impossible. But Heisenberg's uncertainty principle allows this:-

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle talks about various pairs of physical quantities. But the quantities that concern us now are position and momentum. The principle says:-

For a given particle, the more precise is its momentum, greater will be the uncertainty in its position and vice versa.

Consider any such particle. As an example, consider a photon. Suppose that the momentum of the photon is very precisely determined. Then there is huge uncertainty in its position. What this means is that the effect of the photon is instantaneously affected over a very large space. In this sense the photon behaves as if it is very large.

When you use a particle deterctor to detect the photon, then it can be found anywhere in that large space. But when you find its position, you find that it is present at a single point. This means the photon behaves like a very minute particle.

So, the same thing can be very large and very minute in this world itself. What to talk about spiritual things then?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

anor aniyan mahato mahiyan....

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

aNor-aNIyAn mahato mahIyAn AtmA guhAyAM nihito’sya jantoH /

tamakratuH pashyati vIta-shoko dhAtuprasAdAn-mahimAnam-IshaM //

 

(Mahanarayana U. 12.1; Also Katha U. I.2.20)

[theist]

TRANSLATION BG 7.7

O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.

 

PURPORT

There is a common controversy over whether the Supreme Absolute Truth is personal or impersonal. As far as Bhagavad-gita is concerned, the Absolute Truth is the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, and this is confirmed in every step. In this verse, in particular, it is stressed that the Absolute Truth is a person. That the Personality of Godhead is the Supreme Absolute Truth is also the affirmation of the Brahma-samhita: isvarah paramah krishnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah; that is, the Supreme Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead is Lord Krishna, who is the primeval Lord, the reservoir of all pleasure, Govinda, and the eternal form of complete bliss and knowledge. These authorities leave no doubt that the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person, the cause of all causes. The impersonalist, however, argues on the strength of the Vedic version given in the Svetasvatara Upanishad (3.10): tato yad uttarataram tad arupam anamayam/ ya etad vidur amritas te bhavanti athetare duhkham evapiyanti. "In the material world Brahma, the primeval living entity within the universe, is understood to be the supreme amongst the demigods, human beings and lower animals. But beyond Brahma there is the Transcendence, who has no material form and is free from all material contaminations. Anyone who can know Him also becomes transcendental, but those who do not know Him suffer the miseries of the material world."

The impersonalist puts more stress on the word arupam. But this arupam is not impersonal. It indicates the transcendental form of eternity, bliss and knowledge as described in the Brahma-samhita quoted above. Other verses in the Svetasvatara Upanishad (3.8-9) substantiate this as follows:

vedaham etam purusham mahantam

aditya-varnam tamasah parastat

tam eva viditvati mrityum eti

nanyah pantha vidyate 'yanaya

yasmat param naparam asti kincid

yasman naniyo no jyayo 'sti kincit

vriksha iva stabdho divi tishthaty ekas

tenedam purnam purushena sarvam

 

"I know that Supreme Personality of Godhead who is transcendental to all material conceptions of darkness. Only he who knows Him can transcend the bonds of birth and death. There is no way for liberation other than this knowledge of that Supreme Person.

"There is no truth superior to that Supreme Person, because He is the supermost. He is smaller than the smallest, and He is greater than the greatest. He is situated as a silent tree, and He illumines the transcendental sky, and as a tree spreads its roots, He spreads His extensive energies."

 

From these verses one concludes that the Supreme Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is all-pervading by His multi-energies, both material and spiritual.