THE HOLY GITA

Wednesday 28 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 19, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 19
Text in Transliteration:
anaadi madhyaantam ananta veeryam
   ananta bahum sasi soorya netram
pasyaami tvaam deepta hutaasa vaktram
   svatejasaa visvam idam tapantam
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
anaadi = Madhya antam = without beginning, middle or end; ananta veeryam = infinite in power; ananta baahum = of endless arms; sasi soorya netram = the sun and the moon (thy) eyes; pasyaami =  (I) see; tvaam = thee; dipta hutaasa vaktram = the burning fire of thy mouth; svatejasaa = with thy radiance; visvam = the universe; idam = this; tapantam = heating.
Text in English:
I see You without beginning, middle or end, infinite in power, of infinite arms, the sun and the moon being Your eyes, the burning fire Your mouth; heating the whole universe with Your radiance.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
There is no beginning, middle or end to the One who is beyond time, space and causation. Iswara is infinite in power because He creates, sustains and withdraws the universe as a mere sport. God is of infinite arms as He gets His Cosmic scheme worked out engaging all beings as His instruments. It is the brilliance of Atman that shines as the light in the senses. The light in the sun, moon and fire is only a reflection of the original Atmajyoti. Speaking of the sun and the moon as the eyes of Iswara and of the fire as His mouth is poetic. The universe is cognizable because of the radiance of Iswara.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Anantabahu: Having endless arms. This denotes that the multiplicity of His limbs are endless.




Monday 26 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 18, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 18
Text in Transliteration:
Tvam aksharam paramam veditavyam
   Tvam asya visvasya param nidhaanam
Tvam avyayah saasvata dharma goptaa
   Sanaatanas tvam purusho  mato me
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
Tvam = thou; aksharam = imperishable; paramam = the supreme being; veditavyam = worthy to be known; tvam = thou; asya = (of) this; visvasya = of universe; param = the great; nidhaanam = treasure-house; tvam = thou; avyayah = imperishable; tvam = thou; avyayah = imperishable; saasvata dharma goptaa = protector of the Eternal Dharma; sanaatanah: = ancient; tvam = thou; purushah: = Purusha; matah: = thought; me = by me.
Text in English:
You are the Imperishable, the Supreme Being to be realized. You are the great treasure-house of this universe; You are the imperishable Guardian of the Eternal Dharma. You are the ancient Purusha, I deem.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
He who realizes Iswara becomes worthy of attaining Him. The realization of that Supreme Being is therefore the goal of the sadhaka. The Lord is the treasure-house of this universe even as aakaasa ( the sky) is the treasure-house of the moving clouds. When the universe perishes periodically, He remains imperishable. In His sublime proximity the Eternal Dharma or the functioning of the universe takes place regularly. Arjuna is now convinced of these verities.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
aksharam: imperishable. Arjuna states that the Supreme is both Brahman, and Isvara, Absolute and God.
saasvatadharmagoptaa: the undying guardian of the eternal law. Abhinavagupta reads saattvatadhrmagoptaa, the guardian of the saattvata dharma.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Visvasya-Nidhanam: Treasure-house of this universe, also means ‘abode’ or ‘refuge’ or the substratum of this universe. It is because of this that all the beings in the universe are preserved and protected. He is the inexhaustible source to whom the devotee turns at all times. Deluded indeed are they that ignore this divine treasure-house and run after the shadow of the objects of the senses which do not contain even an iota of pleasure.
Veditavyam: To be known by the aspirants or seekers of liberation, through Sravana (hearing of the scriptures), Manana (reflection) and Nididhyasana ( meditation).
Avyayah means inexhaustible, unchanging, undying.






THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 17, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 17
Text in Transliteration:
kireetinam gadinam chakrinam cha
   tejoraasim sarvato deeptimantam
pasyaami tvaam durnireekshyam samantaad
   diptaanalaarkadyutim aprameyam
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
kireetinam = one with diadem; gadinam = with club; chakrinam = with discus; cha = and; tejo raasim = a mass of radiance; sarvatah = everywhere; deeptimantam shining; pasyaami = (I) see; tvaam = thee; dur nireekshyam = very hard to look at; samantaat = all round; deepta anala arka dyutim = blazing like burning fire and sun; aprameyam = immeasurable.
Text in English:
I see You with diadem, club, and discus; a mass of radiance blazing everywhere, hard to look at, all round dazzling like flaming fire and sun, and immeasurable.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Any brilliance experienced in dream seems to dazzle the physical eyes though they are not actually affected thereby. The divine eye is said here to get dazzled on a greater measure; but its effect on the mind is salutary. Even the spiritual eye which is of a calibre superior to that of the fleshy eye, is not helpful to cognize the Cosmic Form in its entirety. It is therefore adored as the immeasurable.
The colour of the sattva guna is white. The reflection therefore of the brilliance of Atman on it is more dazzling than the bright sun.   

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Kiritam is a special ornament for the head, the crown.
Arjuna had worshipped the Lord as having a crown, club and discus and the Lord showed him the same form now. He is in all form and He is beyond all forms as the transcendental Reality. Who can comprehend His glory?
Tejorasim: A mass of splendour that cannot be perceived without the inner divine eye of intuition.
Aprameyam: Immeasurable, whose limts cannot be fixed.
I infer from this vision of Thy power of Yoga that Thou art the Imperishable, etc.





Friday 23 February 2018

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

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 16
Text in Transliteration:
aneka baahoodara vaktra netram
   pasyaami tvaam sarvato ‘nantararoopam
naa ‘ntam na madhyam na punas tavaa ‘dim
   pasyaami visvesavara visvaroopa
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
Aneka baahu udara vaktra netram = with manifold arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes on every side; pasyaami = (I) see; tvaam = thee; sarvatah = on every side; ananta roopam = of boundless form; na = not; antam = end; na = not; madhyam = middle; na = not; punah: = again; tava = thy; aadim = origin; pasyaami = (I) see; visvesvara = O Lord of the universe; visva roopa = O cosmic form.
Text in English:
I behold You, infinite in forms on all sides, with countless arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes; neither Your end nor the middle nor the beginning do I see, O Lord of the universe, O Universal Form.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
All the varieties of manifestations are His forms and He also transcends them all.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
vaktra: faces or mouths.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
A thing that is limited by space and time has a beginning, a middle and an end, but the Lord is omnipresent and eternal. He exists in the three periods of time—past, present and future, but is not limited by time and space. Therefore He has neither a beginning nor middle nor end.
Arjuna could have this divine vision only with the help of the divine eye bestowed upon him by the Lord. He who has supreme devotion to the Lord and on whom the Lord showers His grace can enjoy this wondrous vision.

Comments by the blogger:
Many arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes stand for the entire humanity of the three times, past, present and future. Human beings are none but the individual expression of the Lord. So all are equal before the Lord! He does not differentiate between the rich and the poor, black or white and so forth.
On every side, the Lord has boundless form without a beginning, middle and an end.
Even on the earthly plane, when we stand on the seashore and gaze at the sea, we see not the beginning, middle and an end of the waters. Water is just one of the five elements. The sky also looks to be stretching into the infinity. Our Earth looks like an endless flat extant expanse. But we all know the sea is a limited expression of salty water. We all know the sky has limits and is not infinite. And we all know that the earth is round or elliptical in size. While we cannot see the limits of the finite elements, what could be said of the Lord’s Universal Form which is really infinite and limitless in the right and real sense of the term?






