THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 37, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VERSE NUMBER 37

VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

kasmaach cha te na nameran mahaatman

     gareyase brahmano ‘py aadikartre

ananta devesa jagannivaasa

     tvam aksharam sad asat tat param yat

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

kasmaat = why: cha = and: te = thy: na = not: nameran = may prostrate: mahaatman = O great-souled one: gareeyase = greater: brahmanah = of Brahma: api = also: aadi kartre = the primal cause: ananta = O infinite being: devesa = O Lord of gods: jagannivaasa = O abode of the universe: tvam = thou: aksharam = imperishable: sat = the being: asat = non-being: tat = that: param = the supreme: yat = which.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

And why should they not, O Great-souled One, bow to You, greater (than all), the Primal Cause even of Brahma, O Infinite Being, O Lord of gods, O Abode of the universe; You are the Imperishable, the being and the non-being, that which is the Supreme.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHVANANDA:

The urge to praise Iswara rises spontaneously in the minds of the enlightened ones. For, knowing and admiring are interrelated. Iswara is Mahaatman as there is none greater than He. He is Ananta due to His transcending time, space and causation. He is the Lord of all the gods, their destiny being shaped by Him. As the ocean is the abode of the waves, the Lord is the abode of the universe. Brahama the Creator is the Immanent Aspect of Iswara. He is also known as Hiranyagarbha. For the convenience of our conception of him, he may be put as the sum total of Jivatmans, Iswara is the primal cause of Brahman even, just as the ocean is the primal cause of all the waves put together. The manifest aspect of the universe is sat, the unmanifest being asat. Iswara is glorified as Akshara since no modification of any kind takes place in Him, even when the universe comes into being from Him. The Lord is not only the Immanent Reality, but He is also the Transcendental Reality. For this reason, He is praised as Param. The glories of God are infinite. What else can the realized souls do than going into raptures and extolling Iswara? The sadhaka rises in spiritual stature as he indulges in the praise of the Lord.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

aadikartr: Thou art the first creator, or Thou art the creator even of Brahmaa.

Jagannivaasa: the Refuge of the universe. The God in whom dwells the universe.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The Lord is Mahatma. He is greater than all else. He is imperishable. So He is the proper object of worship, love, and delight.

That which exists in the three periods of time is Sat. Brahaman is Sat. That which does not exist in the three periods of time is Asat. This world is Asat. This body is Asat.

The words Sat and Asat mean here the manifested and the unmanifested which form the adjuncts of the Akshara (imperishable). In reality, the Akshara transcends both these. The word Akshara is applied in the Gita sometimes to the Unmanifest (Nature) and sometimes to the Supreme Being.

Ananta is He Who is free from the three kinds of limitations (of time, space and thing) which have already been explained.

Comments by the blogger:

In the earlier sloka or verse, Arjuna says, “It is meet, O Krishna, that the world delights and rejoices in Thy praise. Here in sloka or verse number 37, Arjuna continues his rapturous praises thus, “And why should they not, O great soul, bow to Thee who is greater than all else, the prial cause even of the Creator (Brahma), O infinite Being.”

Arjuna who was petrified by the sight of the Cosmic Form at one stage now rejoices the praise of the Lord of Gita. He has evolved from a frightened soul to a great person who cannot help extolling the Lord’s greatness. This evolution brings us greater delight. Because a petrified Arjuna cannot fight the war to the best of his ability. 

People who find time every day to sing the praise of the Lord are great souls indeed. The Saintly Poet, Tiruvalluvar, exhorts thus: “Whatever you think let it be about satvika thing.”

Because what we actually think we become that in the end. If we praise those high souls among us, past and present, we are elevated and our character is wrought around the qualities we did adopt in praising them. So whatever you think let it be about great things of the world. We should often ponder about great souls among us, and never let up on this quality. Our character forms around the person we often extol.

 This is the reason why we often extol God and sing His infinite qualities. It is not because God does not know about his infinitely rich qualities. We need not to remind God about His greatness. He is extolled as the Wisdomatic Being without having to learn anything. There is nothing neither in this Universe or outside the scope of this infinitely enriched Universe that God does not know. Then why should we extol His praises? Because we become what we often think and speak! Since we are an individual spark of God we get to gain much in devoutly praising the highly elevated qualities of God. The end of Bakhthi Yoga or the Yoga of Devotion is, like other forms of Yoga, illumination and becoming one with God.

We become God! Because we are indeed individual sparks of God. God’s illusion makes us forget our real origin and induces us to endlessly become enmeshed in the material existence with an overmastering urge to garner wealth and keep it with us. The Earth’s plane is only temporary. Except our Soul, every other thing is perishable. First among the perishable is our body. The nine-gated edifice, our body, encroaches every living day into our Spiritual pondering. By learning to extol God and sing His outstanding qualities and aspects make us come nearer to God in the succeeding incarnations and at one stage we become God indeed!