THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 12, VERSE NUMBER 05, BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 12

VERSE NUMBER 05

BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

kleso ‘dhikataras teshaam avyaktaasakta chetasaam

avyaktaa hi gatir duhkham dehavadbhir avaapyate

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

klesah = the trouble: adhikatarah = (is) greater: teshaam = of those: avyakta aasakta chetasaam = whose minds are set on the unmanifested: avyaktaah = the unmanifested: hi = for: gatih = goal: duhkham = (with) pain: dehavadbhih = for the embodied: avaapyate = is reached.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Greater is their difficulty whose minds are set on the Unmanifested, for the goal of the Unmanifested is very hard for the embodied to reach.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Though the goal is the same, the worship of God without form is very difficult for the sadhaka soaked in body-consciousness. As he thinks of himself with a form he cannot help thinking of his God also as with a form. The worship of Saguna Brahman is easy. He who adores Nirguna Brahman has to be free from body-feeling right from the beginning. But the attainment of that state is not possible for all. The spiritually advanced soul alone rises to that level. The easy and natural course for the ordinary sadhaka is to proceed with the worship of God with form.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The Jnani or the realized soul says “Aham Brahmasmi—I am Brahman”. But the body-bound man should not say so. It is harmful to him to say “I am Brahman” when actually he is the body. He deceives himself and the world by such a statement.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Search for the Transcendent Godhead is more difficult than the worship of the Living Supreme God, the soul of all things and persons. In the Avadhootageetaa, Dattaatreys asks: “How can I bow to Him who is formless, undifferentiated, blissful and indestructible, who has through Himself and by Himself and in Himself filled up everything?” The Immutable does not offer an easy hold to the mind and the path is more arduous. We reach the same goal more easily and naturally by the path of devotion to the Personal God, by turning Godward all our energies, knowledge, will and feeling. Cp. “With minds rapt in meditation, if mystics see the unqualified actionless light, let them see. As for myself, my only yearning is that there may appear before my gladdened eyes that bluish someone who keeps romping on the shores of the yamunaa.”

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Worshippers of the Saguna (Qualified) and the Nirguna (unqualified) Brahman reach the same goal. But the latter path is very hard and arduous, because the aspirant has to give up attachment to the body from the very beginning of his spiritual practice.

The embodied: Those who identify themselves with their bodies. Identification with the body is Dehabhimana. The imperishable Brahman is very hard to reach for those who are attached to their bodies. Further, It is extremely difficult to fix the restless mind on the formless and attributless Brahman. Contemplation on the imperishable, attributless Brahman demands a very sharp, one-pointed and subtle intellect. The Upanishad says:

Drisyate tu agraya buddhya

Sukshgmaya sukshmadarsibhih

(It is seen by subtle seers through their subtle intellect.)

He who meditates on the unmanifested should possess the four means. Then he will have to approach a Guru who is well versed in the scriptures and who is also established in Brahman. He will have to hear the Truth from him, then reflect and meditate on It.

He who realises the Nirguna (attributeless)Brahman attains eternal bliss or Self-realisation or Kaivalya (Moksha) which is preceded by the destruction of ignorance with its effects. He who realises the Saguna Brahman (Brahman with attributes) goes to Brahmaloka and enjoys all the wealth and powers of the Lord. He then gets initiation into the mysteries of the Absolute from Hiranyagarbha and without any effort and without the practice of hearing, reflection and meditation attains, through the grace of the Lord alone, the same state as attained by those who have realised the Nirguna Brahman. Through the knowledge of the Self, ignorance and its effect are destroyed in the case of the worshippers of the Saguna Brahman also.

Comments by the blogger:

The Lord of the Gita uses in this verse a word, embodied, which is the key to open the wisdom contained in this stanza or verse.

We all are embodied. Or most of us are embodied. The embodied is covered and constricted from all sides with sense objects. In the form of embodied, we have senses which behave like a drunken monkey which was stung by a scorpion! The monkey is known for mischiefs of unending type. When someone feeds it with liquor its mind becomes more restless. But suppose the drunken monkey is stung by a scorpion what would be its case! That is the state of our senses. It is difficult to get the better of our senses. I am a diabetic. But whenever I see an apple my mouth waters. I can take care of myself with great and untutored self-discipline with respect to all other man-made sweets. But when I see apples heaped up in fruit-stalls I am singularly unable to control myself. An apple a day is the doctor’s way. For a diabetic an apple a week could possibly be the doctor’s way. Like that the tender coconuts! I am irretrievably enslaved to the drink. But for the last 9 years, I have been on the continual watch and am avoiding all sorts of fruits and food items with sugar in them. Only I know and can vouch for the singular difficulty in avoiding the fruits and sugar-made food items. Now I am going through a lean patch. My blood sugar is far from being normal notwithstanding my dieting like mad. Our senses enslave us to this illusory world. Swami Vivekananda says that we are conscious of our bodies and we take us for mere corporeal bodies. He further says that if someone pinches our body, we cry out. See the slavery of it, the Swami exclaims. If I think I am merely a body how could I think I am pure spirit.

The Lord of Gita says to Arjuna that there was never a time when they (Arjuna and Sri Krishna) did not exist. There will never be a time when we shall not exist. He further says that they are immortals. But this bodily consciousness gives us the ego-sense and we think various actions as if we are the karta or owner of such activities instead of realising that all activities belong to God of this Universe and we are just instruments in His hands. God’s will is being carried out in this world on a continuous basis. Those of us who are confused because of our ego and ahankara take the activities carried out as ours because the bodies in which our Atman temporarily resides happened to be those bodies.

It is not a matter of choice whether we take up Bhakti Yoga or the Yoga of action or the Yoga of enquiry about our Self or Jnana Yoga or the Yoga of wisdom. Every one of us is impelled by our own  SVABHAVA OR NATURE. Following our Svadharma or one’s own dharma is the key to success in this and the other world. Dharma could be defined as duty or righteousness or religion or all these three and more. Nobody has been able to give a correct synonym to the Sanskrit word ‘dharma’! So the word ‘Svadharma’ can be taken as our righteous duty for the sake of this passage. Svadharma is one’s attitude behind one’s action or duty that sustains him in his present stage of evolution and also helps us to realize our ultimate destiny. The dharma or duty of a man is determined by his past experiences and tendencies and Samskaras. The Soul assumes different forms in different births for the gaining of experience. The works performed in every birth leave mental impressions or Samskaras. These impressions or Samskaras are stored up in the subconscious mind and as one is apt to think these impressions are never destroyed with the death of the body. After our death, the Soul will assume a new body. Immediately these impressions or Samskaras begin to operate. This is how these impressions or Samskaras form our Svabhava or character. They will determine our svadharma or duty and religion and righteousness, etc., and our sense of right and wrong. Education and environment only help a man to manifest what we have inherited from our own past...Thus a man’s dharma or Svadharma is the basis of his thought and action. To try to act against one’s Svadharma is to do violence to one’s nature. Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to cling to his own dharma or duty or kshatria dharma or the duty as a warrior. “Better is one’s own dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed. (The above passage has been imbibed and re-told from an essay on Bhagavad Gita by Srimat Swami Nikhilananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.)

It is very hard to realize the Unmanifested through meditative enquiry. But the path of Devotion is open and readily available for all of us.

Every stage of the Universe or Yuga or Age has its own dharma. For one Yuga sacrifices were laid down as the easiest and most natural means of attaining the Knowledge of Brahman. The present Age or Yuga is known as KALKI. For the Yuga of KALKI Devotion has been assigned as the right marga or path. One form of devotion is preferred by the Sages and that is Nama Smarana or telling continuously the Name of the Ishta Devatha or Personal God. My personal God is Lord Siva in His Linga Form. In Linga Form He is known as LINGESHWARAR. So for the past twenty years or more, I have been telling Lingeshwaraya daily. When one is telling the Lord’s Name repeatedly every day a stage is attained whereby internalization of the telling of the Holy Name of the Personal God is achieved. This spiritual achievement is called ‘Jaba Siddhi’. Jaba Siddhi has become my forte. This is my character; even when I am seen to be doing nothing the God’s Name is told as Lingeshwaraya constantly. Any difficult moment and any happy moment is the right time for telling the Lord’s Name.

Thus Sri Krishna recommends the Yoga of Devotion in preference to the Jnana Yoga or Constant Contemplation of the Unmanifested Reality, that is, Brahman.

