Shloka # 17:

कथं विद्यामहं योगिंस्त्वां सदा परिचिन्तयन्।
केषु केषु च भावेषु चिन्त्योऽसि भगवन्मया।।10.17।। 

O Yogi, [Here yoga stands for the results of yoga, viz omniscience, omnipotence, etc.; one possessed of these is a yogi. (See Comm. on 10.7)] how shall I know You by remaining ever-engaged in meditation? And through what objects, O Lord, are You to be meditated on by me?

Continuing his teaching, Swamiji said, in the first eleven shlokas of Vibhuti Yoga Sri Krishna talked about unique nature of god where he becomes the intelligent cause as well as material cause of creation.

Since the Lord is the intelligent cause of this creation, we come to know that the cause is chetana tatvam, because the intelligence cause should have intelligence and to have an intelligence it should be a sentient being, and therefore Lord being the intelligent cause, God has got the omniscience and also omnipotence or the skill, to create this universe.

But the second unique feature that Sri Krishna pointed out that God himself is the material cause also because of which we come to know that God has the potentiality to manifest as the very Universe. It is like a seed manifests as a tree.

And this first power of Omnipotence and the Omniscience is technically called Yogashakti and the manifestation of the Lord in the form of the creation is called Vibhuthi. And thus God is called yoga and vibhuthi; yoga referring to the Omniscience and Omnipotence by which He is the intelligent cause, and Vibhuthi means the potentiality or the capacity by which the Lord manifests as the manifold Universe.

This topic was also discussed in chapter # 10. Sri Krishna says there is no special effort needed to see God; whatever you are seeing is god alone. So when I am seeing a bangle; I am having svarna darshanam; When I seeing a chain, I am having svarna darshanam; when I am seeing a ring, I am having svarana darshanam, because svarna happens to be the material cause of all these three; extending the same principle, whatever effect in this creation I experience, whether it is akasha, agni or vayu; jalam or prithvi, I am having Ishvara darshanam; when I am seeing akasha, I am having Ishvara darshanam; whenever I am seeing vayu, whenever I am seeing agni as well. In fact I am at every time, in every place having Ishvara Darshanam. I am constantly having Ishvara darshanam only; if only I know this fact that Ishvara is the very substance behind this creation.   For a virat bhakta every place is a temple as he sees god everywhere. Thus, he is a devotee in every place. He is a devotee in all places at all times.

So this conversion of the temporary devotee into a permanent devotee is a very big transformation, which is result of vishva rupa appreciation.  And once I am a permanent devotee, then my very response to situations in life will be different. Naturally raga and dvesha will be heavily neutralized and therefore mental disturbances also will come down. In fact such a virat bhaktha will become sadhana chatushtaya sampannah, effortlessly. And once he has got that sadhana chatushtaya sampannah, he will have only one goal in life. It is to recognize the next higher stage of Ishvara, moving from virat Ishvara to nirguna Ishvara. To remind you, we have discussed before, ekarupa Isvara, aneka rupa Ishvara and arupa Ishvara. Both stages are very important transformations and not that easy to accomplish. Once first conversion is over from ekarupa bhaktha to aneka rupa bhaktha then to come to nirguna Gyanam is not easy; but Sri Krishna promises, “my assistance will be there; I will cooperate with you; I will make sure that his mind is a fit mind. And if guru is required, I will send one; if shastram sravanam is required, I will provide the opportunity; every thing I will do, until the nirguna Ishvara Gyanam takes place, which alone will give liberation.”   Thus Sri Krishna has completed his presentation of Eka rupa, Aneka rupa and Arupa rupa Bhakti.

And now Arjuna asks a question from shloka No.12 up to shloka No.18, which we are seeing now. Arjuna is interested in knowing more about Vishvarupa Isvara. Of course Sri Krishna has pointed out that everything in the creation is Bhagavan’s manifestation alone; Lord plus nama rupa is equal to creation; but even though everything is the manifestation of the Lord, certain things in the creation are more attractive to us than others.

Thus, both a baby elephant and a cockroach are both god’s manifestation. But we find a cockroach repulsive while we love a baby elephant. It is not surprising that Arjuna wants to hear about glorious, attractive things in creation be it from humans, flowers, animals etc. All have attractive things within their groups. Arjuna wants to know them so that he can focus on attractive things. He can use attractive object as a symbol of totality. Our eyes are limited in visualizing totality; so I take a finite symbol in meditation, just as we salute the flag for a country. Such a symbol is called alambanam. There are two types of alambanam.

Pratima almbanam: are figures representing gods such as Rama, Krishna etc.

Pratika alambanam: Shaligram, Shiva linga, Turmeric powder, flame of a lamp etc are examples of ways to visualize the abstract. Mother, Father, Guru, and Gyani are also used as alambanam.

So, Sri Krishna, give me a list. By this upasana I will see god everywhere. Citing an example, say I want to jump into a river. The right way to go into river is to first pray to the river god and then walk in. Same with eating food, we should first make it an offering to God then eat the food. This way we try to see god everywhere.

Shloka # 18:

विस्तरेणात्मनो योगं विभूतिं च जनार्दन।
भूयः कथय तृप्तिर्हि श्रृण्वतो नास्ति मेऽमृतम्।।10.18।।

O Janardana, narrate to me again [In addition to what has been said in the seventh and ninth chapters.] Your own yoga and (divine) manifestations elaborately. For, while hearing (Your) nectar-like (words), there is no satiety in me.

Arjuna glorified Sri Krishna before asking his favor. Sri Krishna is happy with the glorification. Arjuna asks, O Sri Krishna, constant petition receiver of people, Janaradana, may you enumerate your own Yoga Shakti to become the whole universe.

The mango seed has the potentiality to become only mango tree; it cannot become coconut tree; so also with milk it has the potentiality to give you only butter; but it cannot give you oil. Thus everything in the creation has a limited potential; we also have our own potential; but the greatness of Bhagavan’s potential is that he has the potentiality to become the whole cosmos.

Suppose you have potential to sing, how to know it?  From your singing I come to know your potential.   Therefore yoga is always anumeyam; inferred;

Bhagavan has got infinite power; how do I know this; because he has created this world; the world is the testimony; world is the signature of the Lord; so from the world I know Bhagavan’s yoga; which is nothing but the maya Shakti; yoga is nothing but the maya only;

Thus, Yoga Shakti also means Maya Shakti. Shankaracharya in his commentary says, Yoga here means it is a combination of three gunas; Satva, Rajas and Tamas; hence called yoga.

Vibhuti means when potential is expressed or manifested, it is known as vibhuti and also known as pratyaksham. Arjuna adds, “Please teach me elaborately as well.”

Now Sri Krishna may feel bad as he has already enumerated his glories before in Ch 7 and Ch 9. Keeping this in mind, Arjuna adds, I remember you have taught this before but I like to hear it once more. I am never bored listening to this topic of Ishwara Vibhuti which is amrutam. May you repeat the topic in detail.

Shloka # 19:

श्री भगवानुवाच

हन्त ते कथयिष्यामि दिव्या ह्यात्मविभूतयः।
प्राधान्यतः कुरुश्रेष्ठ नास्त्यन्तो विस्तरस्य मे।।10.19।।

The Blessed Lord said O best of the Kurus, now, according to their importance, I shall described to you My own glories, which are indeed divine. There is no end to my manifestations.

Sri Krishna spoke:

With previous shloka Arjuna’s request is over. Now Sri Krishna accepts his request. Sri Krishna does not mind

talking about his own glory. After all, Vedanta is also about talking about God’s Self-alone. The word Hanta in shloka means Very well. So Sri Krishna says, very well, I shall enlist my glories that are extraordinary. Even ordinary things of god are extraordinary; they are laukika vibhuti and Sri Krishna says if I have to enumerate them; it would be endless and therefore I am only going to talk about; Divya Vibhuti; extra ordinary glories of Mine, which can serve as a symbol.

Thus, Taittiriya Upanishad describes each organ of body and their respective glories. Even organ of evacuation is glorified; we realize its glory when it does not work or works too much.

You should not take even your winking faculty for granted; that is yet another beautiful gift. In everything, I should see the glory; as everything is Bhagavan’s glory; but we are only going to take the extraordinary ones.

Even extraordinary glories are innumerable, so Sri Krishna says; I will choose a few of them as there is no limit to my glories as it consists of the whole universe.

Thus, O Arjuna, among the Kuru people you are also glorious and even you can become a symbol of meditation.

 Shloka # 20:

अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थितः।
अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च।।10.20।।

O Gudakesa, I am the Self residing in the hearts of all beings, and I am the beginning and the middle as also the end of (all) beings.

The list begins with this shloka and continues till Shloka # 38. He wants to first talk of Nirguna Brahman. Sri Krishna wants to first talk about the Vibhuthi of Bhagavan as Nirgunam brahma, which is the subtlest and which is the highest order of reality.

Chaitanyam is the fundamental glory of God as it makes every living being alive. I am Chaitanya swarupam. So mediation should be on,“ I am alive”. This also indicates respect for life. This also leads to Ahimsa Paramo Dhrama.

Because I see every living being as endowed with God’s gift of life and therefore I revere life. Therefore my aim is to avoid himsa; or at least minimize himsa; even non-vegetarianism is condemned; and vegetarianism is glorified because of the fundamental principle of reverence for any form of life. Therefore first glory is chaitanyam.

Nirguna Ishwara Vibhuti is the very existence principle. Thus when we say the chair is or pen is, the “is ness” is borrowed from material cause. The effect exists borrowing from cause. Cause is manifesting in effect as very existence or “is ness”. Thus, God being cause and world being effect, God is the “is ness”. When creation resolves, existence goes back to God.

Citing an example, an effect exists only by borrowing existence from the cause, an effect does not have its own existence; If an effect has got its own existence; then cause will be sitting there; thus, gold will be sitting there separately as will the bangle, which does not happen. Reality is wherever bangle is; gold must be there as well, because the very Is_ness of the bangle is the blessing of gold.

Similarly, Bhagavan being the cause, world being the effect, it is Bhagavan manifesting in the world as the very existence.

So the two main glories of Bhagavan are Chidrupa Vibhuthi; and Sat rupa Vibhuthi; so Sri Krishna starts with chid rupa Vibhthi in shloka No.20 and He concludes with sadrupa Vibhuthi in shloka No.39. So best form of meditation is sat chid rupam, to see Lord everywhere.

Usually when these two glories are talked about it is difficult to comprehend them. So, Sri Krishna now comes to concrete objects.

He says, O Gudakesha, for you who are a sharp student the ideal meditation will be the consciousness which we have described often before. Do you remember the description of consciousness? Consciousness is not a part; property or product of the body, consciousness is an independent entity pervading the body and enlivening the body; consciousness is not limited by the boundaries of the body, and consciousness survives even when the body dissolves. On such an abstract-formless-colorless-dimensionless-consciousness, I hope you can meditate upon.

And that is why I am giving you the title of gudakesha, means satvik one;( gudaka means tamo guna; or nidra; or a dull of intellect; isa means the master; the one who has conquered the dullness or tamo guna; which means the one who is satvik in nature; And therefore Arjuna, you look upon Me as the very consciousness.

And where is this consciousness? It is there in the mind of every living being; means abiding, indwelling, residing; even in animals and plants; therefore, in my mind also Bhagavan is there in the form of atma, the witness consciousness. This witness consciousness witnesses the presence of thoughts, as well as the absence of thoughts. When I say I have thoughts, I am aware of my thoughts; and when you say my mind is blank, the awareness of blankness is also because of that chaitanyam. That very chaitanyam I am; so; so this is Chidrupa Vibhuthi.

Take away:

In this chapter one more method is given to us as to how to seek God. The best form of meditation is to see god in everything, including all beings.  This witness consciousness, Chaitanyam, witnesses the presence of thoughts as well as the absence of thoughts.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 12:

अर्जुन उवाच
परं ब्रह्म परं धाम पवित्रं परमं भवान्।
पुरुषं शाश्वतं दिव्यमादिदेवमजं विभुम्।।10.12।।

Arjuna said You are the supreme Brahman, the supreme Light, the supreme Sanctifier. All the sages as also the divine sage Narada, Asita, Devala and Vyasa [Although Narada and the other sages are already mentioned by the words ‘all the sages’, still they are named separately because of their eminence. Asita is the father of Devala.] call You the eternal divine Person, the Primal God, the Birthless, the Omnipresent; and You Yourself verily tell me (so).

Continuing his teaching Swamiji said, Sri Krishna has given us the essence of Vibhuti Yoga in the first eleven shlokas that we have covered. Main points discussed were: Lord is the material cause of the universe, by which the Lord meant that Bhagavan alone is manifesting as the universe. This is because the material cause alone expresses as the product. And by which Sri Krishna indirectly points out that there is no thing called world; there is no substance called world; because there is no product at all, substantial, separate from the cause. Cause alone is the only substance, effect is nothing but name and rope; name and form added to the cause; which means since the world is a product of the Lord which has emerged from the Lord, Lord is the only substance and appearing as the world with varieties of name rope.

 Appreciating the world as manifestation of God is vishwarupam or virat rupam. In Vishwa rupam Lord’s body is the universal world. Virat rupam is where Lord appears in his manifold forms. Thus, gold can be called as virat as it appears as bangle, ring and chain. So also god appears as Akasha, Vayu, Agni etc. One who appreciates this fact is virat bhakta. For him a special temple is not required to express his bhakti; his bhakti is always with god, in his mind, everywhere. Such a person is known as nithya yuktaha. For such a bhakta, Nirguna Brahma Gyanam is a lot closer.

For those people who are worshipping personal God, nirguna gyanam is farther. From personal God, one cannot reach nirgunam Brahma, there is an intermediary step and it is learning to appreciate the universe, as the manifestation of the Lord; which means I have got to have an expanded mind.

Only such a mind can discover that substratum of entire universe. Lord says, for a Virat Bhakta I will provide all help in attaining nirguna gyanam. Thus all three visions of Eka Rupa, Aneka Rupa and Arupa bhakti have been discussed in first eleven shlokas.

