CHAPTER10 –VIBHOOTHIYOGA
THE GLORY OF THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS
1. bhooya eva mahaabaaho SrNu me paramam vachaH
yatthe aham preeyamaaNaaya vakshyaami hithakaamyayaa
I will tell you again oh, mighty armed, the words of divine wisdom, listen. I am telling this to you, who loves Me, for your welfare
The tenth and eleventh adhyayas of the Gita serve to induce devotion and in the twelfth adhyaya bhakthiyoga is elaborated. The transcendence and immanence of the Lord is made explicit in the two adhyayas. The tenth is called vibhoothiyoga in which the manifestations of the divine glory are enumerated corresponding to the vision of the Lord in everything while the eleventh adhyaya is called the visvaroopadarsana in which Krishna shows Arjuna the cosmic form. Hence both the adhyayas taken together illustrates the truth that The Lord is in everything and everything is in Him respectively.
Krishna starts telling Arjuna about His greatness as the Lord of the Universe, which is not understood even by the great rshis and devas because He is the source of them all. After imparting the sovereign learning and secret of the supreme reality, in the previous chapter, Krishna tries to make it easier by elucidating again on this topic by saying "listen again to my word of supreme wisdom which I tell you out of love," which is the reason for further elaboration.
2. na me vidhuH suraganaaH prabhavam na maharshayaH
aham aadhirhi dhevaanaam maharsheeNaam cha sarvaSaH
Even devas and the great sages do not know my origin. I am the origin of devas and great sages in all respects.
Krishna then proceeds to explain the knowledge of His real nature which is inexplicable even to the devas and rshis. The impediment to the understanding of the real nature of Brahman is the moha, delusion. In Ramavathara and Krishnavathara there were only very few who had the insight to see the divinity in Rama and Krishna. And this was possible only through devotion. Jnana or knowledge born of devotion removes the delusion of perceiving the mortal form in the divine incarnations.
The reason why, even the devas , who are provided with divine powers and the great rshis of divine intellect could not understand the Lord in His entirety is that He is the origin of all of them and also of the prakrthi and its thathvas, which include the intellect and ego and hence He could not be understood as He transcends them all.. Brahman realization is not an object of knowledge but is an experience. One can know about the form and taste and everything about mango fruit from hearsay or through books but it has to be tasted in order to understand the sweetness of it. It is the same with all the sense objects the enjoyment of which can never be explained but has to be experienced. If it is so for worldly things, how can that which transcends the mind and intellect be understood!
Is it virtually impossible for any one to know the Lord in His entirety? Or is there any one who could know Him? This is answered next.
3.yo maam ajam anaadhim cha vetthi lokamaheSvaram
asammooDaH sa marthyeshu sarvapaapaiH pramuchyathe
One who knows Me as the one unborn, with no beginning and as the master of the Universe, he is the wise one among human beings and gets freed from all sins.
Once a man gets free from delusion he is able to understand that the Lord is unborn, aja, without beginning, anAdhi, and is the Lord of the universe. Such knowledge born out of right perception through devotion removes all sins, says Krishna, because such a person is no longer attached either to his action or its result and hence is not affected by it. Thus by meditating on the real nature of the Lord through devotion, all impediments , namely those born out of past karma giving rise to sin, are washed away.
ajam- The Lord is not born. But manifests as the universe as Purushasuktha says, ajaaymaano bahuDhaavijaayathe. The one unborn become many. The Upanishad says sadheva idham agra aaseeth ekameva adgvitheetyam, sath, or Brahman alone existed in the beginning, one only without a second. thath aikshatha bahu syaam prajaayeya, it willed to become many. This is denoted by the words aham aadhiH in the previous slokam. When it is said that the Lord is the origin of devas and great rshis it includes the other lesser beings also. Where did Brahman come from? This is explained here as by the word ajam and anaadhi. He is aja because he is anaadhi. When a thing is to be born it has a beginning.
anaadhi- But the Lord or Brahman has no beginning. A pot is born out of mud and the mud comes from earth and the earth and the other elements out of which all beings are created from Brahman as declared in the Upanishad thath aikshatha bahusyaam prajaayeya ; thath thejo asrjatha. It willed to become many and created the fire. Then the creation of other elements are mentioned . Now if everything came from Brahman where did Brahman come from? If there is some source then the statement sadheva idham agra aaseeth ekameva adhvitheeyam cannot be true. Because it would mean that there was something else from which the Brahman originated. Hence by logical reasoning it follows that Brahman, the Lord Narayana of Visishtadvaita, is beginningless, anadhi.
loka maheSvaram- the lord of the universe. The word loka means perception and the word thus means the supreme perception brahmajnana, because it is denoted by the next line describing those who have the right perception by the word asammoodaH, one without delusion and sees the reality. Loka can also denote that which is seen , that is the manifestations of the Lord which are described in this chapter in detail. Loka need not be the physical world but the realms of consciousness of which the Lord is the supreme power behind. Right from the awareness of the physical world till that of the supreme reality everything happens by the will of the Lord. By this perception one becomes freed from karma and the sins which are the results of karma.
4.budDhiH jnaanam asammohaH kshamaa sathyam dhamaHsamaH
sukham dhuhkham bhavo abhaavo bhayam cha abhayam evacha
Intellect, wisdom, absence of delusion, patience, truth, outer and inner control, joy and sorrow, existence and nonexistence fear and fearlessness,
5. ahimsaa samathaa thushtiH thapo dhaanam yaSo ayasaH
bhavanthi bhaavaa bhoothaanaam mattha eva prThagviDhaaH
Nonviolence, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame and ill-fame, all these different states of being are from Me only.
