Bhagavat Gita a detailed study-chapter4The truth about action

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11. ye yaThaa maam prapadhyanthe thaan thaTha eva

bajaamyaham

mama varthmaa anuvarthanthe manushyaaH paarTha

sarvaSaH

Who ever approaches me in whatever manner I show my favour to them in the same manner. People proceed along the path only in all respects.

In whatever form one seeks the Lord, He appears in the same form to the devotee. The criticism of Hinduism being pantheistic is proved wrong by this. There is only one God who can be called by any name or conceived in any form, provided the worshipper remembers that He is not limited to that name or form. The Lord who is everywhere, in and out of all being is naturally present also in the particular form in which one thinks of Him. So Krishna affirms that all men follow His path only.

Not only the different forms of the Lord, Rama ,Krishna, Siva, etc. is mentioned here but also the attitude with which the people approach Him. This is further elaborated in the sloka `chathurviDhaa bajanthe maam,' in 7th chapter.(BG.7-16)

Krishna was looked upon and loved by people in different ways. As a son by Yasodha, as a friend by uddhava, Arjuna and others, as a saviour by Droupadi, as a lover by gopis, as a husband by his wives etc. He acted and showered His grace in the same manner as they approached Him. Similarly it was in Ramavathara. Even to Ravana , Kamsa , Sisupala and others who considered Him as their enemy, He appeared to them in the same role and killed only their physical body and finally purifying them from their evil propensities and absorbing them into His fold.

The Brahman, the supreme reality is the inner self of all and the power behind all actions of all beings sentient or insentient. The electricity is everywhere but comes through each instrument in that particular form and for that particular function. When the instrument is switched off the electricity is still there but unmanifest. Similarly in some, the divinity is manifest and in others it is dormant and hidden by ignorance of different degrees

"All follow my path only," may create a doubt whether even the evildoers follow the path of the Lord. It is like this. To go up a mountain, the path appears sometimes to go downhill but eventually it leads you to the top. Once started on the journey of life one has to go through the path chosen by the karma and sometimes it takes one away from the Lord but still it is a journey uphill only. One can reach a destination quickly by air or more slowly by other transport or one could take a circuitous route not knowing where to go. But like the mountainous path it goes one way only and finally you have to reach the top. All act only for the sake of attaining happiness , including the wicked, and the real happiness comes only on attaining the Supreme, the brahmananda. The embodied soul will not rest till he reaches there.