Category Archives: divyam

Bhagavad Gita Verse 11, Chapter 11

25 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by in 11.11, aalyaa, ambara, anantam, anulepanam, ayam, chapter 11 verse 11, devam, dharam, divyam, gandhaan, sarvaashcharyam, vishvatomukham

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divyamaalyaambaradharam divyagandhaanulepanam |
sarvaashcharyamayam devamanantam vishvatomukham || 11 ||
 
Wearing divine garlands and clothes, anointed with divine fragrances, all of these wonderful (sights) were shining and infinite, with faces on all sides.
 
divyam : divine
aalyaa : garlands
ambara : clothes
dharam : wearing
gandhaan : anointed
anulepanam : anointed with
sarvaashcharyam : all wonderful
ayam : these
devam : shining
anantam : infinite
vishvatomukham : faces on all sides
 
Sanjaya continues the description of Ishvara’s cosmic form in this shloka. Shri Krishna, after giving a hint of Ishvara’s destructive power to Arjuna, showed his soumya roopa or his pleasing form. In other words, all the five senses and the mind enjoyed taking in this pleasant form. To that end, Arjuna saw Ishvara dressed up in fine clothes and garlands, as well as anointed with divine perfumes.
 
Another aspect of this form that it did not have a “centre”. Whenever we try to worship God, we always choose either an idol or an image so that we can focus our thoughts. However, many of us tend to get fixated on one deity, image or idol and consequently shun other deities. Sanjaya, in describing the cosmic form, noted that it had “infinite faces”. In other words, whenever Arjuna tried to pinpoint one face and say “this is Ishvara”, he would fail. Shri Krishna did this to remove any prior conceptions of Ishvara that Arjuna would have harboured.
 
Now, we always need to keep one thing in mind when we contemplate the cosmic form – there is oneness behind all the diversity. It is all one being, ultimately. Just like the millions of cells, tissues and organs in our body serve one person, all the diversity seen in the cosmic form serves one Ishvara. Our minds are used to dividing things, cutting up things. The cosmic form is meant to reverse that process and unify everything.
 
Sanjaya used the word “devam” which means shining to describe this form. He elaborates on this in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 8, Chapter 11

22 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in 11.8, anena, chakshuhu, chapter 11 verse 8, dadaami, divyam, drishtum, eva, ishvaram, maam, me, na, pashya, shakyase, svachakshushaa, te, tu, yoga

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na tu maam shakyase drishtumanenaiva svachakshushaa |
divyam dadaami te chakshuhu pashya me yogaishvaram || 8 ||
 
But, even this you cannot see with your own eye. I give you a divine eye, (so that you can) see the majesty of my yoga.
 
na : not
tu : but
maam : my
shakyase : can
drishtum : you see
anena : this
eva : even
svachakshushaa : with your own eye
divyam : divine
dadaami : I give
te : you
chakshuhu : eye
pashya : see
me : my
yoga : yoga
ishvaram : majesty
 
Even after Shri Krishna had begun displaying his Vishwa roopa, his cosmic form, there seemed to be no response from Arjuna at all. He realized that Arjuna’s mortal eyes did not have the capability needed to view the cosmic form. So he blessed Arjuna with the “divya drishti”, the divine vision with which the yoga, the power of creating this diversity in the universe, could be seen in all its majesty.
 
Before we proceed with the rest of this chapter, let us pause to dig a little deeper into this shloka. Each chapter in the Gita is a “yoga”, a technique for lifting us higher from the material to the divine. Arjuna was bestowed this vision by Shri Krishna, and we will hear a description of that vision from Sanjaya and Arjuna later in the chapter. But if this chapter is meant to give us a practical technique, what are we supposed to do? What does “divine vision” mean for us?
 
Let us consider a person from India who is deeply attached to his state or territory. As we have seen repeatedly in the Gita, any sort of deep attachment is a recipe for creating never-ending sorrow. What technique, what yoga could be prescribed for someone in this situation? One could ask that person to get a map of India, look at his state’s border, then mentally erase that border as well as all the other state borders, and see what’s left.
 
What will he see? He will only see the border of India. There would be no other divisions or distinctions. All conflicts regarding one state versus another would seem meaningless. It does not mean that the sense of attachment has gone away. That is very difficult to achieve. It simply means that the sense of attachment has been raised one step from the relative to the absolute.
 
Similarly, Shri Krishna asks all of us to view the world with the vision that everything is in Ishvara. Our eyes, limited as they are, will always report divisions and distinctions. That is their nature. But we can always use our intelligence to look through those divisions and see that ultimately, Ishvara is in everything and everything is in Ishvara. If we learn to do this, our attachment to worldly concerns will drop, and shift towards Ishvara.
 
As we move to the next verse, we will find that the original narrator, Sanjaya, has taken over.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 10, Chapter 8

07 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in 8.10, aaveshya, achalena, bhaktyaa, bhruvoho, chapter 8 verse 10, divyam, madhye, manasa, param, praanam, prayaanakaale, purusham, samyak, upaiti, yogabalena, yuktaha

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prayaanakaale manasaachalena bhaktyaa yukto yogabalena chaiva |
bhruvormadhye praanamaaveshya samyak sa tam param purushamupaiti divyam || 10 ||
 
At the time of departure, endowed with devotion, an unwavering mind, as well as the power of yoga, fully establishing the praanaas in the centre of the eyebrows, he attains that supreme divine person.
 
prayaanakaale : at the time of departure
manasa : with mind
achalena : unwavering
bhaktyaa : with devotion
yuktaha : endowed with
yogabalena : power of yoga
cha : and
iva : also
bhruvoho : eyebrows
madhye : centre
praanam : praanaas
aaveshya : establishing
samyak : fully
saha : he
tam : that
param : supreme
purusham : person
upaiti : attains
divyam : divine
 
The puraanaas contain several stories describing how people endowed with yogic powers could control their life force or their praana and force it out of the body. At the end of the Mahabharata, many people including Yudhishthira and Draupadi left their bodies using yogic powers. If we interpret this shloka literally, it describes how one can remember Ishvara’s form while voluntarily starting the process of departing the body.
 
We, of course, do not know anything about such techniques, nor do we wish to pursue it. So therefore, let us examine the symbolic meaning of this shloka. “Prayaana kale” literally means the time of departure or death. Symbolically, it signifies the death of the ego, or the end of our notion of finitude. Therefore, when we rid ourselves of selfish desires, likes and dislikes, and in doing so slay the ego, we automatically develop firm devotion or bhakti towards Ishvara.
 
As our devotion increases, our mind’s tendency to jump from one thought to the other slows down, settling into the one thought of Ishvara. We can then meditate on the form of Ishvara as the supreme, divine person or parama purusha. All the energy that would normally have been wasted in selfish thinking and action is available to us now. We can channel this reservoir of energy towards meditation.
 
So therefore, if we use these instructions to develop the daily habit of meditating upon Ishvara, we will naturally and easily remember Ishvara when it is time for us to leave this world. The key thing, of course, is not to forcibly practice meditation, but to gradually ease into it as our level of devotion to Ishvara increases.
 
With this shloka, Shri Krishna concludes the topic of meditation on Ishvara’s form. The topic of meditation on Ishvara’s name is taken up next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 8, Chapter 8

05 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by in 8.8, abhyaasa, anuchintayan, anyagaaminaa, chapter 8 verse 8, chetasaa, divyam, na, paartha, paramam, purusham, yaati, yoga, yuktena

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abhyaasayogayuktena chetasaa naanyagaaminaa |
paramam purusham divyam yaati paarthaanuchintayan || 8 ||
 
With the mind engaged in constant practice of yoga, not diverting from it, contemplating the supreme divine person, (one) attains (him), O Paartha.
 
abhyaasa : constance practice
yoga : yoga
yuktena : engaged in
chetasaa : mind
na : not
anyagaaminaa : diverting from
paramam : supreme
purusham : person
divyam : divine
yaati : attains
paartha : O Paartha
anuchintayan : contemplating
 
Now that we know that the ultimate goal is upaasana, or constant meditation on Ishvara, how do we actually go about doing it? Shri Krishna described three kinds of meditation in the upcoming shlokas.
 
