Bhakti Shastri (107) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10 Text 19 to 26

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So what is Arjuna’s response? We’ll discuss in our next class. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. Welcome back to our Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course. Now we are about to start with the description of the Vibhutis of Krishna.
So Arjuna has accepted from 10.12 onwards, the conclusion that Krishna is the ultimate absolute truth. And then he makes a request in 12.16, 17, 18 asking, Vistarenaatmano yogam, please describe in detail your glories, Ya virbhutivirlokam imamstvam vyaptatishthasi, your Vibhutis by which you have pervaded this world. So Krishna will start describing from 10.19. Let’s look at the first verse.
So now from here onwards, 19 to 42, it’s a list of the Vibhutis of Krishna along with some introductory verses and some concluding verses. So we’ll look at the introductory verse and then try to understand what is happening when Krishna is identifying himself with certain things in the world. So hanta is expression of joy or delight.
Yes, I will speak. My atma vibhutaya, my glories, my opulences are divine. They are, I’ll speak about them.
But when I speak, what I will speak, pradhanyatah kuru srishtah, pradhanyatah, I’ll speak the principal one also among them, nastyanto vistarasyame, because my glories are endless. Actually, there’s no limit to those opulences. Now at first glance, this might seem to be like a egomaniac statement.
If somebody comes to a get-together, a party or a meeting, and we tell that person, please introduce yourself, and he says, oh, my introduction is endless. I’ll just speak a few points about my introduction. What kind of arrogant person this is? So, when he would speak like that, feel like that, and when you speak like that about a person who says that my glories are endless, and you’ll be justified in many ways in speaking such a thing, then how do we understand Krishna speaking like this about his own glories, that my glories are endless? The important point is again to see that there is a context to what Krishna is speaking.
If we think that Krishna is proud, then you just have to look at what Krishna is doing. He’s a charioteer. So, actions speak louder than words, and Krishna’s actions are showing that out of love, he’s becoming the servant of his devotee, and he’s taking the menial position of a charioteer, which is like a chauffeur’s position, and certainly that is not a position that a status hungry person will ever take.
But what Krishna is doing over here is answering Arjuna’s question and giving all of us an opportunity to redirect our attraction from the things of this world to the Lord, who is the source of all those things, and whose attractiveness manifests fragmentarily in the things of this world. So, if there’s a doctor who says to a patient who is critically sick, the patient must do some very urgently needed surgery, otherwise the patient will die. But the patient is doubtful.
Should I do this surgery? Is the doctor competent enough? Will I recover? Is it necessary? All the doubts are there. So, maybe the patient is thinking, maybe I’ll go to some other doctor, and some other doctor, and the patient, doctor recognises that, no, this patient is sick and needs surgery. A doctor may say, actually, I had hundreds of surgeries like this.
And even if you go to any of the other doctors, all those doctors are my students only. And I have trained them. And now if that is a fact, if that is a reality, if it is true that the doctor has only trained other students, then when the doctor speaks that reality, that is not out of ego, that is because of necessity.
So, it is necessary for this patient to have the faith in the doctor by which the doctor can heal the patient. Similarly, the conditioned soul has the doubt, should I surrender to Krishna? Will it really make me happy? There are so many other things which also prompt this happiness. Maybe I should enjoy those things also.
So, Krishna tells, actually, whatever attractor you find in this world, Krishna tells us in 10.41, at the conclusion of this chapter that, mamate jyomsha sambhava, mamate jyomsha, it is all but a spark of my splendour, a spark. So, Krishna is telling that, actually, you don’t have to, you don’t have to go in all these directions, because a spark can give only a little bit of light, whereas the whole fire, the whole sun can give you much more light. So, Krishna says, all the things of this world, whatever beauty they have, that is like a spark.
And I am the whole, I am the source. And what I can give you is far greater. Therefore, it is for this purpose that Krishna speaks.
And to the extent we are attracted to the things of this world, to that extent, we are deceased. The misdirection of our desires from God to the things of the world, without seeing their connection with God, that misdirection is the cause of our suffering. So, the redirection of our desires is what is required.
That is the whole process of healing. And that redirection requires philosophical understanding. So, Krishna is offering that philosophical understanding to us.
And that’s why he says, yes, there are so many attractive things in this world. And they’re all connected with Krishna. So, Krishna will not give a list of everything in the world.
He will give pradhanyataha, principle to teach, to demonstrate and emphasise the principle, which he will give in the conclusion. So, the word vibhuti. Vibhuti, what does it mean actually? The word bhuta is often used for existence.
Brahma bhuta, that means spiritual existence. So, the word Brahma bhuta comes many times in Brahma bhuta prasannatma. That will come right at the towards the end, 18.54. If one is sitting in the Brahma bhuta platform, that person is joyful because free from hankering and lamentation.
So, bhuta means existence. Vibhuti means special existence. V is generally a prefix that means vishesha.
Vibhuti means actually special existence, special manifestation. So, in this world, there are hundreds of things. If a log of wood is lying on the ground, that is a bhuta, but that is not a vibhuti.
That is also existing. But if from several logs of wood, an artistic masterpiece, maybe a table with intricate carvings and polishing is there, oh, that attracts the attention. So, vibhuti means those things, those bhutis that are vishesha, those material manifestations that have some special attraction, those which attract our attention.
