Commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Gita- Discourse- 8.5. - Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Tuesday,  May 18, 2021. 07:41. PM.
Chapter-8.The Fourth Chapter Begins: The Avataras of God-5.
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Our thoughts and actions contribute, to a large extent, to the welfare or the suffering of mankind; and if they are very intense, they disturb the other layers of the cosmos such as Bhuvarloka, Svarloka, etc. When the Rakshasas were harassing the Devas, the Devas went to Rudra and Brahma, and finally they beseeched Narayana to take some action. Similarly, the fourteen worlds will cry for a redeeming power to act. Then the centre of the cosmos will work immediately, in a positive manner or a negative manner.

The avataras of God are described in great detail in the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana. It is said that Narayana had twenty-four avataras, but that is only in a manner of speaking. There can be twenty-four million avataras. How many rays has the sun? We can say the sun has only one ray that, like a huge beam, inundates the entire earth in heat; or we may say that there are millions of rays—sahasrakirana. Surya is called sahasrakirana because thousands of rays emanate from it. If we close our eyes and look at the sun, sometimes we feel radiance emanating in a millionfold way.

God may cast a single action or cast a manifold action, as the case may be. Fortunately or unfortunately, this doctrine of avataras, which is so important and so dear to the heart of man because it brings God to the very earth, is briefly stated in the Fourth Chapter of the Gita in only two verses, and afterwards it goes into some other subject—though this is well compensated from the Seventh Chapter onwards, where God’s glory is abundantly described.

The society of people has to work in a state of harmony in order that it may survive; and the harmony that is expected in human society is of two kinds—a horizontal harmony and a vertical harmony. The horizontal harmony is called varna dharma, and the vertical harmony is called ashrama dharma. The social integration brought about by a cooperative action of people through the works that they perform from their own stations is a horizontal way of the working of dharma for the purpose of integrating the quantity of humanity. But the quality of the individual also has to be enhanced; it is not enough that we merely protect the quantity of people. That qualitative ascent of the individual already protected by the quantitative forces—this vertical ascent, as I called it—is ashrama dharma, which consists of Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa, where we reach the apex of social solidarity and spiritual integration.

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This also is conditioned by God. 

BG- Ch-4, Slo-13.

"chatur-varnyam maya srishtam guna-karma-vibhagashah

tasya kartaram api mam viddhyakartaram avyayam"

BG 4.13: The four categories of occupations were created by me according to people’s qualities and activities. Although I am the creator of this system, know me to be the non-doer and eternal.

Everything taking place historically, or taking place only from the point of view of human individuals, may be said to be God’s work; and yet, God does not do anything, just as the sun is the cause of every activity in the world but is not regarded as doing anything at all. We cannot lift a finger if the sun is not shining, and yet the sun is not responsible for our lifting a finger. 

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BG-Ch-5. Slo-15

"nadatte kasyachit papam na chaiva sukritam vibhuh

ajnanenavritam jnanam tena muhyanti jantavah."

BG 5.15: The omnipresent God does not involve Himself in the sinful or virtuous deeds of anyone. The living entities are deluded because their inner knowledge is covered by ignorance.

Neither is God responsible for the good that we do, nor is He responsible for the bad that we do. We are automatically rewarded or punished by a ‘computer system’ which He has set up in the form of these cosmic forces; and as the law automatically acts, our actions automatically act in the form of pleasure and pain. Therefore, the social setup—individual as well as collective—cannot be regarded as God’s work, and yet it is, in a way, God’s work because it is a tendency towards the growth of humanity towards God’s integrating Realisation. Nothing that we do can be called God’s work. It is our work; yet, without His sanction, nothing can take place. Thus, in a way, God has created the whole world and does everything, but, in another way, He has not created the world and He does nothing.

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I went into great detail concerning the avataras of God because it is something very dear to the heart of man. That God comes to our house and rescues us from moment to moment, is this not a good and happy message?

End.

Next- 9. The Fourth Chapter Continues: The Performance of Action as a Sacrifice.

To be continued ...

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