Category Archives: sarvataha

Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 13

14 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by in 13.13, aavritya, akshishiromukham, chapter 13 verse 13, loke, paanipaadam, sarvam, sarvataha, shrutimat, tat, tishthati

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sarvatahapaanipaadam tatsarvatokshishiromukham |
sarvatahashrutimalloke sarvamaavritya tishthati || 13 ||
 
With hands and legs everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, it is established in all the worlds, pervading all.
 
sarvataha : everywhere
paanipaadam : hands and legs
tat : it
sarvataha : everywhere
akshishiromukham : eyes, heads and mouths
sarvataha : everywhere
shrutimat : eyes
loke : worlds
sarvam : everywhere
aavritya : pervading
tishthati : established
 
How does a child come to learn about electricity? The teacher does not directly tell him that “electricity is defined as a form of energy resulting from the existence of charged particles such as electrons or protons”. The teacher uses what the child already knows and imparts the knowledge to him step by step. So the teacher may first say that to the child: wherever you see bright light in a bulb, that is electricity. Once the child has grasped this concept, then the teacher may say: wherever you see wires connected, that is electricity. Slowly, as the child is able to understand the nuances of atoms and electrons, the teacher then reveals to him the technical definition.
 
Shri Krishna uses a similar process to gently reveal the nature of brahman, the eternal essence, also known as “jnyeyam” or the knowable, to us. Now, it is quite easy for us to see action and sentience – the power to experience things – in living creatures everywhere. So Shri Krishna says that wherever we see action in living beings, symbolically represented by the phrase “hands and legs”, we should recognize the presence of the eternal essence. Furthermore, wherever we see sentience in living beings, symbolically represented by the phrase “eyes, heads, mouths and ears”, we should recognize the presence of the eternal essence.
 
Going back to the example of the child learning electricity, the child may sometimes think that the electricity in a bulb is different than the electricity in a fan, or that the bulb limits the flow of electricity to the fan. To remove any similar misconceptions about the eternal essence, Shri Krishna says that the eternal essence pervades everywhere. In other words, it is only one eternal essence that is functioning through the organs of knowledge and action of all living creatures in all of the worlds, and that one organ does not limit the functioning of the eternal essence in another organ.
 
An example commonly used to illustrate this notion is that of space and pot-space. The space that is in a clay pot and the space outside it is the same. But just because the walls of the pot surround it, we label the space inside as “pot-space”. The pot is a classic example of an upaadhi, something that as though limits the space in it, but does not do so in reality. Space, then, pervades all pots. Similarly, the organs of all living creatures may seem to limit the eternal essence, but not so in reality.
 
Having established the starting point for realizing the eternal essence, Shri Krishna goes one step further in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 40, Chapter 11

23 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in 11.40, amitavikramaha, anantaveerya, asi, astu, atha, chapter 11 verse 40, eva, namaha, prishtataha, purastaat, samaapnoshi, sarvaha, sarvam, sarvataha, tataha, te, tvam

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namaha purastaadatha prishtataste namostu te sarvata eva sarva |
anantaveeryaamitavikramastvam sarvam samaapnoshi tatosi sarvaha || 40 ||
 
Salutations to you from before and behind. Indeed, let there be salutations to you everywhere, O one with infinite power, O one with infinite valour. You pervade all, therefore you are everything.
 
namaha : salutations
purastaat : before
atha : and
prishtataha : behind
te : you
namaha : salutations
astu : may there be
te : you
sarvataha : everywhere
eva : indeed
sarvaha : all
anantaveerya : infinite power
amitavikramaha : infinite valour
tvam : you
sarvam : all
samaapnoshi : pervade
tataha : therefore
asi : you are
sarvaha : everything
 
Arjuna, wielder of Lord Shiva’s Gaandiva bow, was universally regarded as one of the foremost archers of his time. So far, he thought that it was his might and power that was defeating the Kauravas. But now, after beholding the cosmic form, his pride had dropped completely. In this shloka, he acknowledged that his power and valour came from Ishvara, and that he was only the “nimitta”, the instrument for channeling that power.
 
Now, we have seen ten chapters of the Gita. Each chapter is called a “yoga”, because it takes us higher and higher in our spiritual journey if we can understand and implement its teaching. In the previous chapter, Shri Krishna wanted Arjuna to see the one Ishvara in all beings, to see unity in diversity. In this chapter, he wanted Arjuna to see all beings in that one Ishvara, to see diversity ultimately subsumed into unity. Shri Krishna’s goal was fulfilled when Arjuna realized the truth expounded in the Upanishads, declaring here that Ishvara pervades everything, and that he ultimately is everything.
 
So when he recognized Ishwara as the infinite source of all power and valour, and in fact, the ultimate source and cause of everything, Arjuna could not help but repeatedly offer salutations to that cosmic form. But as we saw earlier, he had lost all notions of space and direction. He did not know what was north or south, or what was up or down. So giddy was his state of mind that he wanted to offer salutations to Ishvara from the front, back and all directions.
 
Offering our salutations to Ishvara, also known as “vandanam”, is considered one of nine methods of worship. Shree Ramdas Samartha has devoted an entire section of the Dasbodh to describe the glories of vandanam. He considers it one of the simplest and most effective tools to connect with Ishvara. By its very nature, offering salutations or bowing to someone automatically eliminates our ahankaara, our ego, the primary obstacle to connecting with Ishvara.
 