And Krishna will explain that these which attract our attention can be connected with Krishna so that we become attracted to Krishna instead of those things. So, let us try to understand how this vibhuti yoga works. So, vibhuti is the manifestation, the extraordinary manifestation of this world.
Now, yoga means connection. So, vibhuti yoga, which is the name of this chapter in Sanskrit, the opulence of the absolute is the English name, vibhuti yoga. So, how does vibhuti bring about yoga? The things of this world attract us.
You know, there may be a giant building, a magnificent ship, excellent sports star, an eloquent speaker. All these are various things in the material world, things, people that attract us. So, vibhutis are there always and they will attract us.
But when we understand philosophically that these vibhutis are coming from Krishna, then that Krishna connection, that perception of the Krishna connection becomes the yoga. So, there may be some movie star who is extremely good looking. People are attracted to that movie star.
That also, that beauty of that movie star, that is also a vibhuti. But that vibhuti doesn’t remind people of Krishna. That doesn’t lead to yoga, that leads to bhoga, that leads people to Sanskritification.
But when one understands that, okay, the various beautiful manifestations of this world, various powerful manifestations, whatever attract to manifestations, beauty, power, strength, beauty, power, intelligence, whatever, all of them, they are getting a, they are just reflecting a spark of Krishna’s splendour. So, when there is perception of the Krishna connection, from the vibhuti to Krishna, then that will lead to yoga. And it is that connection that Krishna is highlighting in this chapter.
So, now, there are different ways in which one can approach the spiritual reality. Let us look at these ways. So, in Vedanta, there are basically, Vedanta is the, the Vedanta Sutra is the primary book of Vedanta.
But Vedanta is also a philosophy and that has theistic and personalistic and non-personalistic interpretations. So, but Vedanta focusses on radical differentiation between matter and spirit. That is the Upanishadic way, the Vedantic way.
Am I this body? Am I these fingers? Am I these hands? Am I this skin? Am I this blood? No, no, no, no. So, in this way, no, no, no. By thus saying no, what happens is one rejects matter and then moves towards spirit.
And that is why generally in the Upanishadic, the Vedantic way, renunciation of the world is considered very important. Because matter is, matter is false, matter is illusory, matter causes bondage. So, one should give up matter.
So, there is a radical differentiation between matter and spirit. That is the Vedantic way. Now, there is the Bhagavata Vidhi.
What is the Bhagavata Vidhi? Yes, now, we will see this just before that, before we see this way, this Vedantic differentiation between matter and spirit, we see this in the Bhagavad Gita also, in the second chapter especially. Krishna is pointing towards the soul with many negative epithets. So, in 2.23, he describes that no, no, no, the soul is not burned by fire, the soul is not pierced by weapons, the soul is not blown away by the wind, the soul is not dissolved by water, like that.
Same, negatives, oh, oh, oh, oh, no, no, no, that was previous verse. 2.23 was no, no, 2.24 is oh, oh, oh. Both no and oh are negative describers, negative prefixes.
So, the differentiation between matter and spirit on a radical basis is talked about in the Bhagavad Gita also. The Bhagavad Gita is an integration of various strands of Vedic thought and this one, this particular Vedantic differentiation between matter and spirit is also talked about in the Bhagavad Gita. So, apart from this Vedantic way of differentiating between matter and spirit and then leaving matter so that one can approach spirit, there are other ways also, there is a Bhagavat way.
The Bhagavat Vidhi focusses on sound. Sound is the way from matter to spirit, that is the Bhagavat Vidhi. So, what does it mean? The Bhagavatam describes, one can worship the form.
Mantramurtim amurtikam, that Lord who is unmanifest, amurtikam, has now manifested as mantramurti, as the sacred sound. So, when we chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, when we hear Krishna Katha, at that time what are we doing? We are actually taking shelter of sound and that sound is enabling us to rise from matter to spirit. The sound is extremely important and we will see that often when we are feeling anxious, if we can just connect with the sound of the holy name, hear some soothing kirtan, hear some prayerful bhajan, then immediately the mind becomes calm.
Why? Because our consciousness is raised. Whatever be the specific cause for the agitation and anxiety of the mind, the generic reason is the increase in the modes of passion and ignorance. So, there is ignorance, passion, goodness and transcendence.
So, the sound of the holy name exists, and the sounds connected with Krishna, they exist at the transcendental level. So, beyond whatever causes might be there, for the specific specific causes that may be there of our problems, we may have to address them at a practical level. But at the same time, when we hear and think about Krishna, and especially expose ourselves to sound vibrations, then those sound vibrations being at the transcendental level, they lift us to the transcendental level.
And by that way, we become purified. We become purified and pacified. We rise from the contamination of the lower modes towards goodness and transcendence.
And by that, the anxiety itself drops away gradually. So, sound is the way from matter to spirit. That is the Bhagavat Vidhi, and that is our principal method of worship.
We hear about Krishna. Along with that, there is Tantra Vidhi also. Now, the word Tantra sometimes has a negative connotation, but that’s not necessary.
It’s a way to spirit. So, Tantra is of two types, right hand and left hand. So, right hand Tantra is auspicious.