However, Arjuna wants an enumeration of god’s glories. From shloka # 12 to # 18 is the presentation of Arjuna’s request to Sri Krishna. He wants an exhaustive enumeration of God’s glories. Before asking a favor he starts with praise. The mantra Rudram for Lord Shiva also starts with a praise to make Shiva happy and then it presents God with a list of demands that comes in the Chamakam section of the mantra. Chamakam is chanted fast so that God does not get bored with the list of demands. After a shruti then one asks for boons. Arjuna also does the same with Sri Krishna. He says you are supreme Brahman, Param Dhama, the consciousness priniciple; Param pavitram the scared principle; You are the Ananda swarupam which is why you are scared.

Shloka # 12: Second line of shloka:

Arjuna is not sure of nirguna Brahman as he has not experienced it. He says, great people declare that you are indweller of every living being; you are the sentiency of all organs of body; Pursuha shasvatha: You are eternal indweller of the human body; Divyam: You are chetana tatvam; body and mind are inert by nature; they function due to chaitanyam, that is You, the self evident consciousness; Adi Daivam:  You are primal god from whom other gods have arisen. You are one who was never born, you are fatherless; Vibhum: You are located everywhere.

Shoka # 13:

आहुस्त्वामृषयः सर्वे देवर्षिर्नारदस्तथा।
असितो देवलो व्यासः स्वयं चैव ब्रवीषि मे।।10.13।।

Arjuna said You are the supreme Brahman, the supreme Light, the supreme Sanctifier. All the sages as also the divine sage Narada, Asita, Devala and Vyasa [Although Narada and the other sages are already mentioned by the words ‘all the sages’, still they are named separately because of their eminence. Asita is the father of Devala.] call You the eternal divine Person, the Primal God, the Birthless, the Omnipresent; and You Yourself verily tell me (so).

Arjuna says he gathered all this information from scriptures as declared by Rishi’s. A Rishi here means a Gyani. A rishi can even be a Grahasta Gyani. They declare as in shloka # 12: the Rishis of heaven, Deva Rishi’s, also said the same. One such Rishi was Narada, who spreads his knowledge while traveling. Other sages such as Ashita, Devala, Vyasa, all say the same as well. You also have declared as much, so and I have full shradha in you; you will never mislead me. Therefore, You are Brahman, you are param brahma param dhama pavithram, etc.

Shloka # 14:

सर्वमेतदृतं मन्ये यन्मां वदसि केशव।
न हि ते भगवन् व्यक्ितं विदुर्देवा न दानवाः।।10.14।।

O Kesava, I accept to be true all this which You tell me. Certainly, O Lord, neither the gods nor the demons comprehend Your glory.

Arjuna says, whatever glories have been enumerated I accept them as true. In the shloka Rtam means stayam. I cant cross check your teachings as local people don’t know your glory. Even gods (Indra, varuna etc) don’t know your glory.

And this we have seen in Kenopanishad when devas were celebrating victory over asuras, Lord wanted to reveal their limitations; therefore appeared in a mysterious Yaksha form and all the devas could not know even who that Yaksha is; and we saw in the story; Vayu went and got humiliated; Agni went and got humiliated; Indra went and the Yaksha itself disappeared; and all of them understood that we all have our own intellectual limitations. And thereafter Indra becomes humble and surrenders; I can never know the truth with the help of the limited intellect, because our intellects are meant to know only the finite thing, existing within time and space.

How to know truth beyond time and space? How can asuras know as well? So, who knows your glory? Only you know your glory. So, please describe your glories.

Shloka # 15:

स्वयमेवात्मनाऽत्मानं वेत्थ त्वं पुरुषोत्तम।
भूतभावन भूतेश देवदेव जगत्पते।।10.15।।

O supreme Person, the Creator of beings, the Lord of beings, God of gods, the Lord of the worlds, You Yourself alone know Yourself by Yourself.

Here interestingly Arjuna is increasing the number of names and forms of God; such as purushottama, jagatpate, bhuta bhavana etc. all these names are used to reveal god’s glories.

Purushottama is a technical word; which will be explained in the 15th chapter, wherein Krishna divides the entire universe into three: kshara purusha; akshara purusha and uttama purusha.

Kshara purusha means manifest matter; or matter,

Akshara purusha is unmanifest matter or energy, and

Uttama purusha is the consciousness principle.

Thus the whole universe consists of only three; matter in tangible form; matter in intangible form, and the consciousness, which is different from both tangible and intangible matter. Tangible matter is called kshara purusha; intangible matter; Energy is intangible matter and is Akshara Purusha; and the consciousness is called Uttama Purusha; and Uttama Purusha reversed is Purushottama; Purushottama means the pure consciousness which is beyond matter.

And Oh Lord! you are not the physical body that I am seeing; your body is an incidental vesha; but the real You is nothing but pure consciousness; Oh

Purushottama you are chaitanya svarupa and chid rupa.

Bhutabhavana: means creator of entire universe of things; Creator of all. You are the consciousness principle from which the entire universe evolves.

Bhutesha: Controller of world. Omni potent one cannot only create but it can manage it as well.

Devadeva: Lord of all devatas; of all natural laws. Katho Upanishad says devatas function purely due to your control alone.

Jagat Pathe:  jagat pathi means the protector of the world from those people who try to destroy the world:

Whenever there is a threat to this world, you yourselves find out methods of protecting this world; therefore jagatpate.

You alone know yourself completely; others don’t.

And how did you come to know; who was your guru. If Lord requires another guru; then the next question will be who is his guru. Therefore Arjuna says you know, not because of any guru, but you know by yourselves. So Lord was never ignorant to become a gyani. All the other people were agyanis; were born agyanis and they struggle, went to a guru; and studied repeatedly and at last somehow they become gyanis; but in the case of Lord; he never became gyani. So you are Sarvajnaha. Therefore you know yourselves by yourselves; and therefore you are the best person; tell me the details.

Shloka # 16:

वक्तुमर्हस्यशेषेण दिव्या ह्यात्मविभूतयः।
याभिर्विभूतिभिर्लोकानिमांस्त्वं व्याप्य तिष्ठसि।।10.16।।

Be pleased to speak in full of Your own manifestations which are indeed divine, through which manifestations You exist pervading these worlds.

Upto shloka # 15 it was glorification of God. Now Arjuna starts asking favors. He asks Sri Krishna humbly, to teach him all his glories and manifestations, his extraordinary glories.

Even walking is a glory; you realize it when you see a handicapped person. Citing a story, a man said he was very poor. He was taken to an organ transfer center. There every organ had a price and when he calculated he had between Rs 15 lacs and 20 lacs worth organs. You are a rich man. You are the richest man in the world; but we take the organs for granted because from birth it is there; and it is all money.

Arjuna asks the favor, I want you to enumerate the extraordinary glories with which you pervade the universe. Why does he ask this favor?

Shloka # 17:

कथं विद्यामहं योगिंस्त्वां सदा परिचिन्तयन्।
केषु केषु च भावेषु चिन्त्योऽसि भगवन्मया।।10.17।।

O Yogi, [Here yoga stands for the results of yoga, viz omniscience, omnipotence, etc.; one possessed of these is a yogi. (See Comm. on 10.7)] how shall I know You by remaining ever-engaged in meditation? And through what objects, O Lord, are You to be meditated on by me?

Arjuna says I want this list of glories so that I can meditate on some of them. Every glorius object becomes an alambanam of god.

When we worship everything, in our culture, it means we worship god; thus, when we worship anything, we do not worship the thing by itself; but the thing symbolizes the Lord behind it, whether we worship the Sun, or moon, or trees or snake or river, each one becomes a pratheekam.

I can invoke you on one any one of the glorius objects and meditate. This is virat meditation on a symbol such as say a cow; the cow has many devatas in it and as such it is virat.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad starts with worship of a horse; here one sees totality of all organs in the horse. Benefit of virat upasana by vishwa rupa visualization is  that, I will come to know your higher nature. Even in sandhya vandanam we invoke god in water. Water is a glorius thing in creation. You see all gods, animals, and insects in that water. I invoke grace of God in that water. By doing this I will come to know your higher nature, arupa Ishwara, Nirguna Brahman. Nirguna gyanam is ultimate gyanam. And therefore Arjuna says, by meditating or visualizing the viswarupa in any glorious object, I will be able to come to nirgunam jnanam later; therefore give me a list.

And other people criticize saying Hinduism is confusing; we say for them alone this is a disadvantage. They have no form or one form; whether you like or not; you have to worship that. But in Hinduism you can take any form; and the Lord and prepare your mind and come to gain that knowledge and be free.

Take away:

Since the world is a product of the Lord, which has emerged from the Lord, Lord is the only substance and appearing as the world with varieties of name rope.

The whole universe consists of only three; matter in tangible form; matter in intangible form, and the consciousness, which is different from both tangible and intangible matter.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 8:

अहं सर्वस्य प्रभवो मत्तः सर्वं प्रवर्तते।
इति मत्वा भजन्ते मां बुधा भावसमन्विताः।।10.8।।

“I am the source of all things; all things proceed from Me”, so holding with deep loyalty to truth, the wise adore Me.

Continuing his teaching Swamiji said, after giving an introduction in the first three shlokas, God is presented as Ishwara Swarupam in shlokas 4-7. In Ishwara swarupam Sri Krishna says God is the intelligent and material cause of creation, meaning god has evolved into Universe. God had no external material available to create, so even the raw material is a part of his own self; thus God evolved into the universe. So what I see in universe is manifestation of God.

I need not put forth separate effort to have the darshan of the Lord. When I have got ornaments in my hand, I need not put forth separate effort to have the darshanam of the gold, because, the very ornament that I am handling, is the manifestation of gold. Gold darshanam does not require separate effort. Similarly when I have furniture in my hand, in front of me, I know that the wood alone is manifesting in the form of furniture, which means I need not put forth separate effort for wood darshanam, because the furniture darshanam, is itself wood darshanam.

Karya darshanam is always karana darshanam; because there is no karyam other than the karanam. And therefore for that person who has this wisdom, he does not feel like closing the eyes for getting the darshanam of the Lord.

Until we get this wisdom, we think Lord is somewhere else seated and I have to do tapas for the darshanam of the Lord; but once I have this wisdom, I know I need not close my eyes to have Ishvara darshanam. Whatever I am seeing is Ishvara alone; When I see bangle, I am seeing gold; when I am seeing ring, I am seeing gold similarly whatever I am seeing is Ishvara darshanam.

Once I have this wisdom I don’t have to close my eyes; every thing I see is God. This appreciation of God is called virat bhakti or vishwa rupa bhakti.

And for such a vishva rupa bhaktha; a temple is not required for invoking devotion; an immature mind, an uninformed mind, a scripturally illiterate mind requires a temple to invoke devotion; but for a vishva rupa bhaktha, whatever he sees can invoke devotion. And in fact, he will become the greatest karma yogi because, whatever experience comes from any part of the world, is an experience given by the Lord alone, because there is no world other than God. And therefore Sri Krishna talked about or is still talking about the virat bhaktha from verse No.8 up to verse No.11.

Virat Bhakta:

How does he look at world? He sees world as manifestation of God; he sees every experience as coming from God. “ I am source of every experience, sukham, dukham, labha alabha, jaya parajaya, mana apamana; all pairs of opposites, they are all coming from the Lord alone; with this awareness, they receive every experience and therefore they have no question or resistance with regard to any experience.

This non-resistance to experiences is called prasada buddhi; and this nonresistance is the healthiest attitude because, whatever experience arrives is a choiceless situation. With regard to future I can try to change the experiences; but with regard to the present, I can never change the experiences because it has already arrived. Therefore past is choiceless; present is also choiceless; we have a choice only with regard to future. At this moment you are in this room; you have no choice; but next minute, whether you are going to continue to sit here or walk out is your choice; future, there is choice; past there is no choice; it has arrived and gone; present also no choice; because it has arrived.

These bhaktas are informed people who realize that whole creation is a manifestation of God. They may not know the Nirguna Ishwara but vishwa rupa they know.

They are soaked in devotion. They know all glories in universe belong to God. All extraordinary capabilities are the glory of God. Devotion and appreciation is there in their every experience. Citing story of an astronaut who saw the earth from the moon and wrote: “…..and it came back loud and clear; there is no question in my mind that there is a creator of the universe; when you go to the moon, you have no other choice, than to believe in a creator; there is no other explanation”.

On the moon you believe in a creator. Did all this distract me from my work? Not really, you still want to steal a look at the earth and everything around you; What he says is: To appreciate God you need not drop your duties and work; if only you have a sensitive mind; even when you see a small ant or when you read the book sometime there will be a very, very, small insect running inside the book; I do

not know whether you have seen that; it would of the size of the tip of the needle; In fact, you cannot even brush it, because it will die; it is so small; now that small insect has got a mind, and it knows how to survive; how to procreate; how to eat; and if you put a hand in front of it, it will run away; within that dot, everything is available; Looking at that insect you can wonder at the glory of the Lord; Looking at a rose you can appreciate the Lord; Looking at the sky, you can appreciate the Lord; virat bhakthi does not require dropping your career or profession; it requires only a sensitized and informed mind;

Sri Krishna now describes such a mind. They want to talk of higher things alone.

Shloka # 9:

मच्चित्ता मद्गतप्राणा बोधयन्तः परस्परम्।
कथयन्तश्च मां नित्यं तुष्यन्ति च रमन्ति च।।10.9।।

With minds fixed on Me, life surrendered to Me, enlightening one another, speaking (only of Me), they find contentment always and rejoice.

Virat bhakta sees God in all experiences.

Physical eye will report only physical matter; like that

astronaut; His eyes saw only the earth; but his sensitive mind saw the Lord. Seeing is not the physical perception; but through the eye of maturity; through the eye of wisdom, he was able to discern the invisible organizing coordinating intelligent harmonizing principle. So thus for a bhaktha; God vision is not at a particular time; but at all the time; and therefore their mind is always fixed on Me; they cannot lose sight of Me; and their sense organs also fixed on Me. If they talk, it is also about Me by sharing their divine experiences. They even educate their children to see what can be seen by a wise mind. So education should be ‘elevating the mind to see what is not physically perceptible, but what can be appreciated by only a mature mind’.

