Baghawad Gita, Class 151: Chapter 11, Verses 43 to 46

Shloka # 43:

You are the Father of all beings moving and
non-moving; to this (world) You are worthy of worship, the Teacher, and greater
(than a teacher). There is none equal to You; how at all can there be anyone
greater even in all the three worlds, O You of unrivalled power?

Continuing his teaching
Swamiji said, Sri Krishna answering Arjuna’s question, pointed out that he,
Krishna, himself was Kalatatvam. Time is not separate from Creation and once I appreciate
desha and kala as Ishvara; then
everything existing in time and space also must be Ishvara because
the world cannot exist separate from desaha and kala. As I said the other day, previously
it was thought that time and space are separate and the creation is separate; this was the thinking under Newtonian
physics. Later we have revised our opinion; creation cannot be separated from
time and space; or time and space cannot be separated from creation.

Shankaracharya says, God
created time, space and the World.

It
is not that time and space existed before and Bhagavan thought in
time, one day, to create the universe; that is not the idea; when we say Bhagavan created the
world it means Bhagavan
created time, place and the world; and that is why we get into a logical
problem; once I know Bhagavan
created time and space and world, we will have difficulty in answering questions
such as; when did Bhagavan
create time; What will be your answer. It
is a difficult question to answer. One cannot answer, when time arrived. Another
question is where does space exist? How did cause and effect principle come
about? These
three questions, can never answered; that is why we use the word: Maya. Maya does not
mean we do not know how to answer; Maya means intellectually these questions are undecipherable. So,
what I want to say is: when Bhagavan says I am time, we should understand that as, Bhagavan is Time,
Bhagavan is Space;
Bhagavan is the
objects also.

So, Bhagawan is time, space
and objects. It also includes events that occur. Finally God is, all the laws
governing all events. Citing example of boiling water, it follows laws such as
boiling point etc. Every event is governed by physical and moral laws and is called
Bhagawan or Niyama.

Whenever I experience
anyone of the above four (time, space, objects, events) I am experiencing God. A
person asked could I get darshan of God? Gita says, you are obtaining this
darshan at all times; it is just that you are not aware of it. The moment we
become aware of it, it becomes a mature mind; one becomes a madhyama bhakta. An Uttama bhaktha is
even above this state.

This Vishwa rupa bhakta is
a great nature lover that he appreciates as Bhagawan. Arjuna also gets a glimpse
of this darshanam and he becomes overwhelmed by devotion.

In this context Shiva sankalpa mantras come to mind,
they are so beautiful; it says, let my mind have auspicious thought; and one of
the auspicious thoughts is that all the legs, all the eyes; all the faces are
the faces of the Lord alone; and when Arjuna appreciates this; he looks back in
time and remembers.

At this time, looking back,
Arjuna feels guilt that in the past I have not addressed God properly, when we
were younger. He surrenders to Lord and asks for forgiveness. Hence we should
not disrespect Earth and Water. Do not spit in water; do not take bath
in the river without clothes; all these advices are given by the Vedas.

Why so much respect? When
rain comes we run away; then ask why escape from rain which is God himself.

Arjuna says, O Lord, you
are father of Universe consisting of moving and non-moving objects.”

This is the shloka I introduced in the last class. “Oh Lord: You are the father of the universe.” Here we have to see two things; In Vedantic teaching, three stages are there; I have told you before; philosophically first we say:

Bhagavan creates the
world; stage one;

stage
two is Bhagavan himself
becomes the world,

the
last stage is Bhagavan
appears as the world without undergoing change.

First stage is called nimitha karana Ishvara or ekarupa Ishvara; the second stage is called upadana karana Ishvara or anekarupa Isvara; the third stage is called vivartha upadana Ishvara or arupa Ishvara.

Arjuna
is, here, doing both; He is says, You are the Father of the world and You are
the world.

God is the creator of
scriptural teaching tradition. You are the adi guru. You are greater than all
other Gurus. Why so? All other Gurus were at one point in time a shishya.
Bhagawan is the absolute Guru who was never a shishya (gariyan).

“ there is no one equal to
you; so, where is the question of someone being greater than you; you are
matchless one; you are Lord of matchless glory.”