                                                                                                                                                                               

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 12, VERSES 3 AND 4, BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 12

VERSE NUMBER 3 AND 4

TEXTS IN TRANSLITERATION:

VERSE NUMBER 3

ye tv aksharam anirdesyam avyaktam paryupaasate

sarvatragam achintyam cha koottastham achalam dhruvam

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

ye = who: tu = verily: aksharam = the imperishable: anirdesyam = the indefinable: avyaktam = the unmanifested: the indefinable: avyaktam = the unmanifested: paryupaasate = worship: sarvatragam = the omnipresent: achintyam = the unmanifested: paryupaasate = worship: sarvatragam = the omnipresent: achintyam = the unthinkable: cha = and: koottastham = the unchangeable: achalam = the immovable: dhruvam = the eternal.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

VERSE NUMBER 03

But those who worship the Imperishable, the Indefianable, the Unmanifest, the Omnipresent, the Unthinkable, the Unchangeable, the Immovable, the Eternal—

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

VERSE NUMBER 04

samniyamye ‘ndriyagraamam sarvatra samabuddhayah

te praapnuvanti maam eva sarva bhoota hite rataah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

Samniyamya = having restrained: indriyagraamam = the aggregate of the senses: sarvatra = everywhere: samabuddhayah = even-minded: te = they: praapnuvanti = obtain: maam = me: eva = only: sarva bhoota hite = in the welfare of all beings: rataah = rejoices.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Having restrained all the senses, even-minded everywhere, engaged in the welfare of all beings—verily they also come unto Me.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Nirguna Brahman is indeterminate Pure Consciousness. It can be arrived at by eliminating all obstructive modifications which are characteristic of Prakriti, aksharam is the Imperishable. The universe of form appears and disappears; where Pure Consciousness is ever Itself.

Anirdesyam means the Indefinable. It cannot be defined by comparison as there is nothing similar to It.

Avyaktam means the Unmanifest. The manifest is that which can be cognized with the aid of the senses. But no sense organ can have any access to Pure Consciousness. As such It is unmanifest.

Sarvatragam means the Omnipresent. A lump of ice buried at the bottom of the sea remains ever unmanifest and uncognized. Is it because of concealment somewhere in this way that Brahman is unmanifest? No, there is nothing to hide It, the Omnipresent. Space is negated in Brahman. A huge mountain perceived in dream exists in the space created by the dreaming mind. But in wakefulness, the dream space is negated. Similarly the space in the universe is negated in Brahman, who is Omnipresent.

Achintyam means the Unthinkable. Mind thinks of the good and bad and feels happy or miserable. Brahman does not lend Itself to be conceived by the mind in this way. It is the Wakefulness throwing light on the mind, but inaccessible to it.

Koottastham means the Unchangeable. The word Kootta connotes the painful and impermanent phenomenal existence. The permanent basis to this changing existence is Koottastha, the Unchangeable Brahman.

Achalam means the Immovable. The moving clouds are supported by the wind which in turn is moving in its own way. But that kind of relative movement is not in Brahman. It is constant.

Dhruvam means the Eternal. Aakaasa (the sky) which is the background of the wind and clouds is constant; it does not move. But in Pralaya this aakaasa does not exist. From the immovable state, it goes into the state of dissolution. Brahman does not suffer from that feature. It is the Eternal.

The sadhaka who is competent to adore the Formless Reality has the following attainments. He has complete mastery over the senses. He neither runs after the pleasant nor recoils from the painful; he remains unaffected by both of them. Does the sadhaka reduce himself then to the position of a corpse which lies unaffected by pleasure and pain? No, he raises himself to even-mindedness which is found in him only who is ethically and spiritually evolved. This attitude again does not mean passiveness. It expresses itself in the form of service to all beings, recognizing Divinity in them. When the sadhaka’s mind flows out in this way, cognizing worship of Brahman.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDHBAVANANDA:

When a bell is rung, each stroke has a sound-form of its own. But the formless sound is also heard for a while after stopping the striking. Similarly, God is both with form and without form.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN FOR THE VERSE 4

samniyamya: restraining. We are asked to restrain the senses and not to reject them.

sarvabhootahite rataah: rejoicing in the welfare of all creatures. Even those who realize their oneness with the Universal Self, so long as they wear a body, work for the welfare of the world. See V, 25, where the liberated are said to rejoice in the welfare of all creatures.

Here service of humanity is declared to be an essential part of the discipline. M.B. has the following prayer: “O who would tell me of the sacred way by which I might enter into all the suffering hearts and take all their suffering on myself for now and forever.”

Cp. also Tukaaraam:

‘That man is true

Who taketh to his bosom the afflicted:

In such a man

Dwelleth, augustly present,

God Himself;

The heart of such a man is filled abrim

With pity, gentleness and love;

He taketh the forsaken for his own.’

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Anirdesyam: That which cannot be actually shown or which cannot be defined—the Akshara or Sacchidananda Para Brahman is beyond the reach of the mind and speech. Why can It not be defined? Because It is unmanifested. It does not have the four qualities of manifested beings, viz., Jati (caste such as Brahmana, Kshatriya, etc.), Guna (attributes such as blueness, whiteness, tallness, shortness, etc.), Kriya (reading, walking, etc.), and Sambandha (like the relation between father and son).

The unmanifest: Incomprehensible by any of the organs of knowledge; not manifest to any of the organs of knowledge.

Upasana (worship) means ‘sitting near’. It is approaching the chosen ideal or object of worship by meditating on it, in accordance with the teachings of the scriptures and the spiritual preceptor, and dwelling steadily in the current of that one thought like a ‘thread’ of oil poured from one vessel to another. It means continuous and uninterrupted contemplation of God.

The imperishable Brahman is omnipresent, pervading everything like the ether. It is unthinkable, because It is unmanifest. Whatever is visible to the senses can be thought of by the mind also. That which can be grasped by the organs of knowledge can be thought of by the mind also. But the Supreme Being is invisible to the senses and so cannot be grasped by the organs of knowledge and is, therefore, unthinkable. All thoughts of God ultimately lead the aspirant to quiescent meditation.

It is Kutastha (unchangeable). Kutastha means ‘remaining like a mass or a heap’. Therefore It is immutable and eternal. Just as the anvil remains unchanged though the iron-pieces which are beaten on the anvil change their shape, so also Brahman is unchanging though the forms are changing. Hence Brahman is called Kutastha. Kuta also means a thing which appears to be good externally but which is full of evil within. Hence it refers to that seed of Samsara, viz., ignorance, which is full of evil within and which is known as the Avyakrita (undifferentiated) in the Svetasvataropanishad.

Mayam tu prakritim vidyat

        Mayinam tu mahesvaram.

and in the Gita (Mama maya duratyaya—This illusion of Mine is hard to pierce—VII. 14). Another interpretation for Kutastha is ‘that which is at the root of everything’. He Who is seated in Maya as its witness, as its Lord is Kutastha.

Achalam: Immovable, that which is free from change. Therefore the imperishable Brahman is Dhruvam, eternal. (Cf. VIII.21)  

Comments by the blogger:

Brahman is Imperishable, Indefinable, Unmanifest, Immovable, Eternal. The Yogi who restrains all the senses, even-minded everywhere, engaged in the welfare of all beings also go into the Lord of Gita.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMHANSA once said to one of his devotees, Vidhya Sagar, that all of the Hindu Scriptures have been spitled by human saliva except the Scripture about Brahman. All Scriptures have been memorized and re-told by many a man. But nobody has dealt with the subject authoritatively. And no one has defined in human language as to what is Brahman. Since no one has spoken about Brahman it is not spitled by saliva!

It is not definable in human language. The only mode to experience is by observing Jnana Yoga. And even those who have experienced Brahman maintain silence as a mode of explaining Brahman. That is why the adage in Tamil says, ‘Those who found Brahman have not spoken about It and whoever speaks about Brahman have not found Brahman! (kandavar vindilar, vindavar kandilar!).

The greatness of Bhakti Yoga is we are allowed to worship the deity of our personal God who is Saguna Brahman and the senses can experience Him. This is how Vishnu’s all incarnations were seen and touched by devotees and non-believers. This was how people like Arjuna and his brothers and Panjali and Dhuriyodana and his brothers and other folks were able to see, hear and touch Sri Krishna. But Brahman cannot be seen and touched by anyone.

Hinduism allows people to approach God in several ways. The Lord of Gita says that men come to Him from all sides. It means there are different ways of worshipping the Lord. And there are only a few who can meditate on shoonya or nothingness. Absolute Brahman is very difficult to meditate upon. For this kind of meditation one should have the required mental calibre and should not be swayed by this illusory world. When meditating upon the Absolute and Formless Brahman, if the Sadhaha or Practitioner unconsciously attribute one quality or trait to Brahman the Practitioner would fail in his quest of jnana or Knowledge. But there are people who can meditate on the nothingness though they form the minority. It requires a certain type of attitude. The worldly attraction should not be able to sway the Practitioner. Hinduism makes room for all types and variety of people. For it deals not with the whole humanity as in the case of the two major religions of the world but takes into account the individual man and woman and addresses him or her. Hinduism takes into account all types of search. But, as we have already seen, the other two major religions of the world preach Bhakti or Devotion alone. The Holy Qoran insists on the people following that Faith to have fear for Allah, the Great. One should be afraid of God. But the Hinduism does not preach that the worshippers should be mortally afraid of God. God can be looked upon as Father or Mother, Master or Friend. And as we have already seen the immortal Tamil Poet, by name, Subramaniya Bharati, has looked upon as the lover and a Servant or Disciple! Personal choice even in the way of worship is given to each and every Hindu. There is a saying that there are as many religions as are the people!.

