Bhagavatgita a detyailed study-chaper10-The glory of the divine manifestations

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26. aSvatThaH sarvavrkshaaNaam dhevarsheeNaam cha

naradhaH

ganDharvaaNaam chithraraThaH sidDhaanaam kapilo muniH

 

I am the Asvattha among the trees and Narada among the divine rishis. I am ChithraraTHa among the Gandharvas and the sage Kapila among the sidDhas.

aSvatTha is peepul tree or what is called in Tamil as arasamaram. It is worshipped as divine and hence is the manifestation of the Lord.

The aSvatTha is eulogized in the puranas as follows:

moole vishNu sThitho nithyam skanDhe kesava eva cha

naaraayaNasthu Sakhaasu pathreshu bhagavaan hariH

phale achyutho na sandhehaH sarvadhevaiH samanvithaH

Vishnu is at the root always and Kesava at the joints, Narayana in the branches, Lord Hari is in the leaves. Achyutha with all the devas is in the fruit and there is no doubt about this.

Narada is prominent among the dhevarshis, who are the ones who know the past , present and future, reside in heaven and have the capacity to go wherever they like and endowed with divine sight.

ChithraraTha is the king of gandharvas.

The word sidDha here means the perfect one. Kapila was the incarnation of the Lord Himself and hence the manifestation of the Lord.

27.ucChaiSravasam aSvaanaam vidDhi maam amrthodhbhavam

airaavatham gajendhraaNaam naraaNaam cha naraaDhipam

I am the ucChaiSravas among the horses, which originated with nectar. I am the Airavatha among elephants and the King among men.

ucChaiSravas is the horse that came out of the milky ocean along with airavatha when it was being churned for amrtha. Both of them became the carriers of Indra. Hence Krishna says he is the ucChaiSravas among horses and airavatha among the elephants.

Naraadhipa means a king. The righteous kings are supposed to be the representatives of the Lord .

..28.aayuDhaanaam aham vajram Dhenoonaam asmi kaamDhuk

prajanaSchaasmi kandharpaH sarpaaNaam asmi vasukiH

I am the vajrayudha of all weapons and the kamadhenu among the cows. I am the cupid of the causes of procreation and Vasuki among the serpents.

The vajrayuDha, thunderbolt is the weapon of Indra which was made from the back bone of the sage dhaDheechi who gave it willingly with the grace of Lord Narayana. Hence it is empowered with the penance of the sage and the grace of the Lord. Hence it is extolled as the manifestation of the Lord.

Kaamdhuk is the celestial cow Kamadhenu.

Kandharpa is another name for Manmatha , the god of love who is the main cause of procreation.

Sarpa means cobra with one head while nagas denote serpents with more than one head. Of the sarpas, Vasuki is the king of cobras.

29.ananthaSchaasmi naagaanaam varuNo yaadhasaam aham

pthRNaam aryamaa chasmi yamaH samyamathaam aham

I am Anantha among the nagas and Varuna among residents of water. I am Ayama of the pithrs and Yama among the controllers.

Anantha is the name of Adhisesha a naga with thousand heads. The manifestation of the Lord in Anantha is obvious as he is the sesha , servant of the Lord who serves Him as the bed, umbrella and the seat and also he bears the burden of the universe on his head.

Varuna is the god of water and of all the beings that reside in water. Hence he is specified as the divine manifestation. The word yaadhas means the beings which reside in water.

There are seven groups of Pithrs and Aryama is the head of the prominent group of pithrs.

Yama is the god of death who is the great controller and leveler as no one can escape his power. The Lord says that He is the Yama as He is the power behind Yama. Moreover He is the annihilator of all. This idea is expressed in the next chapter also.

30. prahlaadhaSchaasmi dhaithyaanaam kaalaH kalayathaam

aham

mrgaaNaam cha mrgendhro aham vanatheyaScha

pakshiNaam

I am Prahladha among asuras and the Time among reckoners. I am the lion among the animals and Garuda among the birds.

Prahladha was born in the clan of asuras though a devotee of the Lord. This is to show that even the asuras are not exempted f5rom the divine manifestation. In fact Prahladha tells his father Hiranyakasipu "The Lord is in you as well as in me.'

Kaala is Time though Yama is also called Kala because he represents the time that carries all in the end. But the word kalayathaam denoting the reckoning is used here and hence the word kala means only Time .The Time is the all powerful force of the Lord. It is unperceivable but becomes perceivable by its effects.

The mention of Lion and Garuda as the manifestations of the Lord is proper as the lion , not only as the king of animals, mrgendhra but also represents the Lord Himself as Narahari and Garuda, the son of Vinatha is the vehicle of the Lord and one of the nithyasooris , eternal beings who surround the Lord, like Anantha.

31. pavanaH pavathaam asmi raamaH Sasthrbhrthaam aham

jhashaaNaam makarSchaasmi srothasaam asmi jaahnavee

I am the wind among the purifiers and among warriors I am Rama. I am the shark among the fish and the Ganges among the rivers.

The usual purifiers are fire water and wind. . Of these water may become impure due to earth particles that has been dissolved in it. Fire purifies but also destroys with a few exceptions like gold , iron etc. Of course the fire may also mean the Sun which is the purifier and it goes with the wind because in a place where neither of the two exist the things become putrid. Since the sun has already been included here the Lord mentions the wind, pavanaH of the purifiers, pavataam.

Rama is the incarnation of the Lord as the son of Dasaratha. As SriRama is the best of armed warriors, wielding a bow, here the Lord says "I am Rama." Also this implies that Rama Himself came as Krishna. Rama told the sages who were enchanted with His beauty that they will be born as women in His next birth to enjoy His company. What He was going to tell in Gita in His Krishnavathara , the Lord demonstrated through His character and actions in Ramacvathara

Jhashaa means fish and makara is the shark, the biggest of all the fish. The word makara also means crocodile.

Among the rivers the importance of Jaahnavee. Ganges is obvious. The river got the name Jahanavee because when the Ganga was lead by Bhageeratha she flooded the asrama of the sage Jahnu , who drank her and released her through his left ear on being prayed by Bhageeratha. Hence she got the name Jaahnavee

32. sargaaNaam aadhiH anthaH cha maDhyam chaivaaham

arjuna

adhyaathma vidhyaa vidhyaanaam vaadhaH pravadhathaam

aham

I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all creations and the self knowledge of all learning and I am the logic of the arguments.

The Lord says He is the beginning , middle and the end of all creations. It has already been said in the sloka 20 that he is the aadhi , Madhya and antha of all beings. But this is not a case of tautology since in the earlier sloka the words aadhi, maDhya and antha were used with respect to all beings meaning sentient ones, chith but here all creations include insentient beings, achith also.

The self knowledge , aathmavidhya is the real jnana and not the learning of Vedas and sasthras. In Chandhogya Upanishad Uddhaalaka Aruni asks his son Svethakethu whether he had learnt that by which everything else becomes known, meaning the Brhamavidhya or Athmavidhya. In Gita also we have the words yath jnaathvaana iha bhooyaH anyath jnaatham avaSishyathe (ch.7.sloka2), meaning , knowing which there is nothing else remaining to be known.

There are three kinds of arguments in a debate, namely, jalpa, vithanda and vaadha.. Jalpa is arguing with the only purpose of establishing one's own point by criticizing the view point of the opponent. Vithanda is speaking only to denounce the opponent. Vaadha is the logical argument. As vaadha pertains to truth and is without prejudice it is the manifestation of divinity.