To perform upaasana, we need the support of either name or form, since it is extremely difficult to meditate upon something that is intangible. In the following three shlokas, Shri Krishna elaborates upon the technique of meditation on form. Here, he recalls the technique that was presented to us in the sixth chapter – abhyaasa yoga. In this technique, the mind is trained to focus exclusively on one thing. If it diverts to something else, then we bring it back to our object of meditation.
 
So then, what is the form that we meditate upon? We can meditate upon any form that we have a closeness to. It could be Lord Rama, Krishna, Hanuman or any deity. The deity should come to our mind effortlessly. There is no compulsion to chose one over the other. But as discussed earlier, we should be clear that the deity is an indicator or pointer to Ishvara, the supreme divine person being the words used in this shloka. We should not get stuck at the level of the deity we have chosen.
 
For those of us who are not so familiar with these deities, we can read scriptures like the Puraanaas that have wonderful stories describing the lives and exploits of these deities. Growing up in India, our generation was fortunate to read Amar Chitra Katha comics that presented these stories in a format that appealed to us as kids. They are available all over the world now.
 
As we increase our prowess in meditation, our notion of Ishvara also grows. To help us meditate upon Ishvara in all his grandeur, Shri Krishna gives us a pointer to this type of meditation in the next shloka that describes the form of the param purusha, the supreme being.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 9, Chapter 4

30 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by in 4.9, arjuna, cha, chapter 4 verse 9, deham, divyam, eti, evam, janma, karma, me, na, punah, sah, tattvataha, tyaktvaa, vetti, yah

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janma karma cha me divyamevam yo vetti tattvataha |
tyaktvaa deham punarjanma naiti maameti sorjuna || 9 ||

My birth and action are divine. One who knows this in essence, having given up the body, is not born again; he obtains me, O Arjuna.

janma : birth
karma : action
cha : and
me : my
divyam : divine
evam : in this way
yah : one who
vetti : knows
tattvataha : in essence
tyaktvaa : give up
deham : body
punah, janma : rebirth
na : does not
eti : obtain
maam : me
eti : obtain
sah : he
arjuna : O Arjuna

In the last two shlokas, Shri Krishna gave the reason for his avataara. Now the question arises: how does this knowledge help the spiritual seeker? He says that once we understand the secret of Ishvaraa’s birth and action, we will understand the secret of our action as well.

What is the secret of Ishvaraa’s birth and action? It looks to us that Ishvaraa is born, and that Ishvaraa performs action. But that is not the case. Through the power of Ishvaraa’s Maaya, it only looks like Ishvaraa takes birth and performs action. It is just an illusion. As we have seen earlier, the eternal essence does not perform action, only prakriti – also called maaya – performs action.

Now, the jeeva within us is identified with the body, mind and intellect. Its birth is based on past karmaas. It performs karmaas with a sense of doership. In other words, it thinks that it is performing actions. But from the standpoint of the eternal essence, there is no doership or enjoyership. It is prakriti alone that acts. Just like Ishvaraa does not perform action, the jeeva also does not perform action. The jeeva is one with Ishvaraa.

So therefore, one who truly and completely understands this point will drop identification with his body, and begin identifying with the eternal essence. That is what is meant by the phrase “deham tvaktvaa”: the jeeva has stopped identification of the body.

Here, academic knowledge is not enough. We need a first-hand understanding that prakriti performs actions and not the eternal essence. That first-hand understanding can only be gained through meditation, which is explained later in the Gita.

A simple way to understand the teaching so far is as follows. The individual jeeva is like a wave in the ocean. Ishvaraa is like the ocean. The eternal essence or brahman is water. Once the wave realizes that it is the same water as Ishvaraa, it is free from the limitations of its tiny form.