We are embodied souls and it is extremely difficult to know the unmanifest state. But all the Bhakti Yogis or Yogis of Devotion must know and understand that apart from the personal God there is a Formless Essence, says Mahatma Gandhi, which our reason cannot comprehend. The devotee of incomparable devotion ends up in merging with the Unmanifest and Indefinable Power. The same goal is achieved by the Jnana Yogis or the Yogis of Wisdom and they also end up in merging with the Formless Essence. So the Lord of Gita says Arjuna that He prefers the Yogi of Devotion. It is comparably easier to attain God and enter into Him for Yogis of Devotion. But in the verses 3 and 4 of this Chapter the Lord of Gita also says that if the Practitioner has the particular type of the mental calibre and can meditate on the Formless Brahman he also goes to Him after the life on the plane of the earth.

While the Holy Qoran comes down heavily on those who worship Saguna Brahman in the form and name of different Gods, the Bhagavad Gita reconciles the belief of all the sects of the Hinduism. All types of worship of the Lord of the Universe is acknowledged as perfectly legitimate. One of my friends is a faithful Muslim and one day he said that the knowledge of the Language in which the Holy Qoran was originally brought to the earth by Prophet Mohammed may not be known to all but  it does not matter and even the unlettered one can worship the Holy Quran by seeing the words in print line by line. That would be enough worship of Allah. Immediately I asked if you see with worshipful eyes the printed line of the Holy Quran that is also a Devotion of God with attributes. And that it is as good as attributing name and form to the Formless God and then why wouldn’t the Holy Quran allow the Devotion of Forms and Names!

So the Lord of the Gita advises Arjuna to offer worship to Him with name and Form. All roads lead to Rome. Sincere worship of the Lord in whatever way is acceptable to Hinduism. Hinduism says, ‘be diligent in your worship.’ You would go to God, the Master of the Universe in the end. This is why Sri Krishna utters that even those who worship some gods indirectly worship Him only.      

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 12, VERSE NUMBER 02, BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 12

VERSE NUMBER 02

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

sri bhagavaan uvaacha

may aavesya mano ye maam nitya yuktaa upaasate

sraddhayaa parayo ‘petaas te me yuktatamaa mataah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

sri bhagavaan uvaacha = Sri Bhagavan said:

mayi = on me: aavesya = fixing: manah = the mind: ye = who: maam = me: nitya yuktaah = ever steadfast: upaasate = worship: sraddhayaa = with faith: parayaa = (with) supreme: upetaah = endowed: te = these: me = of me: yukta tamaah = the best versed in yoga: mataah = (in my) opinion.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

The Blessed Lord said:

Those who have fixed their minds on Me, and who, ever steadfast and endowed with supreme Sraddha, worship Me—them do I consider perfect in yoga.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The Lord is having the cosmos for His physical body. He is Parameswara, Saguna Brahman. He rules remaining immanent in the universe. He is the Lord of the yogis, the Omniscient. His devotees are they who have dedicated themselves to His worship. They are free from attachment, aversion and angularities. The thought of the Lord alone dominates their hearts day and night. They live for the service of the Lord. They are therefore perfect yogis.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

It is quite all right to meditate on God viewing Him as formless. But do not entertain the thought that only your own conception of God is correct and that the beliefs of the others are erroneous. To meditate on Him as with form is also a method. You persevere staunchly in your path until you reach the realization of God. After that, you will come to know that all paths lead to the same goal.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

The teacher answers decisively that those, who worship God in His manifested form, have greater yoga knowledge.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Those devotees who fix their minds on Me in the Cosmic Form, the Supreme Lord and worship Me, ever harmonised and with intense and supreme faith, regarding Me as the Lord of all the masters of Yoga, who are free from attachment and other evil passions—these, in My opinion, are the best versed in Yoga.

They spend their days and nights in worshipping Me. They have no other thoughts except those of Myself. They live for Me only. Therefore it is indeed proper to say that they are the best Yogins.

Are not the others, those who contemplate the imperishable, formless, attributeless, qualityless Supreme Brahman, the best of Yogins? Listen now to what I have to say regarding them.

Comments by the blogger:

The reason why the Lord of Gita eulogises Bhakti Yoga against Jnana Yoga is not far to seek; Bhakti Yoga comes naturally to all. Even an unlettered and ignorant man can indulge in it if he has come to this world with the suitable karmic effect.

Why do I say that men and women must have a suitable karmic effect to indulge in adoration of the Lord?

For every motive and urge, we have deepset at heart are the result of the suitable karmic effect.

There is great joy and peace of mind in surrendering everything to the Lord and seek His company for the sake of itself!

In this Universe, there are too many things and phenomenal happenings which go to prove the contention of both the Believer and Non-believer! For us to seek the feet of the Lord we must have had the inclination in our previous birth. If we indeed had had such yearnings for the society of the Lord of the Universe in our previous birth the Samskaras (mental impressions) to that effect will force us to surrender to the Lord and daily offer worship to Him and find joy in such things on the spiritual side.

For a believer, even the daily happenings like the sun-up and sun-down are enough to force the devotee into rapturous Samadhi! Everything and happening, for such a blessed man, is in glorification of the Lord. A staunch devotee can easily asunder the thick cobwebs of ajnana or ignorance and see God and God alone in everything in this Universe. For such devotees, there is a law of Nature that forces everyone to act in a particular way in their life. They see a set pattern to the flux of this Universe. The true devotee surrenders his all for the sake of the Lord. He does not covet any worldly thing and for him, every day dawns so that he could offer uninterrupted homage to the Lord of the Universe. For he has fixed his mind on the Lord of this Universe. His faith in the Lord is unshakable and steadfast. The sun-up and sun-down, the breeze and the hurricane, the day and the night, wealth and poverty, the beings and non-beings, famine and abundance, good and bad, every happening of this Universe carry the message that God is in every one of them and the true devotee does not need any other justification and or proof about the existence of the Lord of the World and every happening carries His ineffable signature and impression. Because there is God we are able to have the conviction at the time of going to bed that we will come out of the sleep to witness the glory of the Lord in yet another sun-up. The whole world is the body of the Lord. God fills up and pervasively inheres in everything, being and non-being. So the true devotee does not go around the world seeking proof of the existence of God.

On the other hand, for the non-believer, everything about this world is an abundant proof that it is foolish to consider there is a god or God behind the happening of this world. The non-believer calls himself a Rationalist! He is full of human pride and goes around the world trying to teach the Believers how everything in this Universe happens naturally! There is no need for a God, he says, to run the world. The world and the teeming number of planets in the sky and innumerous stars came into being as an accident. Life on the Earth goes on its own. Life itself started on the earth by way of an accident. It is foolish to say the planetary conjunctions and other Cosmic Acts like the thunder, the earthquake, tsunami and other colossal happenings and occurrence in Nature happen for which there is scientific reasons and explanations. The Big Bang was the First Accident and all the planets of the Universe were the result of the Big Bang and the innumerous planets are stationed in the wide limitless sky by mutual attraction and force exerted by them. The believer is a dreamer and a fool. There is no justification for the existence of a God. There are well-laid scientific reasons and explanations for each phenomenal happening in the Universe. THIS IS HOW THE RATIONALISTS’ ARGUMENT GOES.

The Lord of Gita wants to fill the hearts of the Believers with peace and spiritual poise; He says that the Yogi who has fixed his mind on Him, and who, ever steadfast and endowed with supreme Sraddha, worship Him—him the Lord considers as a perfected  Yogi.

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 12, VERSE NUMBER 01, BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 12

VERSE NUMBER 01

BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

arjuna uvaacha

evam satatayuk taa ye bhak taas tvaam paryupaasate

ye chaa ‘py aksharam avyaktam teshaam ke yogavittamaah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

evam = thus: satata yuktaah = ever steadfast: ye = those: bhaktaah = devotees: tvaam = thee: paryupaasate worship: ye = those: cha = and: api = also: aksharam = the imperishable: avyaktam = the unmanifested: teshaam = of these: ke = which: yoga vittamaah = better versed in yoga.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

                                                  Arjuna said

Those devotees who, ever steadfast, worship You thus, and those again who worship the Imerishable, the Unmanifest—which of these are better versed in yoga?

