Gita 11.37 – Contemplate the Lord’s glory to comprehend his amazing accessibility

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kasmāchitena nameran mahātman gareyase brahmanopya adhikartre anantadevesha jagan nivāsa tum aksharam sada sattat paramyāt kasmāchitena nameran mahātman So, Arjuna here is praying to the Vishwaroopa and in the previous verse he has said that how the demons are running away, the godly people are delighted on hearing your glories and the Siddhas are bowing down to you. Now, he's continuing that he's saying why should they not bow down to you? kasmāchitena nameran mahātman Why should they not bow down to you? Rather than, it's a rhetorical question.

So, he answers gareyase brahmanopya adhikartre gareyase means you are greater than. Brahmanopya here refers to Brahmaji. Adhikartre, you are the original creator.

So, anantadevesha jagan nivāsa You, my lord, are unlimited. Anantadevesha, you are the lord of the gods. Jagan nivāsa, you are the shelter of the whole universe.

tam aksharaṁ sad-asat tat-paramyat tam aksharaṁ In this world, everything is deteriorable, it is perishable, but you are imperishable, indestructible. Aksharaṁ sad-asat tat-paramyat So, sad-asat can refer to matter and spirit, sad-asat can refer to soul, to cause and effect, whatever it may be at the material level. But you are transcendental to it.

So, aksharaṁ sad-asat tat-paramyat So, here, moving from a description of his perception, which Arjuna had done earlier, what he was seeing, he has described in an earlier series of verses, which also included some prayerful invocations, here now he is describing the glory of what he is seeing in terms of philosophical analysis. So, he is telling that actually everyone is bowing down to you, and everyone should bow down to you, because you are greater than the greatest. Brahmaji came here, everyone would bow down because he is such a great god, but you are greater than Brahma also, so why should not everyone bow down to you? And what is your position? Brahma is the creator, but you are gariye se brahmanopya adhikaratra, you are the creator of the creator.

In fact, the one who is called as creator, Brahmaji, he actually is not a creator, he is an engineer, he gets the template, he just designs according to template. So, in that sense, you are far, far greater than Brahman, and then ananta devesha jagan divasa, ananta is unlimited. So, at one level, the vishwaroopa itself is unlimited.

Krishna has, Arjuna has spoken, naan tam na madhyanna punas tava dim, I can't see your beginning, middle or end. So, apart from the perception of the vishwaroopa, there is also the philosophical understanding of the unlimitedness of the Lord. So, ananta devesha, devesha refers to one who is the Lord of the gods, deva deva, devesha.

Now, the Vedic culture, Vedic philosophy, Bhagwat philosophy, although it features many gods, it is not polytheistic. In the sense, in polytheism, there are multiple competing gods, with no one having a permanent supremacy. But in the Bhagwat philosophy, Bhagwat's worldview, actually there is one supreme god, and the others are more like assistant gods, they are subordinate to him.

On few rare occasions, they may get megalomania, thinking that, oh, I am supreme, but on an unusual basis, they do know that they have grand positions, but still they are not the topmost being. So, Krishna is the devesha, and that Krishna is manifested in the vishwaroopa, jagannivas. So, he is not just the Lord of all the living beings, including the gods, but he is the shelter of existence itself.

In this world, someone may become very powerful, and someone may become, like, there is a king and there is an emperor. Generally, the emperor is the king of kings. So, in this world, somebody may, if that person is very powerful, become an emperor.

But still, that person doesn't become supreme by that, in the sense of being the shelter of the universe. That person is still actually sheltered by the universe, still living on the earth, and is dependent on the earth. But Krishna, in that sense, is not just a competitor and who has now become a superior.

Krishna is eternally the supreme being on whom everyone rests. So, it's not that he has subordinated everyone. Everyone is eternally subordinate to him.

Everyone is eternally dependent on him. Everything, jagannivas, everything is dependent on him. And that is because of the sattva paramya.

He exists beyond the time domain. He exists beyond the domain of cause and effect in this world. Aksharam is beyond the effect of time.

So, that's why he's imperishable. So, when we understand this position of Krishna is completely beyond the framework of our material analysis, and that all-attractive lord is available to us through his remembrance, through his service, when we understand how wonderful a phenomena this is, that Krishna is making himself available to us through his loving service, then through his remembrance, through his holy name, then we feel inspired. Oh, that lord, who is the lord of all the lords, that lord, the shelter of the universe, that lord, who is completely whatever transcendental, who is otherwise inaccessible, has made himself so wonderfully, relishably, easily accessible through the sacred sounds of mantras.

So, by meditating on the glory of the lord, we can relish his accessibility, just as that Vishwaroopa, which is very rare to be seen, Arjuna is able to see. Similarly, that lord, who is very difficult to access, being completely transcendental, he is now accessible to us in the sense of being available through the utterance of his holy name, through the utterance of sacred sounds, and that by that we can purify our hearts, experience his presence, and gradually.