The Holy Geeta by Swami Chinmayananda

Author:Swami Chinmayananda [Chinmayananda, Swami]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9788175970748
Publisher: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust
Published: 2020-12-13T23:00:00+00:00

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The Divine Glories Introduction

IN any textbook of a systematic exposition of thought, later chapters will have their roots in earlier ones, and the continuity of narration in, and the consistency of development of the themes are both unavoidable. Although these chapters are named separately, and therefore look almost completely independent of one another, there is an imperceptible matrix of ideas holding them all together. Viewed thus, this chapter may be traced back to some dozen different verses in different earlier chapters. Of them, the most predominant and striking source is the stanza in the seventh chapter (VII-6) wherein, after describing the Higher and the Lower Nature of the Eternal, the Lord concludes “I AM THE ORIGIN AND THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE”; and therefore, he adds, “BEYOND ME THERE IS NAUGHT. ALL THIS IS STRUNG IN ME, AS A ROW OF JEWELS IN A THREAD”. (VII-6, 7)

Similarly, although Krishna, as the Self, Eternal and All- Pervading, is the Source of all names and forms, He has to indicate to Arjuna His exact place and worth in the comity of things and beings in the Universe.

This chapter is called the Vibhuti Yoga inasmuch as it describes (a) the Power or Lordship, and (b) the Pervasiveness, or Immanence of the Self. The Self is the Essence in the world of plurality as described in this chapter; therefore, we find Krishna indicating Himself both as (1) the most prominent and Chief Factor in all classes of beings, and (2) as that Supreme Factor without which specimens belonging to each class cannot maintain themselves as existent beings. We shall notice these as we dissect the stanzas one by one to discover their individual contents.

In this chapter, we discover that Arjuna feels extremely inspired when he gets re-educated in his knowledge of the Vedas, through the sparkling words of Lord Krishna. The teacher in Krishna confesses that He Himself feels encouraged by Arjuna’s happiness, and therefore, this chapter is added.

In this chapter, Arjuna enquires of Krishna as to how one can constantly keep in touch with the Eternal aspect of Truth, even while one is perceiving the pluralistic world and transacting with its objects (X-17). As an answer to this particular question, the rest of the chapter is packed with indications of the joyous Infinite among the joyless finite objects.

However, the chapter concludes with a cry of despair on the part of Krishna which drives home to Arjuna, the impossibility of a teacher ever exhausting the analysis of all the things and beings in the world, and indicating in each the glorious spirit, both as separate and yet not separate from matter. No electrical engineer can ever hope to exhaust all the bulbs and fans and other electrical equipments in the world, one by one, to indicate to a student of electrical engineering what exactly constitutes, in each, the equipment as separate from the electrical current. The chapter concludes: “OF WHAT AVAIL IS IT TO YOU TO KNOW ALL THESE DIVERSITIES? I EXIST SUPPORTING THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE BY A PORTION OF MYSELF”.

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