THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 10, VERSE 21, VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 10

VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS:

VERSE NUMBER 21

Text in Transliteration:

aadityaanaam aham vishnur jyotishaam ravir amsumaan

mareechir marutaam asmi nakshatraanaam aham sasee

Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:

Aadityaanaam = among the Adityas; aham = I; Vishnu = Vishnu; jyotishaam = among lights; ravih = the sun; amsumaan = radiant; mareechi = Marichi; marutaam = of the Maruts (winds); asmi = (I) am; nakshatraanaam = among the stars; aham = I; sasee = the moon.

Text in English:

Of the Adityas I am Vishnu; of the luminaries, the radiant Sun; I am Marichi of the Maruts; of the asterisms the Moon am I.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Though all flowers, fruits and crops come from the same land, the best among them are selected for exhibition. The whole of the manifested universe is the glory of Iswara; but the prominent among them, those that arrest the attention of the beholder, are selectively mentioned as the Vibhutis, or the attributes of Iswara.

The same Aditya assumes twelve names during the twelve months. These names commencing from April are Amsu, Dhata, Indra, Aryama, Vivasva, Bhaga, Parjanya, Dvashta, Mitra, Vishnu, Varna and Pusha. The Aditya of January is called Vishnu, who is very much liked by people for his commencing his course towards the summer solstice progressively dispelling the pinching cold of winter.

In the Vishnu Sahasranama the 258^th name is Vishnu attributed to the sun god traversing the universe. Vishnu Himself has become Suryanarayana.

Among the forty-nine Maruts or wind gods Marichi is the foremost. The wind causes immense good to the world. The best of the wind gods is therefore identified with Iswara.

The luminary of the day is the sun. The foremost among the luminaries at night is the moon. These two heavenly bodies are therefore viewed with veneration as the manifest representatives of Iswara.     

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Adityas are Vedic gods. While the Supreme is in all things, He is more prominent in some than in others. There is an ascending order in the world. God is more revealed in life than in matter, in consciousness than in life and in saints and sages most of all. Within the same order, He is most revealed in the pre-eminent individuals. Some of these mythological beings were perhaps living realities to the Hindus of the period of the Gita.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Of the twelve Adityas I am the Adiya known as Vishnu. Dhata, Mitra, Aryama, Rudra, Varuna, Bhaga, Surya, Vivasvan, Pushan, Savita, Tvashta, and Vishnu are the twelve Aditayas. The twelve months of the year are the Adityas.

The Maruts are the gods controlling the winds. Some hold there are seven of them while others say there are forty-nine.

The twelve Adityas, the luminaries like Agni, lightning, etc., the Maruts, the stars, etc., are the Samanya Vibhutis (ordinary manifestations) of the Lord. Vishnu, the sun, Marichi, and the Moon are His Visesha Vibhutis (special manifestations) and hence they have greater splendour in them.

You can superimpose the Lord on the sun and the moon, and meditate on them as forms of the Lord. You can practise the same kind of meditation on all forms mentioned in the following verses of this chapter.