10. MANIFESTATION OF THE ABSOLUTE
Lord Krishna said: O Arjuna, listen once again to My supreme word that I shall speak to you, who is very dear to Me, for your welfare. (10.01)
GOD IS THE ORIGIN OF EVERYTHING
Neither the celestial controllers, nor the great sages know My origin, because I am the origin of celestial controllers and great sages also. (10.02)
One who knows Me as the unborn, the beginningless, and the Supreme Lord of the universe, is considered wise among the mortals, and becomes liberated from the bondage of Karma. (10.03)
Discrimination, Self-knowledge, non-delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control over the mind and senses, tranquillity, pleasure, pain, birth, death, fear, fearlessness; nonviolence, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame, ill fame --- these diverse qualities in human beings arise from Me alone. (10.04-05)
If you forgive others, your Father in heaven will also forgive you (Matthew 6.14). Resist no evil with evil (Matthew 5.39). Love your enemies, and pray for those who mistreat you (Matthew 5.44). Anger, controlled by the forgiver, does great harm and takes away the good Karma of the wrong doer if the wrong doer does not ask forgiveness (MB 5.36.05). The one who does wrong is destroyed by the same act of wrong doing if he or she does not ask forgiveness (MS 2.163). The one who truly forgives the trespassers is happy, because the anger of the forgiver is exterminated. The progress in spiritual discipline is impeded if one's interpersonal relationship is full of hurt and negative feeling even for a single living entity.
Even the virtue has its own vice. Forgiveness may often be construed as a sign of weakness; therefore, clemency is the strength of the strong, and a virtue for the weak. A person should be forgiven if he or she has sincerely asked forgiveness, if it is the first offense, if the offense was not intentional, and if the offender has been helpful in the past. The tool of punishment may be used --- without any feeling of revenge --- to correct and teach the intentional and repeated offenders.
The great saints, sages, and all the creatures of the world were born from My potential energy. (10.06)
One who truly understands My manifestations and yogic powers is united with Me by unswerving devotion. There is no doubt about it. (10.07)
I am the origin of all. Everything emanates from Me. The wise ones who understand this adore Me with love and devotion. (10.08)
That which is One has become this all (RV 8.58.02).
My devotees remain ever content and delighted. Their minds remain absorbed in Me, and their lives surrendered unto Me. They always enlighten each other by talking about Me. (10.09)
Devotees are the well wishers of everyone and help others to advance on the spiritual path.
LORD GIVES KNOWLEDGE TO HIS DEVOTEES
I give the knowledge and understanding of the metaphysical science --- to those who are ever united with Me and lovingly adore Me --- by which they come to Me. (10.10)
Those who receive him and believe in him, he makes them come to the Father in heaven (John 1.12). Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall not enter therein (Luke 18.17).
I, who dwell within their inner psyche as consciousness, destroy the darkness born of ignorance by the shining lamp of transcendental knowledge as an act of compassion for them. (10.11)
One can achieve the Supreme Lord only by exclusive love and devotion. The lamp of spiritual knowledge and God-realization can be easily ignited by the intense spark of devotion, but never by intellect and logic alone.
Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Being, the Supreme Abode, the Supreme Purifier, the Eternal Being, the primal God, the unborn, and the omnipresent. All saints and sages have thus acclaimed You, and now You Yourself are telling me. (10.12-13)
NOBODY CAN KNOW THE REAL NATURE OF REALITY
O Krishna, I believe all that You have told me to be true. O Lord, neither the celestial controllers nor the demons fully understand Your real nature. (See also 4.06) (10.14)
O Creator and Lord of all beings, God of all celestial rulers, the Supreme person, and Lord of the universe, You alone know Yourself by Yourself. (10.15)
The Vedas left the final question on the origin of ultimate Reality unanswered by stating that nobody knows the ultimate source from where this creation has come. Sages went further by stating that perhaps even He does not know (RV 10.129.06-07). The one who says that I know God does not know; the one who knows the Truth says that I do not know. God is the unknown to a person of true knowledge, it is known only to the ignorant (KeU 2.01-03). The ultimate source of cosmic energy is and will remain a big mystery. Any specific description of God, including a description of heaven and hell, is nothing but a mental speculation.
Therefore, You alone are able to fully describe Your own divine glories --- the manifestations --- by which You exist pervading all the universes. (10.16)
How may I know You, O Lord, by constant contemplation? In what form of manifestation are You to be thought of by me, O Lord? (10.17)
O Lord, explain to me again in detail, Your yogic power and glory; because I am not satiated by hearing Your nectar-like words. (10.18)
EVERYTHING IS A MANIFESTATION OF THE ABSOLUTE
Lord Krishna said: O Arjuna, now I shall explain to you My prominent divine manifestations, because My manifestations are endless. (10.19)
O Arjuna, I am the Supreme Spirit (or Supersoul) abiding in the inner psyche of all beings as soul (Atma). I am also the creator, maintainer, and destroyer --- or the beginning, the middle, and the end --- of all beings. (10.20)
The Spirit has no origin and is a property of the Supreme Being as the sunlight is a property of the sun (BS 2.03.17). The Supreme Being and the Spirit are like sun and sunlight, different as well as non-different (BS 3.02.28). The Spirit within living beings is the controller. The Spirit is different from the physical body, as fire is different from the wood.
The senses, mind, and intellect cannot know the Spirit or the universal consciousness; because the senses, mind, and intellect get their power to function from Spirit alone (KeU 1.06). Spirit supplies power and supports the senses as the air burns and supports the fire (MB 12.203.03). The Spirit is the basis and support behind every form of power, movement, intellect, and life in this universe. It is the power by which one sees, hears, smells, thinks, loves, hates, and desires objects.
