proktah karana rupasca saptame tu vibbutayah
krs karya karana rupasca nena navame svayam
dashame vyakti bhavabhyaam sara mukhyadibhisca vai
sviyah prabhava rupena proktah panch dashe tatha
Lord Krsna in the Gita has described His divine glories in the seventh, ninth, tenth and fifteenth chapters in order to explain to the strivers that in the entire creation there is nothing besides God. The Lord in the seventh verse of the seventh chapter declares ‘There is nothing else besides Me’ (7/7) and then from the eighth to the twelfth verses He mentions His seventeen divine glories in the form of cause (root). The purpose of the Lord in describing His glories in this form is that the evolutes may possess different characteristics but it is not so in the cause. Word is the evolute of ether. The word can be in the form of letters or in the form of sound but ether, the cause remains the same. Similarly the world is an evolute of God Who is the cause. The worldly objects may be many but God is the same Who permeates all of them. Those who are attached to the worldly objects are bound, but those who behold God pervading every where are not bound. They being detached from the world realize – ‘All is God’.
In the ninth chapter from the sixteenth to the nineteenth verse Lord Krishna has described His thirty seven glories in the verses or form of cause and its evolutes. It means that what so ever be it cause or its evolutes, the real or the unreal, eternal or transitory in the entire universe, is nothing but God Himself.
In the fourth and fifth verses of the tenth chapter the Lord has described twenty divine glories in the form of human traits while in the sixth verse He has described twenty five divine glories in the form of persons (seers etc). Then Arjuna puts the question, “In what particular forms should I constantly think of you?” In response to his question the Lord from the twentieth to the thirty eighth verses describes HIS eighty one glories. In the thirty ninth verse He mentions one divine glory declaring Himself to be the seed of the entire creation. It means that all human traits, persons and substratum etc. are nothing except God. In the fifteenth chapter from the twelfth to the fifteenth verses the Lord has described His glories in the form of virtues and divinity. It means that whatever virtue or glory is seen in any thing or person is only God’s. In this way Lord Krishna in these four chapters has described His one hundred and ninety four glories. The purpose of mentioning all these glories is that in the entire universe there is nothing except the manifestation of God. therefore a striver should always think of Him only whatever object or person he is attracted to.
The purpose of the Description of His Glories
People are generally attracted towards objects, incidents, circumstances and persons because of virtues etc. Whatever glory, beauty is perceived in them, is in fact God’s. The reason is that the world is transitory and kaleidoscopic. So how can it possess any beauty or glory? Whatever beauty or glory is seen in it, is actually God’s Who is the base and illuminator of the entire creation. But instead of beholding God, a man beholds the illusory beauty or glory of the world and is attracted towards it. But this is beastly rather than human, because God has bestowed upon human beings ‘vivek’ discrimination to distinguish the real from the unreal. Therefore he, deviating his mind from the assumed glory of the world, should divert it towards the real glory of God. So the Lord has mentioned His glories.
Thus a striver should only think of God when he is attracted by any beauty or glory or virtue or specialty because that is only God’s. By doing so his thought for the world will change into thought for God.
A striver should not think of the number of glories or their importance or the books they are described in, with their difference. He should only think of their root, God. So the Lord declares, “Every such being as is glorious, brilliant or powerful, know that to have sprung from a spark of My splendor.” (10/41) because Arjuna had the curiosity in what particular forms he should constantly think of Him (10/17). So the purpose of mentioning the divine glories is to enable a striver to think of Him only. We should think of God only in all His glories whether they are common or uncommon and whether we know them or don’t know them. The Lord’s purpose of describing the divine glories is to enable a striver to think of Him alone to know Him in reality and to establish his unfaltering devotion to Him. The Lord declares:-
‘He who knows in reality this supreme divine glory and supernatural power of Mine gets established in Me through unfaltering devotion, of this there is no doubt’ (10/7).
Divine Nature of His Glories
Arjuna in the sixteenth verse of the tenth chapter and the Lord in the nineteenth and fortieth verses of the tenth chapter have called God’s glories as divine. The reason is that God Himself is Supremely divine. So all His glories are divine. But their divine nature is revealed to a striver only when he thinks of God only in all those glories by renouncing attachment to mundane pleasures.
Narayana ! Narayana ! Narayana !
From “Gita Darpan” in English by Swami Ramsukhdasji Maharaj.
www.swamiramsukhdasji.net
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