The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita - 9.7. Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Sunday, July 04, 2021. 9:24. PM. 
Chapter 9 : The Majesty of God-Consciousness - 7.
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1.

What did Arjuna see? 

Well, when we say 'saw' or 'see', we should understand that it is not 'seeing' with these two eyes, because it is already mentioned that the two eyes of man, the mortal eyes, cannot behold the Immortal. He saw a miracle. 

These sentences we are using are inadequate to the purpose; we are using fragile words of mortal language for describing the characteristics of Immortal Existence. Like a frog in the well describing the ocean – this is how we are describing the Almighty. Whatever be our description, it falls short, badly, from that Mighty, Super-Nature. It is impossible to describe the meaning of the eleventh chapter. It just stands unparalleled in poetic excellence, and an exuberance of philosophic abundance. We have to read it for ourselves; our soul has to read it – not merely our eyes. 

Vyasa, the great author of the Bhagavadgita, goes into raptures, as it were, in giving a description of this rapturous experience of Arjuna, and poetry is the only way of expressing such miracles and wonders and marvels and majesties. 

Prose is poor – poetry is supreme here, and the poetry in Sanskrit here goes to its heights. When we are in a state of rapture, we speak anything that we like – any word that comes from us is holy at that time. It is the Divine Word that we speak because we are in ecstasy of Self-possession, God-Possession – it is a Veda that comes from our mouth when God possesses us and we speak at that moment. This great vision is difficult to have because God is 'All' and He cannot tolerate the presence of another 'all' external to Him. There cannot be two kingdoms of God. If we establish our own kingdom here, on earth, vying with the eternal kingdom of the Absolute, then we may rule our kingdom well in the way we are having here in it; but this empire of ours cannot reach that divine empire.

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2.

Srimad Bhagavad Gita : Chapter-11, Slokam-48.

"Na veda-yajñādhyayanair na dānair na cha kriyābhir na tapobhir ugraiḥ
evaṁ-rūpaḥ śhakya ahaṁ nṛi-loke draṣhṭuṁ tvad anyena kuru-pravīra."
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Translation :

na—not; 

veda-yajña—by performance of sacrifice; 

adhyayanaiḥ—by study of the Vedas; 

na—nor; 

dānaiḥ—by charity; 

na—nor; 

cha—and; 

kriyābhiḥ—by rituals; 

na—not; 

tapobhiḥ—by austerities; 

ugraiḥ—severe; 

evam-rūpaḥ—in this form; 

śhakyaḥ—possible; 

aham—I; 

nṛi-loke—in the world of the mortals; 

draṣhṭum—to be seen; 

tvat—than you; 

anyena—by another;

kuru-pravīra—the best of the Kuru warriors.

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Tatvam (Essence) :

BG 11.48: Not by study of the Vedas, nor by the performance of sacrifice, rituals, or charity, nor even by practicing severe austerities, has any mortal ever seen what you have seen, O best of the Kuru warriors.

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Commentary :

Shree Krishna declares that no amount of self-effort—the study of the Vedic texts, performance of ritualistic ceremonies, undertaking of severe austerities, abstinence from food, or generous acts of charity—is sufficient to bestow a vision of the cosmic form of God. This is only possible by his divine grace. This has been repeatedly stated in the Vedas as well:

tasya no hrāsva tasya no dhehi (Yajur Veda)[v24]

“Without being anointed in the nectar of the grace of the Supreme Lord, nobody can see him.”

The logic behind this is very straightforward. Our physical eyes are made from matter, and hence all that we can see is also material. The Supreme Lord is non-material—he is divine. To have a vision of his divine form we need divine eyes. When God bestows his grace upon the soul, he adds his divine power to our material eyes, and only then can we see him.

One may ask that how was Sanjay also able to see that cosmic form, which Arjun saw by divine grace. The Mahabharat states that Sanjay also received by the grace of his Guru, Ved Vyas, who was an Avatār of God. Before the war, the Ved Vyas offered his student Sanjay divine vision so that he may be able to communicate the details of the war to Dhritarashtra. Hence, he saw the same cosmic form that Arjun saw. But later, when Duryodhan died, Sanjay was overwhelmed with grief and lost his divine vision.

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3.

Not anything that man can do or an individual is capable of, can be considered as adequate for this purpose. What is necessary is the total abnegation of oneself. God does not require anything from us – no prasad or sacrament. Nothing can be offered to God because everything belongs to Him. There is nothing with us because we possess nothing here. What can we offer to Him? Perhaps the last thing that we have is our own individuality, our egoism, our personality, our being. God asks that we may be offered to Him, and not anything that we may have. He does not want a temple to be built for Him, a house of brick and mortar, calling it a chapel or a church. He does not want any offering because all these offerings are not our properties. We are offering to Him what does not belong to us – this is not a charity. But what we consider as our property is ourself only. The last thing that we can part with, the dearest and the nearest of our possessions, that object which we love most, it is our own self – let this love melt into God-love.

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To be continued ....

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