Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

The highest sadhana is the pouring forth of our soul into the universal soul; then everything shall be taken care of automatically. We need not bother about tomorrow: “What shall I eat? Where is my raiment? How long shall I live? Who will take care of me?” We shall be taken care of; and what is to be done tomorrow shall be told to us tomorrow. Jnanadipena bhasvata:“I shall illumine the personality of these great devotees with the light of wisdom, destroying their ignorance and blessing them with the highest illumination, by which they will know the truths of all things.”

This is an introductory oration by Sri Bhagavan Himself in the beginning of the Tenth Chapter, before Arjuna could raise any question. Now Arjuna starts speaking. He is really startled, wonderstruck, after hearing all these things that have been told to him. Arjuna says, “Thou art the Supreme Being. I see that You are inseparable from the Ultimate Reality. I appreciate it, I can understand it, and I accept it. You are the supreme abode, O Lord! The greatest of purities, the purity behind purities, supreme are You. The Eternal Purusha you are.” Adideva: the original God; aja: immortal.

Param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan, purusham sasvatam divyam adi-devam ajam vibhum (10.12). Here Arjuna addresses Sri Krishna; and this is a kind of prayer that we can recite every day: “O God! You are the Eternal Absolute, the supreme abode, the purity behind purities, the Eternal Purusha, God beyond gods. Rishis glorify You. Narada and other minstrels of God sing Your glory. I have been told by such seers like the rishis Asita, Devala and Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa that You are the veritable Immortal Being masquerading in this world. You are the Absolute masquerading in this world. This has been told to me by Vyasa and other rishis.” Ahus tvam rishayah sarve devarshir naradas tatha, asito devalo vyasah svayam chaiva bravishi me (10.13): “Now You Yourself are telling that. You have declared Yourself to be the incomparable, secondless Being. It is a great wonder indeed to hear all this. I accept all this in toto, and I am highly delighted to hear all this discourse of Yours, O Lord!”

Sarvam etad ritam manye yan mam vadasi kesava (10.14): “The highest truth of truths are revealed to me now.” Na hi te bhagavan vyaktim vidur deva na danavah: “Who am I to understand what You are? Not the gods, not all creation, not all the demons, nothing anywhere can know what kind of person You are. Who am I to understand what You are? You know only Yourself.”

God knows God, and nobody else can know God. You cannot know God. I cannot know God. Nothing of the world can know God. The entire creation cannot know God, because it is subsequent to God’s existence. Who knows God? God only knows God and, finally, God attains God. Svayam evatmanatmanam vettha (10.15): “You know Yourself, and nobody can know You. Thou knowest Thyself.” He Purushottama: the Supreme Being, Supreme Purusha; bhutabhavana: the blessing for all people; bhutesa: the Lord of creation; devadeva: the God of gods; jagatpate: the ruler of the universe. I prostrate myself before You. I shall be happy to hear some more details about this. How do You pervade this universe in Your eternal glory? In what forms can I worship you in my daily life, in my behaviour, from morning to evening? Will You kindly dilate upon this subject a little more, to my great satisfaction and happiness?”

Vaktum arhasy aseshena: “Without leaving anything out, tell me everything about Yourself – Your glories, Your divine immanence in this world of manifestation.” Vaktum arhasy aseshena divya hy atma-vibhutayah, yabhir vibhutibhir lokan imams tvam vyapya tishthasi (10.16): “What are the ways in which You manifest Yourself in this world? In which place in this world of manifestations, in which object, in what manner can I recognise You? How can I know You? Please tell me.”