         

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 15, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 15
Text in Transliteration:
                                       arjuna uvaacha
pasyaami devaams tava deva dehe
   sarvaams tathaa bhoota visesha samghaan
brahmaanam eesam kamalaasanastham
   rrsheems cha sarvaan uragaams cha divyaan
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
arjuna uvaacha = Arjuna said:
pasyaami  = (I) see; devaan = the gods; tava = thy; deva = O God; dehe = in the body; sarvaan = all; tathaa = also; bhoota visesha samghaan = hosts of various classes of beings; brahmaanam = Brahma; eesam = the Lord; kamala aasana stham = seated on the lotus; rrsheen = sages; cha = and; sarvaan = all; uragaan = serpents; cha = and; divyaan = vinine.
Text in English:
I see all the gods, O God, in Your body and hosts of all grades of beings; Brahma, the Lord, seated on the lotus and all the Rishis and celestial serpents.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The four-faced Brahma is the Creator of all beings; he is therefore revered as eesa. He is seated on the lotus come out of the navel of Mahaavishnu. Beings movable and immovable are all contained in the Cosmic Form. Rishis like Vasishta and serpents like Vasuki are visible therein.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
The vision of God widens our horizon and takes us beyond the earthly tumults and sorrows which so easily obsess us. God’s creation is not limited to this small planet, which is only an insignificant part of the cosmos. Arjuna sees the great and various company of spirits filling the universe.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Arjuna describes his own experience of the Cosmic Form in this and the following verses, 15 to 31.
Bhootaviseshasanghan: Hosts of various classes of beings, both animate and inanimate. These numerous entities are in Thy Cosmic Form, like hairs on the human body.
Brahma, the four-faced, the Lord of all creatures, is seated in the centre of the earth-lotus on the Meru which forms the thalamus as it were of the earth-lotus.
Sages, such as Vasishtha. Serpents, such as Vasuki.     





Wednesday 21 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 14, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 14
Text in Transliteration:
tatah: sa vismayaavishto hrshtaromaa dhanamjayah:
pranamya sirasaa devam krtaajnalir abhaashata
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
tatah: = then; sah: = he; vismaya aavishtah: = filled with wonder; hrrshttaromaa = with hair standing on end; dhanamjaya = Arjuna; pranamya = having prostrated; sirasaa = with (his) head; devam = the God; krrtaanjalih: = with joined palms; abhaasata = spoke.
Text in English:

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
When a yogi is blessed with the vision of God, its exuberance reveals itself through the spiritual charge it induces in his body and mind. Being struck with blissful amazement is the effect it brings on his mind. The hair standing on end, the head bowing down in reverence and palms joining in spontaneous adoration are the marks of ecstasy visible on his body. Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
In an agony of awe, his hair uplift, his head on high, his hands clasped in supplication, Arjuna adores.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Tatah: Then, having seen the Cosmic Form.
Arjuna joined his palms in order to do prostration to the Cosmic Form. The great hero had attained true humility which the bowed head and joined palms represented, and which is the essential ingredient of devotion.

Comments by the blogger:
Hair standing on end indicates one of the Maha Bhava as described in Srimat Swami Chidbhavananda’s able commentary on the immortal Tamil Text of Tiruvachagam. There various Maha Bhavas are described. A devotee goes through all these Maha Bhava born of internalized blissfulness. For example, the eyes shedding tears continuously while the body trembles in ecstasy. This is one of the Maha Bhava. Here Arjuna’s hair stands on end. He gets goose pimples. He is going through an ecstatic moment. Hair standing on end is one of the stages a bhakta or devotee goes through by stages. The consonant stage is self-surrender. Arjuna is going to declare that soon. His acts of bowed head and joined palms indicate the same. Complet self-surrender is intrinsic to the stage of being a devotee.    




Tuesday 20 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 13, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 13
Text in Transliteration:
tatrai ‘kastham jagat kritsnam pravibhaktam amekadhaa
apasyad devadevasya Sartre paandvas tadaa
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
tatra = there; ekastham = resting in one; jagat = the universe; krrtsnam = the whole; pravibhaktam = divided; anekadhaa = in many groups; apasyat = saw; deva devasya = of the god of gods; sareere = in the body; paanadavah = son of Pandu; tadaa = then.
Text in English:
There in the body of the God of gods, Pandava then saw the whole universe with its many divisions drawn together into one.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Unity in variety is the plan of Nature. The Cosmic Life is manifesting Itslf as the celestials, as the human beings, as animals, as birds, as the vegetable kingdom and other species. These are all expressions of the same Consciousness. The celestial world, the terrestrial world, the nether world—these are all regions intended for enjoyments of various kinds. And each region has its own objects of enjoyment. All these are contained in Iswara who is the Life of lives; this is how the unity in variedty is made possible.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Arjuna had the vision of the One in the many and the many in the One. Aa things remain the same and yet all are changed. There is astonishment at the disappearance of the familiar landmarks of the everyday world. Everything is interfused, each with each and mirrors the whole. The vision is a revelation of the potential divinity of all earthly life.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Tatra: there—in the Cosmic Form.
Anekadha: many groups—gods, manes, men and other species of beings.
Arjuna beheld the forms as the forms of the Lord, all heads as His heads, all eyes as His eyes, all hands as His hands, all feet as His feet, every part of everybody as the limb of the Lord’s divine form. Wherever he looked he beheld nothing but the Lord. He got mystic divine knowledge.
Sanjaya has given a truly graphic description of the Cosmic Form. Yet, it would be futile to grasp it with the finite mind. It is a transcendental vision, beyond the reach of the mind and senses. It has to be realised in Samadhi.

Comments by the blogger:
It could be quite frightening to have an integral vision of this cosmos. For us out the five elements, the air and the sky largely remain unseen. Air, ok. How come we do not see the sky? The sky as we understand is quite different from the one as we get to see! We see an expanse of blue bright sky or the overcast sky. At least in the blue and bright sky, there is room for illusion and the sky seems to our naked eye as expanding into the infinitude, as the sea waters. But the overcast sky or the sky overcast with dark rain-bearing clouds give a definite and a very limited shape to the sky. The clouds hung so low as though they could be touched if only we stretched up our arms!
But the sky, though finite according to the theory of Albert Einstein, is described by the poets and even ordinary laymen as infinite, because of its intense immensity and massive proportions. And this sky houses millions of trillions of stars! There are said to be millions of milky ways like that of our Solar System. That is why it is strongly believed even by serious scientists that there are human beings more intelligent than us! There are numberless planets seen travelling fast at the speed of the light away from our planet, the Earth, since the Big Bang! That should give us a proper idea as to the size of the sky itself. But we are not threatened by the sky! On the other hand, we enjoy looking at the sky in its many moods! The poets write in praise of the sun-up and sunset. But we never get to see the sky in its true massive form. If we ever do get to see that, that would frighten us! It is one thing to make a mental picture and mentally analyze and understand about the sky, and quite different from actually seeing it in its true potential form all in its massiveness. What the eyes do not see the mind do not worry about!
Likewise, we do not get to see the air in its myriad moods. We only see the effect of the hurricane and tornado wrought on the other elements. And we do not get to see the water, the earth and fire in their real immense and massiveness. For example, we haven’t seen the ultimate deluge. The Chennai flood last year was the child of the deluge. But it frightened us!
So any element in their real and deluge-size will frighten us.
All we see of the mother Earth is the flat form and expanse with familiar landmarks like hills, forests or concrete jungle. But what would happen if we develop an acumen to see all at once the whole of the revolving earth? We would be actually wetting our pants in the sheerness of mighty fear! Once again, what the eyes do not get to see the mind does not bother about.
But Arjunan gets to see all the furious elements in their immense, full and massive form and the familiar landmarks are nowhere to be seen and this frightens and over-awes him.
Blessed we are only till we do not get to see the reality with our naked eyes! We thrive in limited illusive figures and shapes! The human mind cannot put up with God’s immensity and variety.  






