THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 07
JNANA VIJNANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND REALIZATION:
VERSE NUMBER 19
Text in Transliteration:
bahoonaam janmanaam ante jnaanavaan maam prapadyate
vaasudevah sarvam iti sa mahaamaa sudurlabhah
Text in English:
At the end of many births, the man of wisdom takes refuge in Me, realizing that Vasudeva is all that is. Rare indeed is that great soul.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Vasudeva connotes the pratyagaatman—that which is immanent in everything sentient and insentient, movable and immovable, good and bad.
When a sadhaka or practitioner begins to give a practical shape to his learning that it is God who has become everything, he is styled a Jnani even in that initial stage. But quite a number of sadhakas take innumerable births before they gain complete realization and get fixed in the truth that God alone puts on the appearance of the phenomenon. The man who attained this acme of realization is indeed rare in the world. He is verily a god among men. The third stanza also of this chapter refers to this great soul.
The practice of this tenet of Vedanta contributes directly and indirectly to the welfare of the world. By viewing all beings as veritable divinities, the sadhka or practitioner elevates himself in spiritual stature. The indirect benefit consists in the others being unconsciously divinized. The more one is deified, the more the devil in one is eradicated.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Beholding diversity is born of delusion; beholding unity is born of enlightenment.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
bahoonaam janmanaam ante: at the end of many lives. The realization of the truth is a work of ages. One cannot expect to obtain the reward until one has sounded well the depths of experience in its varied complexity, and all this takes time. God lets the plant grow at its own pace. It takes nine months to make a natural baby and it will take a much longer time to make a spiritual one. The total transformation of nature is a long process.
Vaasudevah sarvam: Vaasudeva is all. Vaasudeva is the lord of the life which dwells in all. God is all in virtue of His two natures.
Ramanuja means by this phrase that “Vasudeva is my all.” it refers to God’s imperishable majesty felt by the devotee who is humble and trustful. God is all while we are nothing. Like everything else, man cannot exist without God also existing at the same time. We trustfully resign ourselves to His hands confessing that He is all. It is a consciousness of humility towards God who is everything and who truly is.
“Vasudeva is the cause of all.” Madhva.
Other forms of entreaty and prayer are not without their value. They have their reward.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Vasudeva is a name of Lord Krishna as He is the son of Vasudeva. He is the all-pervading Brahman.
The aspirant gradually evolves through Yogic practices, selfless service, devotion and constant meditation in many births and ultimately attains the inner Self. He realises that all is Vasudeva. It is very difficult to find such a great soul, who has attained to perfection. No one is equal to him. That is the reason why the Lord has said, “One in a thousand perchance strives for perfection; even among those successful strivers, only one perchance knows Me in essence.” (Cf. VII.3)
Comments by the blogger:
Everything here is known and understood as “Vasudeva Kutumbaka” that is, “The family of Vasudeva.”
There is nothing that the Lord does not pervade. In good as well as bad, in perfume and bad smell, in majestic animals like the tiger and lion and the detestable ones like the Skunk. If there is anything extraneous to God here then the question who is the owner of that will arise. Every single person, the millionaire and the slimy beggar, of this world, is but the little expression of God. Not just the flower and fauna of this world is pervaded by God, but every insential thing also is pervaded by God. The whole world is a reflexion of God. This world, in its large meaning, is called a Veda, not just the Four Vedas written and given expression to by the divine beings and sages thousands of years ago.
To take complete refuge in God tantamount to give up every iota of the worldliness! Those who go to Kasi takes a wow to give up something they very much like. Then for the rest of their lives they never touch that thing, whether it is eatable or other things of value and utility.
At the end of many births, the man of wisdom takes refuge in the Lord!
What a shame.
Then how many more million of trillion births the ordinary average but good man and woman should take!
That is why it is good to desist from the five kinds of sins.
But that is not enough; we have to worship regularly. Then alone we can come back as human beings time and time again, birth and birth again.
One way of ensuring that we would come back at the next birth as a human being with all the necessities fulfilled and born in a good family is to make a regular study of Srimat Bhagavat Gita. Because, we will come back to re-read and understand more fully the Gita! We need not perform any Latcharchana or contributing money to the telling and invoking the Lord’s name by the trained priests one lac times. It is enough to obtain Heaven and come back here as a human being born in a good family where Gita is learned by the elders, all we need to do is to make a regular study of Bhagavat Gita!
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