These two slokas are a sort of elucidation of the word sarvalokamahesvaram.
All the qualities mentioned here are the attitudes of the mind and intellect. The idea that everything happens by the will of the Lord as seen in the previous sloka is reiterated here.
The qualities joy and sorrow, existence and non existence fear and fearlessness , fame and ill fame , are said to be the effect of divine will even though they are opposites because sorrow means that feeling for something that had happened due to reasons beyond our control There are three causes of sorrow namely, aadhidhaivika, natural calamities, aadhibouthika , suffering due to other beings and aadhyaathmika, diseases of the mind and body, known as thaapathrayam.
Simlarly the nonexistence means the absence of what we do not have which is due to the will of God. This is what Sankara means in his Bajagovindam as yallabhathe nija karmopaattham vittham thena vinodhay chittham, whatever one gets due to own karma he should be satisfied with that.
Fear and fearlessness denote the fear for what should not be done and fearlessness for what we should do. Fame will come only due to the will of God and ill fame may come due to the ill will of others. But still it is the will of God. In 12th chapter describing the devotee the Lord says, in sloka 18 , that the devotee who is dear to Him is the one who treats fame and ill fame equally. This comes only out of the absence of dhehaathma budDhi born out of ego. It is said that those who speak ill of us take away our sins. So it is all the grace of God only as long as one has not done anything willfully to cause ill-fame.
But it is to be noticed that the opposites of other qualities have not been included., like untruth, violence etc. because these are not the will of God but our own will due to ignorance of what is good and what is not and they are desire motivated.
6.maharshayaH sapthapoorve chathvaaro manavasthaTha
madhbhaavaa maanasaa jaathaaH yeshaam loke imaaHprajaaH
The seven rshis , the first four and the four Manus were born from My mind and possess my mental disposition, from whom these worlds have come about.
The seven rshis of yore are those who came from the mind of the Lord in the beginning of creation. They are, Marici, Angiras, Adhri, Pulasthya, Pulaha, Krathu and Vasishta. The saptharshis and Indra vary in each Manvanthara. But these are only meant here since they were the first. They possess seven qualities, namely, dheergaayus, long life, manthrakrth, the seers of manthras, eeSvaraaH, have divine powers, dhivyachakshushaH, possess divine, divine vision, matured in attributes, learning and also in years, knowers of dharma and creators of gothra, clan.
The first four are the manasaputhras of Brahma , Sanaka, sananthana, Sanaathana, Sanathkumara. Even though they did not cause the procreation as they went to do thapas against the order of Brahma to procreate, they are included because they were also born from the mind of the Lord through Brahma.
The Manus are fourteen and the reign of each is called a manvanthara. Six manvantharas have gone already and the present is the Vaivasvatha manvanthara. The Manus and their progeny is described in srimadbhagavatham in detail.
Who are those who possess this knowledge that all are the manifestations of the Lord? The devotees know this through Bhakthi yoga. This is explained in the next three slokas.
7.ethaam vibhoothim yogam cha mama yo vetthi thatthvathaH
so avikampena yogena yujyathe na athra samSayaH
One who knows my manifestations and power as they are, is doubtless endowed with steadfast devotion.
Vibhoothi is the divine manifestation of which Krishna is going to elaborate in this chapter. As the chapters from 7 to 12 are said to be the exposition of bhakyhiyoga the word yoga here means only devotion. avikampa yoga is steadfast devotion, kampa meaning tremor and avikampa means firm and steady.
8. aham sarvasya prbhavaH matthaH sarvam pravarthathe
ithi mathvaa bajanthe maam buDhaa bhaavasamanvithaaH
The wise with bhakthibhaava, devotional attitude, worship Me , knowing that I am the source of all which is activated by Me.
Those with the knowledge that the Lord is everywhere, transcendent and imminent and everything is in Him as well as he is in everything, are denoted as buDhaah , the wise. The bhava or the kind of existence they go through is described in the next sloka.
9.macchitthaa madhgathapraaNaaH boDhayanthaH parasparam
kaThayanthaScha maam nithyam thushyanthicha ramanthi cha
With their mind absorbed in Me, their very life depending on Me , they exchange the knowledge to one another and talking about Me take pleasure and enjoy it always.
This is a beautiful sloka illustrating the ananyabhakthi.
macchitthaaH- their only thought is always about the Lord. Vasudhevassarvam ithi sa mahatma sudhurlabhaH, as mentioned in chapter 7 sloka 19, It is very difficult to reach that stage and it happens only after many lives When all the desires and attachment are turned off from the worldly pleasures and the only attachment is to the Lord and the only desire is to attain Him, all the thoughts are centered only on the Lord.
madhgahapraaNaaH- their very existence depends on their devotion. If one moment is spent without thinking of Him or talking of His glory they feel like fish out of water. Without that they could not survive and they do not consider their life worth living.
boDhayanthaH parasparam- When two people with same interest meet naturally they talk about the subject of their interest. How much more will the devotees feel when they meet each other. They exchange their experiences and emotions
kaThayanthaScha maam nithyam- They talk about Him, retell stories of the Lord and sing His glory. This description of His devotees has been given in the previous chapter itself in sloka 14. Ghorakumbha was known to sing the glory of Panduranga even when he was making pots. So were the various devotees who enjoyed in singing , talking and thinking about the Lord all the time,
thuhyanthi cha ramanthi cha- Nothing pleases or provide enjoyment to the devotees more than these activities. They offer all they do and experience, to the Lord alone. They live as an instrument of the divine, through whom His glories are manifested.
The perfect example of this description of devotion is that of the gopis towards Krishna. They were all the time engrossed in Him, always talked about him and exchanged their experiences with Him and sang and danced around Him and about Him. In fact their whole existence was nothing but Him.
There is a sloka in Krishna karnamrtha which beautifully illustrates this.
vikretukaamA kila gopakanyA
muraari paadhaarpita chittha vrtthi:
dhaDhyaadhikam mohavaSaath avochath
govindha dhaamodhara maaDhaveti
A gopi who wished to sell curd etc., enchanted, with her mind absorbed in the feet of KrishNa, called out `govinda, dhaamodra and maadhava', instead of saying curd, butter etc. her mind was full of Krishna and no other words came out of her mouth except His namas even when she was selling curds etc. on the streets.
10..theshaam sathathayukthaanaam bhajathaampreethipoorvakam
dhadhaami buDhiyogam tham yena maam upayaanthi the
To those who worship Me with mind engrossed in Me with love, I give the intellectual comprehension by which they attain Me.
budDhiyoga is the knowledge of the Lord and His glory and power as it is through intellectual understanding. The devotee being all the time engrossed in the thought of the Lord and doing everything as an offering to Him, sees Him everywhere and thus come to know the glory of His manifestations and that He is the power behind all. This knowledge comes to Him through the grace of the Lord because he is chosen by the Lord to attain Him as the Upanishad says, yamevaisha vrNuthe thena labhyaH, meaning that the Lord reveals Himself to the one whom He chooses to do so. This is what is implied by the second line of the sloka. How does He do it is explained in the next sloka.
The intellectual comprehension mentioned here is not the brahmajnana but only the knowledge of the divine manifestations and the power of The Lord, that He is in everything and everything is in Him. Armed with that they proceed towards the final goal of brahman realization which is attaining the Lord, who reveals Himself as explained next.
11. theshaam eva anuampaarTham aham ajnaanjam thamaH
naaSayaami aatmabhaavasThaH jnaana dheepena bhaasvathaa
For them alone I destroy, from inside them, the darkness born out of ignorance by the brilliant light of knowledge.
Due to unswerving bhakthi all the impurities of the mind are removed and the mind is filled only with the thought of the Lord. When the mind is thus cleansed of all the impurities gathered from several births due to ignorance, the wisdom dawns. This is also the grace of the Lord who is in the heart of the devotee. The wisdom is the brilliant light that dispels the darkness of ignorance. When the darkness of ignorance is gone as soon as the light of wisdom arises in the heart, which is simultaneous as the Sunrise and the disappearance of darkness, they attain the Lord who was in them all the while but not seen due to ignorance. It is not attaining something which was not there before or reaching a destination but it is like rediscovering that which was there all the time but covered wit the veil of ignorance. Bhakthi is the chord that opens the curtain to reveal the Lord inside and He is the one who calls the ropes.
Arjuna uvaacha-Arjuna said
12.Param brahma param Dhaama pavithram paramam bhavaan
Purusham Saasvatham dhivyam aadhidhevam ajam vibhum
You are the Supreme Brahman, Supreme light, Supremely auspicious, the eternal divine purusha, the primal deity, unborn and all pervading.
13. aahuH thvaam rshayaH sarve dhevarshiH naaradhaHthaThaa
asitho dhevalo vyaasaH svayam chaiva braveeshi me
Thus all rshis , the divine sage Narada, Asitha, Dhevala and Vyasa spoke about you and you yourself is telling me so.
14.sarvam ethatth rtham manye yan maam vadhasi keSava
na hi the bhagavan vyakthim vidhuH dhevaa na dhaanavaah
I believe that all this what you say is true. Your manifestation is not known by devas or asuras.
Arjuna is impressed with the divinity of Krishna now , a far cry from saying, 'aparam bhavathO janma param janma vivasvathah' (BG.4-4), "You were born after the Sun and how could you have instructed him on this yoga?" and extols His greatness.
He says, "The rshis like Narada and Vyasa proclaim that You are the Supreme Brahman, Supreme light and Supreme sanctifier, eternal divine Person , Primal Lord, unborn and all-pervading and You yourself have told me so now. So I am convinced that all you have said is true and your glory is not known even to devas or asuras "
Narada is the devarshi known to all. Asitha was the son of Kasyapa and Dhevala was his son. Together with Vyasa all of them are brahmajnanis and hence clubbed together.
Arjuna addresses Krishna as Bhagavan and Kesava. In the light of what is said in the previous two slokas, the word Kesava here means that He is the Supreme Brahman indeed as the word KeSava is split as ka=Brahma, a=Vishnu and eesa=Siva and denotes that the Lord Naryana, synonymous with the Brahman of the Upanishads whose manifested powers of creation, sustenance and annihilation are personified as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.
The word Bhagavan means the Lord and the meaning of it is bhagaaH asya asthi ithi bhagavaan. He word bhaga denotes six qualities, namely samagra aisvarya, supreme power, dharma, yaSas, fame, Sree. Glory, jnana and vairagya.
Aisvaryasya samagrasya Dharmasya yaSasaH SriyaH
jnaanvairaagyayoSchaiva shaNNaam bhaga itheeraNaa (Vishnupurana)
This word is also used for brahmajnanis such as bhagavan VyasaH , bhagavaan SukaH etc , in laudatory terms. The Lord is bhagavan also because He does creation, sustenance and annihilation and also knows the origination and destruction of all beings and their knowledge and ignorance according to what is said in the vishnupurana.
uthpatthim pralayam chaiva bhoothaanaam agathim gathim
Vetthi vidhyaam avidhyaam cha sa vaachyo bhagavaan ithi
15.svayam eva aathmanaa aathmaanam vetTha thvampurushotthama
bhoothabhaavana bhootheSa dhevadheva jagathpathe
Oh the Supreme Being, you alone know yourself by yourself. You are the creator and the master of all beings, Lord of the devas and the Lord of the Universe.
When a thing is known there are three aspects, called thriputee of that knowing, namely, the knower, jnaatha, the known, jneyam and the knowledge, jnaanam. The Lord is the object of knowledge, jneya and also the knowledge, jnanam itself as He is janasvaroopa. `Sathyam jnanam anantham Brahma.' He Himself is the knower, jnaathaa, as He is the inner self of all by whom everything is known. The creator has the knowledge of his creation but the created has no knowledge of its creator. Hence the Lord alone knows Himself. The reason for this is being that He is the creator, bhoothabhaavana, the Master of all, bhoothesa, by whom everything including knowledge is given as he says in sloka 10, dhdhaami budDhiyogam tham, He being the Lord of the devas whose powers are from Him only and He is the Lord of the Universe.
16.vakthum arhasi aSesheNa dhivyaaH aatmavibhoothayaH
yaabhiH vibhoothibhiH lokaan imaan thvam vyaapyathishTasi
You have to tell me about the glory of your manifestations in full, by which you stand pervading the whole universe.
As the Upanishad says the Brahman who alone existed as one only without a second in the beginning willed to become many and Himself manifested as the universe of all beings, sentient an insentient. This is His vibhoothi, His transcendence and immanence by which He pervades all.
17.kaTHam vidhyaamiaham yogin thvaam sadhaaparichinthayan
keshu keshu cha bhaaveshu chinthyo asmi bhagavan mayaa
How could I know by contemplating on you always and in whichever of all your forms you should be contemplated by me.
Hence Arjuna says that ,only the Lord could enlighten him about His manifestations and powers and show the way to worship Him through His manifestations.
18.visthareNa aathmano yogam vibhoothim cha janaardhana
bhooyaH kaThaya thrpthirhi srNvatho naasthi me amrtham
Please tell me again elaborately all your powers and manifestations, Janardana, there is no satisfaction for me in hearing the nectar of your glory.
Anticipating Krishna 's possible question as to whether what has been said so far has not been made clear to him, Arjuna says that he wants Krishna to repeat what has been said because there could be no satiety in hearing nectar-like attributes of the Lord.
Starting from the Vedas down to the kavyas, which includes ithihasas and puranas, the nectar of the glory of the Lord and His leelas is lapped up by humanity till now.
Brahma said to Valmiki, Yaavath sThaasyanthi girayaH sarithaScha maheethale thaavath raamyanakaThaa lokeshu pracharishyathi, that as long as there are mountains and rivers on earth the story of Rama will be prevalent in all the three worlds. Which is true because even today the Ramayana is welcomed by people in one form or other. Same is true of all the stories of the divine incarnations. The TV serials alone are the proof of this!
Vedantadesika in his Yadhavaabhyudhaya, justifying his writing about the story of Krishna , says that if nectar is available, would it not be grabbed by people?
amrtham yadhi labhyetha kim na grhyetha maanavaiH?
Arjuna who is also a bhaktha , illustrates the truth of the sloka 9 that the devotees derive no end of satisfaction in hearing and talking about the glories of The Lord.
The word Janardana, used here to refer to Krishna, means the one who is resorted to by people to satisfy their desires. janaiH ardhayathe ithi janaardhanaH.
SREE BHAGAVAN UVAACHA-LORD SAID
19. hantha the kaThayishyaami dhivyaahyaathamvibhoothayaH
praaDhaanyathaH kuruSreshTa nasthyantho vistharasaya me
Alas! I will tell you about my divine manifestations, the prominent ones. Oh the best of the Kurus, there is no end to my manifestations.
hantha means alas! It denotes only pleasant surprise here. Even though everything is the manifestation of the Lord all are not divine manifestations. Those which display His power glory, jnana, sovereignty and lustre etc. are the divine manifestations. Even they are numerous says the Lord and He picks out the prominent ones. This is the answer to the request of Arjuna to tell him about the manifestations in detail. The word hantha may also be interpreted as expressing the impossibility to describe all His manifestations in detail.
20.ahamaathmaa gudaakesa sarvabhoothaaSayasThithaH
aham aadhiScha maDhyam cha bhoothaanaam antha evacha
I am the inner self of all, Oh Arjuna, seated inside all beings. I am the beginning, middle and the end of all beings.
The word referring to Arjuna is gudakeSa, which means the one who has conquered sleep. Arjuna during his thapas has conquered sleep and from then he came to be called Gudakesa. The significance of this name here is that just like he conquered sleep he should be able to conquer the ignorance also which is similar to sleep.
aham aathmaa sarvabhoothaasayasThithah-Krishna explains here the reason why His manifestations are innumerable. He is the inner self of all and hence everything is His manifestation only. Hence the question of Arjuna `keshu keshu cha bhaaveshu chinthyo asi,' in which of the manifestation He is to be contemplated , is difficult to answer because the enumeration of the manifestations is not possible.
