THE HOLY GITA , CHAPTER 09, VERSE 23, RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRETE

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 09

RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET:

VERSE NUMBER 23

Text in Transliteration:

Ye ‘py anyadevataa bhaktaa yajante sraddhayaa ‘nvitaah

Te ‘pi maam eva kaunteya yajanty avidhiparvakam

Text in English:

Even those devotees who, endowed with Sraddha, worship other gods, worship Me alone, O son of Kunti, by the wrong method.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Because these are devotees endowed with sraddha, (faith) they are necessarily believers in God and in His grace. It is not wantonly, but only for want of right understanding that they adopt the wrong method.

A good government has its sound administrative system from which its loyal officers do not deviate. Be it supposed that a citizen has applied to an officer for a favour and he has sanctioned it, coming as it does within the purview of the system. It is a mistake if the applicant fancies that the officer has shown him a concession. The actual position of the minor gods is equal to that of the government officers. As all powers come to them from the government, even so whatever power the other gods have, it has come to them from Iswara. Apart from and independent of Him no deity has any power to bestow any boon. The wrong method consists in getting things done counter to this truth.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

The author of the Gita welcomes light from every quarter of the heaven. It has a right to shine because it is light.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

They worship Me in ignorance. Their mode of worship is contrary to the ancient rule. Hence they return to this world.

People worship Agni, Indra, Surya, Varuna, the Vasus, etc. Even they attain Me, because I am everywhere. But their devotion is not pure. It is vicarious. Water should be given to the root and not to the branches. If the root is satisfied, the whole tree must be and is satisfied. Even so, if I (the root of this world and all the gods) am satisfied, all the gods must be and are satisfied. Though the messages from the five organs of knowledge reach the one consciousness, will it be right and useful to place a sweetmeat in the ear and a flower in the eyes? The function of eating must be done by the mouth alone and the function of smelling by the nose alone. Therefore I should be worshipped in My own name. They should know Me as the Self in all beings. They should recognise Me in other worship. I am the root. I am the source of all the gods and of this whole world. (Cf. IV. 11; VII.20)