Having understood the purpose of the cosmic form, Arjuna began to ask for Shri Krishna’s forgiveness next.
 
Footnotes
1. Vandanam is elaborated in the fifth section of the fourth chapter of the Dasbodh.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 17, Chapter 11

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in 11.17, aprameyam, arkadyutim, cha, chakrinam, chapter 11 verse 17, deeptaanala, deeptimantam, durnireekshyam, gadinam, kireeteenam, pashyaami, samantaat, sarvataha, tejoraashim, tvaam

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kireeteenam gadinam chakrinam cha tejoraashim sarvato deeptimantam |
pashyaami tvaam durnireekshyam samantaadyeeptaanalaarkadyutimaprameyam || 17 ||
 
I see you with a crown, mace and discus, glowing with an abundance of brilliance everywhere. The blazing fire of sunlight from all sides makes you incomprehensible, difficult to perceive.
 
kireeteenam : with crown
gadinam : with mace
chakrinam : with discus
cha : and
tejoraashim : abundance of brilliance
sarvataha : everywhere
deeptimantam : glowing
pashyaami : I see
tvaam : you
durnireekshyam : difficult to perceive with eye
samantaat : from all sides
deeptaanala : blazing fire
arkadyutim : sunlight
aprameyam : incomprehensible
 
As he saw more aspects of the cosmic form, Arjuna realized that he could also see divinity in that form, not just the material world. The mace and discus that he saw are weapons of Lord Vishnu. They symbolize spiritual discipline and the destructive power of time, respectively. Another symbol of Lord Vishnu is the conch, which symbolizes a call to action and a rebuke against lethargy. Arjuna also sees a crown because Ishvara is the ultimate commander and does not move under the control of any selfish desires.
 
“The blazing fire of sunlight”, “abundance of brilliance everywhere” – these poetic phrases convey the light of the eternal essence that Arjuna saw in the cosmic form. It is the same eternal essence that resides within all of us, but is covered with a layer of avidya or ignorance. As we have seen earlier, the eternal essence inside us enables our mind, intellect, senses and body to function. Ishvara, the purest embodiment of the eternal essence, shines like an infinite number of suns, without anything to obstruct its brilliance.
 
Now, no matter how hard he tried, Arjuna was not able to accurately capture his experience in words. This is because the eternal experience is not an object that can be perceived with the senses and described by our mind and intellect. He admits this limitation of his mind by declaring that the cosmic form is “aprameyam”, it is incomprehensible.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 16, Chapter 11

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in 11.16, aadim, anantaroopam, aneka, antam, baahuhu, chapter 11 verse 16, madhyam, na, netram, pashyaami, punaha, sarvataha, tava, tvaam, udaraha, vaktra, vishvaroopa, vishveshvara

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anekabaahoodaravaktranetram pashyaami tvaam sarvatonantaroopam
naantam na madhyam na punastavaadim pashyaami vishveshvara vishvaroopa || 16 ||
 
I see you with numerous hands, bellies, mouths and eyes, with infinite forms from all sides. I see no end, middle and beginning of you, O lord of the universe, O cosmic form.
 
aneka : numerous
baahuhu : hands
udaraha : bellies
vaktra : mouths
netram : eyes
pashyaami : I see
tvaam : you
sarvataha : from all sides
anantaroopam : infinite forms
na : no
antam : end
madhyam : middle
punaha : and
tava : your
aadim : beginning
pashyaami : I see
vishveshvara : O lord of the universe
vishvaroopa : O cosmic form
 
Arjuna, in his hasty speech, fleshes out the detailed imagery of Ishvara’s cosmic form. He now sees an infinite number of forms, but his mind cannot in any way comprehend or point out what is being seen. It is only able to process parts of this image – hands, mouths, eyes and so on, but is not able to make sense of the whole picture. The fable of the blind men who could only touch parts of the elephant comes to mind here. One blind man thought that the trunk was a rope, the ear was a sieve and so on, but they did not realize that they were touching an elephant.
 
When Arjuna could not figure out how the various eyes, hands, bellies and mouth fit together, he tried to see whether the entire cosmic form had a shape or an outline to it. As a warrior, he was trained to look at a gigantic military formation and make sense of it based on its shapre. But his mind failed there as well. He was not able to locate where that cosmic form began, where its middle was, and where it ended. All our mental functions are useless when we cannot distinguish one thing from another.
 
We may be tempted to visualize the cosmic form based on some artistic rendition of this shloka that we would have seen in our childhood, especially when we were growing up in India. Most paintings of this shloka show Shri Krishna as a tall entity with many arms, legs and faces but we can still see the battlefield where he is standing on. However, Arjuna was completely engulfed and surrounded by this cosmic form in all three dimensions, “from all sides” as the shloka reads. It is impossible for a human to visualize and capture it accurately in a painting.
 
Through this shloka, Shri Krishna reveals the limitations of the mind with its tendency to chop up everything into fragments. It fails to understand Ishvara’s mind which is operating at the cosmic level. Our thoughts are limited to what we consider “me” and “mine”, but Ishvara’s thoughts take the entire universe into account. Furthermore, it also indicates that all names and forms arise from Ishvara and merge back into Ishvara.