Krishna further explains His transcendence and immanence by saying that that he is the aadhi, antha and madhya of all beings, being the creator, annihilator and the sustainer of all.
As the Upanishad says, yatho vaaimaani bhoothaani jaayanthe , from whom all these beings originate, He is the aadhi, beginning, yena jaathaani jeevanthi, by whom those born are sustained by His being the inner self of all, He is the madhya, their middle and yasmin abhisamvisanthi, in whom everything merges back, He is the antha, end.
Then Krishna starts listing the manifestations of divinity, by pointing out the prominent ones as there is no limit for them and hence an exhaustive enumeration is not possible. The Lord is in everything as its inner self, according to Visishtadvaita and Brahman is identical with the inner self in advaita. Hence the real entity is Brahman itself and hence all means only Brahman in essence.
From the next sloka onwards Krishna explains the immanence of the Supreme Self by pointing out the prominent among all the entities and says that He is that
21. aadhithyaanaam aham vishNuH jyothishaam raviHamSumaan
mareechiH maruthaam asmi nakshathraaNaam aham SaSee
I am Vishnu among aadhithyaas, the Sun with rays among the luminous bodies, Mareechi , the luminance among the maruths and the moon among the stars.
The Adhithyaas are twelve in numdber and were the sons of Adhithi, one of the wives of Kasyapa who also is the mother of the devas. These twelve adhithyas are in power for all the twelve months of the year. Of them Vishnu is the prominent of all. He is not to be confused with the Lord Narayana, who is known as Vishnu because He is all pervading, vyaapanaath vishNuH.
Of all the luminous bodies the Sun is the brightest and most powerful. Hence the Lord says His manifestation can be easily seen in the Sun.
The maruths are 49 in number and they were born to Dhithi, another wife of Kasyapa, who was also the mother of the asuras. She observed a vratha to get a son who will destroy the devas who have killed her sons the asuras. But when she failed to observe the rules of the vratha faithfully due to fatigue one day Indra entered her womb and tried to kill the foetus. He cut it into 49 pieces but it cried and assured him that he will be only a friend to Indra. Consequently Dhithi gave birth to 49 sons who were called maruths, due to being told by Indra "maa rudha, don't cry." Mareechi is not a name of a maruth and should not be confused with the sage Marici, but means the thejas as mareechi means a ray.
As the Moon is the king of the stars, the Lord says that He could be seen in the Moon
22. vedhaanaam saamavedho asmi dhevaanaam asmi vaasavaH
indhriyaaNaam manaSchasmi bhoothaanaam asmi chethanaa
I am the samaveda of all the four Vedas and Indra among the devas. I am the mind among the indhriyas and the sentience in all beings.
The sama veda is the most important among the Vedas and Indra is the king of devas. But the mind is classified as the indhriya because the indhriyas acquire power only through the mind. Sentience is the special quality of all moveable beings. Hence the Lord has identified Himself with it.
23.rudhraaNaam SankaraSchasmi vittheSo yaksharashasaam
vasoonaam paavakaSchaasmi meruH SikhariNaam aham
I am Sankara among the rudras and I am Kubera of the yakshas.I am the Fire among the vasus and Meru among the mountains with peaks
Rudras are eleven in number and Lord Siva or Sankara is the master of them. Kubera is the master of the yakshas . The vasus are eight in number and anala meaning agni is one of them. He is the most prominent because he carries the havis to the devas in the yajnas and also said to be the mouth of the Lord, who is the bhoktha, enjoyer of all the offerings.
Meru is the mythological mountain which is huge and its peaks are made of gold. Not all mountains have peaks , Sikharas, and among them the Meru is the loftiest and greatest.
24. puroDhasaam cha mukhyam maam vidDhi paarThabrhaspatim
senaaneenaam aham skandhaH sarsaam asmi saagaraH
Of the priests know Me, Arjuna, as Brahaspati. I am Skandha among the commanders and I am the ocean among the water resorts.
Brahaspathi is the preceptor of the devas and embodiment of wisdom. Skandha is Lord Subramanya . son of Lord Siva who took over the command of the army of the devas to destroy Soorapadma as he was created for the very purpose.
Saagara is the ocean which is the prominent of all water resorts.
25. maharsheeNaam bhruguraham giraam asmi ekamaksharam
yajnaanaam japayajno asmi sThaavaraaNaam himaalayaH
I am Bhrgu among the great rshis and I am the single syllable Om of the words. I am the japayajna among the yagnas and the Himalayas among the immovable .
Bhrgu is one of the maharshis and the goddess Lakshmi incarnated as his daughter and has the name Bhaargavi. He tested the trinity to know who is full of satthva and when the others got angry Lord Vishnu did not lose His composure even when Brgu kicked Him on His chest. He even bore the mark of the kick as Srivathsa on His chest always. Bhrgu was a great devotee who only wanted to show the greatness of the Lord by his action.
Ekam aksharam, one syllable means the Omkara, or Pranava which of course is the most important and the svaroopa of the Lord. Which is why the Lord says I am the Pranava.
Japa yajna is the yajna of meditation and referred to in the chapter 4 as jnanayajna and extolled to be the best of all kinds of yajna. (Chapter4-Sloka 33). This shows the importance of the mental worship over the material.
In the sloka 23 the Lord said He is the Meru among the mountains that have peaks. In this sloka He says that He is the Himalayas among the immovable. There is no ambiguity here. There He has specified that among the sikharee, those mountains with peaks He is the Meru. Here He mentions Himalayas as being one of the mountains in general. Meru is situated in heaven which no one can see and worship. Hence it could not be included among the mountains in general.
26. aSvatThaH sarvavrkshaaNaam dhevarsheeNaam chanaradhaH
ganDharvaaNaam chithraraThaH sidDhaanaam kapilo muniH
I am the Asvattha among the trees and Narada among the divine rishis. I am ChithraraTHa among the Gandharvas and the sage Kapila among the sidDhas.
aSvatTha is peepul tree or what is called in Tamil as arasamaram. It is worshipped as divine and hence is the manifestation of the Lord.
The aSvatTha is eulogized in the puranas as follows:
moole vishNu sThitho nithyam skanDhe kesava eva cha
naaraayaNasthu Sakhaasu pathreshu bhagavaan hariH
phale achyutho na sandhehaH sarvadhevaiH samanvithaH
Vishnu is at the root always and Kesava at the joints, Narayana in the branches, Lord Hari is in the leaves. Achyutha with all the devas is in the fruit and there is no doubt about this.
Narada is prominent among the dhevarshis, who are the ones who know the past , present and future, reside in heaven and have the capacity to go wherever they like and endowed with divine sight.
ChithraraTha is the king of gandharvas.
The word sidDha here means the perfect one. Kapila was the incarnation of the Lord Himself and hence the manifestation of the Lord.
27.ucChaiSravasam aSvaanaam vidDhi maam amrthodhbhavam
airaavatham gajendhraaNaam naraaNaam cha naraaDhipam
I am the ucChaiSravas among the horses, which originated with nectar. I am the Airavatha among elephants and the King among men.
ucChaiSravas is the horse that came out of the milky ocean along with airavatha when it was being churned for amrtha. Both of them became the carriers of Indra. Hence Krishna says he is the ucChaiSravas among horses and airavatha among the elephants.
Naraadhipa means a king. The righteous kings are supposed to be the representatives of the Lord .
28.aayuDhaanaam aham vajram Dhenoonaam asmi kaamaDhuk
prajanaSchaasmi kandharpaH sarpaaNaam asmi vasukiH
I am the vajrayudha of all weapons and the kamadhenu among the cows. I am the cupid of the causes of procreation and Vasuki among the serpents.
The vajrayuDha, thunderbolt is the weapon of Indra which was made from the back bone of the sage dhaDheechi who gave it willingly with the grace of Lord Narayana. Hence it is empowered with the penance of the sage and the grace of the Lord. Hence it is extolled as the manifestation of the Lord.
Kaamdhuk is the celestial cow Kamadhenu.
Kandharpa is another name for Manmatha , the god of love who is the main cause of procreation.
Sarpa means cobra with one head while nagas denote serpents with more than one head. Of the sarpas, Vasuki is the king of cobras.
29.ananthaSchaasmi naagaanaam varuNo yaadhasaam aham
pthRNaam aryamaa chasmi yamaH samyamathaam aham
I am Anantha among the nagas and Varuna among residents of water. I am Aryama of the pithrs and Yama among the controllers.
Anantha is the name of Adhisesha a naga with thousand heads. The manifestation of the Lord in Anantha is obvious as He is the sesha , servant of the Lord who serves Him as the bed, umbrella and the seat and also he bears the burden of the universe on his head.
Varuna is the god of water and of all the beings that reside in water. Hence he is specified as the divine manifestation. The word yaadhas means the beings which reside in water.
There are seven groups of Pithrs and Aryama is the head of the prominent group of pithrs.
Yama is the god of death who is the great controller and leveler as no one can escape his power. The Lord says that He is the Yama as He is the power behind Yama. Moreover He is the annihilator of all. This idea is expressed in the next chapter also.
30. prahlaadhaSchaasmi dhaithyaanaam kaalaH kalayathaamaham
mrgaaNaam cha mrgendhro aham vanatheyaSchapakshiNaam
I am Prahladha among asuras and the Time among reckoners. I am the lion among the animals and Garuda among the birds.
Prahladha was born in the clan of asuras though a devotee of the Lord. This is to show that even the asuras are not exempted from the divine manifestation. In fact Prahladha tells his father Hiranyakasipu "The Lord is in you as well as in me.'
Kaala is Time though Yama is also called Kala because he represents the time that carries all in the end. But the word kalayathaam denoting the reckoning is used here and hence the word kala means only Time .The Time is the all powerful force of the Lord. It is unperceivable but becomes perceivable by its effects.
The mention of Lion and Garuda as the manifestations of the Lord is proper as the lion , not only as the king of animals, mrgendhra but also represents the Lord Himself as Narahari and Garuda, the son of Vinatha is the vehicle of the Lord and one of the nithyasooris , eternal beings who surround the Lord, like Anantha.
31. pavanaH pavathaam asmi raamaH Sasthrbhrthaam aham
jhashaaNaam makarSchaasmi srothasaam asmi jaahnavee
I am the wind among the purifiers and among warriors I am Rama. I am the shark among the fish and the Ganges among the rivers.
The usual purifiers are fire water and wind. . Of these water may become impure due to earth particles that has been dissolved in it. Fire purifies but also destroys with a few exceptions like gold , iron etc. Of course the fire may also mean the Sun which is the purifier and it goes with the wind because in a place where neither of the two exist the things become putrid. Since the sun has already been included here the Lord mentions the wind, pavanaH of the purifiers, pavataam.
Rama is the incarnation of the Lord as the son of Dasaratha. As SriRama is the best of armed warriors, wielding a bow, here the Lord says "I am Rama." Also this implies that Rama Himself came as Krishna. Rama told the sages who were enchanted with His beauty that they will be born as women in His next birth to enjoy His company. What He was going to tell in Gita in His Krishnavathara , the Lord demonstrated through His character and actions in Ramavathara
Jhashaa means fish and makara is the shark, the biggest of all the fish. The word makara also means crocodile.
Among the rivers the importance of Jaahnavee, Ganges is obvious. The river got the name Jahanavee because when the Ganga was lead by Bhageeratha she flooded the asrama of the sage Jahnu , who drank her and released her through his left ear on being prayed by Bhageeratha. Hence she got the name Jaahnavee
32. sargaaNaam aadhiH anthaH cha maDhyam chaivaahamarjuna
adhyaathma vidhyaa vidhyaanaam vaadhaH pravadhathaamaham
I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all creations and the self knowledge of all learning and I am the logic of the arguments.
The Lord says He is the beginning , middle and the end of all creations. It has already been said in the sloka 20 that he is the aadhi , Madhya and antha of all beings. But this is not a case of tautology since in the earlier sloka the words aadhi, maDhya and antha were used with respect to all beings meaning sentient ones, chith but here all creations include insentient beings, achith also.
The self knowledge , aathmavidhya is the real jnana and not the learning of Vedas and sasthras. In Chandhogya Upanishad Uddhaalaka Aruni asks his son Svethakethu whether he had learnt that by which everything else becomes known, meaning the Brhamavidhya or Athmavidhya. In Gita also we have the words yath jnaathvaana iha bhooyaH anyath jnaatham avaSishyathe (ch.7.sloka2), meaning , knowing which there is nothing else remaining to be known.
There are three kinds of arguments in a debate, namely, jalpa, vithanda and vaadha.. Jalpa is arguing with the only purpose of establishing one's own point by criticizing the view point of the opponent. Vithanda is speaking only to denounce the opponent. Vaadha is the logical argument. As vaadha pertains to truth and is without prejudice it is the manifestation of divinity.
33. aksharaaNaam akaaro asmi dhvandhvaH saamaasikasyacha
aham eva akshayaH kaalaH Dhaathaa ahamvisvathomukhaH
I am the letter `a' of all the letters and dhvandhvasamasa of all the compounds. I am only the imperishable time and the creator facing everywhere.
Akaara the letter 'a' is the beginning and the basis of all letters. The upanishad says akaaro vai sarvaa vaak, that is, the akaara stands for all the speech.
Samaasa is the compound formed by the words as distinguished from sanDhi which is the combination of two words. For example when mama and eva are joined it is written as mamaiva , This is only a sanDhi, where the letters of the previous and the next word changes according to the rule of grammar. In samasa however two words join in a compound word that gives a different meaning from their individual meanings
The main divisions of samaasas are thathpurusha, bahuvreehi and dhvandhva. In thathpurusha the second word gets the importance as in seethaapathiH, derived as seethaayaaH pathiH, in which the second word pathiH is the important one meaning Rama. In Bahuvreehi the two words compounded to indicate a third as in peethaambaraH,. Peetha is yellow and ambara is cloth and the two joined together denote the one who wears peethaambara derived as peetham ambaram yasya saH, the Lord Narayana.
In dhvandhva however both the words get the same importance as in raamaH cha lakshmaNaH cha .raamalakshmanou, meaning Rama and Lakshmana.
Kaala mentioned here is the infinity of time while that referred by kaalaH kalayathaam aham earlier is the measurable time.
Dhaatha means the creator who has faces everywhere, meaning the viratpurusha.
34.mrthyuH sarvaharaH cha aham udhbhavaSchabhavishyathaam
keerthiH Sree vaak cha naareeNaam smrthiH meDhaaDhrthiH kshamaa
I am the death that carries all away and the origin of all that is going to be. I am the fame, prosperity, speech, memory, intelligence , firmness and patience among the women.
In sloka 19 of chapter9, the Lord says that He is the death as well as immortality. amrtham chaiva mrthyuScha. (9.19) mrthyu here means the annihilator and the next refers to the creator, udhbhavaH bhavishyathaam, the origin of that which is going to be, meaning the creation after annihilation.
The Sanskrit words denoting fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, firmness and patience are all in feminine gender. They are the names of the daughters of Dhakshaprajapthi who married the rshis and they are the powers behind these qualities. Hence Krishna uses the word nareeNaam, of women. The implication may be that if all these qualities are found in one woman she is certainly a divine manifestation.
35. brhathsaama thaThaa saamnaam gaayathree Chandhasaamaham
maasaanaam maargaSeershio aham rthoonaamkusumaakaraH
I am the Brhathsaman of the samaveda, gaythri among the metres. I am the month Margasira and spring among the seasons.
Of the Vedas the Lord said that He is the samaveda and now He says that of the passages in samaveda He is the brhathsama, which is the most important of all the samans.
Gaythri is a Chandhas , a metre in which the gayathrimanthra is found. Gayathri is extolled as chandhasaam maathaaa, the mother of all chandhas. Of the other chandhas the anushtup in which the vishnusahasrarnama is said, is worth mentioning.
The month maargaSieersha or margazi is considered to be auspicious as it is supposed to be the ushatkala, dawn of the devas, when they chant sthothras of the Lord and worship Him. Whatever done in the month of margazi fetches more fruit than done in other months. Usually there are special poojas and rituals observed in this month in all the temples, both saivite and vaishnavite. Andal following the gopis of Brindavan, observed the paavai nonbu, and composed the immortal verses, known as Thiruppavai in this month. The general belief that wedding and other festivals should be avoided in this month is due to the fact that this month should be reserved exclusively for the worship of the Lord.
Kusumaakara is spring season, loved by all, when the whole world is joyous, .called so because trees and creepers put forth flowers , kusumaani, during this season.
36.dhyootham Chalayathaam asmi thejaH thejasasvinaamaham
jayo asmi vyasaayo asmi satthvam satthvavathaam aham
I am the gambling among the fraudulent and the luminance of the luminous. I am the victory , endeavour and the goodness of the good.
Dhyootham is gambling. The Lord is in everything, meaning both good and bad. He is the witness self of everything, sentient and insentient like the sun who shines equally on pure as well as dirty place. A thing is evil not by itself but because of the use it is put to. Hence the evil impulses are bad and not the temptations by themselves. Moreover the karma of everyone leads them towards temptations which can be overcome only by the help of the Lord. The reason why Krishna chose gambling of all the vices may be that it played havoc in the life of the Pandavas and also because it is a game of chance and hence denotes fate.
Thejas, luminance, jayaH, victory, vyavsaaya, endeavour, goodness , satthva, these are the noble qualities which are the manifestations of the Lord , meaning that one could acquire them only through the grace of the Lord.
37. vrshNeenaam vaasudhevo asmi paandavaanaamDhananjayaH
muneenaam api aham vyaasaH kaveenaam uSanaa kaviH
I am Vasudeva of Vrishni clan and Arjuna of the Pandavas. I am Vyasa among the sages and Sukra among the intuitive.
Here `I' means the supreme purusha and not Krishna. Krishna says that He is the Lord Narayana Himself incarnated as Vaasudeva ,son of Vasudeva.
Dhananjaya is the name of Arjuna and even though he is the prominent of the pandavas because of his valour, the reference is here to his being born as rshi Nara when the Lord incarnated as rshi Narayana, in Nara-nrayana avathara. Krishna himself mentions this in Mahabharatha ,
narasthvamasi dhurDharsha harinaaraayaNohyaham,(MB-vanaparva) "You were rshi Nara , oh unconquerable one, and I was Harinarayana"
sage Vyasa was the most prominent of the seers as he was the one who codified the Vedas and came to be known as Vedavyasa. It should be remembered that Vyasa gave the insight to Sanjaya to see. what was happening in the battle field and hence Sanjaya reported as it happened. So this was not a self eulogy by Vyasa.
uSanaa is the name of Sukracharya , the asuraguru. He was also called kavi as he was intuitive and skilled in manthras. He is also one of the nine grahas, Sukra, whose another name is Kavi.
38.dhando dhamyathaam asmi neethirasmi jigeeshathaam
mounam chaivaasmi guhyaanaam jnaanam jnaanavathaamaham
I am the punishment of the law-givers and the polity of those who wish to win. I am the silence of the secrets and wisdom of the wise.
The Lord is the power behind any punishment, dhanda, given for the right reasons by the custodians of law, dhamayath.. Jigeeshath is the one who wishes to win by truthful method. neethi here means the policy which is based on truth,. With reference to the winning a war etc., neethi may mean polity which is essential for a king.
In order to guard the secret, guhya, silence, mouna, is essential. Moreover silence is divine when it enters the mind dispelling all thoughts of the world when one can intuit the divinity within. The word muni is derived from mouna only. mounaath muniH
Since the Lord is the jnanasvarupa , He says he is the jnana , wisdom of the wise
39.yacchaapi sarvabhoothaanaam beejam thath aham arjuna
na thath asthi vinaa yath syaath mayaa bhoothamcharaacharam
What ever is the seed (origin) of all beings , that is Me, Arjuna. Nothing which is moving or not moving can exist without Me.
40.naantho asthi mama dhivyaanaam vibhootheenaamparanthapa
esha thu udDhesathaH proktho vibhootheH vistharao mayaa
There is no end for my divine manifestations, oh scorcher of foes, What has been said is the expanse of my glories in brief.
41.yath yath vibhoothimath satthvam Sreemadh oorjithameva vaa
thath thath eva avagacCha thvam mama thejoamSasambhavam
Whatever entity that is manifested with glory, power and energy know that to be a fragment of My glory.
42. aThavaabahunaa ethena kimjnaathena thava arjuna
vishtabhya aham idham krthsnam ekaamSena sThithojagath
Why say more Arjuna? I am all pervading supporting the universe with just one fragment of Mine.
Arjuna asked the Lord to tell him about the entities in which he could perceive the manifestation of Divinity. Krishna specified 54 entities where the divinity could be seen. But He is in all beings, sentient and insentient and hence His immanence could not be understood fully. Even after taking into account all beings, still the manifestation of the Lord could not be exhausted because the whole universe is only a fraction of Him.
Saying thus Krishna concludes that He is the seed of all beings and nothing movable or immovable can exist without Him. He tells Arjuna that there is no end to His divine manifestations and what has been told so far is only a brief account. Whatever possesses power, splendour or energy should be viewed as a fragment of the power of the Lord. Krishna clinches the issue by saying that He is sustaining the whole universe with a fragment of His power, as declared in Purushasuktha paadho asya viSvaa bhoothaani tthripaadhasyaamrtham dhivi, meaning that the whole universe with all its beings is only one fourth of the power of the Lord while three fourths are eternally in heaven.
In the next adhyaya the transcendence of the Lord is displayed by the Cosmic form.