​Gita 10.27 – The ruler manifests God’s opulence, for good or for bad

Kuchyeshwarasam Ashwanam Vidhimamam Ratodhavam Airavatam Gajendranam Ramchanaradhipam 10.27 Bhagavad Gita Krishna is continuing his description of his Vibhuti's Kuchyeshwarasam Ashwanam Ashwa is a horse among the horses I am Kuchyeshwaram Kuchyeshwaram is a special horse that appeared emerged during the churning of the milk ocean and he is taken by Indra so now Vidhimamam Ratodhavam now that I am this Amrit Udbhavam he emerged from the nectar Udbhavam so technically speaking if you go into precise points it was not that he emerged from the nectar he emerged from the churning of the ocean in which the nectar came but that's a technicality basically during that pastime he also came so he is a very special horse and he is considered a manifestation of the supreme among the horses so horses are considered extremely beautiful among animals and majestic horses that are there among the majestic horses especially in the Kshatriya culture either warriors go on horseback or they go on chariots even in that culture horses are extremely important and so a horse is also a noteworthy category and in that category it is said that the supreme is manifested as this extraordinary horse and then Airaavatam Vachendra actually Vachendra was a horse that emerged and he along with this was also the elephant Airaavatam also a very powerful elephant and this Airaavatam was by no means an ordinary elephant he was quite extraordinary in terms of his capacity to fight he is in fact considered the standard bearer among elephants and great elephants are there their prowess is compared to that of Airaavatam so kings had different kinds of carriers during fights most of the kings would fight in chariots which were drawn by horses but especially during royal processions many kings would go about on elephants so Airaavatam Vachendra and Anu is like that that particular elephant which was a very formidable elephant the standard bearer among elephants that elephant manifests the supreme Naranam te Naradipam Naradipam means supervisor or overseer here it refers to the king so among the people among the humans the opulence of the divine is manifested as the king, the king is also called as Naradev so the idea is that in various categories there are certain members who draw a lot of attention for whatever reasons and when they draw that attention actually that attention can be directed towards the supreme if you understand that their opulence is coming from the supreme so today we may not exactly have kings that does not mean that this particular manifestation this particular principle of the divine manifesting among humanity is not valid the king represents basically in traditional monarchical state the king was the most powerful person and in every society there are always powerful persons there the exact way in which the power is invested in them the exact duration for which the power is invested and the overall technicalities of the power investiture and power transfer and power longevity those may vary but the principle is that every state needs someone to rule it and whoever rules a particular place is actually draws attention now in today's world often politicians are demonized a lot sometimes people say politics is the last resort of scoundrels that may or may not be so in every profession there will be people who are dark and there are people who are not so dark people who are good may also be there either way even if the politicians are good or bad the point is that they do hold political power even if their political power is based on the financial power of the Vaishyas of the businessmen of the business community but still they do have power and the power to attract attention it is not that the king is God that kind of direct identification is not to be done in a literal sense it is to be seen in a sense of representation or manifestation of certain qualities of greatness that is not that anyone who is in the force of the head of state is automatically manifestation of the divine there can be among the manifestations there can be Vibhuti and there can be Asuri Vibhuti that means often it is that manifests which is virtuous and there can be opulence that manifests which is not virtuous which is vicious so for example if a person is a very good singer and then that singer sings songs about sensuality and sexuality then they may drag their consciousness down and drag others consciousness down when that happens then although they may be good singers that singing capacity is not a Vibhuti it is Asuri Vibhuti at that time because that Vibhuti is motivated by Asuri mentality in contrast a person who sings about virtue or sings about Krishna and that person goes closer to Krishna by singing about Krishna and that person inspires others to go closer to Krishna by singing about Krishna and this is positive this is glorious this is wonderful and when this happens this is the opulence which is Daivi so the king has power and if he uses the power properly that Vibhuti that is manifested is Daivi and if the king abuses the power and exploits people then the Vibhuti is still there but that Vibhuti doesn't take either the king towards Krishna nor the attraction of that Vibhuti and emulation of the actions of the king take the subjects towards Krishna so that is Asuri Vibhuti but either way the Vibhuti is manifested the whatever attraction people may have towards the king if they understand that by karma by certain circumstances the king now has got the power which temporarily manifests the power of Krishna rather than getting attracted to the king they can get attracted to Krishna whenever their thoughts go towards the king towards the head of the state towards the most powerful person in the state you can see that this power comes from Krishna rather than getting attracted to that power let us get attracted to Krishna who is the source of that power.