It is called as deity worship. And the Pancharatra scriptures are based on that principle itself, that then the Lord manifests as a deity. The Lord manifests in all attractive way.
The Lord himself is all attractive. But here, when he manifests as a deity, he is all attractive. Manifest in all attractive way means that people can perceive him.
The deity is beautiful. It is gorgeously decorated, prayerfully worshipped. Then people feel, oh, so beautiful.
People feel attracted. So, the point is matter. Now, is the deity matter? Actually, the deity is Krishna.
But the deity is made of material elements. And the material elements are spiritualised by the invoking of the deity, of the Lord through the Pranapatishtha. So, the important point is that matter can be a means to spirit.
So, we use our senses to behold the deity, to serve the deity, to cook for the deity, to dance for the deity. And in this way, even our material body, material senses can be used in Krishna’s service. So, you know, these two are different approaches.
Now, I am not the body and the soul. I am not material, I am spiritual. That is one approach.
And deity worship is another approach. The underlying purpose and philosophy is the same. The purpose is we have to raise our consciousness from the material level to the spiritual level.
And that can be achieved by various means. If somebody just stays in the material level consciousness, even if the person seems to be carefully worshipping the deity, the person does not really make spiritual advancement unless there is a redirection of the desires from material to the spiritual. Otherwise, the person may remain a ritualistic worshipper.
So, now in Tantra Vedi, there is left hand and right hand. So, right hand is deity worship, which is Sattvic worship. And then there is here, left hand Tantra is Tamasic worship.
So, Tamasic means, you may have seen some images on television. In the West also, this is the voodoo witchcraft. If somebody makes, somebody wants to hurt somebody else, and that person goes to a person who can do black magic, Tantric.
And the Tantric makes a figurine of that person. And then that person pinches that person, and that person far away starts screaming. Now, much of this may be exaggeration, some of which may be entirely fabrication also.
But there is an underlying reality in it. There are people who have those powers and Tantra is a means by which people can be hurt. Generally, left hand Tantra is destructive.
And devotees do not practise or encourage anyone to practise that kind of Tantra. It is Tamasic. And in this Tantra only, there is the whole idea that sex can also be a means to approach God.
Now, when sex is used within Dharmic framework, then it is, then that performance of Dharma gradually elevates a person. So, but the idea here is that sex itself can be a means to approach God. Matter can take one to spirit.
That is not an idea that is supported in the scriptures. In fact, it is a dangerous idea. Because there are few things which make us as bodily conscious, as material conscious, as sex.
And the thing that by doing that activity more and more, one will become spiritually conscious. That is like saying that by drinking poison, I will become healthy. It is not possible.
So, now, what is happening in Vibhuti Yoga? Let us look at this. So, the point is extraordinary material manifestations reflect spark of Krishna’s glory. That is what he will tell in 10.41. We will come to that in due course of time.
Then such manifestations naturally attract our attention. And so can we use as impetuses is to remember Krishna. The purpose is to focus on Krishna, not the specific manifestation.
So, we look at attractive things. Most people will just look at the attractive things and become attracted. A spiritualist will look at the attractive things, admit that it is attractive, but then will look at the source of the attractiveness of that thing and will move from that particular thing to Krishna, move the attention.
That is how one makes spiritual advancement. So, that is what Prabhupada will explain in this chapter of this Vibhuti Yoga. So, let us look at the Vibhuti’s Vibhuti’s as described in this chapter.
So, this starts from 10.19 was introductory verse where Krishna was telling that. Now, I will describe these to you. I will describe the principal ones among these.
So, Arjuna is referred to here as Gudakesha. Gudakesha means one who has conquered sleep. Actually, the word Gudakesha has many meanings.
So, one of the meanings is the Guda is darkness. One who has conquered sleep. Another meaning of Gudakesha is Guda.
Guda refers to Gud, jaggery. And Ka is Brahma. Esha is Shiva.
So, Vishwanath Chaturthi explains that Gudakesha means one who gives sweetness like jaggery even to Brahma and Shiva. So, what does this mean? Actually, the reciprocation of love between the Lord and his devotees is so endearing that it attracts even great personalities like Brahma and Shiva. And that reciprocation is possible when the devotees have devotion.
The Lord always has love for the devotees. But the devotees with sincerity and the intensity of the love of the devotees, that brings forth the love from the heart and makes the loving pastimes possible. So, here Arjuna, because of the sincerity and intensity of his devotion to Krishna, has made Krishna serve him as a charioteer.
And seeing this extraordinary reciprocation of love brings tears, gives extraordinary devotional sweetness even to the hearts of Brahma and Shiva. So, the person who allows this wonderfully sweet manifestation of the Lord’s love, who makes this manifestation of the Lord’s love possible, that person is called as Gudakesha. So, Aham Atma Gudakesha.
I am the Atma. What kind of Atma? Sarva-bhutashaya-sthitaha, who is situated in the hearts of all living beings. Bhutashaya.
I am situated in the heart of all living beings. Sarva-bhutashaya. So, now, does this support an impersonalist conclusion? Oh, the same soul is situated in all living beings and I am that soul.
No. Krishna has earlier clearly stated that actually the soul is fragmented. The soul is actually never to be cut.
