Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter10 the glory of the divine manifestations

[Guest guest]

3.yo maam ajam anaadhim cha vetthi lokamaheSvaram

asammooDaH sa marthyeshu sarvapaapaiH pramuchyathe

One who knows Me as the one unborn, with no beginning and as the master of the Universe, he is the wise one among human beings and gets freed from all sins.

Once a man gets free from delusion he is able to understand that the Lord is unborn, aja, without beginning, anAdhi, and is the Lord of the universe. Such knowledge born out of right perception through devotion removes all sins, says Krishna, because such a person is no longer attached either to his action or its result and hence is not affected by it. Thus by meditating on the real nature of the Lord through devotion, all impediments , namely those born out of past karma giving rise to sin, are washed away.

ajam- The Lord is not born. But manifests as the universe as Purushasuktha says, ajaaymaano bahuDhaavijaayathe. The one unborn become many. The Upanishad says sadheva idham agra aaseeth ekameva adgvitheetyam, sath, or Brahman alone existed in the beginning, one only without a second. thath aikshatha bahu syaam prajaayeya, it willed to become many. This is denoted by the words aham aadhiH in the previous slokam. When it is said that the Lord is the origin of devas and great rshis it includes the other lesser beings also. Where did Brahman come from? This is explained here as by the word ajam and anaadhi. He is aja because he is anaadhi. When a thing is to be born it has a beginning.

anaadhi- But the Lord or Brahman has no beginning. A pot is born out of mud and the mud comes from earth and the earth and the other elements out of which all beings are created from Brahman as declared in the Upanishad thath aikshatha bahusyaam prajaayeya ; thath thejo asrjatha. It willed to become many and created the fire. Then the creation of other elements are mentioned . Now if everything came from Brahman where did Brahman come from? If there is some source then the statement sadheva idham agra aaseeth ekameva adhvitheeyam cannot be true. Because it would mean that there was something else from which the Brahman originated. Hence by logical reasoning it follows that Brahman, the Lord Narayana of Visishtadvaita, is beginningless, anadhi.

loka maheSvaram- the lord of the universe. The word loka means perception and the word thus means the supreme perception brhmajnana, because it is denoted by the next line describing those who have the right perception by the word asammoodaH, one without delusion and sees the reality. Loka can also denote that which is seen , that is the manifestations of the Lord which are described in this chapter in detail. Loka need not be the physical world but the realms of consciousness of which the Lord is the supreme power behind. Right from the awareness of the physical world till that of the supreme reality everything happens by the will of the Lord. By this perception one becomes freed from karma and the sins which are the results of karma.

4.budDhiH jnaanam asammohaH kshamaa sathyam dhamaH

samaH

sukham dhuhkham bhavo abhaavo bhayam cha abhayam eva

cha

Intellect, wisdom, absence of delusion, patience, truth, outer and inner control, joy and sorrow, existence and nonexistence fear and fearlessness,

5. ahimsaa samathaa thushtiH thapo dhaanam yaSo ayasaH

bhavanthi bhaavaa bhoothaanaam mattha eva prThagviDhaaH

nonviolence, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame and ill-fame, all these different states of being are from Me only.

These two slokas are a sort of elucidation of the word sarvalokamahesvaram.

All the qualities mentioned here are the attitudes of the mind and intellect. The idea that everything happens by the will of the Lord as seen in the previous sloka is reiterated here.

The qualities joy and sorrow, existence and non existence fear and fearlessness , fame and ill fame , are said to be the effect of divine will even though they are opposites because sorrow means that feeling for something that had happened due to reasons beyond our control There are three causes of sorrow namely, aadhidhaivika, natural calamities, aadhibouthika , suffering due to other beings and aadhyaathmika, diseases of the mind and body, known as thaapathrayam.

Simlarly the nonexistence means the absence of what we do not have which is due to the will of God. This is what Sankara means in his Bajagovindam as yallabhathe nija karmopaattham vittham thena vinodhay chittham, whatever one gets due to own karma he should be satisfied with that.

Fear and fearlessness denote the fear for what should not be done and fearlessness for what we should do. Fame will come only due to the will of God and ill fame may come due to the ill will of others. But still it is the will of God. In 12th chapter describing the devotee the Lord says, in sloka 18 , that the devotee who is dear to Him is the one who treats fame and ill fame equally. This comes only out of the absence of dhehaathma budDhi born out of ego. It is said that those who speak ill of us take away our sins. So it is all the grace of God only as long as one has not done anything willfully to cause ill-fame.

But it is to be noticed that the opposites of other qualities have not been included., like untruth, violence etc. because these are not the will of God but our own will due to ignorance of what is good and what is not and they are desire motivated.