Bhagwad Gita - Post 123

Verse 19

Sri Bhagawan Uvaacha:

Hanta te kathayishyaami

Divyaa hyaatmavibhootayah;

Praadhaanyatah kurushreshtha

Naastyanto vistarasya me.

The Blessed Lord said:

Very well, now I will declare to thee My divine glories in their prominence, O Arjuna! There is no end to their detailed description.

Verse 20

Ahamaatmaa gudaakesha

Sarvabhootaashayasthitah;

Ahamaadishcha madhyam cha

Bhootaanaamanta eva cha.

I am the Self, O Gudakesha, seated in the hearts of all beings! I am the beginning, the middle and also the end of all beings.

There was a great sage called Muchukunda, who helped the Gods in a war with the demons. Indra, who was highly pleased with him said, “Ask for a boon.” 

He said, “I am very much tired. The only thing I need is a good sleep. This is the blessing: Let me sleep somewhere in a corner without disturbance and bless me also that if anybody disturbs me while I am asleep, he shall perish in one second.” 

“Be it so!” said Indra. 

Then Muchukunda, with post-war fatigue, went into a cave and fell asleep. Meanwhile, Kalayavana, a demon discharged by Kamsa under the instigation of Jarasandha and others, was pursuing Sri Krishna; and Sri Krishna, with a double motive in his mind, entered the cave in which Muchukunda was sleeping, which Kalayavana saw. 

Sri Krishna was dark blue in colour and, fortunately or unfortunately, Muchukunda was also the same color. Sri Krishna entered the cave and stood in a corner, and the demon Kalayavana also entered.

When he saw someone with almost the same colour as Sri Krishna lying down, fast asleep, he said “Oh, you are sleeping here!” and kicked him with his foot. The sleeping man slowly opened his eyes, and immediately the demon was reduced to ashes. 

Then Sri Krishna came forward. Muchukunda looked at him and said, “Who are you, this great mysterious magnificence that is standing before me? Will you kindly tell me your name?” 

Sri Krishna replied, “Infinite are My names. You can count the grains of sand on the shores of the ocean, but My glories and My names are larger in number than the sands on the beach of the ocean.”

Likewise, here Sri Krishna tells Arjuna, “It is impossible to tell you in toto all the manifestations in this world in which you can behold Me; but briefly, in essence, I shall outline where My excellence can be beheld.”

Śrībhagavānuvāca:

Hanta te kathayiṣyāmi

Divyā hyātmavibhūtayaḥ,

Prādhānyataḥ kuruśreṣṭha

Nāstyanto vistarasya me.

The Lord says, “I will tell you briefly. The details that you are speaking of are endless, infinite. How will I go on telling you all that is infinite in its nature? But I will give you an outline of where you can locate Me in this world.” 

Aham ātmā guḍākeśa

Sarvabhūtāśayasthitaḥ

“I am the soul of all beings. Wherever you see existence, there you see Me present as the basic fundamental reality of all. The love of life, which can be seen even in the worst of creatures, is actually a distorted love that they are manifesting towards the existence of their own individuality—but actually, that existence is borrowed from My universal existence.

That deepest essence, the ‘I’ which you refer to, the ‘I’ that is in everything—in plants, in animals, in insects, in gods—that ‘I’, the soul, as it were, of all things, is Me.  

The Atman, the Self of all beings, is Me. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all things. If the universe has come from somewhere, realize that it has come from Me. If it is existing now, it is due to My existence; and one day or the other, it shall be absorbed into Me. 

Amongst the various definitions of God given by the Vedas, some  of them are:

The Brihadaranya Upanisad V.VII.XV beginning –

Yas sarvashu bhuteshu

Tishthan sarvebhyo bhutebhyo

He who is enthroned in the heart of all beings, who is the innermost of all beings, Whom all the beings know not, whom all beings form His spiritual body, who rules the interior of all beings, is the atma, the antaryami the immortal inner ruler. 

Yato vā imāni bhūtāni

Jāyante yena jātāni jīvanti, Yatprayantyabhisamviśhanti

(Taittirīya Upaniṣhad)

“God is he from whom all living beings have emanated; God is he within whom all living beings are situated; God is he into whom all living beings shall unite.”

While teaching few on the verse from the same Taittriya Upanishad, the following was taught was explained.

Definition of Brahman in  brahma sutras, chapter 1, 2^nd verse)

Janmadya  aadhikaranam:

Janmaady Asya yatah

(Brahman is that) from which the origin etc., (i.e. the origin sustenance and dissolution) of this (world proceed).

Answer to the enquiry of Brahman is briefly given in this Sutra. It is stated that Brahman who is eternally pure, wise and free (Nitya, Buddha, Mukta Svabhava) is the only cause, stay and final resort of this world. Brahman who is the originator, preserver and absorber of this vast world must have unlimited powers and characteristics.

Hence, He is Omnipotent and Omniscient. Who but the Omnipotent and Omniscient Brahman could create, rule and destroy it? 

Dear All,

This is a very deep subject. Let us at-least understand very clearly that before creation ever emerged, God existed as pure consciousness and mystically, this pure consciousness became the cause for the emergence of creation. 

So, while the creation emerged (BEGINNING), the creation was sustained (MIDDLE)  and in each pralaya, when the creation ended (END) (creation has emerged, ended and re-emerged innumerable number of times), that which exists  without any change, the   pure existence which is  birth less, changeless and endless, is Brahman or Pure consciousness!

The same truth  is expressed by Krishna  in this verse, “ I am the Self, O Gudakesha, seated in the hearts of all beings! I am the beginning, the middle and also the end of all beings.”

Love.