What it is? Achaidhyayam. Soul is what it is. It is always that way.
Vikaryayam. It is unchanging. And Krishna also said that the soul is present in one body and from there the soul goes to another body.
So, if the soul is, the same soul is present in your body and my body, the same soul is present in all bodies and there is no point in saying that the soul goes from one body to another body. So, this clearly, the word Atma here refers not to the soul, it refers to the super soul. So, Krishna is basically in this first verse telling, in the beginning itself, when he starts his description of the opulences, he begins by describing his, how he pervades space and time.
So, space means in this living, in this existence, there are many living beings and Krishna says in the heart of all living beings. So, I pervade their heart and then there is time. There is past, present and future.
There is beginning, middle and end. And Krishna says, I am the beginning, the middle and the end. What does it mean, beginning, middle and end of all living beings? Actually, what it means essentially is that, I am Adishya.
And we say that actually the beginning, we could take it at various levels. At all, all of existence beginning, there is just, there is just Maha Vishnu. So, in that sense, he is the beginning of everything.
Then even when we look at specific universe, there is Garbhodaksha of Vishnu is the first. And even within life, actually the way life, every life emerges, it is quite a miracle. The way the male and female parts come together and how again as I go this form and eventually a fully developed child comes out and that child goes up to become a person like you and me.
That is quite an extraordinary thing. So, life itself is a miracle. And that miracle is possible by the arrangement of God.
I am the middle also. How is he the middle? Because ultimately we are not maintaining our body. You know, it is not that I know everything that is happening in my body.
After I eat, I do not know how digestion takes place. There has to be air around, otherwise I feel suffocated. But it is not that I know how respiration or respiration takes place or how the fresh air actually circulates and nourishes my body.
I do not know any of these things. So, I may play some part in maintaining, but I do not maintain myself entirely. It is Krishna who is the middle.
There are so many things happening in the body, which we do not know about. We discussed earlier about how there is the voluntary systems in the body and there are involuntary systems. So, voluntary system is, for example, how I sit.
If I sit in a cramped way, then I might develop some pain. So, it is my responsibility to sit properly. There are certain things in the body which are in my control, but there are many which are not in my control.
And yet, their functioning is also important for my capacity to act efficiently. So, who is maintaining all that? That is ultimately Krishna. So, Krishna will talk about how ultimately I am death.
So, when death happens, it is a fearsome, awesome, powerful event. Everything that a person has been working on, one moment it takes away. Now, death demonstrates the finality.
The finality of death is unappealable. Generally speaking, in this world, if a person gets a court verdict against, you are found guilty, then that person can appeal. Similarly, when we have some problems, when somebody behaves improperly, or at least we think he is behaving improperly with us, we can always appeal to someone.
But with the finality of death is unappealable. It is final, absolutely final. So, that is also an indicator of the power of God.
Krishna is saying that. Now, āmādiśhya madhyam ca bhūtānāman taya, which you can also refer to, the aspects of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Now, Brahma gets his knowledge from Vishnu, and Vishnu also is a manifestation of Krishna.
And Shiva also ultimately gets his power from the Supreme Lord. So, that means, the creation, maintenance and destruction, which are the beginning, middle and end phases of existence, they are all done by the guna-avataras of passion, goodness and ignorance respectively. And these guna-avataras are manifestations of Krishna.
So, in that sense, Krishna says, I am all these things. Then he describes after that, ādityānāmahaṁ viṣṇur jyotishāṁ ravirāṁśu māṁ marichir marutāṁ asmi nakṣatrāṇāmahaṁ śaśhī. So, of the ādityas, I am Vishnu.
So, what does this refer to? Actually, there can be multiple meanings of this. ādityānāmahaṁ viṣṇu. So, the word āditya can have a literal meaning, the word āditya can have a specific meaning also, or a generic meaning also.
Now, āditya, now actually, there are these, when the sun moves in its orbit, when the basically, whichever way we look at cosmology, there are 12 months and accordingly, the space can be divided into 12 sections, zodiac as we know, there are constellations, it is a whole complex system. But basically, the path, the cosmos, the path of the sky can be divided into 12 divisions. And according to Vedic cosmology, each division is presided over by one form of āditya.
And among them, the most powerful among those forms is the form named Vishnu. So, Krishna is saying that, I am one among the ādityas. The most powerful among āditya.
ādityānāmahaṁ viṣṇu, jyotisham raviram śuman. So, there are many effulgent objects, but the sun is so effulgent. One sun has produced more energy than any or all of the energy plants that we have combined together.
In fact, all our energy plants just reflect a small fraction of the energy that sun has sent out. So, this is among all the effulgent objects and the sun. Marichir, maruta, masmi.
So, maruta, now in the Vedic cosmology, it is understood that, actually, what we see as just chance in personal forces, there are planned personal agents behind those forces. So, we may say, okay, this wind is blowing this way, that wind is blowing that way. That is all fine, you know, in the ocean or in the rivers, the direction of the wind is important and the boatsmen or the navigators, they want to catch the right wind so that they can go faster and they will be obstructed less.
So, they may say, okay, this wind is moving like this, this wind is moving like this, and they give the names, northeastern wind, this wind, tropical wind, temperate wind, whatever. That is fine at one level. But we also understand that beyond all this, there is a higher reality.
We discussed earlier about the billiards example. If you just look from the limited perspective of the billiards board, the stick is moving, stick is colliding with the ball and the balls are moving here and there. But then outside the billiards board framework, if we see, there are persons who are holding the sticks and the expertise of those persons determines whether the balls go into the hole or not.
So, similarly, within the limited perspective, we say, okay, this wind is blowing in northeasterly direction, that wind is blowing in the southwest direction, whatever. So, these are fine as far as the limited perspective of gross material reality is concerned. But beyond that, there is an alternative perspective also, a deeper perspective, and that is the perspective incorporates or integrates the cosmic controllers.
So, there are various Maruts who are in charge of different winds, and among them, Marichi is the most powerful. So, he represents Krishna. Now, when Krishna is saying, I am these, what does it mean? The Vibhuti can be understood in one sentence, it is, Vibhuti is one among the many, one above the many.
What does it mean? One among the many, one above the many. So, actually, among the many material manifestations that are there. So, one is special.
And so, one among the many. And the Vibhuti Yoga enables us to connect the one among the many with the one above the many. So, one above the many means the Supreme Lord is transcendental.
The Supreme Lord exists at the spiritual level. And at the spiritual level of reality, the Supreme Lord is all attractive. And that is the person to whom we want to be attracted.
So, what the chapter of Vibhuti Yoga does is, it uses the one among the many to take us to the one above the many. So, one among the many is the particular manifestation of the Lord, material manifestation, somebody extraordinary in this world. So, in the Vedic universe, all these are extraordinary persons.
Now, we may find them unfamiliar today. We may not know the names. But we can have names from our context also.
So, the principle of Vibhuti Yoga is that will apply. So, if there is a very powerful cricketer. Now, there is a cricketer in India who is called as God by everyone.
So, so and so is my God. And cricket is my religion, people say. So, now that cricketer has talent, has extraordinary abilities and records.
So, that person is one among the many. Now, a materialistic person sees the one among the many and gets attracted. And then after some time, when the one among the many loses that power, then people say, you should retire now.
Retire now. Why are you waiting for so long? Let others come up. And people say, so these are, when we make a human being into a God, it is not the, that human being may actually be talented also, may have extraordinary capacities, but still, one cannot go on forever.
So, that opulence is a spark. That opulence is not the whole. So, we need to move from the spark to the whole.
So, how do we move from the spark to the whole? By the connection. By the connection that is established through Vibhuti Yoga. So, when we understand, okay, this person has talents.
How are those talents come? They have come from the Supreme Lord. And the Supreme Lord attract, all attract, that is manifested in various ways. So, Krishna is using this point of, let one among the many take us to the one beyond the many.
So, it is not that that person will take us, but we take our consciousness to attract to that person who is one among the many, distinctive, special among all these at the material level. From there, we go to the spiritual level. So, one among the many, the word among indicates that that is also that level itself.
That person is also material. So, that person is also existing in material existence and is material. One among the many.
One above the many means refers to that person who is transcendental. So, from the one among the many to the one above the many. That is how Vibhuti Yoga elevates us.
Now, here one of the points is, nakshatranam aham shashi. Nakshatranam aham shashi means, among the stars, I am the moon. So, here we have to understand a difference of nomenclature.
Sometimes we may, the Vedic universe is different from, in its conception, is different from the conceptions of the modern universe. So, now the word nakshatra refers in general to celestial bodies. So, stars, in the nomenclature that is adopted by modern science, refers to particular celestial objects which reflect, which are themselves sources of light.
And within the Vedic cosmology, and within the modern cosmos, there are stars which give out light and there are planets which do not give out light. Planets simply reflect light. And similar satellites are also like that.
They also reflect light. So, the sun is reflecting the light of the moon. That is the understanding of modern science.
But at the same, now the Vedic scriptures contain both examples. You know, the example is given that, at one place it is said that, actually the moon gives light. Just as the sun gives light in the day and the moon gives light at the night.
Another place it is said that, in the Chaitanya Charita Amrit, it is said that, Lord Chaitanya is the principal moon and all his associates are like the stars. So, just as the stars give a fraction of light and moon gives much more light, so like that, Lord Chaitanya gives supreme light and associates also give a little bit light. So, here it may seem that the moon gives out light.
But Prabhupada also talks in some purports that, just as the sun gives light and the moon reflects the light, similarly, the devotee reflects the light that is coming from Krishna. The devotee’s all attractive qualities are not the devotee’s independent qualities. They are coming from Krishna.
So, now what does it mean? Sometimes the moon is referred to as a independent source of light, sometimes the moon is said as a reflector of light. So, actually, Saptagni, Saptarshi, Saptarshi. Actually, Saptarshi, Saptas, Saptas, Saptas.
There are various, in the Vishnu Suhasana, there are thousand names that glorify Lord Vishnu. And there are a series of names, Saptarshi. Actually, this is why Saptarshi, Saptagni.
So, actually, there are seven kinds of fire. And not all kinds of fire are exactly the same. They are of different natures.
Now, we know one kind of fire. Now, we take a matchstick, we take a matchstick, trigger it, and then we light some one fire. That is the kind of fire we know.