Katham vidyam aham yogims tvam sada parichintayan (10.17): “Day and night I would like to meditate and contemplate on You. In what manner should I contemplate? Please tell me in detail.” Keshu keshu cha bhaveshu chintyo’si bhagavan maya: “In this world which is constituted of millions of forms, in what forms should I contemplate on You? Where are You manifest more, and in what forms are You manifest less? Please detail all these wondrous glories of Yourself.” Vistarenatmano yogam vibhutim cha janardana, bhuyah kathaya (10.18): “Repeat it once again. You have already told me something about Yourself. I would like to hear it again and again because it is amrita, it is nectar to my ears. Please tell me in all detail Your glories, Your powers and Your manifestations. Tell me once again, though you have already told me once. Please tell me in greater detail because my satisfaction has no end. Let my satisfaction rise from lower to higher states. I am already satisfied. May I be further satisfied, and may I be blessed with immense infinite satisfaction. My ears are never satisfied with any amount of nectar of Your speech that is poured into my ears.” Truptirhi srunvato nasti me’mritam: “You are pouring nectar into my ears and I am delighted, but I should be more delighted if You describe Your further glories in Your own way so that I may find it easier to behold You in all things and unite myself with Thee.”

“It is very difficult,” says the Lord, “to tell you in words what I am.”

There was a great sage called Muchukunda, who helped the gods in a war with the demons. Indra, who was highly pleased with him said, “Ask for a boon.”

He said, “I am very much tired. The only thing I need is a good sleep. This is the blessing: Let me sleep somewhere in a corner without disturbance, and bless me also that if anybody disturbs me while I am asleep, he shall perish in one second.”

“Okay, Be it so!” said Indra. Then Muchukunda, with post-war fatigue, went into a cave and fell asleep. Meanwhile, Kalayamana, a demon discharged by Kamsa under the instigation of Jarasandha and others, was pursuing Sri Krishna; and Sri Krishna, with a double motive in his mind, invisibly entered the cave in which Muchukunda was sleeping.

Sri Krishna was dark blue in colour and, fortunately or unfortunately, Muchukunda was also the same colour. Sri Krishna entered the cave and stood in a corner, and the demon Kalayamana also entered. When he saw someone with almost the same colour as Sri Krishna lying down fast asleep, he said “Oh, you are sleeping here!” and kicked him with his foot. The sleeping man slowly opened his eyes, and immediately the demon was reduced to ashes.

Then Sri Krishna came forward. Muchukunda looked at Him and said, “Who are you, this great mysterious magnificence that is standing before me? Will you kindly tell me your name?”

Sri Krishna replied, “Infinite are My names. You can count the grains of sand on the shores of the ocean, but My glories and My names are larger in number than the sands on the beach of the ocean.” Likewise, here He tells Arjuna, “It is impossible to tell you in toto all the manifestations in this world in which you can behold Me; but briefly, in essence, I shall in outline tell you where My excellence can be beheld.”

Sri bhagavan uvacha: hanta te kathayishyami divya hy atma-vibhutayah, pradhanyatah kuru-sreshtha nasty anto vistarasya me (10.19): The Lord says, “I will tell you briefly. The details that you are speaking of are endless, infinite. How will I go on telling you all that is infinite in its nature? But I will give you an outline of where you can locate me in this world.”

Aham atma gudakesa sarva-bhutasaya-sthitah (10.20): “I am the soul of all beings. Wherever you see existence, there you see Me present as the basic fundamental reality of all. The love of life, which can be seen even in the worst of creatures, is actually a distorted love that they are manifesting towards the existence of their own individuality – but actually, that existence is borrowed from My universal existence. I am the soul, the basic reality, the undiminished essence, the fundamental existence bereft of association with body, mind and all other social connections. That deepest essence, the ‘I’ which you refer to, the ‘I’ that is in everything – in plants, in animals, in insects, in gods – that ‘I’, the soul, as it were, of all things, is Me. The deepest reality, the soul, the Self, the indubitable fundamentality in all things is Me. Wherever you see love of life persisting and a clinging to existence, realise, notice and understand that everybody is clinging to My true universal existence that operates through their individual bodies, which they mistake for real existence.

The Atman, the Self of all beings, is Me. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all things. If the universe has come from somewhere, realise that it has come from Me. If it is existing now, it is due out of  My existence; and one day or the other, it shall be absorbed into Me. This is to tell you, briefly, the cosmic aspect of My manifestations. Now I shall tell you the individualised, specialised forms of My manifestations, which are in such glories as the sun and other things.”