Bhagavad Gita
In my view, the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is the most difficult chapter. It is like an ocean contained in a small pot. Therefore, before entering this ocean, I would like to place a few points before you.
The first point is that the tenth chapter is a symbolic chapter. By calling it symbolic, I mean that whatever is said here is expressed mainly through symbols. Therefore, to understand and absorb this chapter, it is necessary that we become familiar with this symbolic style. In fact, all of our Vedic and Puranic literature is composed in this symbolic manner.
The second point is this. In the first nine chapters of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna, representing the Supreme, has said that He is unborn, immortal, indestructible, invisible, unmanifest, and formless. He is beginningless, infinite, eternal, and everlasting. He exists at the center of this visible universe, yet He is far beyond it, limitless and immeasurable.
Up to the ninth chapter we have discussed these ideas.
Now in the tenth chapter, Krishna begins to describe His all-pervading nature and His role as the foundation of everything. This all-pervasiveness and this foundational nature are the main themes of this chapter.
So we must understand what this “foundation of everything” means.
It means that the Supreme Consciousness itself is the basis of the entire universe. It is the support, the source, the seed, and the origin of everything. We can use any of these words, but the meaning is the same — everything rests upon that consciousness.
Krishna says in verse 8 of this chapter:
“Aham sarvasya prabhavo, mattah sarvam pravartate.”
“I am the source of everything; from Me everything proceeds.”
Here the word “sarvasya” (of everything) deserves attention.
Sarvasya means everything — the whole. In this “everything” there is no division between good and bad. It includes both the good and the unpleasant, the flower and the thorn, virtue and wrongdoing. The consciousness that we call God is the basis of all of it.
Sometimes we feel uneasy with this idea. We wonder how the Divine could be the source even of wrongdoing. But the word sarvasya indicates that the foundation is the same for everything.
Arjuna understands this intellectually, but he is not able to fully absorb it within himself. That is why Krishna’s effort is to help Arjuna truly internalize this truth.
Up to now, Arjuna — and through him all of us — have placed our ego at the center of life. This ego becomes the greatest obstacle in spiritual development.
Krishna tells Arjuna, “Fight the battle and leave everything to Me.”
But Arjuna is not ready to let go. He keeps thinking, “How can I kill my own relatives? Why should I become the cause of sin?”
Because of this, he cannot move forward.
The problem is the sense of doership — the feeling that “I am the one doing everything.”
There is a story often told.
A bullock cart filled with straw is standing somewhere, and a dog sits underneath it. The dog refuses to move away because it thinks that if it leaves, the entire cart will collapse.
This is exactly the condition of Arjuna — and of all of us.
Because we place our ego at the center of life, we are not ready to leave anything to God. Krishna’s entire effort is to dissolve this ego.
To explain this, Krishna adopts a new device or tool in the tenth chapter. Through this tool he tries to show Arjuna that in every emotion, every thought, every tendency, every power, every quality, every aspect of the mind, intellect, life force, and consciousness — everywhere — the same Divine Consciousness is present.
This consciousness is the foundation of all thoughts, feelings, and mental activities. Without this consciousness there can be no mind, no intellect, no life force, no awareness. This itself is the greatest divine glory (vibhuti).
What we think of as our thoughts, our emotions, our mind, and our intellect — none of these exist independently. All of them are supported by the Divine.
To understand this, consider an example.
Inside the human body there are millions of cells. The center of each cell is sustained by consciousness. Because of this consciousness, all activities in the body continue.
When this consciousness leaves the body, all activity stops. Then we say that the body has died.
Yet while the body is alive, we rarely think about the consciousness that sustains it.
It is like electricity in a house. As long as electricity flows and all appliances work normally, nobody pays attention to it. Only when the electricity goes out do we realize its importance.
In the same way, the presence of Divine consciousness usually goes unnoticed.
Therefore Krishna describes His glories (vibhutis) so that our attention may turn toward that underlying reality.
In verse 6 of this chapter, Krishna describes these glories in a very symbolic form.
He says:
“The seven great sages, the four ancient ones, and the Manus were all born from My mind, and from them all the beings of this world have come.”
