​Gita 10.17 – Recollection and participation are reconciled by understanding God’s immanence

Thank you.

Bhagavad Gita 10.17 Katham Vidyam Aham Yogims Arjuna is now asking a specific request, which he has started in the previous verse. Katham Vidyam, how can I know, Lord? Katham Vidyam Aham Yogims. Oh, Lord, you are the Yogi.

You're the Lord of Yoga. And to you, oh, Lord, how can I remember you always? How can I always contemplate on you? In what all ways? In what all ways? In this material world, in material manifestations. How can I contemplate you, oh, Lord? How can I remember you? So, basically, there are two questions here.

They are related. How can I remember you, oh, Lord? So, first question is, how can I remember you constantly, oh, Lord? And second is, in what all manifestations in this world, in what all material manifestations can I remember you? The two questions are related in that Krishna has repeatedly stated that remembering him constantly is the way to progress spiritually. Is the way to spiritual perfection.

That is repeated message of the Gita. Clearly, 8.5678, he has talked about this, how those who remember him at the time of death, they attain him and therefore, one should always remember him. Therefore, at all times, remember me.

So, now, Arjuna is asking, how can I do that, oh, Lord? How can I remember you constantly? And then a practical point comes up that clearly Krishna is not asking Arjuna to renounce the world. In fact, at one level, we could say the whole Bhagavad Gita is spoken because Arjuna was thinking about renouncing the battle, renouncing the world. And Krishna told him, don't renounce the world.

So, that being the case, if Krishna is not telling Arjuna to renounce the world, then, then, and Krishna is also telling Arjuna to remember him constantly. That would mean that there must be some ways in which Arjuna can remember Krishna in the world itself. Because there is a form of withdrawn spirituality, where one renounces the world and then meditates on something, something transcendental, something spiritual, that is one way of meditation, which is good.

But that is not the recommendation of the Bhagavad Gita. So, the recommendation to always remember Krishna, which is consistent bhakti recommendation, and also the recommendation to do his duty and to fight in this world, to act in this world, how can the two be combined? That Krishna is asking and that Arjuna is asking Krishna and that's how the second part of his question comes up. So, in the first part, the emphasis is on sada, always, oh lord, how can I remember you? And then in the second part, the emphasis is on keshu, keshu, chabhaveshu, bhaveshu.

In what all material manifestations can I, oh lord, remember you? Keshu, keshu, chabhaveshu. Chinkyosi, can I contemplate on you, oh lord? Bhagavan maya, how can I remember you? So, the point that is being made here is that Arjuna is asking for manifestations in this world and that's why in the previous verse also, he used the word vibhuti twice. He says that vibhuti, please tell me how your glory is manifested in this world, especially how you pervade this world in your glories manifestations.

Your atma vibhutya, they are your personal manifestations, but they are your personal glory, the manifestation of personal opulences. Atma vibhutya, your own opulence is there, but what kind of opulences? Krishna can have many opulences. He has opulences in his spiritual world and he has a very wonderful relationship with various devotees in the spiritual world, but he's asking, Arjuna is asking specifically, vibhuti, especially those vibhutis by which you pervade this world.

That is what I wish to know, lord. Please describe these to me. I long to know these.

And as the point that Arjuna makes is the point that Arjuna, which is introduced that he is making it more systematic in this verse that I want to remember you as you have told me, but since I will be acting in this world and I will be interacting with the objects of this world constantly, so please give me some guidelines about how I can remember you there, remember you in this world. So here what will follow subsequently is a list that describes God's immanence. Now, God's transcendence refers to his existence beyond this world and God's immanence refers to his manifestation in this world and the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita will describe God's immanence and the Bhagavad Gita reveals a vision of God who is present beyond this world and who is present even in this world.

So there are two different schools of thought. One is pantheism and the other is atheism. And these two are in one sense, we could say they are like two extremes.

Pantheism holds that God, that everything is God, that means it is more like pan means all, but in this particular context, it means that everything in nature is itself God and there is no existence of God beyond nature. So, nature itself is God, that means God is reduced to this world and this world is elevated to the level of being God, that is pantheism. And the other extreme is deism, deism is where God is treated only as the creator of the world, but not its controller, that God is only that he created the world, he is the original cause, the unmoved mover, but after that he has nothing to do with this world.

He exists beyond in his own state of eternal perfection, unconnected with this world and whatever is happening here. So, these two, pantheism and deism are two extremes where pantheism reduces God's presence to only this world and deism reduces God's presence to only beyond this world. But the Bhagavad Gita describes a vision of God who is in this world, but who is also beyond this world.

So, this philosophy is in Western philosophical terms called as panentheism. Panentheism is the understanding that God exists in this world as is conveyed by the pan aspect, but panentheism that means he extends beyond this world also. So, God pervades nature and God exists beyond nature also, that is panentheism and the Vedic understanding is panentheism.

The Vedic understanding is the understanding that God, he pervades this world without him, in this world could exist. In 10.39, towards the end of this section, Krishna will emphasize how he is the underlying, unifying, sustaining basis of this world. Without him, nothing could exist.

At the same time, he also exists beyond this world and Krishna talks about that in many places when he talks about, say, his own abode, that is my abode and that is where he resides. So, he says that, O Lord, that abode is not illuminated, not illuminated by what? Surya, it is not illuminated by the sun, not illuminated by the moon, not illuminated by any of the objects that we use normally for illumination and that is my abode. So, his abode, normally when we take over something as one's abode, that means that the place where that person resides.

So, Krishna has his own self-existence beyond this world and that is where he eternally resides. So, in that sense, Krishna exists in this world and Krishna exists beyond this world. So, both pantheism and deism are errors in that they reduce the jurisdiction of God.

Whereas panentheism is, it encompasses the universality and trans-universality of God's existence and jurisdiction and thus he is understood to be the absolute truth. Now, of course, here the question is, how does God manifest in this world? And that is, so, in that sense, the immanence, it is not exactly pantheism, but the aspect of God's existence within nature, that is what will be the focus. So, immanence and transcendence are not themselves, they are aspects of God.

Immanence is manifestation in nature, transcendence is manifestation beyond nature. But they are aspects of God's existence, God's manifestation of God's existence, God's nature. But pantheism and deism are ideologies, are schools, which make claims about the scope of God's existence.

So, God is both immanent and transcendent and Bhakti.