Citing story of wife of a scientist she was crying and told him don’t you see my tears? He said I do see the Sodium Chloride with water coming down your eyes.  He could not see the emotion behind her tears. Similarly God is discerned not physically analyzed and arrived at. And therefore education is giving that mind which will discern the invisible God, behind the physical universe.

Because of their view of the world, they enjoy all the time. Advantage of this is that in this appreciation there is fulfillment. In family front, there may be failures; and in professional front there may be failures; but as long this appreciation is there, you never look upon your life as a failure; this will make the life a success; even if there are failures in other fronts; and therefore there is fulfillment, that I am able to appreciate the Lord.

They revel in appreciation that they have a sensitive mind to appreciate.

Shloka # 10:

तेषां सततयुक्तानां भजतां प्रीतिपूर्वकम्।
ददामि बुद्धियोगं तं येन मामुपयान्ति ते।।10.10।।

To them who are uninterruptedly united with Me and who lovingly adore Me, I grant that intellectual union by which they draw nigh to Me.

These bhaktas are ever connected to Me. Thus, a wave in ocean is related to ocean alone; it is born, it rests and it goes back into ocean alone; it is a fundamental relationship. Neighboring wave loves this wave. They marry and have family. But relationship between wave and another wave is incidental, while relationship between wave and ocean is fundamental. In life, other beings are like other waves. But my most sacred relationship is with god and it is forever.

A virat bhaktha is one who has understood that I am like a wave and Lord is like the ocean; and all the other human beings are like other waves only; So I while I may have several human relationships that are sacred but much more profound, much more sacred, much more fundamental; and much more universal is my relationship with the Lord. The human relationships can last for one lifetime. In the next life, same relationships may not exist. We don’t even know if we will be born as a human being in next birth. So therefore even the most sacred human relationship can last for only one life. So much more sacred is my relationship with the Lord; It does not mean we have to discard or disregard human relationship; but what scriptures say is human relationship should never be at the cost of relationship with the Lord; therefore that relationship should be revived through regular prayers; I should pray; Oh Lord! Let me not forget my relationship with you in my preoccupation with the incidental relationships.

Virat bhakta has a Tampura shruti playing all the time behind him. He will not go out of it. Thus, Ishwara sambandha is his background Sruti, hence called Satat Yukta; one who never forgets relationship with god. Devotion can’t be forced; it has to be known only by knowledge. Love can only be born of understanding and in no other way. You discover love due to understanding. The more you study scriptures the more you understand and the more you love.

There are several levels of Bhakti. Initially I look upon God as a means for worldly ends; it is business love; love used as a means of give and take, the lowest form of Bhakti. This is usually associated with manda bhaktas.

The next one is learning to look upon God as an end in itself; because God represents purnatvam; and once I know that purnatvam, I understand that my goal of life is self-fulfillment; self-sufficiency; and this is called madhyama bhakthi; and that is the bhakthi that these people enjoy, so they look upon the God as the goal itself.

Bhagavan says: For such people, I will help them; how will I help them. He does so by taking them to next stage, From Eka Rupa to Aneka Rupa to Arupa Ishwara. How to reach there? Only by Gyana Yoga. Sri Krishna says I will promote them to Budhi Yoga or Gyana yoga. Budhi here means Gyanam. This is where Vedanta sravanam, mananam, and nidhidhyasanam takes place. Through Gyana yoga they reach the ultimate Me; the nirguna Brahman. Sri Krishna says I will provide a Guru if required, as well as the shastra, as well. This will convert you to Nirguna Gyani.

Shloka # 11:

तेषामेवानुकम्पार्थमहमज्ञानजं तमः।
नाशयाम्यात्मभावस्थो ज्ञानदीपेन भास्वता।।10.11।।

Moved by compassion for those (devotees) and dwelling in their mental states, with the lustrous flame of knowledge, I destroy the darkness of ignorance.

Sri Krishna says I will light the lamp of wisdom in Viral Bhakta. This Gyanam will result in arupa ishwara gyanam or advaita gyanam. How can Sri Krishna light this lamp? Lighting lamp of knowledge is only possible through teaching. How long to teach? Until consistently systematically student understands the subject and all his doubts are removed. If a guru is not available God himself comes as guru, even as he did with Arjuna. All this he did due to his compassion. Anukampa means compassion.

What type of light is lit? Initially the flame is feeble; so you must protect it; then later you must fan it so that it conflagarates. At Sravanam the lamp is lit; one should not stop at sravanam, as the flame is still weak. It is strengthened by mananam and nidhidhyasanam.

By wisdom I will remove internal ignorance. Internal ignorance is evident in gloom on face of a person; it will go away and the face will bloom with joy.

Virat Bhakta will become a Brahma Gyani without which no moksha is possible. If you surrender to Lord, he will provide the way to knowledge. He becomes a Gyani with support of God.

Shloka # 12:

अर्जुन उवाच
परं ब्रह्म परं धाम पवित्रं परमं भवान्।
पुरुषं शाश्वतं दिव्यमादिदेवमजं विभुम्।।10.12।। 

Arjuna now spoke.

Sri Krishna has talked about Ishwara swarupam, vishwa rupa bhakti or Virat bhakti and benefit of this bhakti, which is Brahma Gyanam. This Gyanam will lead to Moksha. With this his teaching is over. But now Arjuna raises some questions. From Shlokas # 12-# 18, the questions are raised, all based on Sri Krishna’s earlier comments in this chapter.

Sri Krishna said, “I am the cause of this universe. So, every glory is my glory. My glory manifests in every object.” Arjuna wants to know more about this divine glory, also known as Vibhuti. Arjuna wants details of Vibhuti.

Therefore Arjuna says: Originally you are Param Brahma; not only that Param Dhama as well, and you are the supreme light of consciousness. So dhama has the meaning of light also; dhama means abode also; both meanings are OK. You are the abode of the whole universe or you are the light of consciousness, chaitanya

svarupah.

You are most sacred, Parama Pavitram. Anything becomes holy due to association with God. A building is not holy, but once an idol is installed God’s holiness comes to building as well.

Even a saint is holy because of discovering Lord in himself. A fruit from a shop is just eaten while the same fruit from a puja, one places on both eyes due to its holiness that comes from God.

Parama pavitram means Lord is holy

Pursuhaha means you are indweller of human body, the sakshat chaitanyam

Shashvat means Eternal one; one who never dies.

Thus Arjuna gives a wonderful description of Ishvara to please Lord Krishna, because he is going to ask him for a favour.

Take away:

This non-resistance to experiences is called prasada buddhi.

Virat bhakthi does not require dropping your career or profession; it requires only a sensitized and informed mind.

Education is giving that mind which will discern the invisible God, behind the physical universe.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka 4 and 5:

बुद्धिर्ज्ञानमसंमोहः क्षमा सत्यं दमः शमः।
सुखं दुःखं भवोऽभावो भयं चाभयमेव च।।10.4।।

Intelligence, knowledge, non-delusion, endurance, truthfulness, sense control, mind control, pleasure, pain, being, non-being, fear and fearlessness.

अहिंसा समता तुष्टिस्तपो दानं यशोऽयशः।
भवन्ति भावा भूतानां मत्त एव पृथग्विधाः।।10.5।।

Non-violence, equanimity, contentment, penance, charity, renown, ill-fame–from Me alone these manifold states accrue to all beings.

Swamiji said we have entered chapter # 10 with the first three shlokas. Sri Krishna is introducing subject of Ishwara swarupam or nature of god. This is topic from Ch. # 7 onwards. First six chapters were about Jiva Swarupam. From Ch. # 7 onwards it is Ishwara swarupam that continues till Ch. # 10. In first three shlokas Sri Krishna talked about glory of Ishwara Swarupam. In shlokas 4 and 5 he has entered into topic of nature of God. God is defined as cause of the universe or jagat karanam.

And this jagat karanam status of the Lord itself is explained in the scriptures in three different ways, depending upon the intellectual level of the student. Jagat karanam explanation level No.1; jagat karanam explanation level No.2; jagat karanam explanation level No.3; This explanation will depend upon the intellectual caliber of the listener.

Level # 1:

Nimitha Karana Ishwara

God is creator of universe. He is omniscient, omnipotent creator who creates the creation. Here we imagine a creator like a jewel smith or a mason, an intelligent creator, as a person. Scriptures give many examples to support this; thus the four heads of god indicate a lot of knowledge and omniscience.  This is an initial introduction to creator.

Level 2:

Parinami upadana karana Ishwara

If god is creator what raw material did he use? A carpenter needs wood; a mason needs cement etc. Here scriptures say god alone was there in the beginning. There was no “ outside material” for him to use. As Creator, God finds raw materials in himself. So Lord himself evolves into universe. It is just like a seed evolves into a tree or as gold manifests itself as a chain. Now we say God himself evolves into universe or Lord manifests himself as Samsara. This is second level for the slightly advanced intellect. After being in madhyama budhi for some time he then evolves to level three.

Level Three:

Vivartha upadana karana ishwara

Since Lord is infinite and beyond time and space, there is no question of the Lord becoming the Universe. Because the language of becoming indicates transformation and transformation indicates limitation by time, since God is desha kala atithah, there is no possibility of Lord transforming into the universe; then what happens; Lord remaining changeless; the Lord appears as the universe: without really undergoing transformation, retaining his absolute nature, the Lord appears as this world, Just as we, at the time of dreaming, continue to remain as the waker on the bed, but in the dream, our mind gets transformed into the dream-time, the dream-space, the dream-object, the dream-transaction; the dream-nightmares, the dream-festivals; all are the waker himself who transforms without really undergoing any change.

So, I, the waker seemingly transform into dream and when I wake up the dream world gets resolved.

Just as I continue to remain as waker, and seemingly become pluralistic, transact, enjoy or suffer the dream, and when I wake up what happens, the whole dream world is resolved. And again I can project another dream world and again I can resolve. Even if hundreds of dreams I project and resolve, I continue to remain an undisturbed, untransformed and undestroyed individual,

So also God appears as world or Vivarta Upadana karanam Ishwara. Now in this chapter Sri Krishna is talking of a Level 2 Sadhaka. “I” evolve into universe; the internal universe of thoughts and external universe of objects both arise out of Me, says Sri Krishna. I alone become everything.

Shloka # 6:

महर्षयः सप्त पूर्वे चत्वारो मनवस्तथा।
मद्भावा मानसा जाता येषां लोक इमाः प्रजाः।।10.6।।

The seven great seers, the first four, and also the Manus were mind-born, endowed with My powers. These beings are their progeny.

Creation of external world is being discussed.

First seven rishis, Sapta Rishis, came, and they belonged to the Grihastha paramapara. Four other Rishis, Sanakadi Rishis, came after that though they followed the Sanyasi paramapara. As per scriptures seven rishis were:

Atri, Bhrgu, Kutsa, Vasishta, Gautama, Kashyapa and Angirasa.

Brahmaji came from Vishnu. Brahmaji, created, by his sankalpa, the manas putra. How to create by sankalpa? It is just as we create a dream world by our sankalpa or visualization.

The first four Rishi were:  Sanaka; Sananta, Sanatkumar; and Sanat Sujatha.

As per Brahmaji’s desire these four Rishis were expected to get married and beget more children. But they followed Brahmacharyam. Brahmaji was angry with them, which resulted in the Rudras. So, he created seven more Rishis; he also created the 14 Manus; each Manu presides over a manvantara. 71 manvantaras equal one Yuga. So far six manus have gone. We are in the seventh manvatara period presided by Vivasthaha. We are in 28th Chatur Yuga. That is why we are called manushya.

How was it created? It was born out of sankalpa of Brahmaji; each of them (manu’s) has same nature as of Brahmaji. We are also “ Aham Brahmasmi mat bhava”. Matbhava means nature; another meaning is devotion to Me. Out of 14 manus later human beings were born.

Shloka # 7:

एतां विभूतिं योगं च मम यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः।
सोऽविकम्पेन योगेन युज्यते नात्र संशयः।।10.7।।

Whoso knows this vast power and Yoga of Mine truly, will be endowed with the steady state of integration; there is no doubt about this.

In previous shloka it said Lord has potential (Shakti) to manifest as universe. This power of manifestation is called Maya Shakti or Yoga Shakti. Potential power is Maya. Potential power is dormant as such it is invisible. Butter in milk is not visible but we have to churn it out. This is Ishwara Yoga. Once potential manifests or becomes visible it is called Vibhuti (potential is hidden kinetic energy activated). So, seed becomes tree. Visible version of power is called Vibhuti; unmanifest is called Yoga.

My lecture is in my mind, invisible. Now when I am talking, potential becomes word, manifests itself as Vibhuti for many.  Thus, Shakaracahrya’s Bhashyam we read is Vibhuti. Universe we see is Vibhuti. At time of Pralaya everything is in potential form hence known as Yoga Nidra.

Thus, I have both potential and visible energy. Suppose a devotee knows this glory, for him god is not in Vaikunta rather for him god is everywhere.  “ God is nowhere”, said the atheist.  Someone changed it to. “God is now here”. This is virat Ishwara darshanam; aneka rupa Darshanam. One who knows this goes to next level of Ishwara darshanam. Next level is, God appears to have this form.

So yogaha means arupa Ishvara Gyanam; he will go to nirguna Ishvara Gyanam; which is the third level; And not only he will get arupa Ishvara Gyanam; avikampena; and it will be a strong conviction for him; formless God is the real God; and that real formless God assumes either one form or many forms; depending upon the devotee’s prayer; in whichever form, he wants to have darshanam; Bhagavan assumes that form; but really speaking; the Lord is arupa; And that arupa Ishvara is called avikampa; avikampa means what; unshaken knowledge; which means conviction.

He has all three rupams in him (arupa rupa, aneka rupa and eka rupa).

In Shivananadalahari, Shankara says I can meditate upon you as the Lord whose body consists of the moving and non-moving creation. I enjoy all the three; I can talk to you as a person; I can admire you as the nature or creation; and I can close my eyes and enjoy you as aham brahma asmi.  All the three he will come to know, and suppose we have a doubt; what is the guarantee; we want always the guarantee. Sri Krishna says I am giving you guarantee that you will come to Me ultimately.

