Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

While in the earlier chapters – up to the Sixth – there is a great distance indeed between the world and God, in the Seventh Chapter we are given a little comfort by the doctrine that God, being the creator of the universe, is immanent and, therefore, is with us at all times. God is both within and without us. The distance between God and man again becomes a little pronounced in the Eighth Chapter, which presents the theory that God is reached after death. Antakale cha mameva smaran muktva kalevaram (8.5) … sa yati paramam gatim (8.13): “If you think of Me at the time of death, you shall reach Me.” It is not mentioned that we can reach God now, in this world. Can we reach God while we are alive? Or do we reach God only after death?

The Creator’s distance as a supernal transcendence, as a father in heaven, is an idea that may arise in our minds in the Seventh Chapter; and that we can reach God only after death is an idea that may arise in the Eighth Chapter. But God is not to be considered to be reachable only after death. That God can look to our needs even today is especially emphasised in the Ninth Chapter. Ananyas chintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate; tesham nityabhiyuktanam yoga-kshemam vahamy aham (9.22): God is not transcendent, sitting in heaven and gazing at us dispassionately and unconcerned, but He is greatly concerned. God comes down to the very earth and the kitchen of the human being, and provides us rations and all our needs, and protects us in every way. Thus, in the Ninth Chapter the religious spirit brings God to the very earth, as it were, and the distance between God and man diminishes very, very palpably. “I am everywhere” is the statement made in the Ninth Chapter.

In the Tenth Chapter we go further, to a greater emphasis of the immanence of God – not God coming sometimes when we are in a state of distress, not providing us with what we need when we need it, but perpetually residing in all things which are the glories of this world.

There is such a thing called glory, enhancement of spirit, genius, supernal power, high respectability, with a power to attract – something that will not allow us to take our mind away. There are certain things from which we cannot take our mind away, due to their beauty or grandeur. When we look at the beautiful full moon in a clear sky, we do not want to look away. We go on gazing at that scintillating, beautiful, soft, honey-exuding glow, as it were – the full moon, radiating calmness and coolness with its beams. The beauty of the full moon attracts us; but the beauty of the ocean is of a different kind. It exalts our spirit by the magnitude of its superiority over us. Take the example of an elephant. We would like to go on looking at it again and again, for some reason which we cannot understand. For a particular reason, we would not like to take our eyes away from the full moon – because of the beauty. Why do we like to look at an elephant? Is it beautiful? It is majestic, and it humbles us to some extent. Our ego feels very small before the might of the elephant and, therefore, we feel the greatness and power of the elephant. We maintain a respectful distance from it on account of the humility that we automatically feel due to the largeness of its body and the greatness of its power. So it is majesty that attracts us here, not beauty. Similarly, the grandeur, the power, the terror, the capacity of the ocean to destroy us, and the largeness which is far beyond our egoism makes us look at it with great wonder. “Oh what a wonder! The great ocean of waves, terrific in their nature!” Hence, we can be attracted to things either because of their beauty or because of their grandeur.

God is both beauty and grandeur. Mostly, religions do not consider God as a beautiful person; there is no emphasis on that. So we always fear God as a justice of the Supreme Court or a policeman, and we think that He has to be respected because of His power and His capacity to punish us. We fear God. We do not embrace God as if He is a beautiful, beloved thing. Why is it so? It is because of the emphasis in religious circles – in all religions, Semitic or Indian – on the fatherhood of God. That the fatherhood of God is emphasised in all religions is something very peculiar. It may be due to historical circumstances, or because prophets and the progenitors of the scriptures happened to be mostly men. Whatever the reason be, it appears that the fatherhood of God has been overemphasised in religions, as if He is only father.

God is also mother. In India, mother worship – Sakti worship – has also been inculcated. This other side of God, the feminine aspect, is not completely cut off from the male aspect, as if God is only male and not female. The ardhanarisvara tattva, or the unity of the two polar essences – the positive and negative – are considered in the ardhanarisvara tattva of Lord Siva, where Siva and Sakti are one person. As it is said in religious parlance, especially in India, husband and wife constitute one person. They are not two different persons. Though physically they appear to be two persons, their soul is one.