But there are different kinds of fires. So, some fires are different from other fires. So, because that is why they are said to be seven kinds of fires.
So, now, in the seven kinds of fires that I mentioned, what it indicates is there are different kinds of energies also. So, from the perspective of modern science, it is true at one level that the kind of light that the sun gives, the moon does not give that kind of light. So, that kind of light is simply reflected by the moon.
That is one aspect to it. The other aspect to it is that the moon also is not just a barren celestial object. You understand from the Vedic perspective, the moon is also a higher reality.
And because the moon also has a higher reality, that is the reality of being a heavenly planet. And Somadeva is in charge of the moon planet. And then it gives a different kind of light also.
That light may not be perceivable to us right now with our perceptions. But that is also a different kind of light. And it gives that kind of light also.
So, actually, when the point is made that nakshatranam aham shashi, the emphasis is what? That to our visible vision, and there are many celestial objects, and among them, the most effulgent, most attractive is this moon. So, similarly, that so the moon attracts our attention and we understand the attractive potential of the moon, the capacity to attract of the moon comes from Krishna. So, in that way, we move our attention from the world, from the moon to Krishna.
So, the point here is not on the specific source of energy or kind of energy. When we go into that, then we can go into technical details and reconcile the point that the moon is not giving out the kind of light that the sun gives out. But in that sense, the moon is simply a reflector of light.
That is true. But the moon also, being a higher planet, exists at a higher level and gives also a different kind of light that is not known to us. So, that is how we understand when it is said that the moon gives out light at some places in the scriptures.
So, but here the simple point is based on observational analysis. Okay, the moon gives a non-celestial objects that we see in the sky, the moon looks most attractive. It looks so magnificent, so beautiful, especially full moon on a clear night, it looks attractive.
So, Krishna says that the moon’s attractive potency comes from me. Nakshatranam ahamsashi. Then he goes on and describes further.
Vedanam sama vedasmi, devanam asmi vasavaha, indriyanam manas chasmi, bhutanam asmi chetana. So, Vedanam, among the Vedas, I am the Sama Veda. Now, why the Sama Veda? Actually, there are different Vedas and they all serve specific purposes.
Of course, there is overlapping also. So, Rig Veda is generally used to invoke the various devatas. Yajur Veda, so when the devatas, now this is a broad classification, there may be some overlapping also in this.
Vishwanath should have produced this kind of classification. He says, when the devatas have to be, when fire sacrifices are performed, they have to be invoked. So, Rig Veda contains many verses for invocation.
Yajur, yajur means to worship. Rig Veda contains the directions of how to worship, when the yajna is there, what are the mantras to chant. And Sama is glorification.
It contains beautiful verses that glorify the, that glorify the higher beings. So, now there is a very beautiful section in the verse. That’s why I said, among the Vedas, I am the Sama Veda.
So, actually, among the gods, I am Indra. Why Indra? Because Indra is the most powerful of the gods. He is the king of the gods, it is said.
So, among the senses, sometimes the mind is considered to be separate from the senses because it is a part of subtle body. But often, the mind is grouped with the senses. Manah, Shashtani, Nriyani, 15.7 also.
And I said, there are six senses which include the mind. And with these senses, Prakriti, Sthanika, Hrishyati, the living entity is struggling in material existence. So, now among these senses, the five senses are all centred around the mind.
And the mind is formidable. In fact, the Bhagavatam, in the Avanthi Brahman, the mind is like God itself. The God-like power of the mind is very difficult to subdue.
So, that powerful mind, where does the power of the mind come from? That power is a manifestation of Krishna. So, that doesn’t mean that we have to put the mind on the altar and do puja of the mind. None of these are referring in that way.
These are not meant to be surrogate objects of worship. These are not alternative gods whom we can worship in replacement to Krishna. No.
It’s clearly told before this that these are the Vibhutis of Krishna. And these Vibhutis help us to rise from the world to the transcendental level. And that is the objective of these Vibhutis.
Objective means, objective of this Vibhuti yoga chapter. So, to help us to direct our attention. So, when we think of the power of the mind, my God, the mind, as Thomas Blaker said, the mind can make heaven out of hell and hell out of heaven.
So, the way the mind can shape our perception, completely invert, distort, pervert our perception, it’s scary. So, that kind of power when we see, then we understand, this is how God is powerful. This gives an inkling, a small glimpse of the power of God.
Among living entities, I am Consciousness. So, actually what makes living entities living is in many ways is Consciousness. So, without this Consciousness, they won’t be called as living, they’ll be dead.
And dead matter may have its utility, but it certainly doesn’t have what life has. So, what distinguishes, what makes living entities distinctive is their Consciousness. And Krishna says, I am their Consciousness.
But this doesn’t mean, again, the Atma and the Paramatma are the same. We know that the Consciousness comes from the Atma. So, it is not that Krishna is saying, I am that Atma and I am the Consciousness of the Atma.
Krishna is saying that Consciousness is what attracts. You know, sometimes if a person is completely poker-faced, poker-faced means totally unexpressive at all times, it’s almost as if the person is unconscious. When a person goes into coma, when a person becomes so fast asleep that there’s no Consciousness at all, then that person is not very attractive.
Now, what makes a person attractive is Consciousness. So, the more alive, the more conscious, the more reciprocal, the more vibrant, the more active the person is, the more that person has the capacity to be attractive, if that person is doing things right. So, Consciousness is the foundation of everything else that makes a person attractive.
So, Krishna says, I am that Consciousness. Any further description? So, Rudranam Shankaras Chasmi. Among the Rudras, I am Shankara.
So, we know that there are 11 Rudras. So, among them, one of them is Shankara and Shankara is considered the most powerful. Sometimes these names are used interchangeably.
So, basically, we know that at the beginning of the creation, when Brahmaji told the Kumaras, I have been given the service of creating and procreating the universe, so you help me in that. So, you bigot children and then grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren and great-great-great-grandchildren and this way populate the universe and then the Kumaras said, there is nothing great about that. You are not going to do it.
So, Brahmaji felt angered by that and this anger came out as Rudra and then that Rudra expanded into 11 expansions. So, the most prominent among them is Shankara. So, Krishna is telling that, I am that Shankara.
Again, this does not mean that Krishna and Shiva are the same. There are some commentators. There is a famous Kashmiri scholar Abhinav Gupta.
He tried to reinterpret the whole Bhagavad Gita to try to say that Bhagavad Gita proves Shiva is the Supreme Personality of God. Now, whatever one does, there is no reference to Shiva apart from this in the whole Bhagavad Gita, apart from this one reference and then in 11 chapters, Shiva is one of the Devatas also who is being seen in the universal form. So, it is a completely futile attempt to try to prove that Shiva is the Supreme, based on the Bhagavad Gita.
Aham sarvasya prabhu. When aham is being said, that person does not have a trishul in his hand and a snake in his head. The person who is saying aham sarvasya prabhu is Krishna.
So, this is simply telling that, okay, these Rudras are well-known and among them the most attractive is Shankara. Shankara’s power that comes from me. So, don’t be attracted to him, become attracted to me.
Mitesho yaksha rakshasaam. So, yakshas and rakshasas are also parts of the universal existence and they are considered to be a little bit rajasic and tamasic. The rakshas are much more tamasic, rakshas are a little bit negative.
But they are presided over by Kuvera. So, Kuvera is the good one among the bad ones, in one sense, among the bad ones. So, he is attractive and that makes him attractive with Tesho and he is a treasurer of the devatas.
So, it is that Kuvera, I am that. Vasunam pavakas chasmi. Vasunam pavakas chasmi.
So, there are different kinds of fires. So, pavakas chasmi. So, actually speaking, so there are different Vasus and the Vasus are also parts of the universal family and one of them is Agni.
So, Agni, I am that Agni. And then, Meru shikharinam aham. Meru shikharinam.
There are shikhari, there are many mountains, those which have shikhar. So, among them I am Meru. So, it is a famous mountain within the universal cosmology as given in the Vedic scriptures and then it is said that Krishna is, I am that.
Again, the point is, there are various manifestations. I described how it is a Lord, it is, they are all reflecting the Lord’s glory. Purodha samcha mukhyam mam viddhi partha brihas patim sena ninam aham skanda sarasamasmi sagaraham.
So, Purodha, Purodha refers to the priests. So, among them, mukhyam, viddhi partha brihas patim. So, there are many priests who are all respected but among them, the priests of the gods, that is, Brihaspati is most respected and he represents me.
It is, I am that. What does this indicate again? When you think of how much Brihaspati is respected, we think, oh, how great Krishna must be. Vena ninam aham skanda.
So, skanda is the, is Kartikeya. He is the son of Shiva and Parvati and he is the commander of the devatas. So, there are many commanders but he is formidable.
He leads the army of the gods to victory against the demons. So, he is very powerful. So, among various commanders that might be there, he says, I am there.
I am sena, I am skanda and sarasamasmi sagaraham. So, there are many bodies of water, sarasam, but the biggest body of the water is the ocean. It is so vast that even the biggest lakes or rivers, they become small in front of the vastness of the ocean.
So, similarly, the most attractive, ultimately attractive being is Krishna. Then after that, it goes on. 25th vati, he discusses.
So, Purodhasam, among the priests, it was described that I am Brihaspati, but among the rishis, among the maharishis, I am Bhrigu. Generally, what is the difference between maharishis and purodhasams? The purodhasams, the purohis, they do sacrifices. So, normally speaking, when the devatas have to do sacrifices, they call Brihaspati to oversee the sacrifice, whereas the rishis, they are not like hired or paid priests.
They are not priests of a particular dynasty. They are people who are focussing on attaining transcendence and accordingly, they are doing austerities. They may be married, they may be renounced, whichever way it is, but they are focussing on transcendence.
So, rishi, maharishinam, bhriguraham. So, among these maharishis, Bhrigu is an extremely powerful one. So, among the various syllables, I am ekakshara, pranaam.
So, there are various syllables and among them, Om, because it invokes the absolute truth, is considered very special and powerful. So, that Om manifests Krishna. Then, yajnanam japa yajyonsmi.
So, it is very significant in 9.25 that Krishna is to say, now, he has developed the thought of in the third chapter, the fourth chapter, the fifth chapter, that yajna is not just a specific activity of fire sacrifice. Yajna is the principle of sacrifice for the sake of the Lord. So, once that principle is established, after that, Krishna explains that among the various kinds of sacrifices, we see here he is saying, yajnanam japa yajyonsmi.
