THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 10, VERSE 27, VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 10

VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS:

VERSE NUMBER 27

Text in Transliteration:

ucchaihsravasam asvaanaam viddhi maam amrtodbhavam

airaavatam gajendraanaam naraanaam cha naraadhipam

Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:

ucchaihsravasam = Ucchaisravas; asvaanaam = among horses; viddhi = know; maam = me; amrotodbhavam = born of nectar; airavatam = Airavata; gajendraanaam = among lordly elephants; naraanaam = among men; cha = and; naraadhipam = king.

Text in English:

Of horses, know Me to be the nectar-born Ucchaisravas; of lordly elephants, Airavata and of men, the monarch.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Mythology speaks elaborately of the churning of the ocean of milk by Devas and Asuras to get nectar from it. The horse Ucchairavas and the elephant Airavata along with several other high beings and great things came out of that unique undertaking. But this event is an allegorical statement of the eternal process of the good and bad people jointly churning the ocean of life to obtain happiness through wealth, learning and prosperity.     

A monarch born with royal excellence is regarded as a spark of the divinity come in the human form. The best of the horses, the best of elephants and the best of the human are indeed the manifestations of the divine glory of the Lord.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Nectar was obtained by the gods by churning the ocean of milk. Ucchaisravas is the name of the royal horse which was born in that ocean of milk when it was churned for the nectar.

Airavatam: the offspring of Iravati, the elephant of Indra born at the time when the ocean of milk was churned.