Shloka # 8:

अहं सर्वस्य प्रभवो मत्तः सर्वं प्रवर्तते।
इति मत्वा भजन्ते मां बुधा भावसमन्विताः।।10.8।।

“I am the source of all things; all things proceed from Me”, so holding with deep loyalty to truth, the wise adore Me.

With previous shloka Ishwara Swarupa topic is over. From Shloka # 8 onwards, aneka rupa ishwara bhakti is discussed. Intermediary stage means what; at the lowest level Lord has only one Ishta Devata swarupa; at the highest level is where God who does not have any form and between these two is intermediate stage of aneka rupa Ishwara or Vishva rupa ishwara.

Vishwarupa bhakti enjoys a lot of virtues. Many values come to him. Raga and Dvesha will weaken in him. Likes dislikes weaken in him. Once I know whole creation is God’s, how can I dislike anything in creation? So, everything is welcome. All our stress is due to mental resistance. I like some experiences, others I don’t. Even imagined experiences can create stress. For virat bhakti everything is welcome. He sees every experience as originating from God. God is everything, pleasure, pain, success, failure, health, sickness etc. So, everything proceeds from Me; so everything is Ishwara prasada. Thus, he becomes a Karma Yogi accepting everything with an Ishwara Prasada Bhava. Thus a Vishwarupa bhakta worships Me. Virat Ishwara bhaktas are informed Bhaktas who know that Lord is both the intelligent and the material cause of the creation. Their mind is soaked in devotion without stress. I hope for best but am prepared for the worst. This is the best medicine for stress.

Take away:

Visible version of power (Shakti) is called Vibhuti; unmanifest (Shakti) is called Yoga.

I hope for best but am prepared for the worst. This is the best medicine for stress.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Starting the chapter Swamiji said from Chapter # 7 Sri Krishna has been dealing with the nature of God. It is a progressive topic; chapters 7 through 12 all deal with nature of God. In preceding three chapters he described God as Jagat Karanam. He talked about nature of God consisting of Para Prakriti (PP), the higher nature and Apara prkriti (AP) the lower nature. We saw PP is Consciousness and AP is matter. Thus basic Matter principle with basic Consciousness principle is God. We saw their common features and uncommon features as well.

Common features: Consciousness is beginning less. Matter is also beginning less; consciousness therefore cannot be created; matter also cannot be also created. This uncreated-beginingless-consciousness-matter-unit or composite is called Ishvara.

Uncommon features:  Para prakrti or consciousness is not subject to change; it is changeless principle, whereas the matter principle is subject to change; is subject to evolution to become this universe, Matter is capable of evolving; and not only it is subject to evolution; after sometime it is subject to involution also;

Involution means folding back into again the fundamental form. Thus matter expands and contracts; it is subject to change; therefore apara prakrti, the matter is savikaram; the para prakrti, the consciousness is nirvikaram; Para prakrti the consciousness is nirgunam; free from all attributes or properties and therefore not available for any type of study; all scientific studies are based on attributes and properties; consciousness is free from all attributes; therefore it is not available for an instrument of experimentation; it is Nirgunam; whereas matter, the apara prakrti is full of attributes; therefore it is saguna satvam.

And then finally, we made one more point; which is not very much relevant here; but an aside note, that is consciousness is satyam; having independence; svatantram; whereas matter is mithya; it is para tantram, depending on consciousness. Thus chetanam-achetanam; nirvikaram-savikaram; nirgunam-sagunam; satyam-mithya; such consciousness-matter mixture is called God.

This mixture is called god. This is symbolically presented as father and mother principle. This god is jagat karanam. He is responsible for emergence of universe. And the understanding of karanam status is generally done in three stages, depending on the maturity of the student. For a beginner, God as the cause is Karanam is understood in three stages.

Stage one:

For level one student: God creates this world; like a carpenter creates furniture or gold smith creates n ornament. This is nimitha karanam god. Here student sees god as a person or human being. Student wants details, such as address etc., of god. He is present in Vykunta, say Scriptures. This creator is Vishnu who in turn created Brahmaji. Brahmaji then created the universe. This is God for a beginner; it is good for meditation as well.

Stage two:

Second level: Once mind matures, next stage of understanding is that God, the creator, is God himself manifesting. To create god has no material to use. He finds the material in himself. Like a spider, God finds material in his own body; after all He is Consciousness and matter. So God manifests as the world.  Here Ishwara is Parinami Upadana Karanam.  Now, I will never ask where is God as God himself is available as creator. Akasha, Vayu etc are all creations of God. Sunlight is manifestation of God, says Rudram. This darshanam of Sun is available to all people even without going to a temple, even for a dvijaha. His darshanam is always available. Cosmos is avatara of God; there is no queue to stand in to see him. This is Vishwa rupa Ishwara. Second stage is elaborated in chapters 7, 9, 10 and 11, god as vishwa rupam. If one stays in stage 2 long enough one eventually comes to stage 3.

Stage three:

In stage three, God does not become universe; here god apparently appears as the universe; meaning universe is unreal; connoting Brahma Satyam, jagan mithya. This is seen in chapter 13 on-wards. So, here, we are seeing God as Universe, the second stage. Once I see vishwarupa, divination of world happens to us. In the first stage God is elsewhere; He is sitting there; world is elsewhere; both are in different places. And God is sacred and the world is secular or still worse; so we have a sacred-secular-dichotomy in the beginning stage; once you have come to the middle stage; I do not separate God and world; because God alone is in the form of world; just as Gold alone is in the form of ornaments; wood alone is in the form of furniture; I cannot say God and world; when you use “and” two things should be separate; “gold and ornaments” can you say: No. because there are no ornaments other than gold, you cannot say “wood and furniture” because there is no furniture other than wood. Similarly I cannot say God and world, because there is no world separate from, other than God.

In middle stage God is in form of world. Here I see everything as God; as in god is universe. Once you have this vision, all glories of creation like sun belong to God himself.

What about my glory? Sri Krishna says that too belongs to God. You are also PP plus AP. So give all glories to God. So seeing God as all Vibhuti is called Vibhuti darshanam. This makes you humble. When I see glory in another person I see glory of God in it. Thus, there is no comparison of egos. For such a bhakta arrogance never rises. This transformation is what Sri Krishna wants to bring in all us; seeing God everywhere.  Hence this chapter is called Vibhuti Yoga. 

Shloka # 1:

श्री भगवानुवाच
भूय एव महाबाहो श्रृणु मे परमं वचः।
यत्तेऽहं प्रीयमाणाय वक्ष्यामि हितकाम्यया।।10.1।।

Once more, O hero! Listen to My supreme word which, seeking your good, I shall speak to you who delight in it.

In this chapter there are no questions from Arjuna. So, Sri Krishna, himself, talks. He says, Arjuna, you are a dear student to Me. Gurus are also interested in the good of shishya; they inspire the shishya. In Katho Upanishad Yamadharmaraja offers prayers to the Lord: Oh Lord; May I get more disciples like Nachiketas. Similarly Sri Krishna has got a wonderful disciple in Arjuna and therefore Sri Krishna says, Arjuna, I am inspired; therefore I am going to continue; may you once again listen to my supreme words; words dealing with God. I see you as a disciple with shradha. This knowledge will help you get liberation for your own benefit. The idea is Sri Krishna is not going to get any benefit out of it; because Krishna does not require any benefit. Remember third chapter where he says, I have nothing to accomplish in this universe; still out of compassion for you, I am going to teach you more.

Shloka # 2:

न मे विदुः सुरगणाः प्रभवं न महर्षयः।
अहमादिर्हि देवानां महर्षीणां च सर्वशः।।10.2।।

The hosts of gods know not My origin; neither do great seers; for in all respects, I am the origin of gods and seers.

So these verses are introductory verses; wherein the subject matter is introduced from shloka #1 to # 3. So Ishvara svarupa Gyanam or Ishvara vibuthi Gyanam is the subject that is being introduced. And in this shloka, Sri Krishna points out to Arjuna: Do not tell me that you will learn the same topic from other gurus; as nobody else knows My glory in its entirety; I alone can know the glory in its full measure.

Nobody else can know, because all others were born later; and all others are finite in nature; and how can a finite mind ever know the glory of the infinite Lord.

Therefore Arjuna, you have to learn from only one source, only I know and therefore you have to learn from Me. So better continue to listen, as even Gods do not know my full glory. So There is a story in Kenopanishad that points out that story that even devathas cannot know the full nature of God. Even Rishis don’t know my glory.

Giving the reason, Sri Krishna says I am their cause; I am their creator; they have come much later; and not only they have come later, they have got limited mind, limited intellect, limited instruments of knowledge.

Citing story of Brahmaji in the puranas, when Brahmaji appears from the navel, he sees darkness everywhere; He does not see a second thing; He does not know anything including his own nature; imagine suddenly you find yourselves surrounded by darkness; nothing is there; and Brahmaji got frightened; so he did tapas, as a result of tapas, He acquires knowledge given by Vishnu, the original creator; Brahmaji is ignorant initially; then Vishnu himself sends him all the knowledge; and therefore how can anybody talk about My glory; because they themselves do not know; so I am the karanam of everyone including Brahmaji; I am the karanam behind all the Rishis as well.

Shloka # 3:

यो मामजमनादिं च वेत्ति लोकमहेश्वरम्।
असम्मूढः स मर्त्येषु सर्वपापैः प्रमुच्यते।।10.3।।

Whoso knows Me as unborn and beginning less and as the great Lord of all the worlds is released from all sins; for he is undeluded among men.

And if a person is an intelligent one, he will certainly apply his mind to know the jagat karana Ishvara; it is only the inferior ordinary type of mind, which will be satisfied with knowing a few little things here; sufficient learning for earning food; that is why modern day education is based on a degree will fetch me a job in which I can work the least and get the most. So a developed intellect will certainly ask this question: Is there a cause; if a person is intelligent he will try to know jagat karana Ishwara. Developed intellect will ask where did all this come from? They are looking for a cause that addresses all this. Mature mind is called asammudha. What is the cause of all this? That intelligent person knows Me as the birthless cause of the universe.  Ajam anadim ca means birthless cause. Ultimate cause has to be causeless or beginingless. So, Sri Krishna says, I am birthless.  Puranas show God as father and mother. Parvati does not have a father in law or mother in law, as Shiva is causeless.  Sri Krishna says, “ I am controller of whole universe” as srishti, sthiti, and laya karananam. This intelligent person who knows Me becomes free of papas and is liberated. This is Ishwara as seen in level 2. This person will go to third level and get liberated.

Shloka 4 and 5:

 बुद्धिर्ज्ञानमसंमोहः क्षमा सत्यं दमः शमः।
सुखं दुःखं भवोऽभावो भयं चाभयमेव च।।10.4।।

Intelligence, knowledge, non-delusion, endurance, truthfulness, sense control, mind control, pleasure, pain, being, non-being, fear and fearlessness.

अहिंसा समता तुष्टिस्तपो दानं यशोऽयशः।
भवन्ति भावा भूतानां मत्त एव पृथग्विधाः।।10.5।।

Non-violence, equanimity, contentment, penance, charity, renown, ill-fame–from Me alone these manifold states accrue to all beings.

Introductory part of chapter is over with shloka # 3. Subject is Ishwara swarupam. Mow Sri Krishna presents the subject matter in shlokas 4 through 11, briefly. Then Arjuna asks for an elaboration.

God has manifested as universe. God and universe are both a mixture of consciousness and matter.  For the sake of convenience, the world is divided into two; one is the external world of objects; and the internal world of thoughts; anthara prapancha; And Sri Krishna says internal world is also born out of Me alone, the external world is also born out of Me alone; which means to see God, you need not look at a special direction. Whether you open the eyes, or close the eyes, God is everywhere.

First the anthara prapancha is enumerated; We have got any number of thoughts. Sri Krishna gives a list of such internal thoughts:

Buddhihi is intelligence;

Gyanam is knowledge;

Asammohah means clarity of thinking; not delusion; Sammohah means delusion;

Kshama means patience,

Satyam means truthfulness,

Dama means sense control. Even though sense control is the property of the sense organs, but to control the sense organs the message should be given by the mind alone; because we have seen in Kathopanishad, sense organs are like the horses, mind is like the reins; and therefore if the sense organs are under control; it is because of the mind’s controlling power; That is called here dama; directing power of the mind;

Sama means mind control;

Sukham means happiness;

Dukham means unhappiness,

Bhava means birth, origin of these thoughts or emotions and

Abhava; means dissolution or resolution of these thoughts,

Bhayam means fear,

Abhayam means fearlessness.

Ahimsa means non-violence;

Samata means equanimity poise, tranquility, any

word,

Tushti means contentment;

Tapa means austerity, discipline or austerity,

Danam means generosity, a charitable disposition; a generous disposition;

Yashah means fame; in thought;

Ayashah means ill-fame.

This is not an exhaustive list; Sri Krishna has just given a list; we can add more.

Bhutanam bhavah; these are all various inner conditions or dispositions of the living beings; so bhutanam means the living beings.

And all these conditions originate from Me.

They all are born out of Me alone; in their own distinct nature;  they are all born out of Me alone; therefore I

am the cause of the inner world of thoughts and later he will point out I am the cause of the outer world also; combining them together I am the cause of everything; and therefore I am everything;

Take away:

This uncreated-beginingless-consciousness-matter-unit or composite is called Ishvara.

Thus, chetanam-achetanam; nirvikaram-savikaram; nirgunam-sagunam; satyam-mithya; such consciousness-matter mixture is called God.

