Bhagwad Gita - Post 53

Verse 7

Yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya

Glaanir bhavati bhaarata;

Abhyutthaanam adharmasya

Tadaatmaanam srijaamyaham.

Whenever there is a decline of righteousness, O Arjuna, and rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself.

In the earlier verses, it is explained that lord Krishna has no beginning and is immutable and that He instructed Visvavan the demi-god of the sun millenniums before in a past incarnation but a question may arise in regard to the many births. When did all these manifestations take place?

Lord Krishna clears up this point beginning with the words yada yada meaning whenever and wherever. This signifies that anytime or any place that a decline in righteousness is apparent, at that time the Supreme Lord manifests Himself. 

Here the word dharma which means righteousness does not imply ordinary righteousness as applies to the mundane interactions of varnasrama or the position and stages in life. 

Chinmaya says, 

“Dharma, "The Law of Being" is a sacred truth, and when the majority of the members of a community do not obey this great Truth, there is a conquest of the world by a herd of biped-animals, and not a co-operative happily-living family of men, pursuing life in their full dignity as intelligent social beings. 

In all such dark periods of history, some great Master comes to present himself as the leader of men to revive 'the-standard-of-life' and its moral values. 

This is generally done, not only by giving a fillip to the existing nobler values, but also by a corresponding policy of total elimination of the wicked.”

Swami explains,

“The scriptures declare that the divine descends on earth to teach the mankind the ways of dharma, justice and truth. I incarnate on earth from age to age to establish dharma, this is Krishna’s declaration in the Gita. 

Once people are filled with love, all dharma, all justice and truth will be installed in them. 

Without love, righteousness will be a mechanical ritual. What kind of righteousness can be there without Love? What sort of justice can there be? It will be a lifeless corpse”.

How beautifully Swami has aligned Dharma or righteousness with LOVE in the above lines!!!!

The word srjami is significant herein. Srjami cannot be used in the sense of creation, because, according to the previous verse, there is no creation of the Lord's form or body, since all of the forms are eternally existent. Therefore, srjami means that the Lord manifests Himself as He is. 

He appears by His own will whenever there is a predominance of irreligiosity and a disappearance of true religion. 

Principles of religion are laid down in the Vedas, and any discrepancy in the matter of properly executing the rules of the Vedas makes one irreligious. 

In the Bhagavatam it is stated that such principles are the laws of the Lord. Only the Lord can manufacture a system of religion. 

The Vedas are also accepted as originally spoken by the Lord Himself to Brahma, from within his heart. Therefore, the principles of dharma, or religion, are the direct orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Swami has explained “incarnation” in a beautiful way,

“To elevate man to the level of His consciousness, He (God) has to incarnate as man. He has to speak to them in their own styles and languages. He has to teach them the methods they can adopt and practice. 

Birds and beasts need no divine incarnation to guide them, for, they have no inclination to stray away from Dharma. Man alone forgets / ignores the goal of life.”

Dear All,

Kindly note that while in the case of birds/ beasts, Swami says that they do not stray away from their dharma, when He ends the line with reference to human beings, He does not use the word “ Dharma” but He says, Man alone forgets the goal of life. 

In this one expression, the lord of lords has given the entire essence for mankind to receive, contemplate, contemplate and contemplate. 

Swami has called us and reminded us that “OUR DHARMA, AS HUMAN BEINGS, IS TO ATTAIN THE GOAL OF LIFE, WHICH IS GOD REALIZATION”.

Love.

Swami Vivekananda

Literally, the Sanskrit word "Jivanmukta" means"living-free":    it's    an epithet given to a person  who becomes spiritually enlightened, because only such a person is really "free" in the truest sense  of the term. 

We don't have to die in order to taste this freedom. We can experience it right here, right now. Such spiritually free people do exist in every generation  and it is they who keep the lamp of spirituality  burning brightly.

Swami Vivekananda

Bhagwad Gita Post 52

Dear all,

Let us see the translation of the initial 4 verses in chapter 4.

The Blessed Lord said:

I taught this imperishable Yoga to Vivasvan; he told it to Manu; Manu proclaimed it to Ikshvaku.

This, handed down thus in regular succession, the royal sages knew. This Yoga, by a long lapse of time, has been lost here, O Parantapa (burner of foes)!

That same ancient Yoga has been today taught to thee by Me, for, thou art My devotee and friend; it is the supreme secret.

Arjuna raises  a doubt,

"Later on was Thy birth, and prior to it was the birth of Vivasvan (the Sun); how am I to understand that Thou didst teach this Yoga in the beginning?."

Now, the lord takes over from here and explains, to clear the doubt of Arjuna, as much as He clears the doubts of spiritual seekers in all times to come.

We will deal with few striking verses from this chapter in this regard, starting from verse 5.

Verse 5

Sri Bhagavaan Uvaacha:

Bahooni me vyateetaani

janmaani tava chaarjuna;

Taanyaham veda sarvaani

na twam vettha parantapa.

The Blessed Lord said:

(Many births of Mine have passed, as well as of thine, O Arjuna! I know them all but thou knowest not, O Parantapa!)

Sri Krishna seems to be conveying to Arjuna through this verse, the following essence. 

Arjuna, I know your doubts. 

I am not this physical body, 

I (the Brahman) am the one who has no birth ( though in physical form, I might have descended many times) , 

I transcend all space and time. 

I am not limited by circumstances, 

I exist in all ages, in all times.

Based on  your limited knowledge about me (as My body), you are thinking that I belong to this Dwapara age. 

BUT, ALL THESE AGES ARE VERILY WITHIN ME.

Bodies change but I never change, I take on different bodies , at different times, to fulfill a mission required for each phase of time, each yuga!!

Dear All,

While the author read through the whole book titled “ Jivanmukhta Gita”, elaborated by Swami Sivananda, the one point which stood out amongst all the verses/all the exposition and what could be gathered from that exposition was, “ An Avatar/Lord can know all the past, all the present and all the future, whereas, a Jivanmukhta need not necessarily know all the past and all the future of Himself or   his  disciple.  

He might get to know about some past at some point of time ( of himself or any other being/ his disciple, when the Lord supreme grants him that capacity sometimes, only for him to serve his disciple or a set of disciples!!.

This one single point explains the depth of this one verse where, Lord/incarnation is aware of all past, all present and all future because, HE/THE ESSENCE THAT HE IS, EXISTS ETERNALLY , EVEN WHEN THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, IN TERMS OF SPACE AND TIME, COME AND GO!

The Svetasvatara Upanishad says (on God, as Nirakara Brahman or Sakara Eswara/ Avatar), 

'Thou art the Woman', 

'Thou art the Man', 

'Thou art Girl', 

'Thou art Boy', 

'Thou deceivest us as the old man tottering with the stick', 

'Thou movest everywhere, in the form of everything, in all directions', 

'Thou art the dark-blue Butterfly, and the Green Parrot with red eyes', 

'Thou art the thunder cloud, the Seasons and the Oceans',

'Thou art without beginning and beyond all time and space',

'Thou art That from which all the Universes are born'. 

'That alone is Fire. That is the Sun. That is Air, That is the Moon, That is also the starry firmament, That is the waters, That is Prajapati, That is Brahman.'

That Divine Being, who, though Himself formless, gives rise to various forms in different ways with the help of His Supreme Power for His own inscrutable purpose, and who dissolves the whole Universe in Himself in the end – may He endow us with pure understanding."

Love