Monday 19 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 12, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 12
Text in Transliteration:
divi soorya sahasrasya bhaved yugapad utthitaa
yadi bhaah: sadrrsee saa syaad bhaasas tasya mahaatmanah:
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
divi = in the sky; soorya sahasrasya = of a thousand suns; bhavet = were; yugapat = at once; utthitaa = arisen; yadi = if; bhaah = splendour; sadrrsee = like; saa = that; syaat = would be; bhaasah: = splendour; tasya = of that; mahaatmanah = of the mighty being.
Text in English:
If the splendour of a thousand suns were to blaze forth all at once in the sky, that would be like the splendour of that Mahatman.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The unknown has to be inferred citing the known as the pattern. Even then the inference can only be vague if not erroneous. The realized souls only can have a correct view of Him. Men with godly qualities alone can cognize God in His true import. The simile of a thousand suns indicates that Iswara is unparalleled. He is therefore Mahaatman—the Great Soul.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Divi here means in the Antariksha or the sky.
Mahatma here refers to the great soul or the mighty Being, the Cosmic Form.




Sunday 18 February 2018

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

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 11
Text in Transliteration:
divya maalyaambara dharam divya gandhaanulepanam
 sarvaascharyamayam devam anantam visvatomukham
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
Divya maalya ambara dharam = wearing divine garlands and apparel; divya gandha anulepanam = anointed with divine unguents; sarva aascharya mayam = the all-wonderful; devam = resplendent; anantam = endless; visvatomukham = with faces on all sides.
Text in English:
Wearing heavenly garlands and raiments, anointed with celestial perfumes, all wonderful, resplendent boundless, with faces on all sides.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Panorama corresponding to this definition is available even to the physical eye; what to speak then of the spectacle cognized with the divine eye! Godly features alone are in evidence everywhere and at all levels.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Visvatomukham: With faces on all sides, as He is the Self of all beings.
Devam: God. Also means ‘resplendent’.
Anantam: Endless. He Who is free from the three kinds of limitations, viz., Desa-Kala-Vastu-Pariccheda (limitations of space, time and thing respectively) is Anantam. He is Brahman. This philosophical concept is explained below.
The pot is here. This is space-limitation. The pot is now here. This is time-limitation. The pot is not a cloth. This is thing – (material) limitation. There is saffron in Kashmir only. This is limitation of space and thing. You can have apples only in September. This is limitation of time and thing. But Brahman is everywhere, as It is all-pervading. It exists in the past, the present and the future. It dwells in all parts. Hence It is beyond these three limitations. It is therefore endless.





THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 10, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 10
Text in Transliteration:
aneka vaktra nayanam anekaabhoota darsanam
aneka divyaabharanam divyaanekodyataayudham
Sanskrit words and phrases with their meaning:
aneka vaktra nayanam = with numerous mouths and eyes; aneka adbhuta darsanam = with numerous wonderful sights; aneka divya aabharanam = with numerous divine ornaments; divya aneka udyata aayudham = with numerous divine weapons uplifted.
Text in English:
With many mouths and eyes, with many marvellous sights, with many divine ornaments, with many uplifted divine weapons;

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The entire universe is His manifest body; His mouths and eyes are therefore countless. Many a divine happening is beyond the scope of the human knowledge. Such happenings have to be admired as marvellous to look at. Beauty emanates from Iswara. The attractive and lovely forms all over Nature adorned with magnificent decorations appear as if decked with divine ornaments. The divine designs and happenings are inevitable. Nothing can resist God’s plans and executions. The uplifted divine weapons reveal Him as the Almighty.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
The poet seems to feel here the dearth of words, the roughness of speech in trying to describe an experience which is essentially ineffable.  
anekavaktranayanam: many moths and eyes. He is all-devouring and all-seeing.
These are descriptions of the Universal Being. In the Purus Sookta also, a similar account is found.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Countless faces appeared there. Arjuna looked at this Cosmic Form in all its magnificence. He saw the Lord everywhere and in everything. The whole manifestation appeared as one gigantic body of the Lord. He saw the Lord as the all-in-all.

(Bloggers note; Dear visitors and readers, last evening I uploaded a vedio on the Youtube and my channel’s name is “Short stories-orally by Raguram youtube”. If you type these words on the Google Search, it will give direct access to the vedio. As I have pleaded in the vedio, please click SUBSCRIBE and also click the Bell icon below.)   




Friday 16 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 09, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 09
Text in Transliteration:
                                 samjaya uvaacha
evam uktvaa tato raajan mahaayogesvaro harih:
darsayaam aasa paarthaaya paramam roopam aisvaram
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
                                    samjaya uvaacha = Sanjaya said:
evem = thus; uktvaa = having spoken; tatah: = then; raajan = O king; mahaa yogesvarah: = the great Lord of yoga; harih: = Hari; darsayaamaasa = showed; paarthaaya = to Partha; paramam = supreme; roopam = roopam = form; aisvaram = sovereign.
Text in English:
                                     Sanjaya said:
Having thus spoken, O king, the great Lord of yoga, Hari showed to Partha, His supreme Iswara form.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
The Upanishad says:
Hearing they hear not; knowing they know not; seeing they see not; only with the eye of enlightenment do they see.
This is Krishna’s transfiguration where Arjuna sees all the creatures in heaven and earth in the Divine Form.
Cp. the Prophet’s words: “Lord open his eyes that he may see.” See also the vision of Ezekiel, Exodus xxxiii, 18; Revelation iv: and Saddharmapundarika, 1. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Thou shalt see and be radiant and thy heart shall thrill and be enlarged” ( Isaiah lx, 1-5).

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
King: This verse is addressed by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra.
Supreme form: The Cosmic Form.

( Note by the blogger: Dear visitors and readers, since you show a singular lack of interest in following the three great commentators and thus help me tide over my financial problems, I have come up with a novel idea.
I have opened a Youtube channel. short stories- by Raguram youtube is the name of the channel. I started it last night. Tonight onwards I will be telling short stories to those who care to visit my Channel. My Email ID for the channel is kraguram58@gmail.com
You might ask what’s so special about the site and why we should visit it.
Well, It’s a unique channel and I tell short stories in a novel way.
In front of the camera, I use a Mills and Boon Romance and from the novel, I would select a sentence or a line or a phrase even at random and using the same as a starting line or sentence of my short story, I would develop the story from the scratch! This is a novel method. The short stories are not for kids either. They are for adults. I wouldn’t know what story I am going to tell. It all would depend on the sentence or phrase I’d select at random. The idea is to tell one short story a day. But I am capable of telling short stories more than one a day. I will upload videos according as the number of visitors dictates. More the number more short stories I will tell a day.
I will upload my first video tonight around eight o’ clock. Be sure to visit my Youtube channel. And be sure to click on the icon Subscribe besides clicking on the bell icon on the top right side corner.
Since necessity is the mother of invention, I have opted for this way to make money. But I will surely continue to blog on this site. For it is surely a matter of spiritual satisfaction.
Kindly visit my short story channel tonight, please. You won’t be bored. And that’s a promise.
Thank you and have a nice day)   





THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 08, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 08
Text in Transliteration:
na tu maam sakyase drastum anenai ‘va svachakshushaa
divyam dadaami te chakshuh pasya me yogam aisvaram
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
na = not; tu = but; maam = me; sakyase = (thou) canst; drashtum = to see; anena = with this; eva = even; svachakshushaa = with own eyes; divyam = divine; dadaami = (I) give; te = (to) thee; chakshuh: = the eye; pasya = behold; me = my; yogam = yoga; aisvaram = lordly.
Text in English:
But you cannot see Me with these eyes of yours; I give you divine sight; behold My Supreme Yoga.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
In the scheme of the evolution of life, one species evolves into another until perfection in body and mind is reached in the human. Nothing in Nature can be found parallel to the human tabernacle, the human brain and the human mind. Man is a repository of knowledge. He has added marvellously and continues to add to his knowledge of things in Nature. He is correspondingly gaining mastery over everything in it to an enormous extent. Human-contrived aids to sense-knowledge, such as telescope, the microscope, the X-ray and the stethoscope are equally marvellous. But the seeming mastery over Nature has not minimized it. His enormously increased intellectual knowledge has not solved the problems of life and death; it has only complicated them further.
Yoga steps in here to make the human life a fulfilment. Through the practice of yoga a super-sense called the divine eye can be developed. It is neither a freak nor an accident. With precision and certainty the spiritual eye can be evolved. It is the outcome of a perfectly disciplined pure life. Man completes his evolution with acquisition of this divine insight. After getting established in spiritual excellence the sadhaka is required to subordinate his personal will to the Cosmic Will which is termed as the grace of the Lord in theological parlance. When these conditions are fulfilled the realization of God becomes possible.
God reveals Himself variously in the various planes of consciousness. At the mental plane He is cognized as the phenomenon; at the ethical level as the infallible Law; at Bhaava samaadhi or the divine eye level as the Immanent or the kinetic aspect of Iswara; at Nirvikalpa Samadhi or the intuition freed from mind, as the Transcendental Reality or the static aspect of Iswara; finally the individual merges into the Absolute which is Brahman. God-realization takes place in this order.
Arjuna is blessed with the vision of the Immanent Iswara. This realization relieves him of all of his problems, personal and public. He gets enlightened so as to discharge his duty as a willing instrument at the hands of the Lord. The Sage Vyasa is all perfection and he intuits Iswara in all of His aspects. By the grace of this sage, Sanjaya is favoured with the same Cosmic Vision which Arjuna gets and he faithfully reports it to his blind monarch Dhrtarashtra.
SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The great ones compare Bhakti (devotion) with the magic collyrium applied to the eye. Sreemati Radha once told her companion maids that she saw Sri Krishna only wherever she turned her eyes. “You have anointed your eyes with the divine collyrium of Bhakti, therefore you behold your darling Krishna in this way,” answered the companions.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
No fleshly eye can see that sovereign form. Human eye is not made for such excess of light. Divya chaksus is the angelic eye while maamsa chaksus is the eye of the flesh.
Human eyes can see only the outward form; the inner soul is perceived by the eye of spirit. There is a type of knowledge that we can acquire by our own efforts, knowledge based on the deliverances of the senses and intellectual activity. Another kind of knowledge is possible when we are under the influence of grace a direct knowledge of spiritual realities. The god-vision is a gift of god. The whole account is a poetic device to indicate the unity of the cosmic manifold in the Divine nature.
The vision is not a mental construction but the disclosure of a truth from beyond the finite mind. The spontaneity and directness of the experience are brought out here.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
No fleshly eyes can behold Me in My Cosmic Form. One can see It through the divine eye or the eye of intuition. It should not be confused with seeing through the eye or the mind. It is an inner experience.
Lord Krishna says to Arjuna: “I give three the divine eye, by which you will be able to behold My sovereign form. By it see My marvellous power of Yoga.”
Anena: with this: the fleshly eye or the physical eye, the earthly eye. (Cf. VII. 25; IX. 5; X. 7)

Comments by the blogger:
The physical eyes are not bad actually. But what is here seen is Ishwara’s Supreme Yoga in the form of His Cosmic Form. This is an inner experience and as such a new spiritual equipment is provided to Arjuna. Sanjaya also saw the Lord’s Cosmic Form. He was provided with the power of intuition by the Sage Vyasa.
It is material to note that Srimat Swami Chidbhavananda says, “In the scheme of the evolution of life, one species evolves into another until perfection in body and mind is reached in the human”.
We are human beings and as such perfected in the body. But we have not attained perfection in mind for which we should become yogis and yoginis and pursue a life divorced from all materialism. And when we become perfect in mind through yoga, we can also intuit the Lord’s Cosmic Form. But we must make further progress. And we should be able to experience the Ultimate Brahman. Realization of Brahman and becoming one with Him is instantaneous.
(And, dear visitors and readers, as I was out of station yesterday I could not come up with a posting that day).
(And as for your disinclination to follow me, let me remind you that by clicking the word Follow set by the Google AdSense you will not necessarily follow the puny little me and the puny little self of mine. On the contrary, you will be following the three great commentators. So please click the word “Follow” set up by the Google AdSense authorities. But, of course, the benefit would come and accrue to me. You would not grudge me that, I am sure. I am in dire need of an independent income of my own. So follow the three great Commentators and let the benefit accrue to me also.)  





Wednesday 14 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 07, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 07
Text in Transliteration:
thai ‘kastham jagat kritsnam pasyaa ‘dya sacharaacharam
mama dehe gudaakesha yach chaa ‘nyad drashttum icchasi
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
Tha = in this; ekastham = centred in one; jagat = the universe; krtsnam = whole; pasya = behold; adya = now; sacaracharam = with the moving and unmoving ; mama = my; dehe = in the body; gudaakesa = O Gudakesa; yat = that; cha = and; anyat = other; drashtum = to see; icchasi = (thou) desirest.
Text in English:
Behold here today, O Dudakesa, the whole universe of the moving and the unmoving, and whatever else you desire to see, all integral of My body.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
In chapter 2 stanza 6, Arjnuna raised a doubt whether Pandavas should vanquish Kauravas or Kauravas should vanquish Pandavas. The answer to this question can now be found self-revealed in the working of the Cosmos. The plan and purpose of the universe ever stand self-revealed. It is open to the enquirer to get at them whenever he wants.
Are the physical eyes and the ordinary intellect sufficient to cognize the whole of the truth pertaining to the Lord. The answer is given in the next stanza.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
It is the vision of all in the one. When we develop our full capacity of apprehension, we see that all (past, present and future) is present.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAI SIVANANDA:
Anyat: other; whatever else. Your success or defeat in the war, about which you have entertained a doubt. (Cf. II. 6)