When I see glory in another person I see glory of God in it. Thus, there is no comparison of egos. For such a bhakta arrogance never rises. This transformation is what Sri Krishna wants to bring in all us; seeing God everywhere.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Swamiji concluded Chapter 9 with a summary today. He said this chapter is similar to chapter 7 and very different from chapter 8. Sri Krishna wants to show the differences between Ch #9 and Ch #8. Ch 8, elaborated on saguna ishwara upasana. Saguna ishwara upasana was shown as meditation on God with virtues. Saguna Upasana gives liberation to an individual through a process known as Krama Mukti. Here one practices Saguna Upasana throughout his life without coming to Brahma Gyanam. This Saguna Upasana cannot lead to liberation. But due to his saguna upasana he travels after death to Brahma Loka. How do we come to know of all this; it is this through scriptures. There he will find conditions ideal for Brahma Gyanam. He will go through Vedanta Shravanam, mananam and nidhidhyasanam taught by Chatur mukha Brahmaji himself. In this ideal situation he gets knowledge and liberation called Krama Mukti.

Here, one does not get Gyanam in manushya Loka.

Sri Krishna is not prescribing Krama Mukti, as he does not want to postpone liberation. So he wants to prescribe Sadyo mukti or Jivan mukti. In this method we practice saguna Upasana acquire yogyata, switch to Nirguna Gyanam in this life itself. This switch is to Vedanta vichara. Here nirguna nature of God is understood. This is Ishwatra Gyanam. Due to this, one gets knowledge of nirguna nature of God or Para Prakriti (PP). This gyanam results in Jivan mukti and then in Videha mukti.

So, thus, in the seventh chapter, sadyo mukthi; in the 8th chapter, krama mukthi; and in the 9th chapter, again we come back to sadyo mukthi itself; that is why the 8^th chapter is the odd chapter; 7 and 9 both deal with nirguna Ishvara Gyanam; which is the liberating knowledge.

When we think of nirguna Ishwsara Gyanam one may think of it as very difficult. Sri Krishna says it is actually very easy for a prepared person. So how should I prepare? It is by Saguna Ishwara Upasana then progressing to Nirguna Ishwara Gyanam and then one gains liberation. This is the background of Ch 9.

Shlokas #1-# 3:

They are an introduction to the chapter. Sri Krishna introduces subject of Ishwara Gyanam or PP or Nirguna Ishwara Gyanam. Since this knowledge is not available to an unprepared mind this will remain a secret for the unprepared mind; like the theory of relativity; they say only a few people know, because it requires preparation.  Sri Krishna calls it raja vidya, the greatest knowledge. And this raja vidya raja guhyam, otherwise known as Nirguna Ishvara Gyanam is the subject matter of the 9th chapter.

Incidentally he says among qualifications Shradha is very important. Shradha means keeping an open mind and not rejecting the teacher and teaching outright. He says, if you don’t have shradha, the loser is you alone.

Shloka # 4-10:

The central theme of these shlokas is revelation of nirguna Ishwara Swarupam; nature of higher god, PP, is revealed. Nirguna Ishwara is called Brahma Swarupam.  A few important features of Brahman are mentioned from scriptures here. They are:

1. Sarvagataha: The real God, the “I”, is all pervading. So any personal God is not all pervading. So God in Vaikuntam etc., are inferior God presented to beginners. Also remember, without Saguna Ishwara one can’t go to Nirguna Ishwara.
2. Avyaktam: meaning he is indriya agocharam or not available for sensory perception; ashabdam, asparsham, arupam, arasam, agandam Brahma. So one can’t see, smell, taste, touch and talk about God.
3. Mithya Jagat Adhishtanam:  The Lord is the support of the world, which has got only a lower order of reality; which is unreal, compared to the higher order. Just as the dream world is real from the standpoint of the dreaming individual, but the dream world is unreal from the standpoint of the waker. Similarly this world is real from the standpoint of the waking individual; but this world is unreal from the standpoint of the para prakrrti, the higher nature. And therefore the third definition of Lord is that he is the substratum of the unreal world, or the world of a lesser order of reality; In Sanskrit, mithya jagat adishtanam;
4. Asangaha: God is asanga swarupa: Impurities of world don’t sully god. Although god supports whole world its impurities don’t contaminate him. He is compared to akasha just as the space accommodates everything, without getting sullied by anything.
5. Srishti Sthiti Laya Karanam: Ishwara is Srishti Sthiti Laya karanam. He is cause of origin, existence and resolution of Samsara.
6. Sakshi Matrena: If Ishwara is creator, then he is also a karta and bhokta, then he will have punyam and papam as well. And therefore Sri Krishna says: I do not create anything; in my presence, sakshi matrena; the creation arises, exists and resolves. Like in presence of light a crime may be committed but it does not affect the light.
7. Kartrtva bhoktrtva rahita: Since God is only a witness; he does not have a doership or enjoyership.  And this last one which is corollary of previous one; Since the Lord is only the witness; Lord does not have kartrtvam or bhoktrtvam; kartrtva bhoktrtva rahita; kartrtvam means doership; bhoktrtvam means enjoyership; both do not belong to Ishvara.

So these are the seven features of the higher nature of the Lord; that is Brahman.

Shloka # 11: explains why samsara exists and why suffering exists. Samsara karanam is ignorance of PP or Nirguna Ishwara. Why is there ignorance? Nirguna Brahman, God without attributes, is beyond time and space. And anything other than Nirguna Brahma, that is Sagunam Brahma, which comes under apara prakrti (AP), is within time and space. The moment you come to properties, it is subject to change; there will be increase; there will be decrease.  Whatever is subject to time cant give security, as time will destroy it. So, if I don’t know PP, I seek security from AP that fluctuates. Holding to AP, I face changes. AP is cause of all our struggles and we will be disappointed. Cause of samsara is from wrong expectations of permanence of AP. So, ignorance is cause of suffering.

Shloka # 12-# 19:

The remedy is now given for our suffering. Bhakti is given as the remedy. Bhakti is a series of sadhanas culminating in Gyanam. Our problem is ignorance and its solution is Gyanam.

Shankaracharya says, if darkness is a problem the solution is light; so light a lamp. If Agyanam is the problem, nirguna brahma gyanam is the solution. So, Bhakti is a series of sadhanas. The sadhanas take you there.

Three levels of bhakti are indicated. They are:

1. Karma rupa bhakti as Karma yoga.
2. Upasana rupa bhakti
3. Vedanta rupa bhakti.

Karma makes us extrovert. Extrovert mind has to turn inwards. How to turn inwards? By bhakti, in form of Saguna meditation one can turn inwards.

Vedanta Vichara Rupa bhakti is where I study scriptures. Even our class belongs to this bhakti. Gyana yagna is superior to all other Yagnas.

Once a person goes through all three levels of Bhakti, he becomes a Gyani Bhakta, a devotee with knowledge of Nirguna Ishwara Gyanam. So, Bhakti means, all three levels of Sadhanas. You have to go through all three then he becomes a Gyani who gets liberation.

To become a bhakta one must have done a lot of punyam in life. Without punyam one will not come to any level of bhakti.

Shlokas # 20-# 29:

Sri Krishna talks of two forms of bhakti based on motive. Previously we talked about bhakti based on Sadhana. Now we are discussing bhakti based on motive; thus we have Sakama Bhakti and Nishkama bhakti. The difference in motive is one bhakta prays for finite benefits while other prays for infinite benefits. Manda Bhaktas use bhakti for ephemeral goals. Sakama bhaktas goals are unintelligent ones. However, Swamiji says, Sakama bhakti is still valid and fruitful. It is not a papam. God will fulfill Sakama bhakta’s desires. But his life will be like the snake and ladder game; will be climbing very fast in the ladder and also come down faster through the snake’s mouth; and again go up and come down; endlessly this game goes on and on and this is sakama bhakthi.

Nishkama bhakta understands Para Prakriti (PP) alone can give him peace, security and happiness. He uses his bhakti for preparation of mind for Brahma Gyanam. Just as a Mother feeds her child knowing what is good for it; so also God, please choose the right qualification and inject me like a suckling mother, prays the bhakta. Asking for Chitta shuddhi is nishkama bhakti. Asking for Guru is nishkama bhakti. Asking for non-forgetfulness of teaching is nishkama bhakti.

Sakama bhakti is difficult to practice as there are many rules in its practice. Sakama karmas specify the date, time, dress, the mantras, pujari etc. If rules are not followed one has to perform prayaschitam, if not benefits will not be there.

Nishkama bhakti is easy to follow. The bhakta needs to use only pushpam, phalam or toyam for his worship of god. So, Sri Krishna differentiated between the two bhaktis. He recommends Nishkama bhakti. So unintelligent people practice difficult bhakthi; they pay more; and get less. Whereas, nishkama bhaktha pays less and gets the infinite itself.

Shloka # 30-#34:

Sri Krishna glorifies bhakti here.

Since bhakthi has got several layers, it is like a flight of steps; beginning from the lowest rung of the ladder; karma lakshana bhakthi; then upasana lakshana bhakthi; and then Gyana lakshana Bhakti. Since it has many rungs, anybody can start bhakthi; according to his level; Not that you have to study nirgunam Brahma; you need not start there; Start with karma yoga; very easy; even you can practice sakama karma; but dedicate it to the Lord, We will see the details in the 12th chapter; thus anybody can start bhakthi; whatever be the level.

Sri Krishna goes a step further and says even a person with guilt can go to Bhakti. Guilt is a big obstacle to spiritual progress. Spiritual sadhana requires self-confidence. Biggest obstacle to this is guilt.

Thus, I have to be confident in running a race; mother, father, brothers, etc. they can clap the hands; they can cheer you up; the running has to be done only by the child only; Similarly the spiritual sadhana, I have to do; guru can encourage; Shastra can encourage, Bhagavan can encourage; and biggest obstacle to confidence is guilt; and therefore Sri Krishna says never have guilt, once you have understood that your lifestyle has been unhealthy; decide to change; once you have turned a new leaf and decided to change; the very decision to change makes you a saint or a Sadhu purusha.  And not only that, there may be some people who have got disadvantages because of their very birth; because of their parentage; because of their location, etc. There can be people with inherent disadvantages but even those disadvantaged people can practice bhakthi and attain liberation.

The last shloka talks about requirements for a Bhakta; they include:

1. Learn to love Me, for whatever reason you choose.
2. Learn to love me as your goal.
3. Never forget your goal.
4. Convert your life to worship towards this goal.
5. Be humble at all times due to spiritual progress.

With these five factors you will attain Me.

This concludes chapter # 9. And since the subject matter is raja vidya raja guhyam, the chapter is called raja vidya raja guhya yogah.

Take away:

Shradha is a qualification considered most important by Sri Krishna to receive this knowledge. Shradha means keeping an open mind and not rejecting the teacher and teaching outright.

This world is unreal from the standpoint of the para prakrrti, the higher nature of God.

To become a bhakta one must have done a lot of punyam in life. Without punyam one will not come to any level of bhakti.

The very decision to change and go to Bhakti marga makes you a Sadhu purusha.

Cause of samsara or suffering is from wrong expectations of permanence of AP. So, ignorance is cause of suffering.

Essence of Bhakti:

1. Learn to love Me, for whatever reason you choose.
2. Learn to love me as your goal.
3. Never forget your goal.
4. Convert your life to worship towards this goal.
5. Be humble at all times due to spiritual progress.

With these five factors you will attain Me.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 30:

अपि चेत्सुदुराचारो भजते मामनन्यभाक्।
साधुरेव स मन्तव्यः सम्यग्व्यवसितो हि सः।।9.30।।

Despite his extremely wicked conduct, if a man worships Me exclusively he must indeed be deemed worthy; for his resolution is right.

Continuing his talk on chapter 9, Swamiji said, Sri Krishna has completed the topic of comparison and contrast of sakama nishkama bhakti. Now, in shlokas # 30 to # 34, Sri Krishna is talking about the glory of devotion.

In shloka # 30 bhakti is glorified as something, which any person can start at any time in his life.

Either he can start as an arta bhaktha, which is the beginning stage. Whenever there is problem, we can take recourse to the Lord. This is arta bhakthi. Whenever there are problems, a person is mentally weaker, he requires a support, and Lord is an ever-available support. In fact, one of the names of the Lord is arta thrana parayana; the one who is committed to helping the people who are in crisis.  And gradually you can graduate to artharti bhakthi, then jignasu bhakthi and then Gyani bhakthi; thus whatever be your level of spirituality, you can start with bhakthi.

Sri Krishna says once he has decided to take the help of god such a person can be called a Sadhu purusha because it requires a little bit of humility; a little bit of understanding, that however great we are, our freewill has its limitation. No doubt human being is very powerful. No doubt, human being can achieve lot of things. But however great a human being is, he has his limitation. The moment I understand the limitation of my freewill, my wisdom helps me take the help of an external factor.

The moment I understand limitations of freewill, I get wisdom to seek help of god, even if it is for material gains. One can seek god even for material gains.

And once a person surrenders to the Lord; and then he will find there is an extra strength in his mind. As I told you the other day, they have statistically proved that religious people have more emotional strength, and greater immunity and resistance even at physical level. Therefore I do seek a transformation. Once I seek a transformation my inner strength, my devotion will increase; when the devotion increases, naturally my strength will be more; thus you get into a cycle; an auspicious cycle of; more devotion; more strength; more strength, more devotion, so it becomes a healthy addiction; until then, he was addicted to unhealthy practices; now he is de-addicting himself from other inferior things and he is practicing a positive addiction; the addiction to devotion; it is an addiction; but worth having; and soon we will get over even that addiction; Whether we should get over or not is a different question; but if you see it as an addiction, we will get over that also; but he has got into a healthier addiction.

So you can call him a saint as he has taken the right resolve. What happens to him, the one who has decided to turn to Lord for help?

Shloka # 31:

क्षिप्रं भवति धर्मात्मा शश्वच्छान्तिं निगच्छति।
कौन्तेय प्रतिजानीहि न मे भक्तः प्रणश्यति।।9.31।।

Soon he becomes essentially righteous and attains lasting peace. Know for certain and proclaim, Arjuna! that My devotee never perishes.

He will soon become a dharma atma or a person who values dharma more than artha and kama.

He grows out of the artha kama delusion. He uses them like pickle, in small quantities. His main pursuit in life is his dharma (values and moksha). He will gradually become a jignasu bhakta. One who uses emotion for growth. Then he becomes a Gyani bhakti.

Jignasu means one who wants to know the nature of God. Since he knows God is the only source of security, he is interested in knowing Brahman.