Shloka # 44:

Therefore, by bowing down and prostrating the
body, I seek to propitate You who are God and are adorable. O Lord, You should
[The elision of a (in arhasi of priyayarhasi) is a metrical licence.] forgive
(my faults) as would a father (the faults) of a son, as a friend, of a friend,
and as a lover of a beloved.

Arjuna’s guilt does not
leave him, although he has only treated Sri Krishna as a friend. In Bhakti
literature God is accepted as a friend, but still Arjuna feels guilty.

“ I request forgiveness,
falling at your feet. I propitiate you for my offense.” Other than God nobody
deserves namaskara. All namaskara’s finally go to God through Guru Paramapara.

“I do this so that you
forgive me for my insults to you; even as a parent forgives children.” We should
forgive our children when they make mistakes.

Like a husband forgiving
his wife for her offenses; husband was considered a Guru and wife the shishya. “You are like husband”,
is also a form of bhakthi called madhura bhakthi; where the devotee looks upon
himself as Gopi or Radha and Lord is
the only purusha.

Finally, forgive me, just
as a friend forgives another friend.

Shloka # 45:

I am delighted by seeing something not seen
heretofore, and my mind is stricken with fear. O Lord, show me that very form;
O supreme God, O Abode of the Universe, be gracious!

Here Arjuna expresses his
two fold emotions. I am in conflict. I am one of the few lucky one’s with a Divya
Chakshu that allowed me the Vishwa Rupa Darshanam.

At the same time from one
corner I see only Lord’s mouth where bodies are being crushed and devoured. My
mind is in grip of fear due to this. One part is happy while another part of
mind is fearful. Of the two, fear is more dominant.

Divya Chakshu has to come
to us through our own Sadhanas; Arjuna got his from God’s blessing; he did not get
it from his sadhanas; he was not mature enough to get it, hence he is fearful.

So, I request you to
withdraw Vishwa Rupa; I can’t withstand it. To withstand Vishwa Rupa darshanam
one’s Raga Dvesha must be carefully reduced; my Ahamkara, Mamakara must reduce
in me.

I have seen something
unique, Vishwa Rupa; seeing it I am extremely elated, but internally I am
frightened as well.

Citing an example, swamiji
said in his village during a temple festival they had a few elephants and he
got on top of one of them. Now, elephant has big backbone; it also has hair
that is very rough. Both of them make one miserable but yet one keeps smiling.

Of the two, fear is the one
that dominates. O Lord, I would like to see you as good old Sri Krishna, the
Eka Rupa Ishwara. Graduating to aneka rupa Ishwara is not easy; only after
being in aneka rupa for some time can one go to arupa ishwara.

Be gracious to me; O lord
abode of universe.

Citing a story, when Krishna
ate mud, Yashoda scolded and said; open the mouth. She thought that she will
see only mud inside the mouth but instead of mud, the whole cosmos was there;
and just as Arjuna could not withstand the Vishva rupa; even Yashoda
could not. Therefore instead of saying; I am not able to; she commanded Krishna
to Shut Up. Shut Up seems to be a command, but inside it is all fear; It is not
to be taken literally; how can all the cosmos would be inside the Krishna’s
mouth; even the Tirupati Laddu we are not able to put inside as a whole into
our mouth; so, do not take it literally. This symbolizes the Lord as the vishvadharam gagana sadrsham.

Shloka # 46:

I want to see You just as before, wearing a
crown, wielding a mace, and holding a disc in hand. O You with thousand arms, O
You of Cosmic form, appear with that very form with four hands.

So Arjuna concludes his prayer. That is the third stage of appreciation. No.1 Ascharyam; No.2 bhayam; No.3 bhakthihi; the third stage of bhakthi expression is being concluded here; with Arjuna’s request to the Lord to get back to his own ekarupa.

He says he wants to see the
Lord with his Chakra, Gadha and his four hands.

Some ask if Sri Krishna had
four hands? Sri Krishna had only two hands. We can conclude that Arjuna was
probably confused due to his changing emotions. So he says, May you appear as
Sri Krishna rupam and not as Vishwa Rupam.

So
with this Arjuna’s response to Vishva rupa

darshanam is over;
the last phase is from shloka No.35 up to this shloka. Now the ball is in Lord
Krishna’s court; so, there is some silence; because Arjuna has made his request
and Sri Krishna has to do respond; What is the Lord going to do is given in the
next shloka; which we will see in the next class.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy