Gita 11.37 God in this world is like an author in a book – the cause outside the cause-effect chain

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Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 10.37 Bhagavad Gita 10.37 Arjuna is offering his prayers over here to Krishna in his Vishwaroopa form.

In the previous verse he has stated that अस्थाने रिशी केश तव प्रकीर्त्या जगत् प्रहिष्यत्यनु रज्यतेच् रक्षाम् सिभीता निधि शोधवन्ति सरवे नमस्यंति च संधसंगा He says, it's rightly done that the godly delight in God and the ungodly flee from God. And now he's continuing that. The last line of the previous verse was that the Siddhas are offering obeisances and prayers.

And he says, कस्माच्यतेन नमेरन महात्मन And why should they not do that? In fact, it's entirely befitting, it's entirely proper that they do this. नमेरन महात्मन O Lord, You are the Great Soul, You are the Mahatma. कस्माच्यतेन नमेरन महात्मन Why should we not offer obeisances to such a person? गरीयसे ब्रह्मनोप्या अधिकर्त्रे गरीयसे You are actually गरीयसे, better than.

You are better than आधिकर्त्रे, the original creator. That refers to, within this world, it's ब्रह्माजी. Sorry, no, sorry.

You are the original creator and you are greater than ब्रह्मा. गरीयसे प्या ब्रह्मनोप्या अधिकर्त्रे You are greater than ब्रह्मा. अनन्तदेवेश जगन्निवास अनन्तदेवेश You are unlimited.

You are the god of the goddess. देवेश जगन्निवास You are the shelter of the universe. तमक्षरम् You are infallible, O Lord.

सदसत्तत्परम्यत् You are imperishable. अक्षरम् You don't deteriorate. You don't get destroyed.

In that sense, you are not under time. सदसत्तत्परम्यत् So you are transcendental to the material cause and effect of this world. That means Krishna is not produced by any cause.

Sometimes people ask that if God created everything, who created God? The question actually comes from a misunderstanding of who God is. If you understand that God is the creator of all creators, that there is no one who is greater than God, that He is the greatest being and that He is the source of everything. By definition, He is the foundation of all existence.

Without Him, nothing could exist. And He exists beyond the duality of time and space. Then we will better appreciate that actually He doesn't need a source.

He doesn't need any source separate from Himself. He is Himself the absolute truth. And thus He is the greatest being.

सदसत्तत्परम्यत् That means He doesn't need a cause because He is beyond the chain of cause and effect. The chain of cause and effect extends within the domain of time. Whereas God exists outside the domain of time.

Thus He is outside this whole scope. And even from the point of view of logic, we can say that the cause of all causes does not need a cause. The cause of all causes cannot have a cause.

So just like in a novel in which there is a description of different people. There are different dynasties given. This person is the son of this person.

Then they are the children of this person, this couple. And they are the children of this couple. And like that we may have the dynastic tree going on for a long time.

But within that dynastic tree there is also the understanding that there is no way in which the dynastic tree can actually contain the author. Because the author, if the novel is a fiction, then the author exists outside the time scale. So similarly, God exists outside the time scale.

The author makes the story line, author makes the time line, author makes the characters. Similarly God, but the author themselves exist outside the time line. Similarly, God exists outside all this.

Tamaksharam Sattat Paramyat He is actually beyond the cause and effect of this world. And by existing beyond the cause and effect of this world, He manifests His transcendence. So although Arjuna is seeing the Vishwaroopa in front of him, he is seeing the Vishwaroopa in a manifestation that is visible to him with his eyes.

Of course, not ordinary eyes. He has got Divyam Dadami Te Chakshuhu that He has got divine eyes. but still he is able to see.

So, although he is able to see, he knows that actually this is a manifestation within this world of the Lord who is originally transcendental. And thus he is saying that you are Sattat Paramyat you are beyond the chain of cause and effect in this world. And further he glorifies the Absolute Truth as Gariye se brahmano pyadi kartre that you are greater than Brahma, you are the original creator.

The idea is that in the previous verse it was said that the Siddhas are also offering worship, are offering prayers, are offering obeisances to this magnificent form. And is it appropriate? Yes, actually when the Rishis and the Devatas, they all go to Brahma, they have a very reverential mode of approaching even Brahmaji. Because they know that Brahma is transcendental.

Sorry, not transcendental, but Brahma is like the Brahmana among the Devatas. He is their primary spiritual guide. And thus they all are very respectful to him.

And while being respectful to him thus, if they are respectful to him, then what to speak of someone who is greater than Brahma also? Surely they will be respectful. So that is far from this being inappropriate. He says this is appropriate.

Why should they not do it? Kasma chitena nameran mahatman gariye se brahmano pyadi kartre ananta devesha jagannivasah So, three more describers are given in this. Ananta, unlimited one, Devesha, the god of the gods, and jagannivasah, the shelter of the universe. So now earlier this form has been called as Vishwaroopa.

In the 15th, 16th verse Krishna says Arjuna said, pashyami tvam vishveshwara vishwaroopa I am seeing you as the Vishwaroopa. Then within that, the destructive feature was identified as the Kaalaroopa. Kaalousmilokakshe kuthpravuddho That was in 32.

And after that, now when Arjuna is speaking, he is not saying you are Vishwaroopa, you are Kaalaroopa. He is saying you are jagannivasah. That means he is understanding that actually this person who is manifesting over here is not just what I am seeing.

The Vishwaroopa itself is astonishing. It is awe-inspiring. Arjuna has described it and he has expressed his astonishment and even fear, trepidation on seeing it.

At this stage, Arjuna's whole prayers are not addressed so much to the Vishwaroopa directly. He is understanding that this is the Supreme Lord manifesting as Vishwaroopa with the Kaalaroopa. And he is addressing his prayers to that Supreme Lord.

Although he is addressing them in the manifestation of the Supreme Lord as the Vishwaroopa, but still they are addressed to the Supreme Lord. This way, this verse stresses the transcendence, the supremacy and the transcendence of the Absolute Truth. That the focus in our practice of bhakti needs to be moving onwards and if we do that, then descriptions like these even they seem very hard to believe that anyone could go through such things.

Anyone could see the Vishwaroopa and still be astonished and stay calm. And we wonder how that has relevance to us. But when we understand that somebody is actually by taking shelter of Krishna withstood such awesome situations or sights, then our faith in the transcending potency of bhakti also still becomes awakened.

This verse, we can see it as a demonstration of the transcendence of the Lord even when He is manifest in a form here in this world.