Bhagwad Gita - Post 124

Dear All,

God manifests Himself in creation through His essential natures. His natures can be classified as existence, knowledge, power and bliss. God is existence. Existence is common to all things. Even a rock, even a hill, even a stone exists, and in that sense, philosophically, we may say that God is present even in inanimate things. But the quality of existence seems to be a special consideration in the assessment of any kind of value.

God is manifest everywhere. The point made out in the Tenth Chapter is that He is especially manifest in certain things, though He exists uniformly everywhere as pure Being. Wherever there is knowledge and power, there God’s manifestation seems to be superb. In the list that is given here in the Tenth Chapter, the emphasis seems to be on knowledge and power.

We can appreciate that knowledge cannot be found anywhere except in a human being. There is some kind of knowledge in everything—even plants have an inkling, and animals have some knowledge. When we speak of knowledge, we generally speak of the understanding that characterizes the human species. But power can be either physical or mental. In physical power, animals are superior to man. Man cannot stand before animals as far as physical strength is concerned; but man has a mental power which is superior to animals. Hence, while any animal can terrify man physically, man can subdue any animal mentally.

Thus, in the delineation of the categories of the manifestation of God in the Tenth Chapter, perhaps God—the Lord—wants His glories to be seen where there is intense knowledge and intense power, both physical and mental. Wherever we see supreme physical strength, we may say there is an inkling or a little expression of that which surpasses all that is inferior to us. As far as mental power is concerned, there is no need to say much about it because it is supreme power. Mental power can control the whole world, while physical power is local and it can work only at a particular place, and not everywhere.

The God that is supposed to be manifest in all things is mentioned here as revealed throughout creation—in all the realms of being, right from Brahmaloka downwards, because even the names of celestials are mentioned here as manifestations.

Briefly, it is said that the supreme manifestation of God is in the Selfhood of all people. Aham ātmā guḍākeśa sarvabhūtāśayasthitaḥ (10.20):

Now the specific manifestations are mentioned. The general manifestations are as the Creator, the Sustainer and the Destroyer, the Self and the Soul of all things. These are the general Supreme manifestations; but there are lesser manifestations as particular items of creation.

All the verses coming up should also be contemplated / taken in the context of bolder example given in an earlier post. Thus, irrespective of the species / anything  referred in the following verses, with clarity we got from that boulder example, God must exist  in wholesome / complete!!!

Verse 21

Aadityaanaamaham vishnur

Jyotishaam raviramshumaan;

Mareechirmarutaamasmi

Nakshatraanaamaham shashee.

Among the (twelve) Adityas, I am Vishnu; among the luminaries, the radiant sun; I am Marichi among the (seven or forty-nine) Maruts; among stars the moon am I.

The greatest and the most adorable of the particular units of creation before us is the sun god. “Among the Adityas, twelve in number, Vishnu Aditya am I.” 

Sūrya ātma jagaṭasṭa (R.V. 1.115.1). Surya is supposed to

be the self of everything that moves and does not move. Sūrya ātma jagaṭasṭa is a Vedic statement, and we know very well the extent to which the sun god determines life in this world. Verily, the sun is God. 

It is said there are twelve manifestations of the sun. It is difficult to explain as to what these twelve are, because it is mentioned “among the Adityas, Vishnu am I”. Towards the end of the Bhagavata there is some mention of twelve suns, which are just nomenclatures of the manifestation of the same sun during the twelve months of the year.

But there are other interpretations which say that the twelve suns are not just the names of the same sun during the twelve months of the year, they are concentric circles of solar manifestation in the cosmos, which is something very difficult for us to understand. It is a purely theological, astronomical or mystical concept which we usually never hear of. It is believed that because this earth is one of the planets going around the sun, the sun may be said to be the father of the entire family of the planets.

This solar system is also like one of the planets that goes round another sun, and there are many other solar systems also going around it like planets.

That second sun, which is a superior central luminosity which regards this solar system as its planet or satellite, is itself a satellite of another sun; and the entire superior second solar system goes around that sun as a planet.

In this way, it goes on higher and higher until we reach that supreme state, which is the twelfth sun, identified with Lord Vishnu himself—that is, God Himself is the final sun. That is what we can make out, if at all we are able to understand the sense of this statement ādityānām ahaṁ viṣṇuḥ: “Of the twelve Adityas, Vishnu am I.” 

Jyotiṣāṁ ravir aṁśumān: “Of all brilliances, the brilliance of the sun is Me.”

Marīcir marutām asmi: “There are forty-nine Maruts, of which Marichi, the pre-eminent one, is Myself.” 

Nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī: At night, the biggest luminosity is the moon. Though the moon is not a star, it is figuratively considered to be a star because of the luminosity that it sheds. Because it is the biggest luminosity at night, it is considered to be star-like in appearance. “That is also My glory—particularly the luminosity of the full moon.” 

Love.