THE HOLY GITA --CHAPTER 10, VERSE 11, VIBHUTY YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 10

VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS:

VERSE NUMBER 11

Text in Transliteration:

teshaam evaa ‘nukampaartham aham ajnaanajam tamah

naasayaamy aatmabhaavastho jnaanadeepena bhaasvataa

Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:

Teshaam = for them; eva = mere; anukampaartham = out of compassion; aham = I; ajnaanajam = born of ignorance; tamah = darkness; naasayaami = (I) destroy; bhaavasthah = dwelling within their self; jnaana deepena = by the lamp of knowledge; bhaasvataa = luminous.

Text in English:

Out of pure compassion for them, dwelling in their hearts, I destroy the ignorance-born darkness, by the luminous lamp of wisdom.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The Lord’s choosing to reside in the hearts of beings is His compassion. Because of His presence as Conscience, beings are prompted to seek what is good or at least what seems good. The lamp of wisdom that the Lord lights is constituted of divine components. Discrimination functions as the container of oil. The contentment coming from bhakti is the oil. The flame gets put out by foul air. But this flame is fed by the pure air of meditation on Iswara. Prajnaa or the Awareness of the Self ensuing from the constant Brahmacharya, serves as the wick. The heart freed from all worries and anxieties is the lamp niche. A burning lamp runs the risk of being blown out by a gust. But a mind unaffected by attachment and aversion is the best wind-screen to this lamp. The unbroken consciousness of Iswara is the flame emanating from this lamp of wisdom, set up in the heart of the devotee. He beholds the Divine Presence within himself with the aid of this divine lamp.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The policeman patrolling at night carries a bull’s–eye lantern with the aid of which he sees the persons loitering about. But this lantern does not disclose its carrier. If he, however, turns it on himself the others then come to know who he is. Likewise Iswara reveals Nature and its contents, but keeps Himself hidden. Nobody can see Him except through His grace and compassion.

COMMENTS BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

God affects the world for man’s welfare, Himself remaining apart from it. Aatmabhaava is also interpreted as the inner sense of beings. Here the teacher makes out how bhakti or devotion leads to the destruction of ignorance and the rise of illumination. When ignorance is destroyed, God stands revealed in the human spirit. When love and wisdom arise, the eternal is fulfilled in the individual. Bhakti is also a means to jnaana. Through it we obtain Divine grace and the power of understanding, buddhiyoga. Intellectual knowledge is rendered luminous and certain by the direct intuition of buddhi.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Luminous lamp of knowledge: The Lord dwells in the heart of the devotees who constantly think of Him and destroys the veil or the darkness born of ignorance due to the absence of discrimination, by the luminous lamp of knowledge fed by the oil of pure devotion, fanned by the wind of profound meditation on Him, provided with the wick of right intuition, generated by the constant cultivation of celibacy, piety and other divine virtues held in the chambers of the heart free from worldliness, placed in the innermost recesses of the mind free from the wind of sense-attractions (withdrawn from the objects of the senses) and untainted by likes and dislikes, and shining with the light of knowledge of the Self caused by the constant practice of meditation.

The lamp is not in need of an instrument or means or any sort of practice for the removal of darkness. The generation of the light itself is quite sufficient to remove the darkness. As soon as the darkness is removed by the light, the pot, the chair and the other articles are seen. Even so the dawn of knowledge of the Self itself is quite sufficient to remove the darkness. As soon as the darkness is removed by the light, the pot, the chair and the other articles are seen. Even so the dawn of knowledge of the Self itself is quite sufficient to remove ignorance. No other Karma or practice is necessary. After the ignorance is removed by the knowledge of the Self, Brahman alone shines in Its pristine glory.