And once I have that sincere desire, Sri Krishna will tell in the 10th chapter, from somewhere shastram comes. Just as when the flowers bloom from somewhere the bee comes; flower need not send post card, please come; once it has bloomed; naturally it comes; Similarly you bloom into a sadhana chatushtaya sampanna adhikaari; Gurus will come in search of you; Sri Krishna will tell this in the 10th chapter, Because Bhagavan’s law is that any genuine desire should be fulfilled. If you have a thirst as a natural desire; Bhagavan has to provide you with water in the creation; if hunger is there; Bhagavan has to provide food in the creation; if you have to breath oxygen; Bhagavan has to provide; similarly, if you have a thirst for Ishvara Gyanam, Bhagavan has to provide a guru; therefore Sri Krishna says Shastra will come, guru will come, ideal situations for learning will come; Gyanam will come, you will be converted into a Gyani bhaktha.

Then Sri Krishna says the moment you become Gyani bhaktha; you are a wise person; and that wisdom means grief will go away from life. He will attain peace of mind; ever lasting peace not disturbed by upheavals of life.

Now Sri Krishna wants to make sure Arujna accepts all this. He says, O Arjuna! take this promise from Me. A devotee will never have a spiritual fall. Material ups and downs may occur but not spiritually. This is my promise. So, become my devotee.

Shloka # 32:

मां हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य येऽपि स्युः पापयोनयः।
स्त्रियो वैश्यास्तथा शूद्रास्तेऽपि यान्ति परां गतिम्।।9.32।।

Seeking refuge in Me, Arjuna! those even of low birth, women, artisans and serfs, attain the supreme goal.

Sri Krishna wants to point out that even handicapped people can take to bhakti and get liberation. The disadvantage can be any form of handicap, physical, mental, emotional including spiritual obstacles. They all can get liberation provided they come to depend on Me. Shankaracharya’s Karavalamba strotram is meant for disadvantaged people to attain liberation.

Who are the disadvantaged people? We should note that this shloka is a very controversial one. The disadvantaged people include:

1. People of sinful birth;
2. Women
3. Vaishya and
4. Shudra

All four are disadvantaged people. Why does Sri Krishna identify these four. We should remember Vedanta is pursuit of wisdom connected with the mind, intellect and sukshma shariram. Physical body does not get knowledge. We are not connected with the physical personality. Sadhana chatushtaya sampathi deals only with subtle body, not physical body. So Stree, Vaishya, shudra etc are really about our inner personality. What type of personality is a Stree, Vaishya, Shudra etc? They are svabhave stree, svabhava vaishya, svabhava shudra.

We are not concerned about physical side of svabhava at all here.

Papa Yonaya: People of sinful birth; that means people who do not have a conducive atmosphere for spirituality; not being born in a spiritual family; We have to imbibe spirituality from early childhood. In fact we say in the shastra, that even from pregnancy the child imbibes that trait. So imagine if the parents are nasthikas; so, that becomes an obstacle. Thus, papa yonaya, are people who do not have a conducive atmosphere for spiritual growth.

Stree: A stree is an emotional person. In Stree emotion dominates over reason. Normally reason should control emotion and not the other way around. An emotional person can have problems with Vedantic knowledge. Emotional person values personal attachment. They need an emotional prop. But Vedanta wants us to grow out of relationship, asangam. Sanga means bondage; one has to transcend Sanga.

Emotional mind wants a personal god; god is seen as a child, mother, father etc. Whereas Vedanta is telling us that God is beyond even personal limitations. Emotional mind can never reach nirguna brahman and therefore Vedanta becomes a problem and vairagya becomes a problem for an emotional mind. Therefore who ever has such a mind is called stree mind; even a

male, if he has got such a mind, Vedantically that person is a stree; therefore, the first type of mind is an emotional mind.

Vaishya:  In chapter 4, Vaishya is considered a Rajasic mind; that is an outgoing, commercial mind. He sees profit everywhere. It does not have anything to do with birth. This is a guna vaishya.

Shudra: In chapter # 4 this is considered tamas guna pradhana. They are animalistic one’s who believe in a “eat drink and be merry” life. This is Guna shudra not jati shudra.

Guna stree, Guna Vaishya, Guna Shudra are all disadvantaged persons. Even they can surrender to God and they can change their character.

A lady asked me, Swamiji, if I have to be detached from my son to obtain moksha; I prefer my son to moksha.

Such a mind will have difficulty, but Sri Krishna says to such people my advice is; be attached to your children also and give Me, Bhagavan, some attachment as well; then sooner or later, I will take you away from worldly attachment. So, Bhakti will help handicapped as well.

Shloka # 33:

किं पुनर्ब्राह्मणाः पुण्या भक्ता राजर्षयस्तथा।
अनित्यमसुखं लोकमिमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम्।।9.33।।

How much more certainly do so those of meritorious birth and devout royal sages! Having come to this transient and unhappy world, worship Me.

 So, if Guna shudra and vaishya can attain liberation then the Guna Brahmana and Kshatriya can certainly obtain it as well.

Guna Brahmana: is Satva pradhana.

Guna Kshatriya: is Rajasic pradhana but one who is active selflessly. Guna Vaishya, on the other hand is selfishly active.

Selfless person will grow spiritually while a guna Vaishya may stagnate. A Kshatriyas life is one of a karma yogi while a Vaishyas is one of just karma.

Thus, a Raja Rishi is a guna Kshatriya who is advantaged.

So, advantaged or disadvantaged, start Bhakti. So Arjuna! May you start worshipping Me. Don’t postpone, start right away. The world is too uncertain. So start prayer to God right away.

Sri Krishna concludes the chapter with shloka # 34:

Shloka # 34:

मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु।
मामेवैष्यसि युक्त्वैवमात्मानं मत्परायणः।।9.34।।

Set your mind on Me; be My devotee; sacrifice unto Me; pay obeisance to Me. Being wholly intent on Me, thus uniting your self, you will surely come to Me.

 In this famous shloka the lifestyle of a bhakta is described. Who is a bhakta? What life does he lead? Five factors are described in this area. I will reorganize the words of shloka to better communicate the five factors.

Matbhaktaha bhava: Develop devotion towards Me.

Lord can be looked at as a means to the world or as an end. In beginning you learn to look at god as a sakama bhakta for accomplishing worldly ends. Here you will certainly obtain success in that God will fulfill your desires. And that is why Sri Krishna said, in whatever form you worship Me, I will fulfill your desire. So this is the first stage: use Bhagavan as an assistant, your assistant for worldly goal; this is madbhaktah. In fact in all the puranas; this is predominantly presented.

Matparayanaha: Worldly goals have limitations. They cannot give peace, happiness and security. How can money give security? And only God can provide all these. So go to this Brahman, ultimate goal of life.

Manmanaha: Once god is primary goal, mind should not lose sight of goal. In all preoccupations always keep god in mind; as in, subconscious mind. It is like the musician who keeps tampura shruti in mind at all times. This is non-forgetfulness of goal.

Madhyaji Bhava:   He converts every action into worship; uses very moment for worship; even eating can be converted into a purificatory right; you should not eat immediately what is served; wait a minute; do namaskara; and acknowledge that it is Lord’s gift and remember God; and eat; then eating becomes a spiritual sadhana; Convert everything into a spiritual sadhana, yagna; Even sense pleasures can be converted into yagna; we saw in the 4^th chapter, dravya yagna, tapo yagna etc. Therefore madhyaji bhava; worship Me through every action of yours; Become a karma yogi; this is the 4th definition.

Mam Namaskuru:  When you grow spiritually, don’t become arrogant. Remember my success requires the grace of God.

Thus madhyaji indicates the use of freewill; Mam Namaskuru; indicates the importance of grace; Freewill is also important; Ishvara anugraha is also important; both should go hand in hand.

So, thus what are the five conditions to be a bhaktha:

1. Develop devotion to Me.
2. Make Me as your ultimate goal;
3. Do not lose sight of Me as the goal;
4. Convert every moment of your life into a purificatory exercise; and
5. Always surrender to the Lord and do everything with Lord’s blessings.

If these five conditions are fulfilled, Sri Krishna says;  thus engaging yourselves in this devotional

life, religious life, Vedic life, you will certainly attain

Me alone; you will certainly attain moksha. So thus bhakthi will take every person to Moksha; whatever be the level of the person. Therefore let everyone start with devotion; and in initial stages, the real nature of God need not be known, God can be imagined as a person; then gradually from eka rupa, you can go to aneka rupa, then you can go to arupa; Start somewhere.

Take away:

Religious people have more emotional strength, and greater immunity and resistance even at physical level.

More devotion means more strength; more strength means more devotion, so it becomes a healthy addiction.

Shankaracharya’s Karavalamba strotram is meant for disadvantaged people to attain liberation.

The five conditions to be a bhaktha:

1. Develop devotion to Me.
2. Make Me as your ultimate goal;
3. Do not lose sight of Me as the goal;
4. Convert every moment of your life into a purificatory exercise; and
5. Always surrender to the Lord and do everything with Lord’s blessings.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 27:

यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत्।
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम्।।9.27।।

Whatever you do, eat, sacrifice, offer as gift, perform as austerity, O Arjuna! do all this as a dedication to Me.

Continuing his talk on chapter 9, Swamiji said, from shloka # 21 to # 29 Sri Krishna is dealing with topic of Sakama and Nishkama bhakti. He is not against Sakama Bhakti. It is not a papa karma or nishedha karma. It does not bring a person down spiritually. It only happens to be an obstacle to spiritual progress. Thus Karma itself is divided into three types:

1. Satvika Karma: that takes one up spiritually.
2. Tamasic karma: That takes one down spiritually.
3. Rajasic karma: It does not take one up or down spiritually. It will keep him in spiritual stagnation. It gives only material benefits but that becomes an obstacle to spiritual growth. Sakama Karma falls under Rajasic Karma.

Swamiji says, people ask him, “ I am doing puja and practice vows for obtaining certain things in life.”

Sri Krishna does not say that one should drop all of them; all of a sudden. The aim is a very gradual transformation; the negative Nishidha karma should be dropped straight away; papa karmas should be dropped straight away; but kamya karma should be gradually reduced.

A Grihastha has a lot of obstacles in life and he will have a tendency to approach God for favors. He will have to gradually change to Nishkama karma. Nishkama karma is freedom from materialistic desires; however, even here spiritual desires do exist. Seeking help for spiritual growth is Nishkama. The motive behind the asking is important here. Even asking for wealth can be spiritual. Asking for money for pancha maha yagna is nishkama. Thus, our motives decide if the desire is Sakama or Nishkama.

In Sakama bhakti there are strict rules of worship that have to be followed else results may not be favorable.

So, when two people who like each other, meet; there is no formality. Only when there is distance, you need to follow protocol. So for a mumukshu bhaktha, the bhakthi for the Lord is of a different dimension. Here rules are secondary. As Sri Krishna says, patram pushpam phalam toyam, give whatever you like. In this regard, in Mahabharata, they tell the story of how Vidura removed the banana and gave the banana peel to the Lord.

Shankaracharya tells in shivanandalahari, how Kannappa, the greatest devotee, used the chappal to mark the eye. He used the mouth as Abhisheka patram and straightway spat the water; his chewed food he gave to god as offering. He is considered one of the greatest bhakta’s of all times.

And not only is nishkama bhakthi expressed in the form of specific puja; nishkama bhakthi is expressed in the form of a very different lifestyle itself; it is a not a mere patram pushpam phalam samarpanam; nishkama bhakthi transforms the very way of life. How does it transform; every action becomes an offering at feet of Lord. Feet of lord here means the entire creation, which consists of the laws of creation. There karmas become karma phalams or Ishwara prasadam.

For a nishkama bhaktha; there cannot be any concern; there cannot be any anxiety, anxiety comes when I am particular about only a type of future result; any other type of future result, I will not accept. So when there is a resistance with regard to a particular outcome in future, there is concern, anxiety; for a nishkama bhaktha; whatever comes, is welcome. And therefore, he considers everything he does as Ishwara Arapanam (as a Karta) and everything he receives as Ishwara prasadam (as a Bhokta). This is nishkama bhakti.

This should remind us of a topic we studied in chapters 2 and 3, namely Karma Yoga. Sri Krishna said Karma Yoga is Ishwara arpana bhavana and Ishwara prasada bhavana. So, Karma Yoga is identical to Nishkama bhakti. They are synonymous.

Then why these two different names; from the stand point of action, it is called karma yoga; and from the standpoint of the attitude, it is called nishkama bhakthi;

Therefore for nishkama bhakthi; a temple is not required; shrine is not required; you can practice it anywhere; this thought is important. Up to this we saw in the last class.

Shloka # 28:

शुभाशुभफलैरेवं मोक्ष्यसे कर्मबन्धनैः।
संन्यासयोगयुक्तात्मा विमुक्तो मामुपैष्यसि।।9.28।।

Thus will you be released from the bonds of works with their fruits, good or evil. Liberated, with the Self integrated by the Yoga of renunciation, you will come to Me.

What is the result of Nishkama bhakti?

Every karma or puja can give two types of punyam. First is materialistic punyam; material well-being can include money, people, house and even going to swarga. Second is spiritual punyam where you are born in a spiritual family. A rich country may have material benefits, but in a poor country you may obtain a spiritual culture. One may get opportunity to study the shastras. One may get a Guru.

Thus we have to choose the result we want from puja. A Nishkama bhakta converts all his bhakti to spiritual punyam. He transcends both punyam and papam. Why is there no papam; because in nishkama bhakti there is no papam. How can one transcend punyam? Sri Krishna says both papam and punyam are bonds. Moksham is going beyond papam and punyam. Such a nishkama bhakta is given a title by Sri Krishna. He calls him, Sanyasa Yoga Yukta Atma. What does it mean?

Sanyasa is renunciation. How so? He is able to renounce materialistic desires and use puja for spiritual growth. So, kama tyaga makes him a renunciate. If we drop anxiety for material things, you have renunciation. He is able to drop obsession with money.

Insecurity is a problem of the mind and not about the possessions you have. A man with minimum of things can be very secure while another with many things may be totally insecure.

