Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 17 to 18

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Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 17 to 18

 

(Verse Translation by Swami Gambirananda, Gita Bhasya and commentary

by Swami Chinmayanandaji)

 

Kireetinam gadinam chakrinam cha, Tejoraashim sarvato deeptimantam;

Pashyaami twaam durnireekshyam samantaad

Deeptaanalaarkadyutimaprameyam. Verse 17

 

17. I see You as wearing a diadem, wielding a mace, and holding a disc

a mass of brilliance glowing all around, difficult to look at from

all sides, possessed of the radiance of the blazing fire and sun, and

immeasurable.

 

Pasyami, I see

tvam, You as kiritinam, wearing a diadem-kirita is a kind of

decoration for the head one having it is kiriti

gadinam, wielding a mace

and also cakrinam, holding a disc

tejorasim, a mass of brilliance

sarvatah diptimantam, glowing all around

durniriksyam, difficult to look at

samantat, from all sides, at every point

as though dipta-analarka-dyutim, possessed of the radiance (dyuti) of

the blazing (dipta) fire (anala) and sun (arka)

and aprameyam, immeasurable, i.e. beyond limitation.

 

'For this reason also, i.e., by seeing Your power of Yoga, I infer'

that-

 

 

Continuing his description of the Cosmic-Form, the Pandava Prince

gives more and more details of what he comprehends in that

incomprehensible Divine extravaganza. He sees therein the Crown, the

Club, and the Discus. These are the insignia which Lord Vishnu is

said to carry, in all mythological descriptions.

 

Hindu gods are represented as having certain divine symbols, and they

all have their own respective special significances --- of Kingship

and Lordliness over the world of finite things and happenings. He

alone is the Lord who is a Master-of-circumstances and a Ruler-of-

impulses. A slave to life and its enchantments is a weakling, on

whose head a crown rests only temporarily like the gifted-cardboard-

crown of an actor playing on a stage. No authority or effectiveness

in life is possible unless the man-in-power has self-control and self-

mastery. No man can live a happy and mighty life unless he has

conquered his passions and crowned himself with kingship over

himself. He is Vishnu and He alone then deserves the crown!

 

The four-armed Vishnu carries in his hands the Conch, the Discus, the

Club, and the Lotus. This is extremely symbolical. In India the Lotus

represents " peace and joy, auspiciousness and happiness. " The Conch

blows and calls man to duty; and if there be a generation of men who

listen not to the Higher-call in themselves, restlessness, war,

pestilence, famine, storms, and chaotic social and communal

disturbances visit them --- the Club descends to hammer the

generation to shape and discipline. Even after this punishment, if

there be a generation so totally dissipated that it cannot improve,

then comes the Discus --- the sharp-toothed wheel, ever revolving,

the Whirling of Time (Kaala-chakra) to annihilate the irredeemable

generation.

 

When we find these in Arjuna's description as part of the Universal

Form, it becomes evident that the same Truth is the Substratum, not

only of the lowest of low worms, but even of the Divine Trinity. The

Eternal Truth is one and the same, everywhere, at all times; only Its

manifestations are varied, and the degree of Divinity sparkling from

each differs according to the grossness or subtlety of the equipment

through which the same Infinite Reality expresses Itself.

 

AS A MASS OF RADIANCE SHINING EVERYWHERE, ALL ROUND GLOWING LIKE THE

BLAZING SUN AND FIRE, HARD TO GAZE ON --- One of the most expressive

lines in this description, this brings home to us the glory of Pure

Awareness. This is not 'light' in the physical sense of the term; but

all the same we have to use the word, borrowed from ordinary

language, though it is applied here with a special significance.

Consciousness is the 'Light' in which we so clearly 'SEE' our own

thoughts and emotions. It is the same light which, beaming out

through the eyes, throws 'light' upon the world and illumines for us

the FORMS AND SHAPES. The same Consciousness, beaming out through the

ears, with its special 'light,' illumines SOUND, and so on.

Naturally, therefore, the Universal-Form of Krishna, representing in

Himself the Infinite Awareness, had to be described, in the faltering

language of Arjuna, as a mass of resplendent light, blinding all

faculties of perception, feeling and understanding.