Comments by the blogger:
Veada means to know. The Vedas do not comprise just the four books as we generally understand, namely, the Rig, Yajur, Sama and othervana.
The whole Universe is the Veda in the broader sense. The whole universe is the body of the Lord. And to understand the world is to understand the Lord. But it is not so easy. That was why our ancient Rishis and Yogis sat cross legged at a clean place with their backbone erect and breathing controlled; with closed eyes and the other four senses also in full control, they sent their gaze inward.
They had formed an excellently correct idea that what is there in the andam or Universe is in the pindam or human body. The Universe and the human body are made up of the same five elements. So to know one’s body and mind is to know the Universe and the Being that is the mainstay of the Universe.
By sending their inquiry inside of themselves by shutting out the outer world fully, they could raise the kundalini or the serpent power that reveals all which is dormant behind the testicles up to the head by stages. They came to know who they were; a little expression of the Lord of the Universe! Their Self-knowledge was able to converse with the Universal Mind or Intelligence.
In this verse, by saying Anyat or other, or behold in my body, the whole universe centred in one—including the moving and the unmoving—(anyat) AND WHATEVER ELSE THOU DESIREST TO SEE!
SO ARJUNA COULD NOT ONLY SEE THE PAST AND PRESENT BUT THE FUTURE TOO! THIS FUTURE DOES NOT NECESSARILY RELATE TO THE OUTCOME OF THE WAR AT KURUKSHETRA BUT ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE, INCLUDING THE FATE OF THE WORLD, THE FATE OF ONE’S SELF. ARJUNA COULD SEE, IF HE WANTS, HOW MANY MORE REINCARNATIONS HE SHOULD TAKE OR IF THIS WOULD BE HIS LAST ONE.
SO THE FUTURE POSSIBILITIES ARE THERE IN THE FORM OF KNOWLEDGE. THIS IS HOW IN THE STANZAS TO COME THE LORD SHOWS ARJUNA HOW ALL THE WORLD IS BEING SIMPLY SLURPED UP AND ALL GOES INEXORABLY INTO HIS MOUTH!
One may ask that if the future of one person is predetermined then what is the use of our spiritual exertion in this incarnation and why should not we spend our life here in indulging our senses in the sense objects freely. The answer is very simple. The future would be in a state of flux according as the actions in the past and present births as also the sachinta karma which is a stock of past karma yet to be acted out and expended. But a person, while he comes up to the stage of getting to know the whole universe as the body of the Lord, that is, when he has developed up to that level, then telling his future becomes simple, for he would have no more rebirth to transact and prosecute. By getting to see the Lord’s Cosmic Form, Arjuna has attained that stage of a perfected Yogi in his last spiritual leg toward understanding the Lord. But he has some more distance to traverse spiritually.

(Blogger’s note: Dear visitors and readers, after the end of the 18th chapter, I would traverse the great prefaces given by the three commentators. With that, Holy Gita would not come to an end. With the knowledge we have gained by a prayerful perusal of Gita we shall delve in deep into the principal Upanishads one by one. And then we shall look into Ramayana and Mahabharata and at last, we shall see the Brahma Sutra. We shall see all this under the heading of “Hinduism”. So it would take four or five years of solid writing for me to end this blog. I am 58 and do not contribute to my family’s finances. Money is one great hurdle for me. But I have read more than thirty voluminous books which are still with me and I shall freely and exhaustively quote from them. I am a spendthrift when it comes to buying books. The habit has stood me in good stead and I am able to write about all the questions relating to Hinduism. But at present, for the past three years, I am going through a lean patch. The Google Authorities insist on my having a sizable following. But, despite my many requests, you stoutly refuse to follow me. Please change your mind and FOLLOW ME, PLEASE. IF I AM NOT GOING THROUGH A LEAN PATCH—WE ARE PLANNING TO SELL THE HOUSE—I WOULD NOT HAVE SIGNED UP WITH THE AdSense. SO PLEASE FOLLOW ME AND ENABLE ME TO WRITE WITH ABANDON WITHOUT ANY THOUGHT ABOUT FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS.
AS YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTED, I AM WRITING, AT THE SAME TIME, MORE THAN FOUR BLOGS WHICH TAKE UP MY FULL TIME DURING THE DAY. SO PLEASE FOLLOW ME AND I STRENGTHEN MY HANDS.THIS IS MY HUMBLE REQUEST.)
  




Monday 12 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 6, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 6
Text in Transliteration:
pasyaa ‘dityaan vasoon rudraan asvinau marutas tathaa
bahoony adrshiapoorvaani pasyaa ‘scaryaani bhaarata
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
pasya = behold; aadityaan = the Adityas; vasoon = the; rudraan = the Rudras; asvinau = the (two) Aswins; marutah = the Maruts; tathaa = also; bahooni = many; adrrshiapoorvaani = never seen before; pasya = see; aascharyaani = wonders; bhaarata = O Bharata.
Text in English:
Behold the Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the two Aswins and also the Maruts. Behold, O Bharata, many marvels never seen before.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The manifest aspect of Iswara is finite compare with His unmanifest infinitude. But even this seemingly finite aspect expands into infinitude to the inquirer who seeks to probe into it. The stupendousness of the solar systems or of the stellar systems, the subtlety in the structure of the atom receding into infinitude—these are sufficient data to make man stand aghast at the structure of the universe which is ever available for observation.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Adityas, Vasus, Rudras and Maruts have already been described in the previous chapter.
Not these alone! Behold also many other wonders never seen before by you or anybody else in this world.  

  

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: PLEASE FOLLOW ME. UNLESS YOU FOLLOW ME THE GOOGLE ADSENSE WOULD NOT SET ME UP. I AM NOT ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE ANY MONEY TO THE FAMILY. SO ITS TOTTERING FINANCIAL CONDITION IS PATHETIC, TO SAY THE LEAST. YOUR FOLLOWING ME WILL GO A LONG WAY IN MAKING THE FINANCES OF THE FAMILY LOOK UP. SO PLEASE FOLLOW ME.I AM NOT GOING TO END THIS BLOG WITH THE LAST CHAPTER OF SRIMAD GITA. I WILL GIVE YOU FULL ACCOUNT OF THE ABLE PREFACES PENNED BY THE THREE COMMENTATORS. AND THEN I WILL START TO WRITE ON "HINDUISM" EXHAUSTIVELY QUOTING FROM MANY LEARNED AUTHORS. SO THIS BLOG WILL GO ON FOR SEVERAL MORE YEARS. TO MAKE ALL THIS POSSIBLE, MY DEAREST VISITORS AND READERS, PLEASE FOLLOW ME)

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 5, VISVARUP DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 05
Text in Transliteration:
                                 sri bhagavaan uvaacha
pasya me partha roopaani sataso ‘tha sahasrastah:
naanaavidhaani divyaani naanaavarnaakrteeni cha
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
Pasya = behold; me = my; paartha = O Partha; roopaani = forms; satasah: = by hundreds; atha = and; sahasrasah: = by thousands; naanaavidhaani = of different sorts; divyaani = divine; naanaavarna aakrteeeni = of various colours and shapes; cha = and;
Text in English:
                               The Blessed Lord said:
Behold My forms, O Partha, by hundreds and thousands, manifold and divine and of multi-colours and shapes.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Things and beings seemingly extraneous to Iswara are not so in fact. Naught exists outside the pale of the Lord. Offshoots as they are of His immensity, the divine element is in one and all of them. It is going to be revealed shortly that the diversities in form, colour, nature and existence are all really the manifestations of the Cosmic Entity who is one without a second.
By asking Arjuna to behold His macrocosmic form, the Lord recognizes his worthiness for that holy communion.
SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
It is Narayana who has become the all. Man is Narayana; all creatures are Narayana; the Rishi is Narayana, the wicked man is Narayana; whatever is, is Narayana. Narayana sports in multiforms, displaying His glory in all these form.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNA:
The stupendous self-revelation of Divine power is manifested to Arjuna who understands the true meaning of the cosmic process and destiny. In Mahabharata VI, 131, it is said that Krishna appeared in His world-form to Duryodhana, who attempted to make Him a prisoner when He approached Duryodhana for a final attempt at reconciliation.
The vision is not a myth or a legend but spiritual experience. In the history of religious experience, we have a number of such visions. The transfiguration of Jesus, the vision of Saul on the Damascus Road, Constantine’s vision of the Cross bearing the motto “In this sign, conquer,” Joan of Arc’s visions are experiences akin to the vision of Arjuna.
Foot note to “The transfiguration of Jesus”
Mark ix, 2-8.  Saint Hildegard (1098-1180) reports a vision in which she saw a “fair human being” who declared his identity in words reminiscent of the Gita description. “I am that supreme and fiery force that sends forth all the sparks of life. Death hath no part in me, yet do I allot it, wherefore I am girt about with wisdom as with wings. I am that living and fiery essence of the divine substance that glows in the beauty of the fiends. I shine in the water. I burn in the sun and the moon and the stars. Mine is that mysterious force of the invisible wind. I sustain the breath of all living. I breathe in the verdure and in the flowers, and when the waters flow like living things, it is I. I formed those columns that support the whole earth... All these live because I am in them and am of their life. I am wisdom. Mine is the blast of the thundered word by which all things were made. I permeate all things that they may not die. I am life.”  Quoted in ‘Studies in the AHistory and Method of Science’, edited by Charles Singer (1917), page 33.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Divyani; divine; supernatural.
Satasah, Sahasrasah: By the hundreds and thousands countless.
O Arjuna, I want you to behold the Cosmic Form. All beings and entities are there. The fat and the lean, the short and the tall, the red and the black, the active and the passive, the rich and the poor, the intelligent and the dull, the healthy and the sick, the noisy and the silent, those that are awake, those that are asleep, the beautiful and the ugly,  and all grades of beings with their distinctive marks are all there. The blueness of the sky, the yellowness of the silk, the redness of twilight, the blackness of coal, the whiteness of the snow, and the greenness of the leaves will be seen by you. You will also behold the objects of various shapes.                

  





Sunday 11 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 4, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 04
Text in Transliteration:
manyase yadi tac chakyam mayaa drastum iti prabho
yogesvara tato me tvam darsayaa ‘tmaanam avyayam
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
manyase = thou thinkest; yadi = if; tat = that; sakyam = possible; mayaa = by me; drastum = to see; iti = thus; prabho = O Lord; yogesvara = O Lord of yogis; tatah = then; me = me; tvam = thou; darsaya = show; atmaanam = (thy) self; avyayam = imperishable.
Text in English:
If You, O Lord, think it possible for me to see it, then do, O Lord of yoga, show me your Eternal Self.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Not only does yoga emanate from Iswara, but He is also the bestower of it on worthy aspirants. Creating, protecting, withdrawing, veiling and revealing—these are the five divine activities which the Lord is pleased to carry on eternally. Among these five, the glory of Cosmic revelation it is that Arjuna supplicates to have a glimpse of. The granting of the spiritual vision is an act of grace that comes from the Yogeswara.
To give prominence to personal will is not the way of the Bhakta. He subordinates self-will to the will of the Lord. Consistent with this attitude, Arjuna pleads that the vision of the Cosmic Form of Iswara might be granted to him if the Lord thought he was worthy of it.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Arjuna is very keen and eager to see the Cosmic Form of the Lord. He prays to Him to grant him the vision. This supreme vision can be obtained only through His grace.
Yogesvara also means the Lord of Yoga. A Yogi is one who is endowed with the eight psychic powers (Siddis). The Lord of the Yogins is Yogesvara. And, Yoga is identity of the individual soul with the Absolute. He who is able to bestow this realisation of identity on the deserving spiritual aspirant is Yogesvara.

He Who is able to create, preserve, destroy, veil and graciously release is the Lord. These five actions, Panchakriyas, are known respectively as Srishti, Sthiti, Samhara, Tirodhana and Anugraha.)         (BLOGGER'S NOTE: PLEASE FOLLOW ME. YOUR FOLLOWING WOULD HELP ME GET CONNECTED TO THE GOOGLE ADSENSE. DO ME THIS FAVOUR, PLEASE AND FOLLOW ME IN SIZABLE NUMBER.)

Friday 9 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 3, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 03
Text in Transliteration:
evam etad yathaa ‘ttha tvam aatmaanam paramesvara
draashtum icchaami te roopam aisvaram purusottama
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
evam = thus; etat = this; yathaa = as; aattha = has declared; tvam = thou; aatmaanam = thyself; paramesvara = O Supreme Lord; drashtum = to see; icchaami = (I) desire; te = thy; roopam = form; aisvaram = sovereign; purushottama = O Purusha Supreme.
Text in English:
As You have declared Yourself to be, so it is, O Lord Supreme. (Yet) I desire to see Your Iswara form, O Purushottama.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Divine attributes are inherent in Iswara. As brilliance cannot be separated from burning fire divine excellences cannot be effaced from Him. Outstanding features such as knowledge, lordship, strength, potency, heroism and brilliance may be easily marked in Him. There are hidden glories which may be cognized only when He condescends to reveal. Arjuna supplicates for a vision of His latent glories.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
It is one thing to know that the Eternal Spirit dwells in all things and another to have the vision of it. Arjuna wishes to see the Universal Form, the visible embodiment of the Unseen Divine how He is the “birth and passing away of all beings.” X 8 The abstract metaphysical truth should be given visible reality.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Some commentators take the two halves of this verse as two independent sentences and interpret it thus:
“So it is, O Supreme Lord, as Thou has declared Thyself to be. (But still) I desire to see Thy form as Ishvara, O Supreme Person.”
Rupamaisvaram: Thy form as Ishvara, that of Vishnu as possessed of infinite knowledge, sovereignty, power, strength, prowess and splendour.

Comments by the blogger:
In chapter X the Lord Has given a detailed description as to His great and infinite glories.
Yet Arjuna is not satiated.    
As Swami Sivananda has said elsewhere, seeing the supreme Cosmic Form of the Lord is not the be all and end all. That if it were so, the Gita would have concluded with the chapter XI. So, according to him, seeing the cosmic vision is one of the stages in the development of self-realization.
Arjuna’s delusion and sorrow have come to a conclusion with the chapter X and he is ready to fight the war. He is no longer shaking in his shoes at the very thought of taking the lives of his own kith and kin. Now he is in an upbeat mood. And he loves the Lord more than ever for His compassion and the graded way He has taken him through the knowledge of Self Culture and the inevitability of performing his swadharma or Arjuna’s self-ordained duty.
In his upbeat mood, Arjuna wants to see the Lord’s Cosmic Form as well.
And through the description of Sanjaya we too get to see in our mind’s eye the great Form of the Lord.
What is actually seen by Arjuna and Sanjaya gets described in words of mouth. Human language, as we know, is paralytic and insufficient when it comes to describing an essentially a spiritual EXPERIENCE.  Still, Sanjaya has done a great job in lending words to the inexorable experience. So we should try to form a vision of our own through a devout and faithful study of the ensuing verses.
Lord Krishna showed the Form of this world even as a boy!
As a boy, when at play, Sri Krishna ate the soil of the earth like any other child at play. And when His concerned mother asked Him to open His mouth and show the soil, what she saw in the mouth of the Lord was the Form of the whole world!
So it is for the second time, the Lord Has taken pity on His incomparable devotee and shows instead of just the earth, the whole Cosmos!
What is pertinent here is that in Hinduism it is rightly and strongly believed that the whole cosmos is filled with and impregnated only by the Lord. And there can be nothing here alien and extraneous to the Lord. Both the king and the pauper and the totality of the animal kingdom not to speak of the teeming millions of the planets and the Five Elements all are God and God alone!
This is said in Esha Upanishad as “the Vasudheva Kutumbaka” which, incidentally was recalled and quoted ably by our able Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi in his fine speech rendered at Davos, Switzerland.
How wonderful it is to realize that we all are parts of the Lord!
If it be so, could there be any strife between nations and individual human beings?
Who is good? Who is bad? Who is small? Who is big and great and rich?
Everyone is the Lord!
This is another form of Cosmic Vision.
So we should not treat even the basest among us with contempt. We must pray for those who think we are their enemies. Because we all are one and the same Lord Material!
There can be no differences among us. There are no differences in actual existence. Every difference is only the imaginary thing.
We are God and everything here is God only.
This is one of the fundamental visions of the Hindu Sages and Seers from the Rig-Vedic period onwards.
But Hinduism does not believe in Propagation of the religion.
Every Tom, Dick and Harry is out to propagate his religion in a very studiously professional way! This is one of the sorrows in the history of the world and needs to be corrected at least now under the able Prime Minister, Mr. Modi!
But I am not arguing that the 15 crore Indians who form the minorities of India should be won over to our religion!    
For it is a matter of past History of India. We cannot put the clock back.
But further and unhindered acts of professional propagation and conversion must be stopped.
How? When our Constitution itself allows propagation to them how can we stop the deluge of funds coming to India to be distributed in cash and kind to our people, our brothers and sisters?
It is dead easy, at least, in theory.
We should bridge the chasm existing between the Hindu brethren.
They try and convert only those of our brothers and sisters who are treated as belonging to the lower castes. And the next reason is the economic barrier. They can convert only the economically disadvantaged Hindus among the lower castes.
Caste factor is a great barrier even if Modi’s government brings prosperity to India as a whole.
The so-called high caste Hindus must go out of their way in embracing the so-called low caste Hindus. This is how we can get over the constitutional guarantee to the minorities to propagate their religion and indulge in conversion.

