The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita - 9.1. Swami Krishnananda

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Sunday, February 14, 2021.09:21. AM.
Chapter 9: The Divine Incarnation and God-oriented Activity -1.

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It was told to us that desire is the obstacle, and it is again told that desires are so powerful that they cannot be easily subdued unless we resort to the Atman, the great Reality. Is this an easy method? Is anyone going to succeed in this practice? We are weak in our understanding, no doubt, feeble in our will, and forceful in our desires. Under these circumstances, which are obvious to everyone, is there a hope at all of any substantial achievement, spiritually? Or, are we merely groping in darkness? Is it a hopeless case ultimately, if we are so fragile in our understanding and the powers of the world are so far above our head and shoulders?

Now comes a highly solacing message in the Fourth Chapter, where we are consoled by the paternal instruction and secret that things are not so bad as they appear. All this tremendous technique of the practice of Yoga detailed in the Second and Third Chapters may appear to be hard for every one of us. But we need not be disappointed or dejected in our moods. God is the Supreme Viewer of the whole Cosmos. The Omniscience and Omnipotence of God are of such a nature that we, as units inextricably involved in the Being of God, will have the occasion to receive His Grace, for God moves in this world in the form of His Incarnations, manifestations, expressions, functions and activities.

There is a great truth behind the working of things, which is more incomprehensible than what is available to our understanding. We are reminded of the interesting exclamation of Hamlet that there are more things in heaven and earth than our philosophy dreams of. We may rack our heads and try to understand the mysteries of things, and find that everything is a hopeless affair. We can understand nothing, finally. Yes, this may be true when we view things from one aspect, but there is another aspect which is equally important, if not more important than the other one, viz., the power of God which surpasses the force of anything in the world. And the presence of God is immediate, and not just a remote possibility, as it may appear to our present way of thinking. God is not a future, distant, a possible achievement. He is not a transcendent Creator, unreachable, unthinkable and ununderstandable. God is also deeply present inseparably from our essential essence. Our soul, our self, is basically related to the Supreme Absolute. So, the law of the Absolute operates in ourselves, and equally so in all things everywhere. The manner in which God works in this world is what is known as the Divine Function of the Incarnation. The way in which God descends, as it were, to the levels of the various degrees of the cosmos is the Incarnation of God, whose function is to trace back all particulars to the universal, the Absolute.

The Incarnation is a symbol of universal integration. The Divine Incarnation is the individual symbol of a universal purpose. Divine Incarnations are considered apparently as individuals, but really they are universals. We are told often that they walk on earth with their feet planted on the physical level, but their heads move in the heavens. The Incarnations are universal beings, and they are superhuman in their knowledge and power. The distinction between an ordinary individual and a Divine Incarnation is this, that while the individual is confined in its consciousness to the operations of the sense faculties, the mind and the intellect, the Incarnation has an intuitive perception of the interrelatedness of all things and there is a vision of the Absolute perpetually before the eyes of the Incarnation, notwithstanding the fact that it appears to have descended to the level of the particular individuals.

To be continued ...

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