 

INCOMPREHENSIBLE (Aprameya) --- So far, though Arjuna described, as

best as he could, the Form, and the feelings It had engendered in

him, there is a streak of despair running in these stanzas. Arjuna

feels that he has not captured the theme fully in the web of his

language. Language expresses that which is perceived, or felt, or

understood. Here is a form which Arjuna experiences. He beholds. He

feels. And he comprehends it in himself. Yet, strangely enough, here

is an experience that volatilizes and eludes all attempts at being

bottled in language! He seems to be not satisfied by the objective

description which he gave in the language of his eyes, ears, etc.,

and he feels equally unhappy with the language of his emotion, as

felt by his mind.

 

True to himself, the wonder-struck mortal is trying to sing the glory

of what he lives, in the language of his intellect. But even here he

can only cry in despair, " OH LORD THOU ART EVER INCOMPREHENSIBLE. "

Though the universal Form is painted here by the author, in the

language of an " objective experience, " he makes us understand that

the Truth is the SUBJECT and not an object of even the intellect. The

Self is the KNOWER, THE FEELER, the PERCEIVER; It is not the

perceived, the felt, or the known.

 

FROM THIS VISION OF THE POWER OF YOGA, I INFER:

 

Twamaksharam paramam veditavyam Twamasya vishwasya param nidhaanam;

Twamavyayah shaashwatadharmagoptaa Sanaatanastwam purusho mato me.

Verse 18

 

18. You are the Immutable, the supreme One to be known You are the

most perfect repository of this Universe. You are the Imperishable,

the Protector of the ever-existing religion You are the eternal

Person. This is my belief.

 

Tvam, You

are the aksaram, Immutable

the paramam, supreme One, Brahman

veditavyam, to be known-by those aspiring for Liberation. You are the

param, most perfect

nidhanam, repository-where things are deposited, i.e. the ultimate

resort

asya visvasya, of this Universe, of the entire creation. Further.

You are the avyayah, Imperishable-there is no decay in You

the sasvata-dharma-gopta, Protector (gopta) of the ever-existing

(sasvata) religion (dharma). You are the sanatanah, eternal

transcendental purusah, Person. This is me, my

matah, belief-what is meant by me.

 

From every experience, all intelligent men try to gather their own

conclusions, which alone, in fact, constitute true knowledge. Arjuna

had a great experience, too subtle for words to express, or for his

intellect to comprehend, in its entire entirety. But from what he

saw, he tries to draw certain conclusions. Crystallized into his

understanding, the conclusions are that the Power behind this Cosmic

Form is that which the Imperishable Supreme Truth is.

 

When we see all the waves playing on the surface of the ocean,

manifesting and disappearing after a temporary existence into the

very waters from which they rose, we generally conclude that the

ocean is the source of all waves. It becomes at once the rest-house

for the waves, or the treasure-house for all the disturbances.

Similarly, Arjuna comes to the intelligent conclusion that Krishna,

as the Cosmic-Form, is the very Substratum from which the pluralistic

world of phenomena arises, exists in, and merges into. The Universe

(Vishwa) mentioned here, is not merely the astronomers' universe of

physical things, but, in Vedanta, Vishwa is the sum-total experience

of everyone, gained through the individual instruments of perception,

feeling and understanding. The Lord is the foundation (Nidhaanam) for

the entire universe of disturbances, experienced by us at our

physical, mental and intellectual levels.

 

Things that change can continue to do so only on a changeless

substratum. The world-of-change plays ever to the tune of Time and

Space. But, in order that we may feel a continuity of the happenings

and thereby gain a comprehensive experience of the total, there must

be one constant and changeless " Knowing-principle " that registers the

happenings, without itself in the least being involved in the change.

That truth is the Self, and the Self alone is that which could take

upon itself the stupendous Universal-Form (Vishwaroopa). Keeping

these ideas in mind, Arjuna declares that He who has transformed

Himself into this Wonder-Form is the One Changeless Truth that

permeates the entire realm of changes and modifications.

 

In India, to the Hindus, the protector of his Dharma is not a mortal

king, or a priest class. The Supreme alone is its guardian, for the

Hindus are not the followers of any accidental prophet, who has a

fleeting historical reality and a limited mission of serving his

immediate generation with the best he had. To the Hindu, THE ETERNAL

TRUTH IS HIS GOAL, HIS MASTER AND HIS WAY. We demand no mortal power

with its poison-gas and atom-bomb to protect our Dharma.

 

THAT YOU ARE THE ANCIENT PURUSHA, IS MY OPINION Vedanta, the

very physical structure is considered as a Capital-city with nine

gates, each controlled and guarded by its presiding deity. That which

dwells in the city, here meaning the body, is in Sanskrit 'Purusha.'

In the context of the stanza, it only means that the solution for the

riddle of life, which is the source, or substratum of the whole

universe, is to be sought, not among the world-of-objects but within

the very layers of personalities in us, until we discover it as the

Purusha, the Eternal. The Conscious Principle, which is the Spark-of-

life in everyone, is here indicated to be the very Eternal Truth

which alone can take up the Form-Universal, as it stands now in front

of Arjuna's bewildered gaze.

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Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Commentary and Explanations:

=======================================================

 

I see you as one who has a crown and a mace and disc, a mass of

brilliance with light on all sides and (therefore) difficult to see,

from every angle (I see you having) the brilliance of a conflagration

and the blazing sun and not knowable as a limited object. " I also see

you in the form -which we invoke and worship, wearing a crown,

kiritinam, and wielding a mace, gadinam, in one hand and a disc,

cakra, in another. " His third hand is extended, offering refuge and

safety, abhaya, the fourth is pointing towards his feet asking you to

come there. " If you come and surrender to me, I protect you, " is the

idea. The other two hands are for destroying. You need not be afraid

because Bhagavan has all the missiles necessary to protect you. Gada

is for nearby or immediate danger and cakra is for remote danger, in

terms of both place and time. Cakra is a, very great weapon; it will

travel miles and destroy. Thus Bhagavan gives you abhaya. In order

to protect you he has to destroy the danger of samsara, both

immediate and remote. For that he has these two types of weapons. In

the form that Lord Visnu is invoked, Arjuna also sees Krishna within

the cosmic form.

 

He sees it as a column of brilliance. Anywhere you look, Sankara

says, you see nothing but one caitanya. Within that alone is

everything. A form of such blinding brilliance can only be seen with

difficulty. The light is from all sides, samantat, like the light of

fire, the sun, or lightning, dipta-anala-arka-dyutim. A brilliance,

dyutih, equal to a conflagration, dlpta-analah, and the blazing sun,

dipta-arkah, is what Arjuna is seeing here.

 

And it is aprameyam^ Sankara makes it clear. Prameya is an object of

your knowledge. What happens when you gather a piece of knowledge

like that of a flower? The flower is limited, pariccinna, by a vrtti.

Because the flower has a form, your antahkararia is able to objectify

only it, excluding every other object. The flower becomes " loaded " in

your mind. Every other object is omitted and you can see this object,

the flower, distinctly. Or prameya can mean something that is to be

understood as yourself, not an object. But here, Arjuna is

objectifying the cosmic form even though it is too vast for him to

contain in a single vrtti. So it is aprameyah. Sankara defines it

carefully here as that which cannot be circumscribed, asakya-

pariccedam. It is not available for distinct understanding. This is

possible for a small or even a large object. But when every object is

included, how can you limit it? It is not possible to understand it

in a limited form. That is why it is a cosmic form. Therefore,

aprameyam pasyami means, " I am not able to say, This is you,1

because everything is you. " Here the word aprameya is not used in

the sense of its real meaning which is, " not an object of knowledge, "

which is atma because it is not an object; it is you.

 

Sankara says that seeing that everything is included in the cosmic

form, Arjuna now makes an inference.

 

Myi appreciation (is that) you (are) imperishable Brahman, the one

who is to be known; you (are) the ultimate basis (cause) of this

world; you (are) not subject to change, the protector of the

perennially eternal laws; you (are) the eternal complete being.

Seeing everything within the cosmic form of Krishna, Arjuna

understands him as the cause of everything, jagat-karanam, which is

parambrahma. What he has heard from the sastra he now sees for

himself as true. " I appreciate that you are parambrahma, the one to

be known, veditavyatn, by every seeker. Suti says that there are two

types of knowledge, one is para, the other, apara, dve vidye

veditavye para ca apara ca. Para is the knowledge which has as its

subject matter aksaram, the changeless Brahman. That is to be

understood through all the Vedas. sarvaih vedaih.-as oneself. It is

possible to infer this from the vision of this cosmic form. Every

form is seen here; nothing is omitted. And every one of them is

drsya so they all become mithya. The adhisthana, the essence, is

parambrahma according to Sruti. The oniy adhisthana here that is not

changing and in whom all these forms are appearing is atma. But

Arjuna does not take his inference that far. He understands only that

Krishna is jagat-karanam, the cause of the world.