In Chapter 10, Krishna explains that He is the Over-Self of all beings. He gives a narration of His unique auspicious attributes which characterize Him as different from all other entities.
General topics covered in the Chapter:
- God is the origin of everything
- Nobody can know the real nature of Reality
- Everything is a manifestation of the Absolute
- The manifest creation is a very small fraction of the Absolute
Excerpt commentary from Swamiji:
37
vṛṣṇīnāṃ vāsudevo’smi
pāṇḍavānāṃ dhanañjayaḥ
munīnām apy-ahaṃ vyāsaḥ
kavīnām uśanā kaviḥ
pāṇḍavānāṃ dhanañjayaḥ
munīnām apy-ahaṃ vyāsaḥ
kavīnām uśanā kaviḥ
I am Krishna among the Vrishnis, Arjuna among the Pandavas; I am Vyasa among the sages; I am Ushana among the seers.
“So here Bhagavan is talking about Himself, ‘I am Krishna among the Vrishnis.’ He is talking about His own Self, the Lord who establishes the identity between the manifestation of God, and God Himself. He said, ‘I brought Myself into being, into this body as Vasudev Krishna, but I Myself am the Lord of Lords. I am Myself, Narayana Krishna.’ So the intention is to show that He’s Supreme, Supreme as Himself, more than the creator Brahma. He’s the unborn, the Immortal, the Almighty Lord Himself. Lord over all creation, He Himself is the son of Vasudev. The Lord is not just a normal ordinary person, even if He appears very human by being there among the people, by being in the battlefield, in the Kurukshetra. Everybody could see him just like normal, but in reality, He is God Himself.
He said, ‘Among the Pandavas, I am Arjuna.’ Here it’s funny, you know, to see that within the Pandavas – among the Pancha Pandava, who was the eldest? Yudhisthira was the eldest of the Pandavas. He was a very highly virtuous soul, very dharmic, a great devotee of the Lord. He was very great, but Krishna here is saying that among the Pandavas, ‘I am Arjuna’. Arjuna listening at that moment probably got shocked. So, He said, ‘Arjuna, among the Pandavas, I am you, Arjuna’. He’s declaring that there’s no difference between the Lord and Arjuna. Like I said, few days ago, here He is playing different roles: Bhagavan Himself is playing the role as the Guru and Bhagavan Himself is playing the role as the disciple."
Testimony:
"I found the stories amazing. He gave a story for each incarnation of the Lord and how they interact with each other. I have never heard so many nice stories before and that makes very thankful that I got the opportunity to be here." - Ivan, U.K.
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Sri Swami Vishwananda has decided to give commentary on the Shreemad Bhagavad Gita, the eternal Word of Lord Sri Krishna. It will take place over 18 consecutive days, and each day will cover one chapter. Guruji will give his commentary with a particular Bhakti perspective.
For now, we will provide a small portion of the commentary on this blog for those who could not attend the course. At a later stage, we will offer the full length of the Gita commentary as a book and also as CD and DVD sets.