The idea of Sakti worship – the spirit of there being unity between the positive and the negative, and there being no cleavage between man and woman – was introduced in India; yet, the concept of fatherhood prevails. Though we may accept that God can also be conceived as mother and worshipped as Sakti or Devi, we think of God predominantly as supremely just – a lawgiver, a judiciary, and a terror who blesses us only if He is pleased, and punishes us if He is not pleased.

Do we think that God is beautiful? Sakshan manmatha-manmathah is a term used in the Bhagavata (10.21.05): “He is the cupid of cupids, the beauty of beauties.” Even if the essences of all the beautiful things in the world – the quintessence of the most beautiful things, human or otherwise, whatever they be – are taken together, it will not stand before the beauty of God. It is very unfortunate that God should be regarded only as a terror, as a justice, and as a fearful person. He is the most enchanting. The enchanting, beautiful character of God is especially brought into high relief in the life of Bhagavan Sri Krishna,  who is the might of mights, the power of powers, and represents the fatherhood of God in this tremendous incarnation as the height of yogic ecstasy and power; and yet, he was the beauty of beauties. The Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata also describe Bhagavan Sri Krishna as an incarnation of God, and they remove the partial notion of God as only a father who is merely just and  legal in His attitude, rather than compassionate and friendly.. The friendliness of God, the power of God, the transcendence of God, the superiority of God, the beauty of God, the enchanting capacity of God, the tremendous attraction that He exerts upon us is delineated in Bhagavan Sri Krishna, who is the full incarnation of God.

The glories of God are detailed in the Tenth Chapter. These glories can be seen in certain enhanced, exalted things which are beyond ordinary human concepts. “Where are You actually present in this world, O Lord? You said that You are in all things. Are You in an atom? Are You in a dustbin? Are You in a tree? Are You in a stone? Where are You?”

“I am in everything, no doubt, yet My presence can be especially felt in certain exalted manifestations.” Towards that description we are entering the most glorious chapter, the Tenth – where Sri Bhagavan Himself starts speaking without Arjuna raising a question. “I shall speak to you further about My glories and My supernal greatness.”

Sri bhagavan uvacha: bhuya eva maha-baho srunu me paramam vachah, yat te’ham priyamanya vakshyami hita-kamyaya (10.1): “You are very dear to Me and I am dear to you; and because of this fact, I feel prompted to tell you a little more for your own welfare, for your hita, for your goodness – something that is very secret, something that is supremely good for you.”  

Na me viduh sura-ganah (10.2): “The gods do not know Me, really speaking – let alone human beings. They cannot know Me in My true essence because I am the origin of all these gods.” Aham adir hi devanam maharshinam cha sarvasah: “Even maharshis cannot know Me in full. Nobody can know My origin because I am prior to the manifestation, or coming into being, of their existence.”

Yo mam ajam anadim cha vetti loka-mahesvaram, asammudhah sa martyeshu sarva-papaih pramuchyate (10.3): “Whoever knows Me as the ancient one, prior to all manifested forms, greater than all the gods of religions – such a person  completely non-deluded in mind is free from every kind of fault, and no sin can accrue to that person.” God is not merely in things – in personalities and objects – He is also in the relations between things. That which is between things is also God’s operation, and to that He directs His attention.

Buddhir jnanam asammohah kshama satyam damah samah, sukhkam duhkham bhavo’bhavo bhayam chabhayam eva cha (10.4). Ahimsa samata tushtis tapo danam yaso’yasah, bhavanti bhava bhutanam matta eva prithag-vidhah (10.5): “The intelligence in some people, and the absence of intelligence in other people; the capacity to forgive; truthfulness; self-restraint, externally as well as internally; the experience of pleasure and pain; the coming and going of things; fear, and the absence of fear; the capacity of a person to feel the feelings of other people, and be compassionate to others, and not hurt others’ feelings, and maintain an equilibrated attitude towards all people; the charitable nature of people; the glories, and even the absence of glories of people – all these proceed from Me.” Bhavanti bhava bhutanam matta eva prithagvidhah: Night and day, life and death, light and darkness, good and bad, necessary and unnecessary – everything is subsumed under this integrality of the supreme inclusiveness of the Absolute Supreme Being.