THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 07, JNANA VIJNANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND REALIZATION, VERSE NUMBER 09

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 07

JNANA VIJNANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND REALIZATION:

VERSE NUMBER 09

Text in Transliteration:

punyo gandhah prthivyaam cha tejas chaa ‘smi vibhaavasau

jeevanam sarva bhooteshu tapas chaa ‘smi tapasvishu

Text in English:

I am the sweet fragrance in earth and the brilliance in fire; I am the life in all beings and the austerity in ascetics.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Odour in all of its forms is characteristic of the element earth. But the sweet fragrance is specified here because of aroma being associated with the ritualistic worship of the Lord.

The brilliance in fire and sun is one and the same. While the former is handy and always available to man the latter is to be beheld with reverence from where he is. But both of them are the physical representations of the undecaying splendour of Brahman. Meditation on sun and fire leads to the cognizance of the divine blaze within oneself.

Self-consciousness is concomitant with the manifestation of life and it persists, though in varying degrees in all beings. Meditation on the continuity of life is therefore equivalent to meditation on consciousness. There should be no difficulty for the Sadhaka(practitioner) in having recourse to either for of meditation.             

It is one thing just to live and quite another to make a conscious attempt at intensifying the life that one lives. Ascetics are they who intensify life by subjective means. The process of thir effecting this end is known as tapas—austerity. The presence of the Lord is patent in this holy act. The sadhaka (practitioner) ought to study the austerity of the successful ascetics so that he may follow in their wake. The Lord Siva is designated as Ghora tapasvin—the One of terrible austerity.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Cp. “Thou art Reality, the Divine Spirit, not material, not lifeless. Thou art the life of the universe, the life of all creatures.”

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

In Me as odour is the earth woven; in Me as brilliance is the fire woven; in Me as life all beings are woven; in Me as austerity all ascetics are woven. I am the support, (Adhisthanam or Asraya) for everything. I am the power or Sakti which helps the ascetics to control the mind and the senses.

Krishna says, “I am the agreeable odour.” If Arjuna had asked Him, “Then who is the disagreeable odour?”, He would have replied, “It is also I.”

For the comments of the blogger, wait till the 11^th verse.