Gita 11.38 Knowledge of the Absolute helps us see how the things we know manifest the one we need to ultimately know

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11.38 तमादि देवः पुरुषः पुरानस तमस्य विश्वस्य परम् निधानम् वेथासि वेध्यम् जपरम् जधामा तयाततं विश्वमनं तरूपाम् Krishna is speaking here. Sorry.

Arjuna is speaking. He is offering his prayers to Krishna as the Vishwaroopa. And he is stating तमादि देवः You are the original Lord.

पुरुषः पुरानस You are the primeval person. तमस्य विश्वस्य परम् निधानम् Of this world, of this universe, you are the परम् निधानम् supreme shelter, ultimate refuge. वेथासि वेध्यम् जपरम् वेथासि You are the knower and वेध्यम् You are the object to be known.

Knowable object. परम् जधामा You are the transcendental shelter. तयाततं विश्वमनं तरूपाम् And you have pervaded this whole universe O one of infinite form नंतरूपाम् In this verse, there are many important describers and all these describers essentially point to one fundamental reality the transcendence of the absolute and how that absolute manifests in this world in spite of the transcendence.

So throughout this verse is stressing the transcendental position of the absolute truth तमादि देवह There are many gods and among them described here that the one who is being manifested here is who is being referred to is आदि देवह is the primeval god गोविन्दमादि पुरुषं तमः भजामि That Govinda is the आदि पुरुषं Now that he is the आदि देवह, what does it imply practically? That means he is the beginningless beginning of everything that actually he is existing in his own category of existence at a whole different level He is not any other ordinary person He is, there may be many different devatas, but he is the absolute supreme and he exists in his own category of being outside the time domain तमादि देवह He is not just the first, he actually is the person who exists before the conception of first can come in because he exists outside the time domain Still, in order to refer in the conventional sense, the word first may be used to refer to him. अदि देवः पुरुष्यः पुराणस He is the primeval person तमस्य विश्वस्य परम्निधानम So, there is Purusha and Prakruti and there is the Paramapur there is Purusha and Purushottama So, here it is described that he is the Purana Purusha the primeval person the first, the original There is Purusha-Prakruti dichotomy is there, but there is the Purushottama who is beyond the Purusha-Prakruti dichotomy He is the absolute primeval person तमस्य विश्वस्य परम्निधानम Now, God exists in his self-existence beyond this world. At the same time, this Virat Rupa is a special manifestation wherein he has manifested himself in this world.

Of course, even his manifestation in this world requires a special vision to see. And what is that special vision that is required here? That is that you, O Lord, are the Supreme Person. Vishwasya Param Nidhanam, Param Nidhanam, Param Nidhanam.

Vittasya Vedyam cha Param Chidham. Now, this is interesting that you are the knower and you are the knowable. The normal human tendency is to humanize the absolute.

Now, of course, God can manifest as a human being, but he is not a human being. He is a supreme being. And how he is different from other beings is stressed over here, that he is the knower of everything, Vitta, and he is also the known.

Normally, there is this distinction between the knower and the known for all of us. So, for example, if I am looking at the Bhagavad Gita right now, so I am the knower, I am the Vitta, and the Bhagavad Gita is the knowable, that which is to be known. So, Vitta and Vedya, there is always that difference between the two.

And so we could say there is the object of consciousness, that is the Vedya, the subject of consciousness, that is Vitta. And then there is the stream of consciousness that joins the Vedya and Vitta. In the case of Krishna, the subject and the object are both, he himself manifested in different manifestations.

That means that the immunists might say that this means that there is absolute oneness, and there is nothing in existence in transcendence. The Vaishnavas understand that this means something different, that there is the Supreme Lord, who is the eternal transcendent person, and there are objects existing in this world. But those objects are actually himself.

They are his energies, and at one level his energy is non-different from him. So, from his perspective, he is the knower, and he is what is to be known. And now from our perspective, so from Krishna's perspective, the world is also his energy.

And because at one level, the energy and the energetic are non-different, so he's also the, he's also to the known. Now, how does it work from our perspective? I may look at a computer where this verse is there in a book. And so I may know the computer, I may know the file in which this verse is there, which I'm reading right now.

So, actually for us, we need to know that he is also the Supreme, that he is also the, whatever we are trying to know, that is energy of the Lord. So, knowledge means to see the energy in relationship with the energetic. So for us, we may easily recognize the point that Krishna is the absolute truth, is the omniscient knower of everything.

But a further step in our spiritual evolution will be to know that he is also the knowable, he is also the object to be known. Vedam, Vedasi Vedam, cha param cha dhama. So, Vedam, so whenever we see anything, we see it in connection with its source, with its Lord, with Krishna.

And that is what enables us to be Krishna conscious at all times. And that point, how is Krishna the Vedya? That is what the revelation is being given through the Vishwa Rupa. And in the Vishwa, we may see many Rupa, in the many forms.

But all those forms are ultimately resting in Krishna, they are sustained by Krishna, they are arranged by Krishna. Param cha dhama, he is the supreme shelter. He is the ultimate shelter of the universe and is the shelter of everything within the universe also.

Even when the universe exists as it is. And tvaya tatam vishwam ananta rupa. In this way, you have pervaded the universe so unlimited form.

So, the mysticism of the universal form is to show us through a magnificent vision that what we know is actually a manifestation of what is ultimately to be known. So, what we know are the things of this world. And what is ultimately to be known is Krishna.

So, what we know is a manifestation of what is ultimately to be known. And this understanding comes when we philosophically appreciate the import of the universal form. It's not just a dazzling spectacle of Krishna's greatness, which it is, of course, but it is not just that.

Beyond that, it indicates that he is the all powerful absolute. He is the person who is the source of everything. He is the totality of all reality.

And everything is energy when we see that it is he who has pervaded everything, it is he who is sustaining everything. And everything that we see is meant to remind us of him, meant to connect us with him. Then we truly see such is the great Lord whom Arjuna.