Bhagavat Gita a detailed study-chapter4The truth about action

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6.ajo api san avyayaathmaa bhoothaanaam eeSvaro api san

prakrthim svaam aDhishTaaya sambhavaami

 

aathmamaayayaa

 

Though I am birthless, and immutable self, though I am the Lord of all beings, I am born by my own maya assuming my own nature.

 

 

The upanishat says that the Brahman, the supreme self, willed to become many, `thath aikshatha bahu syaam prajaayEya,' (Chan.Up.) and we find in the purushasuktha the words, `ajaayamaano bahuDhaa vijaayathe,' the unborn takes many births. Here the word birth should be understood as manifesting and not being born in the usual sense.

 

 

Desika describing the birth of Krishna says that Devaki, the eastern direction produced the Lord , the moon, implying that He was not born in the usual way but as He says in this sloka `sambhavaami aathmamaayayaa,' He only made Himself manifest as the moon coming out in the East.

 

Prakrthim svaam aDhishTaaya means employing own nature. That is , the Lord manifests in mortal form without giving up any of His innate nature such as the mastery over all beings, imperishability and birthlessness.

 

Sruti tells us that even a fraction of the Supreme Being is whole and complete by itself.' Om poornamadhfpoornamidham poornaath poornam udachyathe poornasya poornam aadhaaya poornameva avasishyathe.' That is whole;. this is whole; what has come out of the whole is also whole. When the whole is taken out of the whole, the whole still remains whole

 

It sounds mind boggling! Not really .Let us examine this. We know that the Lord is everywhere. Does it mean that He fragments himself and is present in all beings? No. He is present everywhere in His complete form only.. For example it is not possible to cut the AkAsa into parts because it is one whole. But the space inside the pot is seen as ghatAkAsa while the space outside is mahAkAsa. But both are the same and forms one whole. Similarly the Brahman being one whole, is present everywhere as one whole..

 

So when the Lord comes out as an incarnation, He appears in the form in His full glory. That is all. He puts on different costumes and comes down as incarnations like an actor and He acts according to the role He assumes. The costumes are supplied by His own maya, aathmamaayayaa.

 

Ramanuja in his commentary says that the word maya means knowledge according to the lexicon of Yaska. It is maya to others but it is the knowledge of the Lord, who is the sarvajna. Just because we do not understand it we call it maya, as the magic of the magician to whom it is not magic but knowledge.

 

Hence what Krishna means by `prakrthim svaam aDhishTaaya sambhavaami aathman maayayaa,' is this:

 

Keeping His infinitely auspicious qualities in tact, He assumes a form in His incarnations through His own maya. By appearing in the world in mortal form and going through the functions and experiences of the humans, the Lord puts Himself under the influence of His own maya by His own free will.

 

Why should He do so? This is explained in the next two slokas.