Why Yoga? Yoga here means action. He is not associated with materialistic desires. He is interested in inner growth. Such a Yogi will be liberated. How so? Does it mean he does not require Gyana Yoga?

Karma yogi gets his moksha only through gyana yoga. Through karma yoga he gets purity of mind, then obtains a Guru and then Gyanam. He then merges with Me. What is merger?

Bhagawan is never away from me. Merger is dropping the misconception that Lord is away from me. This is Ishwara Aikyam.  And how do you drop any notion or misconception; by knowledge; So the moment I get knowledge, the wrong thought that God is away from me goes away; I come to know that God is close; one can even say, God is closest; or even go further and say, that I am God; Aham brahmasmi; this distance, notional distance, also goes away; so he will attain Me. 

Shloka # 29:

समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रियः।
ये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या मयि ते तेषु चाप्यहम्।।9.29।।

Towards all beings I am the same; I hate none, nor hold any dear. Those who worship Me with devotion live in Me and I in them.

In previous shloka Sri Krishna said nishkama bhakta will merge in Me. This statement implies sakama bahkta will not merge into Me; hearing this a doubt may come up, if God is partial?

A bhakta used to ask, “ I want to merge with you”. He would not go away from the temple. The pujari could not close the temple. He tried a tactic. He stood behind the God’s idol, hidden, and said, “Oh dear Bhaktha; I am satisfied with your bhakthi; so I am going to fulfill your wish; when you come tomorrow I will take you unto me; you will not return back home”; next day, there was no sight of the bhaktha anywhere around.

Sri Krishna says, “I am not the one who decides whether you get moksha or not; the real problem is that most people don’t want moksha.”

Swamiji said, during a sadhana camp he announced he was willing to give moksha to anyone who stayed in the ashram. Everybody gave some excuse or other not to stay in ashram. Not one person came forward. Sri Krishna says, you are just not interested; I am the same with every being; I am not partial to anyone.

Shankaracharya says in Soundarya lahiri that the moonlight falls equally on a beautiful house as well as a dirty pond. Grace of god is equal to all. The difference is how much we can tap into it; one’s efforts decide how much we can tap into it.

Thus, when you are building a house; you are building the walls; and within the walls space is available. primarily you are interested in the inside space; primarily you are interested in the living room; you want the space only; but you need not work for the enclosed space; you have to work only for building the wall; After building the wall, you need not invite space separately, as even as wall is built, enclosed space is available; similarly Ishvara kripa need not be separately invited; when you put forth your effort, the grace is automatically included in that.

Sri Krishna says, the more the effort the more Kripa you get. I don’t hate anyone. I don’t have favorites.

If this is so, why do only a few obtain liberation?

Sri Krishna says it is due to choice of the bhaktas. Moksha is determined by your will and choice. So those Viveki’s who seek Me as goal, (sadhana sampanna adhikari), one whose goal is God through nishkama bhakti, they are already existing in Me and I in them. We are one and same; we are not separate. So moksha is attained through your choice.

Shloka # 30:

अपि चेत्सुदुराचारो भजते मामनन्यभाक्।
साधुरेव स मन्तव्यः सम्यग्व्यवसितो हि सः।।9.30।।

Despite his extremely wicked conduct, if a man worships Me exclusively he must indeed be deemed worthy; for his resolution is right.

With previous shloka comparison and contrast of sakama nishkama bhakti is completed. It started from shloka # 20 and ended with shloka # 29. Now in first portion of shlokas 30 to 34 Sri Krishna is talking about the glory of Bhakti. Bhakti is a sadhana that can be started at any stage in life. Gyana Yoga needs a lot of preparatory disciplines. Bhakti does not require any preparation.

Bhakti’s first stage is arthabhakti, here, when you are afraid, you pray to God. It simply works. Through his prayer Bhakta develops the confidence that he can handle the situation, whatever it is. Even a materialistic bhakti can start it. Depending on one’s spiritual evolution, anyone can start bhakti.

In Chapter 12 Sri Krishna divides bhakti into five levels. One can start from highest level, if not go to next and so on down. Bhakti can be started by anyone. If his intellect is not sharp he can start with Eka Rupa Bhakti and then move to higher levels such as Aneka rupa bhakti and Arupa Bhakti.

Another important point is every human being suffers guilt from feeling, “ I have done a lot of papams”. Even a thief knows that stealing is wrong. That is why he does it in stealth. Therefore conscience is common sense based right-wrong norm.  And this conscience, which is a common sense based norm, will always judge my action; our conscience is judging constantly and forming self-opinion; thus, most of the time, we are aware of only our mistakes that we have committed; and this produces lot of guilt.  That is why in every religion there is confession. Guilt can be a problem. He may feel I can’t take to spiritual path due to guilt.

And even in spiritual path, guilt can be a problem; I can always conclude, I cannot follow the spiritual path, and even if I follow I will not succeed. That is why in the 6th chapter it is said that we require four kripas; they are atma kripa; grace of oneself; Ishvara kripa is required; guru kripa is required; Shastra kripa is required; And what is atma kripa; it is a guilt free mind; which is confidence; Even if I have done mistake, I can correct and grow spiritually; because every saint has a past; and every sinner has a future. So why should I feel bad; and this mind has got atma kripa. So your grace is a mind, which is confident; and therefore Sri Krishna wants to pump confidence into every student. Do not say that you cannot do it; please say you can; therefore he says, even the worst sinner can come to bhakthi with confidence;

Even he need not be worried if he comes to Me, without any wavering in the mind; with total surrender, if that person comes, the day he has decided to change, he is as good as a saint.

Dayananda swamiji beautifully says: nobody can change another person. I can never change you. But if you have decided to change, nobody can stop it; it will happen; I can assist you, if you have decided to change; this is the principle. And therefore Sri Krishna says a person who has decided he is as good as a saint. Even though he has only decided; the very decision is a turning point in his life; as somebody nicely said; it is not where you stand that matters; it is in which direction you are standing; that matters. Are you walking towards Me or walking away from Me. Therefore direction is more important; not the actual location; So never compare with others; be proud that you are in the right direction;

The direction is more important. He has re-oriented his life. So have confidence and start bhakti.

Take away:

When I am particular about only a type of future result; and don’t accept any other future result, it shows there is resistance to anything other than a particular outcome in future, resulting in stress and anxiety. However, a nishkama bhaktha welcomes and accepts whatever comes in the future as such he is free from all stress and anxiety.

When we drop our anxiety for possession for material things, we have renunciation.

Insecurity is a problem of the mind and not about the possessions you have.

Even the worst sinner if he comes to Me, without any wavering in the mind; with total surrender, if that person comes, the day he has decided to change, he is as good as a saint.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 23:

येऽप्यन्यदेवता भक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयाऽन्विताः।
तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम्।।9.23।।

Those also who are the devotees of other divinities, who worship them with faith, are worshipping Me only, Arjuna! but not according to Vedic injunctions.

Continuing his talk on chapter 9, Swamiji said, from shloka # 21 to # 29 Sri Krishna is classifying bhakti into two broad types based on motive of bhakti. A Gyani’s motiveless bhakti is not taken into account in this classification. He does not have anything to accomplish. He has moksha; he does not have any desire for finite things including dharma, artha, kama or moha. Therefore Gyani’s bhakti is motiveless and it is not considered here. Here we are talking of motive driven bhakti. This includes Sakama bhakti, which is worship of God for everything else other than God. God is in heaven and everything is fine is their view. It is motivated by Preyas or interested in materialistic desires. Nishkama bhakti of an Agyani is also a motivated bhakti; if so, why is it nishkama? The reason is that the bhakti here is not interested in anything other than God. Therefore it is Nishkama bhakti. Here motive is desire for God.

When a bhakti says I am interested in you alone, God, remember that in Vedanta, “you” does not mean a personal God; because personal God is as finite as any other thing; So there “you” means a finite form which represents satyam, gyanam, anantham, brahma. Thus when I seek nothing but God; who represents infinite Brahman; when I become a theevra mumukshu, it is called nishkama bhakthi; of a Gyani. So this sakama, nishkama bhakthi of Agyani’s are differentiated in this portion and Sri Krishna’s indirect advice is: May you graduate from sakama bhakthi to nishkama bhakthi.

And this is indicated in a symbolic language; that symbolic language you should understand to interpret these verses properly. What is that symbolic language? In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna represents the infinite Lord; the infinite one or moksha while all the other Gods represent the finite devathas; representing all the finite goals of life, like money; thus Lakshmi devi is a finite devatha representing only money aspect; similarly Surya devatha is a finite devatha representing only the power of vision; thus all the other devathas represent limited goals of life; whereas Sri Krishna represents the limitless.

Citing example of checkbook, which leaf within it is important? All leafs are equal until you write a sum on one. So leafs are same, what you write makes it important. Similarly, all rupams are finite but what you invoke is important. If you invoke Satyam, Brahman in Sri Krishna Shariram then he is infinite.

And, therefore, Sri Krishna says, instead of worshipping other finite devathas; you can worship me, myself because all the devathas are included in me. What is the reason? By the simple logic that infinite includes all finite. And therefore Krishna says any devatha, a person worships, all that worship will not go to that particular devatha; but through that devatha, it comes to me alone; Similarly, In Shivapurana it says: any worship goes to Shiva; In Devi bhagavatham it says any worship will go to devi; which one is correct; everything is correct, if you understand the principle behind it.

Any worship goes to Sri Krishna and any blessing also comes from him alone through the Devata. Next principle is also in symbolic language.

Since all Devatas represent finite powers their worship will get you the blessing of that special finite power. Thus Laxmi will give you money; Saraswati will give you knowledge etc. Therefore people go to those Devatas for their powers; hence it is considered Sakama Bhakti.

If so, to whom should one go to for infinite result? One has to go to Sri Krishna for infinite result. Per Gita, Sri Krishna bhakti is Nishkama bhakti. Other Devata Bhakti represents Sakama Bhakti. Similarly one can say the same about about Shiva Bhakti as well as Devi Bhakti.

Shloka # 23:

 येऽप्यन्यदेवता भक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयाऽन्विताः।
तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम्।।9.23।।

Those also who are the devotees of other divinities who worship them with faith, are worshipping Me only, Arjuna! but not according to Vedic injunctions.

There are people who worship other Gods but they do not know that their worship is finally coming to Me alone.

Avadhi in shloka means agyanam; in this context it means they are ignorant of the fact that all the finite devathas are included in Me and by worshipping Me, they have also worshipped all the other devathas.

Shloka # 24:

अहं हि सर्वयज्ञानां भोक्ता च प्रभुरेव च।
न तु मामभिजानन्ति तत्त्वेनातश्च्यवन्ति ते।।9.24।।

I indeed am enjoyer and master of all sacrifices; but they do not recognize Me in truth. Therefore they lapse.

The same idea is further clarified. I am receiver of all forms of worship offered to Devatas. I am also providing the blessing to the devotee through the Devatas.

So I alone give the power to the finite devathas with which they bless their devotee. Seeing my physical form, people think I am the finite form; such people are deluded.

So by saying that they do not know My real nature; Sri Krishna indirectly conveys I have got two natures; what are those natures? He has two natures; one is the superficial unnatural nature and the other is essential real nature. What is the superficial unreal nature? The physical form, the finite form, is the superficial unreal nature because the Lord temporarily takes it on an ashtami day. It was not there before; and it will not be there after svargarohanam and therefore manushya vesham is unreal.

Seeing my physical human form; the deluded

people think that I am a particular finite person; but my real nature is formless; without attributes; sat chit ananda svarupam; These people do not understand that real nature. So instead of knowing my purna svarupam they take my apurna svarupam only.

Even if they worship Me they don’t ask for Me. They only ask for their personal desires. Going to Bhagavan we can ask for infinite; but still our daridra buddhi comes in. Even when the Lord is willing to give the infinite, free of cost; we still only ask for perishable and ephemeral things; Bhagavan says; My hands are in both pockets; one pocket is in infinite and the other in finite; ready to give both; but people do namaskara and ask for finite things only; only one hand of mine is active; the other hand is almost paralyzed, because I have been never able to use that hand to distribute from the moksha pocket; nobody asks even by mistake; therefore Sri Krishna is disappointed; Having come to Me; having got an opportunity for asking the infinite; they do not ask out of sheer indiscrimination; sheer foolishness; They do not ask; therefore they fall into Samsara.

Shloka # 25:

यान्ति देवव्रता देवान् पितृ़न्यान्ति पितृव्रताः।
भूतानि यान्ति भूतेज्या यान्ति मद्याजिनोऽपि माम्।।9.25।।

To gods repair their devotees; to the manes go those devoted to manes. The worshippers of the elementals go to these elementals. My worshippers come to Me.

So, people don’t ask for moksha. But the question comes up as to why God does not give me Moksha anyway? Sri Krishna says that would not work; because of two reasons.

One reason is, in human birth, the Lord has given us free will; unlike animal birth; animals cannot choose their goals; they are instinctively programmed to pursue certain basic things; they will pursue them, and they will die; whereas human being has got a freewill that means he can choose his goal and he should choose his goal. God will not interfere in our choice; god’s role is only giving us the information of what are the goals available and which goal can be reached and by which path. And if you refuse to use your choice, it indirectly means that you do not want to utilize the privilege of human birth. And if you refuse to utilize the privilege of human birth; indirectly you are declaring: Oh Lord; it is my mistake that I have come to human birth; please put me back to animal birth; that is the declaration, if you refuse to choose; therefore you can never refuse to choose whether you want moksha or not. This choice is yours alone. Bhagavan says I can assist you; but you have to choose. And therefore Moksha has to be your choice; this is one reason that God does not give moksha.

Another reason: suppose you don’t desire moksha and god gives it to you; you may refuse it. So even God is helpless; he can’t force moksha on you. So you have to ask for whatever you want. Worshippers of Devatas will get what they ask for. Thus, a money worshipper will get money; an ancestor worshipper will go to Pitr Loka. “Whatever you worship, unknowingly you will become”. Then worshippers of bhutha ganas; bhuta, preta, pisacha, yaksha, etc., will end up becoming such; worshipping tamasic deities; attaining tamasic goals; worshipping rajasic deities; attaining rajasic goals.