While speaking about all these things, we should not forget the 15 crore Indian minorities are our brothers and sisters as are the peoples of various countries of the World!         

Thursday 8 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 02, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OR THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 02
Text in Transliteration:
bhavaapyayau hi bhootaanaam srutau vistaraso mayaa
tvattah kamalapatraaksha maahaatmyam api chaa ‘vyayam
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
bhavaapyayau = the origin and dissolution; hi = indeed; bhootaanaam = of beings; srutau = have been heard; vistarasah = in detail; mayaa = by me; tvattah = from thee; kamala patra aksha = O Lotus eyed; maahaatmyam = greatness; api = also; cha = and; avyayam = inexhaustible.
Text in English:
From You, O Lotus-eyed, have been heard by me in detail of the origin and dissolution of beings and also of Your inexhaustible greatness.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The dilation made by the Lord is brief from His own standpoint and it is elaborate from the standpoint of Arjuna. Each of them is in this respect a standard for himself.
Iswara is the source of the universe. But on this ground He is not entangled. The working of the universe derives its design and process from the Lord. He suffers no mutation on this account. It is all His glory.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Kamalapatraksha: Lotus-eyed or having eyes like lotus-petals. Kamalapatra also means knowledge of the Self. He who can be obtained by knowledge of the Self is Kamalapatraksha.

Comments by the blogger:
(Alternative days be damned. You will get to read this blog every day)
The Lord’s greatness is heard firsthand from the Lord Himself. The origin and destruction of beings get Arjuna a new vista into things. He comes to understand that the beings are, time and time again, sent forth and withdrawn by the Lord at the end of the Kalpa. All these things go to strengthen the Lord’s argument that Arjuna should fight his war and eating beggar’s bread or taking to the life of renouncement is not for him.
And the tenth chapter opened yet more vistas about the glories of the Lord. When our Lord’s greatness is thus proved beyond any trace of doubt, what He says goes. He says for Arjuna merely to be an instrument in His hands and these kings and others arrayed in the opposite army have already scripted their death. The wicked must be weeded out. It is one of the reasons why the war has to take place. And the good that are Pandavas and those standing behind them must prosper so that the people and the subjects at large may prosper under the righteous yoke.

The child has great and instinctive confidence in the potentialities of its father and mother. Likewise, the devotee has all the faith in the Lord and having laid all his future in the able hands of his Ultimate Master, he goes to sleep and gets up fully rested and rejuvenated to face the new day and to continue his fight.     

Wednesday 7 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 01, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 01
Text in Transliteration:
                                  arjuna uvaacha
madanugrahaaya paramam guhyam adhyaatmasamjnitam
yat tvayo ‘ktam vachas tena moho ‘yam vigato mama
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
Mad anugrahaaya = out of compassion towards me; paramam = the highest; guhyam = the secret; adhyaatma  samjnitam = Adhyatma named; yat = which; tvayaa = by thee; uktam = spoken; vachah = word; tena = by that; mohah = delusion; ayam = this; vigatah = gone; mama = my.
Text in English:
                                                                      Arjuna said:
By this profound discourse concerning the Self, which You have delivered out of compassion for me, my delusion has been dispelled.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The Lord made it clear to Arjuna that it is just with an infinitesimal fraction of His Entirety that He has become the manifested universe and that His unmanifest Reality is immeasurable. Based on this truth Arjuna has revised his conceptions about himself, about the world, about his relationship with the world and about his duty. He has thus been delivered from delusion.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
The illusion that things of the world exist in themselves and maintain themselves, that they live and move apart from God has disappeared.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
After hearing the glories of the Lord, Arjuna has an intense longing to have the wonderful vision of the Cosmic Form with his own eyes. His bewilderment and delusion have now vanished.
Adhyatma: That which treats of the discrimination between the Self and the not-Self; metaphysics.
I was worried about the sin involved in killing my relations and preceptors. I had the ideas, ‘I am the agent in killing them; they are to be killed by me’.
This delusion has vanished now after receiving Thy most profound and valuable instructions. Thou hast dispelled this delusion of ignorance from me.
The vision of the Cosmic Form is not the ultimate goal. If that were so, the Gita would have ended with this chapter. The vision of the Cosmic Form is also one more in a series of graded experiences. It is a terrible experience too. That is the reason why Arjuna said to the Lord, stammering with fear: “What an awful form Thou hast! I have seen that which none hath seen before. My heart is glad, yet faileth me on account of fear. Show me, O God, Thine other form again. O God of gods, support of all the worlds, let me see Thy form with diadem, and with the mace and discus in Thy hands. Again I wish to see Thee as before; assume Thy four-armed form, O Lord of thousand arms and of forms innumerable.”
Arjuna heard the Lord’s statement, viz., “Having pervaded this whole universe with one fragment of Myself, I remain”. This induced him to have the vision of the Lord’s Cosmic Form. He says, “O Lord of compassion, Thou hast taught me the spiritual wisdom which can hardly be found in the Vedas. Thou hast saved me. My delusion has disappeared. Thou hast disclosed to me the nature of the Supreme Self, the secrets of Nature and Thy divine glories. My greatest ambition at the present moment is that I should behold with my own eyes Thy entire Cosmic Form”.