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI  CHIDBHAVANANDA:

At the conclusion of chapter eleven the adoration of the Supreme was advocated. But Brahman is both with and without attributes. Of these two aspects of His, which is better suited for worship? This is the point raised herein for clarification.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

There are those who seek oneness with the Absolute, one and impersonal and unrelated to the universe, and others who seek unity with the Personal God manifested in the world of men and nature. Which of these have the greater yoga knowledge? Are we to turn our back on all manifestations and strain after the Unchanging Unmanifest or are we to be devoted to the Manifested Form and work in Its service? Is it Absolute or the Personal God, Brahman or Isvara that we should worship?

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The twelfth discourse goes to prove that Bhakti Yoga or the Yoga of devotion is much easier than Jnana Yoga or the Yoga of knowledge. In Bhakti Yoga the devotee establishes a near and dear relationship with the Lord. He cultivates slowly any one of the five Bhavas (attitudes) according to his temperament, taste and capacity. The five attitudes are the Santa Bhava (the attitude of peaceful adoration); Dasya Bhava (attitude of servant towards the master); Sakhya Bhava (attitude of a friend); Vatsalya Bhava (the attitude of a parent to the child); and Madhurya Bhava (the attitude of the lover towards the beloved). The devotee adopts these attitudes towards the Lord. The last (Madhurya Bhava) is the culmination of devotion. It is merging or absorption in the Lord.

The devotee adores the Lord. He constantly remembers Him (Smaranam). He sings His name (Kirtanam). He speaks of His glories. He repeats His name. He chants His Mantra (Japa). He prays and prostrates himself. He hears His Lilas (divine plays). He does total, ungrudging and unconditional self-surrender, obtains His grace, holds communion with, and eventually gets absorbed in Him.

The devotee begins by worshipping the idols or the symbols of God. Then he performs internal worship of the Form. Ultimately he is led to the supreme worship of the all-pervading Brahman (Para Puja).

Thus: as declared in the last verse of the previous chapter.

Avyaktam: The unmanifested, i.e., incomprehensible to the senses, transcending all limiting adjuncts. The unmanifested Brahman is beyond all limitations. That which is visible to the senses is called Vyakta or manifest.

The hearts of the devotees are wholly fixed in Thee. They worship Thee with all their heart and soul.

There are others who worship the unmanifested Brahman which is beyond time, space and causation, which is attributeless, which is eternal and indefinable, which is beyond the reach of speech and mind. These are the wise sages.

Of these two, the devotees and the men of knowledge—who are the better knowers of Yoga? (Cf. XI.55)   

Comments by the blogger:

Mohammedanism accepts the Old Testament fully and as for the New Testament of the Holy Bible it urges that the Jesus Christ of Christianity is one of the Prophets sent by Allah, the Great. So Mohammedanism re-christened Jesus Christ as Esa Nabi. Thus the Mohammedanism can be held as an offshoot of the Christian religion. Among other things, Mohammedanism comes down heavily on idol worship. There has been much avoidable violence on this aspect. Mohammedanism considers idol worship as heretical and an unpardonable sin against Allah, the Great, who is Pure Spirit. But Christianity takes in its stride both idol worship and the worship of the Pure Spirit. But there is not much difference between the two religions when it comes to one point; both the religions assert that the Truth found out by the Seers of their religions as the original and only Truth and whoever differs from them are under the influence of the Saturn! The two religions have waged sanguinary and terrible wars on this aspect. “The Davinci Code” is a well-researched novel; it contains shocking pages and passages on how in the earlier times the Christian warriors and the Church enforced their own brand of religion on the other sects of worshipers who had other Gods and or the Worshipers of Nature. They all were branded as heathens by the Church and butchered without any compunction. The Church today has shed that sort of violence. But at the beginning of the Christian Era, there has been horrendous bloodshed just because the Church could not put up with anyone who differed from the Church’s idea of Truth. The Mohammedanism is not inferior to the Church of those days and Times and it cannot put up with even the Church though they both share parts of the Gospel! Religious intolerance is the forte of these two religions. The Christian Church now no longer wage wars. But it indulges in far more abominable war and its modern weapon is Money. They select countries like India where there is no dearth for impoverished people and buy their faith up wholesale. The Christians and the Protestants from the European Countries and America send unbelievably huge sums of money every day to India to buy up the impoverished Indians’ Faith which dates back to four or five thousand years before the birth and advent of Jesus Christ! What we say is the Truth and no other Faith could be tolerated is these two religions’ posit.

We are living in the Time of Information Explosion. Both these religions have TV Channels exclusively endowed to the spreading of their individual Faith in India and buy up the Hindu Indians. Time and again and day in and day out famous pulpit speeches are telecasted which do not only for worshipping according to their individual Faith but to mount an intolerably formidable attack on the Hindu Religion and the Hindu Faith. Some time back I had an opportunity of watching a Priest making a pulpit speech and he had been dealing with the multi idol worship. At one stage, he had gone over the board by asserting the fact that America has become a materialistic country because of these Hindus who were allowed to indulge in idol worship of multiple Gods! He was arguing innocently that if America had not allowed Hindus to become American citizens the Land would not have turned towards sins of every kind in the book of Saturn! In another pulpit speech another priest was holding forth and when he came to the topic of Sabbatical observation he came down strongly against the Hindus having marriage and other functions on Sundays! Does he want the Hindus to go to Church and pray to Lord Jesus Christ! And don’t forget that this kind of things can happen only in Hindu India which gives much space to the so-called minorities in the Constitution itself!

The Hinduism or the Hindu Faith respects all religions of the world for they all, it holds, lead to one and only God of the Universe. It gives ample space for all religious Faiths fully knowing and understanding the inexorable fact that God knows no religious and spiritualistic differences. When the major part of the world was steeped in darkness, Hindu India was fully awakened to Man’s spiritual potentiality. In those days before the starting of the world history or, to put it more succinctly, prehistoric period of time so far as the so-called Old World, the Europe, was peopled by grunting apes, the Seers and Saints of India addressed not only the human beings of the world but also the beings in other Worlds and proclaimed that they had understood Iswar of the Universe who scintillates and shines like gold, and only by understanding this God of the world one can escape the chain of births and deaths, and they further asserted addressing the whole of humanity when they exclaimed ‘O children of immortal Self pay heed to what we proclaim! The Hindu Rajas of those days were cosmopolitans. Much later when Jesu Christ was born and much still later when Prophet Mohammad was born, and they started The Christianity and the Mohammedanism respectively both asserted that their particular Gospel must be taken to all over the world and the heathens must be saved and be made to pray for forgiveness for the Original Sin! It was when Vivekananda, in recent times, went to America and the Chicago Address happened and then the Swami toured all over America preaching the Ancient Hindu Faith the priestly community there in America came to understand that Hindu India also had found the Maker of the Universe much earlier than themselves and as such Indians need not be saved from the Original Sin!

A Muslim friend of mine used to assert that when the Great Prophet Mohammed was born all the heathen deities fell down to the ground! It all indicates religious bigotry and intolerance which taught these two religions to assert their individual Faith alone was the true Faith and all other Faiths were heathen.

As the Christians who prayed both to the Saguna Brahman, namely Lord Jesus Christ, and also the Imperishable and unmanifested Holy Spirit, the Nirguna Brahman, the Hinduism also holds that there is any number of Deities who can be offered worship and also the Nirguna Brahman, Turiya, could be worshipped. All the Gods of the Hinduism like Vishnu and Siva are fully known and prayed as the Saguna Brahmam. And the formless God or who has no dimensions and corporeal existence, Imperishable and unmanifested can also be worshipped by those who are imbued with Jnana or Wisdom.

The Bhagavad Gita takes care of both the types of worshipers! The all-inclusive Hinduism gives one an absolute freedom of worship. They can worship either Lord Vishnu or Lord Siva or the Spirit that is known as Turiya, the Imperishable and unmanifested.

Arjuna’s question in this sloka or verse relates to the greatness of the two types of Yogis, worshipping the Saguna Brahman or Nirguna Brahman.  

     

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 55, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VERSE NUMBER 55

VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

matkarmakrrn matparamo madbhaktah sangavarjitah

nirvairah sarvabooteshu yah sa maam eti paandava

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

mat karmakrrt = does actions for me: mat paramah = looks on me as the supreme: mad bhaktah = is devoted to me: sanga varjitah = is freed from attachment: nir vairah = without enmity: sarva bhooteshu = towards all creatures: yah = who: sah = he: maam = to me: eti = goes: paandava = O Pandava.

  TEXT IN ENGLISH:

He who does work for Me, who looks on Me as the Supreme, who is devoted to Me, who is free from attachment, who is without hatred for any being, he comes to Me, O Pandava.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

It is in the nature of beings to work. The make of an individual is known from the work he engages himself in. To work for oneself is the way of the world. The devotee, however, works not for himself but for the Lord.

Worldly people strive for prosperity, power and enjoyment. The devotee strives to attain the Lord Supreme.

The mind thrives getting attached to one thing or another. But it does not cling to two things at the same time. As it grows in devotion to the Lord, its attachment to the world wanes.

Hatred is born of rivalry or mutual exclusion. But these base motives have no place in the devotee’s attempt to recognize the immanency of God in all beings.

Man gains that to which he applies himself. By giving himself to the Lord, he gets Him in return, and there is no gain superior to this.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Do you know what kind of devotion we ought to have towards our Maker? The love of a chaste wife to her husband, the attachment of a miser to his hoarded wealth, the craving of a worldling for sense-pleasure—all these rolled into one and directed towards the Lord make Bhakti. We shall verily gain Him in this way.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

This is the essence of bhakti. See XII, 13. This verse is the substance of the whole teaching of the Gita. We must carry out our duties, directing the spirit to God and with detachment from all interest in the things of the world and free from enmity towards any living being.

Whatever be our vocation and character, whether we are creative thinkers or contemplative poets or humble men and women with no special gifts, if we possess the one great gift of the love of God, we become God’s tools, the channels of His love and purpose. When this vast world of living spirits becomes attuned to God and exists only to do His will, the purpose of man is achieved.

The Gita does not end after the tremendous experience of the celestial vision. The great secret of the Transcendental Atman, the source of all that is and yet itself unmoved forever is seen. The Supreme is the background for the never-ending procession of finite things. Arjuna has seen this truth but he has to live in it by transmuting his whole nature into the willing acceptance of the Divine. A fleeting vision, however vivid and permanent its effects may be, is not complete attainment. The search for abiding reality, the quest of final truth cannot end, in emotional satisfaction or fitful experience.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

This is the essence of the whole teaching of the Gita. He who practises this teaching will attain Supreme Bliss and Immortality. This verse contains the summary of the entire philosophy of the Gita.

He who performs actions (duties) for the sake of the Lord, who consecrates all his actions to Him, who serves the Lord with the heart and soul, who regards the Lord as his supreme goal, who lives for Him alone, who works for Him alone, who sees the Lord in everything, who sees the whole world as the Cosmic Form of the Lord and therefore cherishes no feeling of hatred or enmity towards any creature even when great injury has been done by others to  him, who has no attachment or love to wealth, children, wife, friends and relatives, and who seeks nothing else but the Lord, realises Him and enters into His Being. He becomes one with Him.

Comments by the blogger:

The spiritual trick to attain the Lord and enter into Him is pithily stated here in this all-compassing sloka or verse.

First, the Lord of Gita wants His devotees to do all actions in this mundane world for the love of the Lord alone.

Whatever be the way of life, unflinching devotion must rule one’s style of living. This is indeed very hard. If we start to think of God in all our strivings there would be many things we cannot do. But our mind is a minefield. It fills all the dark nook and corner of our conscious self for secret enjoyment of many desires and actions to fulfil such desires of which we dare not discuss even with our spouse. Our Mind will also create and think of many an excuse in justification of our secret enjoyments. The man who constantly and continually strives for adding wealth to his already stupendous and enormous wealth will have a ready excuse for his fevered actions eighteen hours a day! The Man who is having it out with another woman and has an extra-marital relationship will have a ready excuse as to how his own wife is lackadaisical to his wants and needs. A politician who amasses wealth after coming to power will have an excuse that he had to save up an enormous amount of money and assets to face the next election. There was an MLA in our area who rose to fame and name from his ordinary average life and who has indulged in dishonest means used to justify the act asking our people or voters in our area, that is, the people belonging to his constituency that he was honest and did not indulge in any bribery in his own constituency! The Government employee would try to excuse his amassing of wealth saying that he had five daughters and had to save up an enormous amount of money to take care of their marriage. There was a smuggler of sandalwood illegally cut down in the forest area used to support his act of thievery by ejaculating that all the sandalwood smuggled to foreign countries always return to India in the form of gold bullion. Thus India is enriched by his act of smuggling! The same person said when once he was incarcerated for the act of adulteration of several hundred gunny bags of cement that if Mahatma Gandhi went to prison it was for his nation and this man went to jail for his family! There is a popular lyricist in Tamil Nadu who penned several erotic lyrics for erotic scenes in movies. His justification is that if he does not agree to write such lyrics there are always other lyricists who would gladly write such lyrics!

Thus our mind does not even consult our pure self whether the dishonest means to amass wealth was an acceptable action or not. Even without us knowing anything about it, our Mind prepares excuses, sometimes slightly justifiable on the face of it, and forces us to indulge in corrupt actions morally as well as spiritually.

On the contrary, if a person is able to do actions and consecrate them, as Srimat Swami Sivananda has written, to the Lord with least expectation of returns in the shape of money and or assets movable or immovable he is to be considered as a blessed man. For many people, it is just a case of fulfilment of their daily needs in the form of food,  drink and a place where he or she could put up his or her feet! It is only when the irreducible wants and needs are not fulfilled even half-way the average one is forced to practise falsehood and corruption. It is not easy, to be honest, and satisfied with one’s poverty as a way of life. Even Subramaniya Bharati, an extraordinary Tamil poet of the Twentieth Century, begged the Goddess Parashakti for a piece of land and a well and a few coconut trees so he could write poems of immortal kind continuously! The poet lived in poverty and died in poverty. Among other things, he has written a Tamil Epic on THE WOW OF PANJALI which is a soul-elevating work.

God is the supreme Spirit and the entity and we should look up to Him for guidance in every walk of life. The supremacy of the Lord is well established even among the non-believers. The Universe was created by the Lord with the help of an atom from His person. The remainder inheres outside the flux of this earth unconditioned by Time, Space and Causation. The Upanishad recites that out of the whole this Universe has come and even after the creation of such mighty Universe the remainder is also the Whole! There is no lessening of God’s Power and Prowess after the Universe came into being out of Him. And God inheres pervasively in the Universe filling up everything and being both movable and immovable, and sentient and insentient. Thus God’s supremacy goes without saying. He is said to be having no beginning and no end principally because He is out of the sway and flux of Time, Space and Causation. Since God does not have a past and future He is outside the scope and revolving of this Universe.

Not only the spiritual aspirants but even ordinary persons should bear no ill-will and enmity toward anyone. Every man is a cog in the Universal Machine and as important to the revolution and inhering of the Universe as any spiritually enlightened person. All human beings and flowers and fauna is filled up by God. Even insentient things are filled up with God. Every atom of this Universe is a vital part in the Grand Theme of the Lord for this Universe. Not only the good people but also the sinners are important to the inhering of this universe. So our most important duties are to worship God and then worship the Lord in all beings and non-beings.

One is asked by the Lord of  Gita to be free of all attachment. The attachment to this world and worldly things and life enslaves human beings. The Animal Kingdom has no attachment and they live and act purely by instinct. But human beings are given a choice. They may believe in God and lead a life of purity of mind which will automatically enure to all our thinking and actions. Or they might lead their lives in this illusory world with the ambition to create and earn wealth and comfort even at the pain of losing the Lord. The man who is satisfied with the minimum things in life is a blessed one. Wealth and actions to earn an enormous amount of wealth enslave Man to this earth and he has to come repeatedly helplessly to the plane of this sphere and go through likes and dislikes and other dualities.

Such a person who indulges in activities for the sake of the Lord, who looks upon God as the Supreme, who is devoted to God and free from attachment to worldly things and life in the world and who bears no enmity towards any creature goes after death to the Lord of Gita.      

                                     

iti sreemad bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu brahmavidyaayaam

yogasaastre sree krrshnaarjuna samvaade visvaroopa

darsanayogo naama ekaadaso ‘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 eleventh discourse designated:

                                              THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 54, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VERSE NUMBER 54

VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

bhaktyaa tv ananyayaa sakya aham evamvidho ‘rjuna

jhaatum drashttum cha tattvena praveshttum cha paramtapa

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

bhktyaa = by devotion: tu = indeed: ananyayaa = single-minded: sakyah = (am) possible: aham = I: evam vidhah = of this form: arjuna = O Arjuna: jnaatum = to be known: drashttum = to be seen: cha = and: tattvena = in reality: praveshttum = to be entered into: cha = and: paramtapa = O Parantapa (O scorcher of thy foes).

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

But by unswerving devotion can I, of this form, be known and seen in reality and also entered into, O scorcher of foes.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Ananya bhakti is unswerving devotion. In this state, the sadhaka recognizes nothing but Iswara. He makes over his entire being to the Lord. All that he contacts through the senses and the intellect is He. Whatever he does is the Lord’s activity.

From the way in which the subordinates and attendants conduct themselves in a palace, the presence of the king in it can be inferred. One should not be satisfied with that inference. Seeing the king in person is superior to believing in his presence. There is a state greater than seeing the sovereign. Contact and communion with him is what is wanted. Ananya bhakti takes the devotee through all of these stages in his pursuit of the Lord. He feels first the presence of the Divine; he gets the vision of the Lord next; then he moves intimately with Him until unison is reached. Unswerving devotion provides all these possibilities.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Many have heard of milk. Those who have seen it are lesser in number. The partakers of milk are lesser still. Even such is the contact of man with God.

A talk arose whether man can see God with his physical eyes. No, He cannot be perceived with fleshy eyes. When bhakti is practised, the sadhaka or practitioner develops a superior sense organ, which has the power to see and hear supermundane things. With that spiritual eye, God is beheld and the devotee is commingled with Him.   

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Shankara defines an ideal devotee as one who realizes by all the senses only one object, God. He adores God with all his spirit and heart.

Saakshaatkara or the direct perception of the divine form is possible for the true devotees.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Devotion is the sole means to the realisation of the Cosmic Form.

Ananya-Bhakti: Single-minded devotion. One-pointed unbroken devotion; the devotion which does not seek any other object but the Lord alone. In this type of devotion, no object other than the Lord is experienced by any of the senses. Egoism and dualism totally vanish.

Of this form refers to the Cosmic Form.

By single-minded devotion it is possible not only to know Me as declared in the scriptures but also to realize Me, i.e., to attain liberation. The devotee realises that the Lord is all this and He alone is the ultimate Reality. When he gets this experience of illumination he gets merged in Him. (Cf. X.10; VIII.22)

Comments by the blogger:

My dear friends, you should not think that while the great Commentators have said what needs to be said, my comments about the very same slokas or verses is superfluous and even egoistic. While I don’t know about my comments as being superfluous I am far from being egoistic. The great Commentators, Srimat Swami Chidbhavananda, Dr.S.Radhakrishnan and Srimat Swami Sivananda, have said whatever there is to be said. To be precise and elaborate at one and the same time is possible to them. But I can’t be precise. Brevity is the soul of wit. To be precise is a great virtue. But I lack this virtue. And the three Commentators had to work under the constraint which forced them to not be very very exhaustive as the size of the book was constantly in their mind. But, as a blogger, I need not be brief and at the same time, I can elongate as long as possible. This is why I have been blabbering too much when I deal with each and every sloka or verse.  

Single-minded devotion is a great virtue.

Being single-minded means to not give to the worldly things and materialism overmuch importance.

Those great souls who could practise Bhakti Yoga or the Yoga of Devotion do not care about their daily needs such as a roof over their heads, food and clothing. The birds and beasts go to sleep every single night without any worry about their food the next morning. All their needs are taken care of by Nature. What is good for the goose must be good for the gander and if Nature takes care of the birds and beasts there is no reason as to why it should deny the same to us, the Homo Sapience.

I read a booklet published by a millionaire a couple of years ago. The said millionaire had a thirst for the Spiritual life. When the time came for him and his inner being would not leave him in (worldly) peace, he decided to become foot-lose. He simply gave the running of his various business concerns to others in the family and went on a pada-yatra or travel by foot. He decided to verify for himself that if beasts and birds of the jungle are followed by human beings the same Nature would provide with the daily needs of them or not. So he left his mansion one day without taking a rupee and not even a change of clothes! He became an aimless wanderer. He simply walked till he could and when he could no longer walk he was given a lift by some two-wheelers and thus he was able to wander mainly on foot. He says in this booklet that Nature indeed came to his great and timely help. Nature took great care of him by way of daily need of food and drinks and other wants. He was able to become a wanderer with no particular objective in mind. On his journey, he was time and again surprised to see how Mother Nature took care of all his basic needs. Food came to him as and when he needed it. In this respect, the millionaire also says that it was a great surprise how he needed only some morsels of food for every meal-time. Then only he realised how gross and wasteful he had been in stuffing his belly with choice food several times a day. That he had been feeding his desires for choice food items and the food he had taken gave him hankering and earning and craving for other comforts like the constant hankering for women’s society. He was sorry for having gulped down endless begs of foreign liquors. Now on his Spiritual journey, he was surprised to know that how a drink of water would rejuvenate him. There was no hankering for choicest food items. He ate what was given to him by various persons he had never known and would not be able to meet again! He had many a friend in his worldly life. But all of them were grossly materialistic and did not have any spiritual longing. Now the wanderer came to understand that the whole of humanity was his relatives. He had a stake in every one leading a good moral life. Simplicity was another discovery for the wanderer. Whether it was food and drink or clothing and a roof above his head, they were all very very simple and were enough to satisfy his daily wants. The doors of the houses by perfect strangers were opened for his pleasure. And the wanderer found out that he did not need liquor to go to bed. Nor did he want women’s society in order to go to sleep. Thus the wanderer found out during his foot-lose days, which was a couple of years, he lived with basic wants and no desire like the birds and beasts. Upon returning back to his mansion the millionaire started to live a simple and humble life. He had found out a great thing about Mother Nature!

Nature has all the things to feed all the people and beasts in this world. Likewise, mother Nature has the ability to quench all the rightful and minimum needs and wants of the people and beasts of this world. But ironically India alone has been a country in which more than thirty crore people go to bed on platforms or on the roadside with burning empty stomach. The world over there are teeming millions of people, all our brothers and sisters, who live below the poverty line and many millions of people belonging to the lower middle-class forced to live a life hovering on the poverty line.  

Mother Nature always puts in person’s mind a hankering for material things and thus keeps billions of people the world over under her mighty and enslaving illusion. Man’s journey toward his Maker is hampered by his constant urge to seek and get wealth beyond his normal wants and need. But once a man becomes enamoured of a spiritual lifestyle Mother Nature does everything in her infinite power to trip him up and draw him back to his early form of lifestyle. This period of life is a very hard one and an ineffable phase of life to get free from the Illusory pulls of Nature. But once the striving Man tries constantly to get himself free of Mother Nature it is Nature herself who had been playing a spoilsport helps in every way to uplift the man so he may strive in his Spiritual life and go up in his journey spread over a number of almost unending re-births toward God and realisation of his self.

Sri Krishna says in this sloka or verse that single-minded devotion would not only make and enable the Practitioner of the Yoga of Devotion to witness the Cosmic Form of the Lord of Gita but also enable the blessed Practitioner to enter into the Cosmic Form and become one with Sages and Seers of the world who also go into the mouths of the Lord not as frightened sinners but singing ecstatically the Praise of the Lord.

In this stanza also Sri Krishna calls Arjuna, His disciple as Paramtaba or O Scorcher of the foes. So Arjuna is given to understand that the materialistic and illusory yearnings and cravings enslaving Man’s five senses could be scorched by him if only he tried his level best.

Devotion comes easily to the majority of human beings of the world. The devotion of unswerving type holds the key for one’s realization of one’s Self and enter into God. Nothing less!

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 53, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VERSE NUMBER 53

VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

naa ‘ham vedair na tapasaa na daanena n ache ‘jyayaa

sakya evamvidho drashttum drrshttavaan asi maam yathaa

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

na = not: aham = I: vedaih = by the Vedas: na = not: tapasaa = by austerity: na = not: daanena = by gift: na = not: cha = and: ijyaa = by sacrifice: sakyah (am) possible: evam vidhah = like this: drashttum = to be seen: drrshttavaanasi (thou) hast seen: maam = me: yathaa = as.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Neither by the Vedas, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifice can I be seen in this form as you have seen Me.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The Lord has repeatedly made it plain that these meritorious acts are at best conducive to the purification of the mind. These are no more useful for the attainment of the Lord than a diligent search is for a gold coin, on which the concerned man happens to be standing!

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

This verse is a repetition of XI. 48.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

This Cosmic Form which thou hast seen so easily cannot be obtained either by the study of the Vedas and the six modes of philosophy, nor by the practice of mani-fold austerities (penances), nor by charity, nor by sacrifices of various kinds.

Arjuna was indeed very fortunate in seeing the Cosmic Form.