Whereas, Sri Krishna says, those who worship Me, representing brahman, satyam gyannam anatham; representing moksha; purnatvam; shanti; they will come to Me only; Me representing Moksha itself.

Shloka # 26:

पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति।
तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः।।9.26।।

Whoso with devotion offers Me a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, I enjoy what has been thus offered with devotion by that pure-hearted worshipper.

 In the scriptures, sakama bhakthi is also talked about; nishkama bhakthi is also talked about; sakama rituals are also talked about; nishkama rituals are also talked about.

For example, sandhya vandhanam is a nishkama ritual; it is purely meant for spiritual progress; chitta shuddhi; guru prapthi; gyana prapthi; moksha prapthi. Whereas

puthrakamesti yaga is meant for puthra prapthi, a sakama ritual.

Depending on result one wants there are rules to be followed during a ritual including: time, date, deity, meditation, dress, priest, dakshina etc. If you will violate a rule prayaschittam has to be performed. The higher the result expected, more complex the ritual. In this context when you want infinite result you would expect the puja should to be more complex. However, Sri Krishna says, the puja for infinite is very simple and no rules are required.

Thus, Sakama puja has many rules. In Nishkama puja, performed with motive of God alone, as a mumukshu, one who wants God as his goal; he can offer a leaf, a flower, a fruit or even water as his offering with Nishkama bhakti. He maybe an Agyani and a Samsari but he is a mumukshu. Such a person is one with a pure mind (one without desire of finite goals); when he prays, I receive his offering, although it is a simple offering, offered to me with love.

So since he has got such a nishkama bhakthi,

I receive that offering, even though it is a very inferior offering. I receive that offering, because it is offered with bhakti; it is offered with a love for myself;

So when God is the means in sakama bhakti; your love is a fake love; but nishkama bhaktha is doing puja for the sake of Lord. Therefore his love for me is the real love, and therefore I receive that love; Sri Krishna says I do not bother whether the medium that you use for offering love is flower or leaf; I do not care because through the medium, you are giving me the pure love. Therefore, I accept that. 

Shloka # 27:

यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत्।
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम्।।9.27।।

Whatever you do, eat, sacrifice, offer as gift, perform as austerity, O Arjuna! do all this as a dedication to Me. 

Suppose a person says I do not have pathram, pushpam; phalam; thoyam; then what shall I offer? Sri Krishna says, even if you do not have any special thing for offering to Me, it does not matter; you will be consuming things; you will have food; you will drink water; you will do some work; therefore whatever you are associated with, may you offer that to Me as an arpanam; Therefore, he says, any karma that you do; any laukika karma that you perform; even working in the office; any work, even most mundane work that you do, dedicate it to the Lord, and it can function as a puja.

So offer every action in your life, even the most mundane ones, as a puja with bhakti. This is the greatest puja one can offer, exhorts Swamiji.

Now a question can come up, how can I offer my work at office as a puja? Remember, God is everywhere. Close your eyes during any work and offer it to God. This is a practice unique to Vedic tradition. You can worship God anywhere. Close your eyes, imagine God in your stomach and offer him the food you are about to partake as an offering. Whatever your nitya karmas, offer it to God. This requires a change in attitude. If you are fasting on Eka Dashi day offer the fast as an offering to God. It is only an attitudinal change. This is Nishkama bhakti.

Take away:

So offer every action in your life, even the most mundane ones, as a puja with bhakti. This is the greatest puja one can offer, exhorts Swamiji.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

त्रैविद्या मां सोमपाः पूतपापा
यज्ञैरिष्ट्वा स्वर्गतिं प्रार्थयन्ते।
ते पुण्यमासाद्य सुरेन्द्रलोक
मश्नन्ति दिव्यान्दिवि देवभोगान्।।9.20।।

Conversant with the lore of the triple Vedic texts, drinkers of soma-juice, cleansed of sins, crave attainment after having sacrificed unto Me. They reach the meritorious world of Indra and enjoy there devine felicities.

Continuing his talk on chapter 9, Swamiji said, having talked about bhakti in general as a means of moksha, now Sri Krishna is talking about two types of Bhakti: Sakama bhakti and Nishkama bhakti. Both Bhaktis were discussed in chapter # 7 as well. In Chapter # 7 Bhakti was classified in three broad types: Manda Bhakti, Madhyama bhakti and Uttama Bhakti. Manda Bhakti is when person is looking at God for worldly benefits such as health, wealth etc. Here God is considered Sadhanam and things obtained by worshipping God are considered Sadhyam. It is the lowest form of Bhakti. Here I love God not for his sake but for some material gain.

When somebody loves me for the sake of borrowing money from me, and as long as I lend money, he loves me, he says you are Indra, Chandra, great swami, whatever it is; and I wanted to test that person and stop giving money, and gradually the friendship also is broken; his love is also broken. Now you ask the question, did that person love me for my sake, or for the sake of money? So when I have money, somebody loves; when I have no money, the same people do not love; then it is very clear that they love money, rather than me. This is simple anvyayavyathireka logic; did he love my money or me? It is very clear; people love money and not me.

Similarly when I love God for worldly benefits, it is an incidental love of God. Here God is only a means; hence it is Sakama Bhakti.

As he matures he realizes God as superior to all worldly things one can obtain and with this his attitude changes. Now I love God as an end itself. Now God is the end and world the means to the end. This radical change is Madhyama Bhakti or Nishkama Bhakti; here I don’t ask for anything worldly.

Uttama Bhakti: In madhyama bhakti God is an end and love of god is superior to love of world because the world is means, God is the end; love for the end, is certainly superior to the love for the means.

But Vedanta goes one step further; it asks why do you love god; why not money or something else? Your answer is that goal of God makes me happy.

So why does a devotee desire to attain God?

Because I love the goal; not for the sake of the goal itself; I love the goal, for the sake of myself only; If the goal will not give me happiness; then what will I do; change the goal. So therefore, as long as you see Lord as the goal; certainly you love God; but that love of God is also lesser than the love for oneself.

So superior to love of a goal is love of him Self. I love goal for love of my own self. You do love God, but it is lesser than love for one’s self. Thus, love for the end is greater than one for the means.

It is a beautiful approach; you have to meditate on this idea; love for the end is superior to the love for the means; and love for oneself is superior to the love for

the end, because I love the end for whose sake; not for the sake of the end; but for the sake of myself; and therefore in the highest level of bhakthi; God is neither the means nor the end, I have to discover God as myself.

And when God and self becomes identical; the love or devotion has reached the climax, which is called advaita bhakthi; abheda bhakthi; para bhakthi; Gyana bhakthi.

This Sri Krishna talked about in the 7th chapter as well.

Arjuna! all types of all kinds of devotees are certainly great; but the greatest devotee is that Gyani who is none other than myself.

So therefore, what are the three levels that we have to go through; first God is the means called sakama bhakthi; then God is the end, which is called nishkama bhakthi; and thereafter God is myself; which is advaitha bhakthi. 

Sri Krishna says the greatest Bhakti is I myself.

All three are great bhaktas. They have performed yagnas and had soma as a part of prasada and are thus free from papam and acquire a lot of punyam. To them God is willing to give anything. But these people pray for swarga phalam and God has no choice. What you get in life is not due to God. He does not choose what he should give. What ever you want, you ask. So, you choose your own desires. You are responsible for your own lot. Thus, these people, instead of seeking God seek swarga. Citing an example:

It is like a baby whom when we offer a gold biscuit and

a real biscuit; real biscuit meaning edible biscuit; now

the baby will ask for the edible biscuit; it will ask

what can I do with the gold biscuit; poor child does not know that gold biscuit can buy millions of edible biscuits; this is called nithya anitya vasthu vivekah nasthi.

So, God gives blessing of swarga and the blessing of moksha is lost to devotee. Therefore, Sakama bhaktas, (manda bhaktas), reach the world of Indra, a heavan full of sense pleasures and they enjoy them. Listening to it, it looks like the sakama bhakta made the right choice after all. Sri Krishna has more to say on that topic.

Shloka # 21:

ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं विशालं
क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति।
एव त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना
गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते।।9.21।।

Having enjoyed the vast world of heaven, their merit spent, they enter the world of mortals. Thus conforming to the law of the three Vedas and desiring objects of pleasure, they achieve movements to and from (heaven). 

Sri Krishna says their choice of swarga superficially looks good. They will enjoy heavenly pleasures for a long time. They will get pleasures of all Gods. Deva loka is very large. This is the bright side of Sakama Bhakti. What is its negative side? This Swarga Loka is only given for the punyam earned through many karmas, as such, it is limited and not infinite. One cannot earn Punyam in Swarga loka. Swarga is Abhoga Bhumi; it is not Karma Bhumi. One day all punyam will get exhausted and one will come back to Madras with all its mosquitoes.

Mundaka Upanishad says, even return to manushya loka is not guaranteed. It depends on one’s past karmas.

So, what? When any object which gives joy by association; the very same object gives sorrow because of dissociation; it is very natural; if you are watching a movie; very interesting one; and in the middle, the current goes; you do not have generator also; now even they have that; now if you have generator, suppose generator also goes; you get so wild; and your anger is directly proportional to the enjoyment that you derive

But the mind is such that having enjoyed something, it cannot settle for anything lesser than that, and therefore the withdrawal symptom as it is called is extremely painful. Therefore they come back to the dukha lokam.

Sri Krishna says, every Samsari is like an addict; does karma; enjoys; loses everything; again does karma; enjoys; loses everything; karma, phalam, janma, again karma, phalam, janma; karma phalam janma. Thus, bhaktas continue their cycle of life and death.

Therefore, in this manner; those people who follow the ritualistic portion of the vedas; the karma kanda portion of the vedas and with an aim of pure enjoyment, sensory enjoyment, worldly pleasures, such people do all the pooja, etc. but use punyam earned for the sake of the perishable pleasures.

Consequence is that they go to Swarga Loka and come back to Bhu Loka and this goes on, back and forth. All earnings of punyam and papam are possible only in Bhu Loka. All other 13 Lokas are meant only for exhausting them, the lower lokas for papam and higher lokas for punyam.  This is the autobiography of a Samsari.

Shloka # 22:

अनन्याश्िचन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते।
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम्।।9.22।।

To men who exclusively meditate on Me and elaborately worship Me, who apply themselves incessantly (to meditation), I bring prosperity and security.

 In last two shlokas Sri Krishna talked about Manda Bhakti as Sakama Bhakti. In this important shloka now, Nishkama bhakti is being described. Here God is end of all endeavors.

When God is the end, love for God is superior. Our mind is always obsessed with the end rather than the means. It is like travelling to Delhi. While you buy the rail ticket, you travel in train for several days, you go through all experiences; your goal of reaching Delhi remains unchanged. Or like building a house, you go through a whole process of buying the land, hiring a contractor and going through the process of building the house, all the time keeping the end goal of house in mind.

Similarly here also; in the case of madhyma bhaktha; he does all the worldly transactions; but the absorbed in the ultimate goal of his life; that is called Bhagavan in puranic language; that is called moksha in vedantic language; that is called theevra mumukshatvam in vedantic language; that is called Jignasu bhakthi in the 7th chapter language.

Transactions go on but goal is fixed. So for Nishkama bhakta his goal is God and it displaces all other objectives from my mind. While I perform all transactions, my mind is in God.

This is ananya bhakti. Here mind is absorbed in God. Other goals of life are not ignored. But they are at a subdued level; god alone predominates.

Absorption in God does not mean disregard to one’s family duties. Their goal is moksha. What about worries of worldly life?

Earning, supporting or Yoga (acquiring) and Kshema (protection), or acquisitions and preservations, we continue to perform these two without thinking of anything else. Sri Krishna says no human can ever provide total Yoga Kshema as everything in universe is insecure.

Thinking I can provide perfect security is the biggest myth; so fill the gap by surrendering to God. It does not mean you have to give up responsibility. Where is the limit to security? One can take care as much as possible and leave rest to God; this way mind is available to the beyond yoga and kshema. Is God reliable; is a question that may come up? We know humans are not. Sri Krishna says I am the real and only security. I will take care of your yoga and kshema under one condition. The condition is being committed to Me completely. They are called Jigyasu or Madhyama bhaktas. Normally a Grihastha should feel secure while Sanyasi should worry, as he has no one to help him. Security is not based upon external possessions; it is based upon internal mindset.

It is like I telling you that I will give you Rs.10 loan if you give me Rs.10 now; Then, we will happily live; remember two beggars cannot depend on each other;  two insecure members can’t give each other security. The ever-secure entity is God and he alone can give you security. Sri Krishna says if you trust Me, you will be secure.

Shloka # 23:

येऽप्यन्यदेवता भक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयाऽन्विताः।
तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम्।।9.23।।

Those also who are the devotees of other divinities, who worship them with faith, are worshipping Me only, Arjuna! but not according to Vedic injunctions.

In previous shlokas Sri Krishna said Nishkama bhakta’s are those who worship Me. Does every seeker of moksha have to worship Sri Krishna alone? Can he worship other Gods? Sri Krishna clarifies this here. It was also clarified in chapter # 7 before.

Any form of god is finite. Form is finite. Thus Krishna form, Shiva form all are finite. In any form we can invoke infinite power. So, value of deity, depends on our invocation.

I gave you an example as to which check leaf is superior? Remember, the value of a check leaf; depends upon what you write on it, until then all leafs are of equal value; provided the money is in the bank; of course; similarly here also all the devathas are equal;

But when I invoke infinite in the form, he becomes infinite. In Bhagawad Gita, Sri Krishna is the infinite.

Take away:

You do love God, but it is lesser than love for one’s self.

And, therefore, in the highest level of bhakthi, God is neither the means nor the end; I have to discover God as myself.

And when God and self becomes identical; the love or devotion has reached the climax, which is called advaita bhakthi.

All earnings of punyam and papam are possible only in Bhu Loka. All other 13 Lokas are meant only for exhausting them; the lower lokas for papam and higher lokas for punyam.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy