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.