How can the Lord be seen? Listen! The heart must be overflowing with true devotion to Him. (Cf. XI.48)

Comments by the blogger:

Though this sloka or verse is repeated as the same sentiments have been lucidly expounded in XI.48 we should not consider this sloka or verse as superfluous. In certain matters like learning the Vedas themselves, repetition was the key. The heavens would not fall if an important teaching is repeated. And these two verses contain a eulogy and encomium for Arjuna. Arjuna is a great devotee and he has surrendered his will unflinchingly to the Will of the Lord of Gita. Moreover, the war at Kurukshetra has to be waged. The Lord is not taking any chances. Though Arjuna has crossed the psychological block and barrier long since these two verses the Lord wants to enshrine the greatness of His Cosmic Form time and time again even at the risk of repetition on the mind of Arjuna. In his San Francisco address, Srimat Swami Vivekananda said that Arjuna was under the control of emotionalism...He had become like an animal, like a baby, just letting his heart carry away his brain...Sri Krishna says that the sage or Panditha is not sorry for those that are living nor for those that die. You cannot die nor can I. There was never a time when we did not exist. There will never be a time when we shall not exist. ...There is nothing in the universe that can change the Changeless. Though this body has its beginning and end, the dweller in the body is infinite and without end. Knowing this, stand up and fight!  Well, Sri Krishna pronounced these exhortations even at the outset. And then He followed up with an exemplary teaching of many Yogas and before chapter 11 Arjuna was restored to his former self which did not know any faint-heartedness. The 11^th chapter is the result of Arjuna’s own begging to see the Cosmic Form of the Great Lord. The Form which was denied even to the Devas is seen by Arjuna!

The Lord is not tire of bringing home the point that the study of and the mastery in memorizing the Four Vedas will not come to one’s help when the goal is complete emancipation and mingling with the Maker of the Universe. Though the Vedas form the basis of all the six darsanas of the ancient Hinduism, in Bhavad Gita the Bhagavan, Sri Krishna, minces no words when it comes to informing a practitioner that he should not lose himself in the sayings and hymns of the Four Vedas. That there is much in the Vedas that are purely worldly and obtaining a place in the Heaven when one dies. The Vedic period saw the Arians leading a blessed life. Having come to India from far off they settled along the banks of the Ganges and owned a vast number of cattle and cultivation of the chaste lands yielded rich harvests. The life had become a heaven on earth. They, the Arians lead a blissful life in India and they started to enquire even at that age which is four or five thousand years ago, according to the Foreign scholars, about the gods and various aspects of the Universe and the human  Self and how to lead a blissful life.

But several thousands of years later the Arians’ understanding of the Universe and the Ultimate Maker of the Universe and all the beings and non-beings went through a sea change. The Vedic Sacrifices which were external were internalized and Brahman was found out by the Seers and Saints to be without any gross body, beginning and end. But apart from Brahman, the nirguna Spirit, the Saguna Brahman was found to be Sri Vishnu by Vaishnavites and Lord Siva by Saivaits. But the irony and greatness is that these two deities had been identified in the Vedas themselves!

Only in the Hindu Scriptures, one can find this kind of intellectual and spiritual mightiness that freely looks upon themselves and continually voyage forth toward the Ultimate Almighty, One God. The Lord of Bhagavad Gita is not afraid of calling a spade a spade. The Lord freely gives vent to his critical analyses in the evolutionary journey from a number of Vedic gods to a Sole Entity as Brahman.

In this Sloka the Lord of Gita says that neither by the Vedas, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifice can He be seen in this Universal Form as Arjuna had seen God. The Study of the Vedas, penances, gifts or sacrifices will be of little avail when it comes to be able to see the Universal Form of the Lord.

But the Lord wanted Arjuna to see for himself that all the warriors on the opposite side had already been slain by the Lord Himself and all Arjuna had to do was to become a willing instrument in the Lord’s Hands and wage this great war having set aside any personal ambition. Arjuna is a Kshatriya or belonging to the warrior caste and his duty is to fight against those who start the war. It is indeed very important that Arjuna realized that his role is secondary only and the Lord who does not take up the bow and arrow has already finished off all the warriors including Bhishma and Drona. So it became important that Arjuna realized his secondary role. For this purpose, Arjuna had to have the vision of the Universal Form of the Lord.

The Lord calls Arjuna as Parantaba or the Scorcher of the foes. Arjuna’s emotionalism also was inimical to the accomplished and formidable warrior, Arjuna. He must get the better of his emotionalism.   

                                  

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 52, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VERSE NUMBER 52

VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

sree bhagavaan uvacha

sundurdarsam idam roopam drrshtavaan asi yan mama

devaa apy asya roopasya nityam  darsana kaankshinah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

sudur darsam = very hard to see: idam = this: roopam = form: drrshtavaanasi = thou has seen: yat = which: mama = my: devaah = gods: api = also: asya (of) this: roopasya = of form: nityam = ever: darsana kaankshinah = (are) desirous to behold.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Very hard it is, indeed, to see this form of Mine which you have seen. Even the Devas are very eager to see this form.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

In the scale of evolution, the Devas are superior to human beings. But their knowledge of Iswara is in no way higher than that of the human aspirants. In the spiritual enlightenment that Arjuna has had just now, he has excelled the Devas who are also ardently trying to probe into the mystery of the Supreme.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Lord Krishna says to Arjuna: “Though the gods long to behold the Cosmic Form yet they have not seen it as you have done. They can never behold it.”

Just as the Chataka (a bird) longs for a drop of rain eagerly turning its eyes towards the clouds, so also do gods yearn to behold the Cosmic Form but their wishes have not been gratified even in their dreams. Such is that marvellous vision which thou hast easily seen.

Comments by the blogger:

God’s creation does not finish with our world with its flowers and fauna.

Indeed there are several lokas or worlds of which except the Hindu saints and seers other people belonging to other religions are not aware.

Likewise, the inevitable rebirth after our death also has not been comprehended by other religions.

Meditation is one of the Gifts of the Vedic and Upanishadic Seers to this wide world. They sat on a place cross-legged in the famous lotus pose and shut the eyes and brought the other four senses also under severe control and concentrated on a particular thing like the lotus feet of the Lord. Concentration is yet another contribution to the wide world by the Hindu Seers to the world. However, concentration and Meditation are not one and the same thing. While we concentrate all the five senses are under the inexorable control of the sadhakas or Practitioners of Yoga. Meditation is not possible without concentration. The mind which can’t be focussed on a particular thing and is tossed this and that way is utterly unable to Meditate. After the Practitioner masters his mind and learnt the art of concentration the next stage is Meditation. Unlike well-focussed concentration whereby the mind does not sway and stays focused on a particular thing Meditation involves a continuous thought on a particular idea or attribute of God. In concentration, the mind stays without any movement and when that is learnt by the Practitioner he starts to meditate on ideals like Truth, or any other attributes of the Lord Master and thinks and contemplates deeply and continuously on the very same thought. Many sides and shades of the idea gets meditated upon by the Practioner. The Sanskrit term “dhaila dharai” means like when we pour the oil of any kind from one vessel into another there is a wonderful view of a continuous line of the oil and it seems to be stationary instead of flowing continuously. Likewise, there is a continuous contemplation on the ideal chosen by the Practitioner.

While talking about the art of concentration Srimat Swami Vivekananda says that the one and the only object of education is to teach concentration to the pupils. He also opines that our modern type of education does not teach the art of concentration. That instead of teaching concentration the present day education system teaches to learn by heart information endlessly. Teaching the learning of information about something will not increase the power of the mind. Once the pupil learns concentration he or she can understand anything by concentrating on it. The art of Concentration and Meditation have to be learnt by all. These gifts by the Vedic and Upanishadic Seers and Saints will save the world and enhance the power of the mind of the Practitioners. These arts are one of the Spiritual Assets and Tooles of ancient India.

Sri Krishna says in this Sloka or Verse that “Even the Devas are very eager to see this form.”

Deva Loka or the world of the Devas is not somewhere beyond the pale of our Sky. Take for example the movements and flights of the eye-less and therefore sightless bats. How do they fly without coming into contact with and dash against any barrier which should pronounce their death as though they have sharp eye-sight? Well the bats send out sounds at a particular frequency it travels in front of them and if there is any barrier the sound wave will get refracted to the bats and thus they avoid collision with any objects! But the sound wave and its reflection to the extra-sensitive receiver of the bats take place almost simultaneously and without any loss of time! This way the bats can fly continually as if they have perfect and cool eye-sight! Well, you may ask why should I relate this to you. My objective is to make the readers and viewers realize that the particular sound frequency is denied to Man’s comprehension.

Like this, there are several worlds containing God’s Creation which are outside the ken of human beings. Indeed different waves control the World! That is, the different worlds exist here among us with differing frequencies and wavelengths which are beyond the comprehension of the Human Beings!

The Devas are superior to Human Beings. But despite their supremacy, they have not been able to see and witness the Cosmi Form of the Great Lord. But a human being, Arjuna, has seen the ineffable Form of the Lord. It speaks volume for the kindness and regard the Bhagavan Krishna had for his mate, Arjuna.

The sight of the Lord’s Cosmic Form by Arjuna is very very rare indeed. The Devas have not been able to see this Form so far and they will not witness the Bhagavan’s Universal Form in future! God is the creator of this Universe and He is the Cause and Stay of this Universe. The whole Universe is the Lord’s ineffable Body! This is a fact which was understood by the Vedic Saints and Seers many thousand years ago!            