Comments by the blogger:
Hi there! Long time, no see!
It is a great pleasure to be able to speak to you without any expectation, instead of begging you to follow me (for the wholly material cause—your following me would put me in the way of some monitory benefits indeed. But the past is past and I won’t rehash the old thing.) What is important to me NOW is that I am once again conversing with you for the benefit of purely spiritual nature.
Well, let us look into the verse once again carefully:
The Lord and his disciple, Arjuna, have had a profound discourse in which the Lord has taught Arjuna the yet unknown facts about the Self.
Secondly, the Lord has rendered the said discourse out of compassion for His disciple.
Thirdly, with the result, Arjuna’s delusion has been dispelled.
In eight chapters (from the 2nd to the 9th) the Lord has elaborately discussed the nature of the Self.
Before that, in the first chapter and the first portion of the second chapter, we see an Arjuna who is deluded and as such bewildered. Arjuna thinks that his taking part in the war, which was to ensue shortly, means killing of his kith and kin, besides people like Bishma and Drona who are fit to be worshipped. Now he understands that by slaying the body, he would and could not slay the Self. That he now understands the Self neither partakes in any action nor suffers any action. That the Self is an expression of God; that all the animate and inanimate are filled with Self; that when the life of a man or woman ends, the Atma does not die but takes a different body and comes back to the earthly form to further prosecute action as per the concerned person’s karma. Not only this, Arjuna actually realises that God pervades everything here and there can be nothing here in this cosmos that is alien to the Lord.  He understands the whole cosmos is one gigantic living thing with the Lord forming its core and outer layer also. Everyone is related to everyone in this world. The teeming millions of human beings not to speak of the animal kingdom issue forth from one Being which is beyond all modifications; which is inexorable, inexplicable and can only be realised through following a set of scriptural laws comprising the dos and don’ts. Arjuna realises that the single infinitesimally small expression of the Lord constitutes the Self of all the beings and non-beings here in this cosmos. Arjuna fully understands that killing or slaying the body is not tantamount to slaying the Self which neither can slay nor being slew. Through the tenth discourse of the Gita Arjuna comes to fully understand that the Lord’s single fraction of expression has formed this gigantic Universe. And human beings can realise what remains of the Brahman by carrying out one’s duty without expectation of the fruits. He fully understands that if he fights as a warrior, what with the war having come to him unsought, without any hankering after the fruits of his action, the slaying of thousands of the bodies at Kurukshetra would not bind him. Arjuna understands the importance of this world and also one’s studious execution of one’s duty without likes or dislikes would completely free him from the bonds of action. He understands fully that action in itself is not good or bad. He understands that a lighted lamp can be used for reading a holy book like Gita or to forge documents to outwit one’s adversary in the law court. Above all, he fully realises that though the world is just a fraction of the Lord, the Lord Himself can be realised only through this unequal and incomplete world through indulging in action according to one’s swadharma and not by running away from action.
Secondly, that Arjuna completely realises that the Lord is not in the habit of coming out in the open and give discourses to everyone about the science of the Self and Yoga. Arjuna realises that it is purely through the compassion on the part of the Lord, that He has taken this initiative. We realise from this that Gita is not spoken to Arjuna alone but to the whole world. We realise that Gita is not just a book but it is a way of living, it comprises, inter alia, the yoga of action. This unique book is available to all the humanity. For example, the yoga and science of meditation as explained by the Lord can be practised by a Muslim or a Christian without his having to worship the Lord in the form of Sri Krishna. The science of concentration and meditation give benefit both to the believer and non-believer. Because it is pure science! So this book is the single and simple book for the whole humanity to follow.

Thirdly, having lent his ears to the Lord’s honeyed words Arjuna’s delusion has been dispelled. He is no longer bewildered about his duty to fight a fratricidal war. All he needs to do is to fight to the utmost capacity of his and without any likes or dislikes and without any stakes in the outcome of the war. If he fights with this kind of mentality, he would incur no sin. We understand the whole humanity of the world understands that our body is the Kurukshetra and our senses are our enemies and our discriminatory power is the sword with which we have to fight our daily war.    

Tuesday 6 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 10, VERSE 42, VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 10
VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS:
VERSE NUMBER 42
Text in Transliteration:
Athavaa bahunai ‘tena kim jnaatena tavaa ‘rjuna
Vishtabhyaa ‘ham idam krtsnam ekaamsena sthito jagat
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
athavaa = or; bahunaa = (by) many; etena = (by) this; kim = what; jnaatena = known; tava = of thee; arjuna = O Arjuna; vistabhya = supporting; aham = I; idam = this; kritsnam = all; ekaamsena = by one part; sthitah = exist; jagat = the world.
Text in English:
But what need is there, O Arjuna, for this detailed knowledge? I stand supporting the whole universe with a singe fragment of Myself.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
An expert cannot display all his talents when tied into a gunny bag and made to run. Though the Lord reveals Himself in multi-forms, these revelations are but partial. All manifestations are in fact limitations. The waves are mere insignificant aspects of the ocean. Even so the infinite phenomenal expressions of Iswara are all just a negligible speck in His magnitude. When this itself is unfathomable, what to speak of Him as the Unmanifest!
SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
God is with form, without form and also transcending all these. He alone knows who and what He is.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
ekaamsena: by a single fraction. Not that the Divine unity is broken up into fragments. This cosmos is but a partial revelation of the Infinite, is illuminated by one ray of His shining light. The transcendent light of the Supreme dwells beyond all this cosmos, beyond time and space.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
The Lord concludes: “Having established or pervaded this whole world with one fragment of Myself, I remain”.
This verse is based on the declaration in the Purusha Sukta (Rig-Veda 10.90.3) that “One quarter of Him is all the cosmos: the three quarters are the divine transcendent Reality”.
I exist supporting this whole world by one part, by one limit, or by one foot. One part of Myself constitutes all beings.
All beings form His foot (Taittiriya Aranyaka 3. 12). The whole world is one Pada or foot of the Lord. Amsa (part) or Pada (foot) is mere Kalpana or imagination on account of our own ignorance or limiting adjunct. In reality Brahman is without any such parts or limbs and is formless.
Arjuna has now a knowledge of the glories of the Lord. He is fit to behold the magnificent cosmic form of the Lord. Lord Krishna prepares Arjuna for this grand vision by giving him a description of His glories.
Arjuna says: “O Lord, I now realise that the whole world is filled by Thee. I now wish to behold the whole universe in Thee with my eye of intuition”.

(iti sreemad bhavavadgeetaasoopanishatsu brahmavidyaayaam yogasaastre stee krshnaarjuna samvaade vibhooti yogonaama dasamo ‘dhyaayah)
In the Upanishad of the Bhagavad Gita, the knowledge of Brahman, the Supreme, the science of Yoga and the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, this is the tenth discourse designated:

                            THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS.   

Saturday 3 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 10, VERSE 41, VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 10
VIBHUTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS:
VERSE NUMBER 41
Text in Transliteration:
yad-yad vibhootimat sattvam oorjitam eva vaa
tat-tad evaa ‘vagaccha tvam mama tejomsasambhavam
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
Yad-yat = whatever; vibhootimat = glorious; sattvam = being; sreemat = prosperous; oorjitam = powerful; eva = also;  vaa = or; tat-tat = that; eva = only; avagaccha = know; tvam = thou; mama = my; tejah amsa sambhavam = manifestation of a part of the splendour.
Text in English:
Whatever being there is glorious, prosperous or powerful, know that to have sprung but from a spark of My splendour.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The sun’s ray spreads everywhere and reveals things in their true perspective. The revealing light here is different from the things revealed. But God is Self-revealed. He manifests Himself as everything. As glory, as brilliance, as splendour, as beauty, as power and as so many other divine attributes, He is expressing Himself. Whatever catches our imagination, draws our attention, sends us into raptures and infuses bliss into us, that is none but the glory of God.
SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Do you know what is meant by Brahman with divine attributes? It is like a vast expanse of water with waves, ripples, billows, bubbles, sprays, froth and so on. Forms appearing in Cit-akasa or the Expanse of Consciousness can be experienced. Even the Incarnations of God come within this category.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
While all things are supported by God, things of beauty and splendour reveal Him more than others. Every deed of heroism, every life of sacrifice, every work of genius, is a revelation of the Divine. The epic moments of a man’s life are inexplicably beyond the finite mind of man.