I am the sustainer, I am the radiant sun among the luminaries, I am the controller of wind, I am the moon among the stars. (10.21)
I am the Vedas, I am the celestial rulers, I am the mind among the senses, I am the consciousness in living beings. (10.22)
I am Lord Shiva, I am the god of wealth, I am the fire god, and the mountains. (10.23)
I am the priest, and the army general of the celestial controllers, O Arjuna. I am the ocean among the bodies of water. (10.24)
I am the monosyllable cosmic sound, OM, among the words; I am the chanting of mantra among the spiritual disciplines; and I am the Himalaya among the mountains. (10.25)
A constant chanting of a mantra, or any holy name of God, is considered by saints and sages of all religions to be the easiest and the most powerful method of Self-realization in the present age. The practice of this spiritual discipline with faith will drive sound vibrations into the deeper layers of mind where it works like a damper in preventing the rise of the waves of negative thoughts and ideas leading the way to the inner awakening in due course of time. Meditation is the extended and higher stage of this process. One must first practice this before going into transcendental meditation. Swami Harihar says: There should be no desire to gain any worldly objects in exchange for the repetition of the divine name. The spiritual force of divine name should not be applied even for the destruction of sin. It should be resorted to for divine realization only.
The form of the Lord cannot be known, or comprehended by human mind without a name. If one chants, or meditates on the name without seeing the form, the form flashes on the screen of the mind as an object of love. A great saint said: Place the lamp of the name of the Lord near the door of your tongue if you want the light both inside and outside. The name of God is greater than both impersonal and personal aspects of God, because the power of name has control over both aspects of God. It is said that the best of all spiritual efforts is to always remember and repeat the name of God.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS
I am the holy fig tree among the trees, Narada among the sages, and I am all other celestial rulers. (10.26)
Know Me as the celestial animals among the animals, and the King among men. I am thunderbolt among the weapons, and I am the cupid for procreation. (10.27-28)
I am the water-god, and the manes. I am the controller of death. I am the time or death among the healers, lion among the beasts, and the king of birds among birds. (10.29-30)
I am the wind among the purifiers, and Lord Rama among the warriors. I am the crocodile among the fishes, and the holy Ganges river among the rivers. (10.31)
I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all creation, O Arjuna. Among the knowledge I am knowledge of the supreme Self. I am logic of the logician. (10.32)
I am the letter "A" among the alphabets. I am the dual compound among the compound words. I am the endless time. I am the sustainer, and I am omniscient. (10.33)
I am the all devouring death, and also the origin of future beings. I am the seven goddesses or guardian angels presiding over the seven qualities --- fame, prosperity, speech, memory, intellect, resolve, and forgiveness. (10.34)
I am the Vedic and other hymns. I am the mantras, I am November-December among the months, I am the spring among the seasons. (10.35)
I am gambling of the cheats; splendor of the splendid; victory of the victorious; resolution of the resolute; and goodness of the good. (10.36)
Both good and bad are the product of divine power (Maya). Maya creates a multitude of merits and demerits that have no real existence. The wise do not attach too much importance to it. One should develop good qualities and get rid of the bad ones. After enlightenment, both good and bad, virtue and vice are transcended as darkness vanishes after the sunrise. Vice and virtue are not two things, but one; the difference being only in the degree of manifestation. It is true that God also dwells in the most sinful beings; but it is not proper that one should hate them or associate with them. Gandhi said: Hate the sin and not the sinner.
One should view the marvelous cosmic drama, full of pairs of opposites in life, with ever-joyous heart; because there is no good or evil; only different masks of the cosmic actor. The scriptures denounce the idea of growing rich by unfair means such as gambling, gifts, and bribes. They recommend honest labor, sweat of the brows such as cultivating the cornfield, that is good for society as well as the individual (RV 10.34.13).
I am Krishna, Vyasa, Arjuna, and the power of rulers, the statesmanship of the seekers of victory. I am silence among the secrets, and the Self-knowledge of the knowledgeable. (10.37-38)
I am the origin of all beings, O Arjuna. There is nothing, animate or inanimate, that can exist without Me. (See also 7.10 and 9.18) (10.39)
A big tree --- with many branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds --- remains inside a tiny seed in unmanifest form, and becomes manifest again and again into a tree. The tree again becomes unmanifest into the seed. Similarly, all manifestations remain in the Absolute in unmanifest form and become manifest during creation and unmanifest during dissolution again and again. The fruit remains hidden in the seed and the seed in the fruit; similarly, God is in the human beings and human beings in God.
MANIFEST CREATION IS A VERY SMALL FRACTION OF THE ABSOLUTE
There is no end of My divine manifestations, O Arjuna. This is only a brief description by Me of the extent of My divine manifestations. (10.40)
The variety in the universe, beginning from the highest celestial controllers to the smallest insects and even the inert dust, is nothing but a manifestation of One and the same Absolute.
Whatever is endowed with glory, brilliance, and power; know that to be a manifestation of a very small fraction of My splendor. (10.41)
Through the word, His cosmic sound vibration, God made all things; not one thing in the creation was made without His cosmic energy (John 1.03). This cosmic manifestation is non-separate from the Absolute just as the sunshine is not separate from the sun (BP 4.31.16). The entire creation is a partial revelation and the part and parcel of the Infinite. The divine manifests its glory through the creation. The beauty and splendor of the visible universe are only a small fraction of His glory.
What is the need for this detailed knowledge, O Arjuna? I continually support the entire universe by a very small fraction of My divine power. (10.42)
Quantitatively, the manifest creation is a very small fraction of the Absolute. The universe reflects the divine splendor for human beings to see the invisible Lord. One should learn to perceive God not only as a person or vision, but also through His splendor as manifested in the universe; and through His laws that govern and control nature and life. He is existence, goodness, and beauty.