So, we can sacrifice some honey, we can sacrifice some grains, some ghee, some silk, but actually the most difficult thing to sacrifice is our consciousness. We don’t have to destroy our consciousness by sacrifice. Sacrifice means to offer during that period at least.
So, when we are chanting at that time, we take our consciousness and offer to Krishna. That is the sacrifice which will give us the greatest result because by doing that sacrifice of offering our consciousness to Krishna, manifesting as the holy name, we will get purified, we will get elevated and liberated, we will attain prema for Krishna. So, that is very significant reference for the glory of the holy name and especially not just glory of the holy name.
This is a verse which we can use to substantiate the point that chanting is also a yajna. Prabhupada used the word sankirtan yajna quite often. So, we wonder what is the scriptural basis for the idea of sankirtan being a yajna.
Yajna generally people think fire sacrifice, but here the references, they are not just from some esoteric scriptural, directly from the Bhagavad Gita that among the yajnas, I am japa yajna. So, here Krishna is indicating the special position of japa yajna and therefore equating that with him. So, among the immobile objects.
So, Shikharinam refers to those who are very very tall. Among tall mountains, he says I am Meru. But among giant in terms of breadth, in terms of weight, in terms of sheer magnitude, as you know the Himalayas are great and he says Stavara.
Stavara and Jangam are standard references. Stavara means non-moving, Jangam means moving. So, among non-moving objects, I am the Himalayas.
And after that, he goes on and describes Siddhanam Kapilomani. So, there are various trees. Among them, he says I am the Ashwatha.
Ashwatha, you know Ashwatha tree is like a banyan tree. It’s very difficult to break down, break, cut down because there are so many sub-branches which come from its above branches and they all root in and it creates a very strong environment for itself to live in for a long time. So, that strength and longevity of Ashwatha, you should remember, of Krishna.
So, Narada was mentioned earlier in this chapter. So, there it was what was mentioned over here. Actually, like that various things are mentioned over there.
So, Narada is also a special sage and Narada is mentioned here also. Devarishi Narada Satha was there and here Devarishinam Aham Narada. So, there are many Devarishis, but among them, Narada is special and that speciality of Narada represents Krishna.
There is Gandharvanam Chitraratha. There are many Gandharvas, but there is one specific Gandharva who is very special, very powerful. Name was Chitraratha.
Actually, he had a fight with Arjuna at one time. Arjuna defeated him completely and it was extraordinary because Arjuna was a celestial and, sorry, this Gandharva was celestial and Arjuna was a mortal. But still, Arjuna was so skilled in fighting that he defeated him and his chariot got burned.
So, Chitraratha said that and he accepted defeat. He said, let us be friends. Let us not keep fighting.
So, when he said that from now onwards, I will accept the name Dagdharatha, not Chitraratha. Why? Because Arjuna had thrown a flowing torchlight at him and his chariot got burned by that. So, he said, my chariot was burned by you.
Therefore, I will call myself Dagdharatha. But the point is, he was a very powerful Gandharva, leader among the Gandharvas. And Krishna says, when you see that, you understand that is also manifestation of my power.
Siddhanam Kapilo Muni. So, there are many realised, perfected beings. Among them, Kapiladeva is special.
He is extremely powerful. In the third canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, his instructions and his pastimes are described and how after receiving prayers from his father, after giving guidance to his mother, Kapiladeva leaves and then he goes to a celestial place, goes to a particular place where he keeps doing tapasya to set an example for the world. And he is fully realised.
So, he is an example of Krishna’s omnipotence among the Siddhas. Siddhanam Kapilo Muni. His Kapila is actually the incarnation of Supreme Lord, the son of Devahuti.
When Prabhupada published this book, Teachings of Lord Kapila, so when Prabhupada told the publishers, his disciples, they tried below that, the son of Devahuti. Teachings of Lord Kapila, the son of Devahuti. This is not the way people refer to in West.
If you want to say, the teachings of Aristotle, the son of so and so. You want to write the name of the mother over there. Nobody does that.
So, Devahuti said, Prabhupada, this will look very odd. Why should we put this over here? Devahuti said, put it. So, Devahuti didn’t understand that.
At that time, they didn’t know about Vedic culture so much. The point is that there was a theistic Kapila and an atheistic Kapila. So, most people when they hear the name Kapila, they think of the atheistic Kapila.
So, to distinguish between the theistic Kapila and atheistic Kapila, what was the most defining distinction was the teachings, which is differentiated. That person has taught just material analysis, which is often non-theistic. It doesn’t talk about God much.
But the teachings of the Bhagavatam Kapila is theistic. It is culminates in pure devotion. And those teachings were given to Devahuti.
So, the teachings of Lord Kapila, the son of Devahuti. So, here the son is instructing the mother. That is itself extraordinary.
But then the son is instructing the mother in a particular set of teachings, which are different from the teachings of the other Kapila. So, to underscore that point, Prabhupada wanted to say like this. The point in this context is, I am Kapila.
And that Kapila is the greatest among Siddhas. So, that greatness represents me. So, we will continue the further Vibhutis in the next class.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.