The terms Mahārshi (great sages), Sanakādi, and Manu mentioned here are not physical persons, as we usually imagine. They represent different states of consciousness and states of the mind.
Krishna is indicating that all states of consciousness and all mental conditions arise from the same Divine consciousness.
To understand this, we must look at the seven great sages first.
These seven sages — Marichi, Atri, Angira, Pulastya, Pulaha, Bhrigu, and Vashistha — represent seven states of human consciousness.
For example:
Marichi represents a state of consciousness that is still dormant, almost like a sleeping or dead condition — a consciousness that has not yet awakened to the awareness of the Self.
Atri represents a higher state in which the three powers of knowledge, action, and devotion merge into unity.
Angira represents the consciousness functioning throughout the physical body, the life force, and the mind.
Pulastya represents outward-moving consciousness — a mind absorbed in worldly objects.
Pulaha is the opposite — inward-turning consciousness.
Bhrigu represents the state of consciousness that burns the seeds of karma.
Vashistha represents the consciousness that constantly moves upward toward higher evolution.
In the Puranas, these sages are described as having many descendants. But these descendants are also symbolic. They represent different emotions, qualities, tendencies, and states of mind.
Next comes Sanakādi — the four Kumaras: Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara.
These represent the four states of consciousness within the human being:
• waking
• dreaming
• deep sleep
• the transcendental state (turiya)
Since consciousness exists in all these four states, it is symbolically represented by these four names.
Finally there are the Manus, who represent different states of the higher mind.
In Puranic literature fourteen Manus are mentioned, but they symbolize various stages of mental evolution.
When the human mind remains attached to bodily pleasures, it is considered a lower mind. But when it rises above bodily attachment, it becomes the higher mind, and true spiritual development begins.
The Puranas mainly describe the development of this higher mind.
For example, the first Manu, Svayambhuva Manu, represents the emergence of the higher mind from the creative power of consciousness.
This higher mind has three powers:
• the power of action
• the power of knowledge
• the power of feeling (devotion)
The Puranas describe these powers symbolically as daughters — Prasuti, Devahuti, and Akruti.
Through symbolic stories of their marriages and descendants, the scriptures describe many virtues such as faith, compassion, peace, humility, memory, and spiritual wisdom.
All of this is symbolic language describing the inner evolution of human consciousness.
Our scriptures use such symbolic storytelling to represent our own thoughts, emotions, qualities, virtues, weaknesses, and states of awareness.
Unfortunately today we no longer understand this symbolic language. The keys to these symbols have largely been lost.
Because of that, this chapter of the Gita appears difficult to us.
In my own study journey, I spent nearly twenty-five to thirty years trying to understand this symbolic style. Even then, what I understood is only a tiny drop compared to the vast ocean of meaning.
Whatever little understanding came was only through the grace of the Divine.
This grace is hinted at in verse 7, where Krishna speaks about His “Yoga.”
He says:
“Whoever truly understands My divine glories and My Yoga becomes established in unshakable union.”
We understand what “divine glories” means, but what does God’s Yoga mean?
Usually yoga means the power by which a human being connects with God — the drop merging into the ocean.
But here the meaning seems slightly different.
Here God’s Yoga means the Divine reaching toward the human being.
When a drop falls into the ocean, that is the human’s yoga.
But when the ocean itself enters the drop, that is God’s yoga.
Whenever union happens, movement occurs from both sides.
We often talk about the human journey toward God, but we rarely think about God’s movement toward the human being.
Krishna says that when a person takes one step toward the Divine, the Divine also takes a step toward that person.
In fact, without Divine grace, the search itself cannot begin.
A person cannot begin searching for God unless God has already begun calling that person.
Saint Kabir expressed this beautifully in his verses. He first said that the drop has merged into the ocean. But then he realized that the ocean itself has entered the drop.
This means that the longing to find God arises only when the Divine has already awakened that longing within us.
This grace, this divine assistance, is what Krishna refers to as God’s Yoga.
Therefore, in verse 6 Krishna describes His vibhutis — His manifestations.
And in verse 7 He indicates that whoever understands both His manifestations and His divine assistance becomes established in unshakable spiritual union.