Gita 11.18 – The universal form is the eternal personal protector of dharma

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.

Thank you Bhagavad Gita 11.18 Arjuna is continuing this description of the universal form and he is in this verse describing as well as glorifying you are infallible you are imperishable you are supreme to be understood there are many objects to be understood in this world but you are the supreme object to be understood you are the supreme shelter of this world the supreme shelter what this means is that actually he is he is not just a universal form in the sense of being a form but he is also the shelter everything that exists he is the shelter now as we discussed earlier especially in 10.39 that God is the being without whom nothing could exist he is the existence that makes all existence possible tamasya vishvasya param nidhanam tamauyaya shashvatadharma gopta tamauyaya you are imperishable shashvata eternal dharma gopta you are the protector of dharma this describer comes repeatedly especially in the Vishnu sahasranam when he is described as dharma gopta dharma gopta he is dharma gupta that sort of word is also come over there in the Vishnu sahasranam so similar is coming over here dharma gopta one who is the protector of dharma tamauyaya shashvatadharma gopta sanatanastam purusho mato me sanatanastam you are the eternal person purusho mato me that is my opinion so here Arjuna is offering us the first person testimony mato me sometimes we when we live in a very live in a tradition that emphasizes authority a lot then opinions are often equated with subjectivity and speculation but that is not necessary the case krishna uses the word mato also frequently and sanjay also uses it at the end of the last verse in the bhagavad gita is also mato me this is my opinion this is my understanding this is my mato so normally it is not that opinions or first person understandings are always speculative or subjective especially when one has had divine experiences and divine experiences are had through the senses that is called as divya pratyaksha so pratyaksha is considered subordinate form of knowledge but divya pratyaksha is considered superordinate supreme form of knowledge and what is perceived in divya pratyaksha is the highest so here when arjuna is saying mato me this is my opinion the point is that arjuna is seeing it himself and he is arriving at inference based on his first person testimony and in a court of law hearsay does not have as much hearsay does not have much weight but first person testimony has enormous weight and arjuna is offering here a first person testimony and there is perception and there is comprehension so perception means we could say what one sees with one's eyes and comprehension is what one understands if a person who has no knowledge of economics sees a line going down on some screen or some paper that may make no sense there is perception but there is no comprehension because there is no education so we need education to transform perception into comprehension so here there is perception arjuna has described some things that he is seeing and he will further describe what he is seeing but he is transforming his perception into comprehension and he is declaring that who is this person earlier he has said that it was Vishwaroopa it is a universal form but it is not just a form but there is a person who has that form and who is that person you are the eternal person Krishna had referred to this earlier Arjuna had referred to this earlier also that idea of a supreme person in 10.12 and 10.13 when he said that Purusham Shashvatam Shashvatam Purusha is eternal person Sanatana there is some amount of repetition in this verse when it says that Tam Avyay Shashvatam Dharmagopta Sanatana so Avyay Shashvatam Sanatana it may say all refer to the same thing but the repetition causes a reiteration causes an emphasis and it drives home the poem more powerfully and also the adjectives if we see are not referred to are not referred to the same noun if we consider these to be Sanatana is Purusham Sanatana is referring to Purusham Tam Avyay Shashvatam Dharmagopta that refers to Dharmagopta you are the protector of Dharma now Arjuna himself as a Kshatriya is meant to be protector of Dharma one who protects people from hurt is a Kshatriya and the purpose of Dharma is also to protect people from being hurt by a dharmic so there can be different people who are Dharmagoptas but Krishna alone supreme person is a Sanatana Shashvatam Dharmagopta he is the eternal protector of Dharma there is no one else who is a protector of Dharma to that magnitude and thus Krishna in that sense is special and that special status is being underscored here Dharmagopta Arjuna had been told earlier by Krishna that Dharmasamstha Panarthaya Sambhavami Yuge Yuge it is said in 4.8 that Krishna comes to establish Dharma and the Kurukshetra war is Dharmayudha this Dharmayudha Arjuna is acting as the assistant of the person who is the actual protector of Dharma and later on it will be revealed how the Adharmic will be destroyed in this war but at this point Arjuna has identified this being who is very very difficult to see because of being so effulgent that was mentioned in the previous verse that being it is conveyed in this verse that he is he is Krishna Dharmagopta now each of these has one significant describer so Veditavyam Paramam Paramam Veditavyam means that there are many objects of knowledge in this world but ultimately there is one objective of knowledge any object of knowledge means that we can do a PhD in say a mic stand we can do a double PhD in different kinds of flooring that can be there in a house there is so practically any subject but there can be many subjects that can be talked about and they can be studied so they can be the objects of knowledge in the sense that we try to acquire knowledge about those objects but ultimately there is one objective of knowledge Krishna will also talk about this in 15.15 when he will say that Vedas by all the Vedas I am to be known and in a more generic sense this verse can be said to mean that by all branches of knowledge it is I am to be known so that point is stated Veditavyam the extent we come to know God to that extent our knowing propensity attains perfection and we attain fulfillment so this Veditavyam is significant especially when contrasted with the Durniriksham which came in the previous verse so although the absolute truth is difficult to perceive although the universal form it is the absolute truth that manifests in the universal form is difficult to perceive but still absolute truth is the supreme being Veditavyam is the supreme being and supreme object to be known so Arjuna in that mood as God is difficult to know but to know God is the is the best way to end all difficulty because by knowing God we become free from bondage we attain liberation that has been of course talked about in 4.9 that Vetti Tattvata one who knows Krishna in truth that person so that person attains Krishna liberation cycle of birth and death so here it is stated that Krishna is the supreme object of knowledge the shelter of the universe you are the supreme person so Arjuna is not just seeing the universal form the universal form as a revelation is going to be temporary but the person who is manifesting that revelation that person as the absolute truth is eternal and Arjuna conveys this understanding through this verse.