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 51, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VERSE NUMBER 51

VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

arjuna uvaacha

drrshttve ‘dam maanusham roopam tava saumyam janaardana

idaaneem asmi samvrrttah sachetaah prakrrtim gatah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

drrshtvaa = having seen: idam = this: maanusham = human: roopam = form: tava = thy: saumyam = gentle: janaardana = O Janardana: idaaneem = now: asmi = am: samvrrttah = composed: sachetaah = with mind: pradrrtim = to nature: gatah = restored.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Having seen this Your gentle human form, O Janardana, I am now composed and am restored to my own nature.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The fish in the troubled water is ill at ease; it regains its normalcy when water becomes calm. Even so the Jivatman cannot remain composed when put in touch with the terrific aspect of Iswara. Arjuna bears evidence to this fact.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Arjuna says to Lord Krishna: “O Lord, I now behold Thy human form. Now my thoughts are collected and I am serene. I can speak. My senses perform their proper functions. My fear has vanished. Thou hast treated me as a mother would treat her erring child whom she embraces and nurses. Just as the calf rejoices when it beholds its mother who was missing for some days, so also I rejoice now when I behold Thy gentle form. I have drunk the nectar. Now I am alive”.

Comments by the blogger:

Now we know that the Lord fully knows the risk involved in allowing Arjuna to see His Cosmic Form. For, in the beginning, in the chapter ARJUNA’S VISHADA YOGA, we see a bewildered Arjuna as to his duty. He couldn’t see any worthwhile purpose in putting to death his revered Pitamaha, Bhishma and the Teacher, Drona, and Arjuna said to the Lord that if the enemies of his were killed their women would be affected, that they would be forced to lead an undeserved life, that the family tradition would get affected, that Arjuna could not see any purpose in indulging in this wasteful war which involved the killing of his relatives on the other side and that it would be advisable to go around the world a-begging. Arjuna went through a sentimental senility. He had forgotten what a fearless warrior he had always been and how he had offered battle to Lord Siva Himself and at the end how He had presented Arjuna with a mighty bow. He snivelled and behaved like a sentimental old woman, which did not go hand in hand with the real Arjuna who struck terror in the hearts of his enemies. He even put aside his bow and told the Lord, who, in His infinite compassion, had willingly offered to serve as Arjuna’s charioteer, that he would not fight this war just as the two armies had been positioned and ready to begin the war!

Now we saw an Arjuna who became bewildered at the sight of the Lord’s terrific Cosmic Form. Arjuna was already made ready to fight the war as his duty. He had seen what a sentimental senility it was to not fight his war which had come to him, a kshatria, quite unsought. The Lord of Gita took Arjuna’s consciousness step by step so that he would realize the futility and the dishonour of fleeing from the war front. And it was Arjuna who had volunteered to witness the Lord’s Cosmic Form. The Lord could have denied this prerogative by saying no Seer or human being had ever seen His Cosmic Form. But the Lord knew that Arjuna would become somewhat demoralized by seeing the terrific Form of His. But still, the Lord was not taking any chances and decided to drive home the pointed point that Arjuna was a Kshatriya or a person belonging to the warrior class and he could not just shrug his swadharmic duty.

In this verse, Arjuna addresses Sri Krishna as Janardana. Janardana means HE WHO IS ADORED BY DEVOTEES FOR THE FULFILMENT OF THEIR DESIRES. What an apt description! At the basic and ordinary level, God is adored principally for the fulfilment of the devotees’ desires. The Lord does not hold it against the persons like me who want to free themselves from problems, economic or otherwise. The Lord Himself says elsewhere in The Holy Gita that people worship Him for fulfilment of their desires, to come out of some problems, out of love and affection for the Lord and the fourth type of people who adore the Lord ( there is no prayers to put forth at the Lord’s lotus feet) for the sake of adoration itself. The fourth type of devotees does not want God to do anything for their selves. Like Kunti who, on being asked at the end of the great war at Kurukshetra as to what she wanted most, asks Sri Krishna for the repeated worldly life so that she could adore the Lord as an unflinching devotee! But the Lord says in The Holy Gita that he loves all types of devotees! That is one of the messages of Bhagavad Gita.    

 Arjuna says in this Sloka or Verse, “Having seen this Your gentle human form, O Janardana, I am now composed and am restored to my own nature.”

The Lord could have denied Arjuna the chance of seeing His  Cosmic Form. He knew full well that the sight and vision of His Cosmic Form will bring about some demoralization in Arjuna. In that case, the Lord’s earlier striving could have become useless. But the Lord takes the risk and wants to make Arjuna see how the warriors on both sides have already been slain by Him even without the medium or agency or involvement of Arjuna. This Cosmic Form has the desirable effect on Arjuna who under normal circumstances is an unparalleled and bravest of warriors striking fear and trepidation in the hearts of the enemies. Now Arjuna says he has become composed. And he further says that he has been restored to his own nature. His nature is fearless warfare. He is now ready both physically and psychologically to wage an aggressive war. Sri Bhagavan, thus, Has been very successful in showing the stuff Arjuna is made of.

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THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 50, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

 VERSE NUMBER 50

VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

sanjaya uvaacha

ity arjunam vaasudevas tatho ‘ktvaa

     svakam roopam darsayaam aasa ‘bhooyah

aasvaasayaam aasa cha bheetam enam

     bhootvaa punah saumyavapur mahaatmaa

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

samjaya uvaacha = Sanjaya said:

iti = thus: arjunam = to Arjuna: vaasudevah = Vasudeva: tatha = so: uktvaa = having spoken: svakam = his own: roopam = form: darsayaamaasa = showed: bhooyah = again: aasvaasayaamaasa = consoled: cha = and: bheetam = who was terrified: enam = him: bhootvaa = having become: punah = again: saumya vapuh = os gentle form: mahaatmaa = the great-souled one.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Having spoken thus to Arjuna, Vasudeva showed again His own form; and the great-souled One assuming His gentle form consoled him who was terrified.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Vaasudeva is the son of Vasudeva and Devaki. While being born as their son, He showed His benign and soul-captivation form to His parents, then in imprisonment. The Lord strikes terror only to the extent necessary to tame the strayed into the right path. He is Mahaatma because of this noble act of reclamation.  

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

His own form: His form as the son of Vasudeva.

Comments by the blogger.

Sri Bhagavan has said that His Cosmic Form was exclusively for Arjuna and was never be seen by others. Now the question is whether Sanjaya witnessed the Cosmic Form of the Lord. Since the Lord has said His Cosmic Form was for the benefit of Arjuna alone, it must be held that Sanjaya only saw and heard Arjuna’s bewildered words and related the same to Dhridharashtra, the Blind Monarch. 

Even though the Lord knew that the Cosmic Form will frighten Arjuna when the latter requested the Lord He readily obliged. And when Arjuna becomes jittery and begs for the Lord to return back to his former form once again Sri Bhagavan obliges Arjuna once again. This speaks volume for the regard Sri Krishna has for his friend Arjuna.

If we see anything, we should do so standing apart from what is seen by us and we should look at it. Body and mind are not inseparable for ordinary beings. When we stand apart from ourselves having shed the conscious of mind and body we will see we are not the body and mind. Then we will come to have an Awareness and moreover we will realize we are nothing but that, the Awareness! When we have come up to that stage we will realize we are the  Cosmos and that is the real Visvarupam gained through Knowledge. This is possible when we stand apart from ourselves and see who the real we are. When we see and realize that we are nothing but Awareness it becomes the vision of the Cosmic Form. Arjuna has had this integral vision. Arjuna has seen in the Lord the whole creation. When we are born our Death accompanies us. Man gets the streak of pepper and salt in the hair on the head and the beard and mustache. This starts to happen when we attain 40 years of age. Every wrinkle and gray hair we have at 40 is the work of Death. Arjuna has had the vision of the Cosmic Form of the Lord and when he feels threatened by the inexorable sight he begs the Lord to kindly return to His former form.

The Lord takes once again the rupam or appearance of His former form. He appeared with discus and mace and four arms. The Lord was born with four arms. But when He saw that Vasudhevar was afraid of Kamsan, the Lord’s two arms disappeared. The Lord of Gita remained with two arms till He got the better of Kamsan. This is to assuage the anguish of Vasudhevar. Once Kamsan died the Lord once again appeared with His four arms. The Sanskrit word, “svakam roopam” means His appearance as Krishna. This does not mean that the Visvarupam or the Cosmic Form does not belong to Sri Krishna. We must hold that both the appearances belong to the Lord. While the Cosmic Form frightens Arjuna the Lord’s former form with discus, mace and four arms pacify Arjuna’s mind and consciousness.

Even when the Lord of Gita goes back and comes in His former form which is just an atom in comparison with the Cosmic Form the atomic Form of Sri Krishna too is a full darshan. What greatness is there in the Cosmic Form also enures to the former form of the Lord.