Bhagavadgita -Radhakrishnan 18

The Bhagavadgita -S. Radhakrishnan

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INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
5. Krsna, the teacher


In the ,Rg. Veda, IV, 26, Vamadeva says: "I am Manu, I am Surya, I am the learned sage -Kaksivan. I have adorned the sage Kutsa, the son of Arjuni. I am the wise Usana. ; look at me. . . ." In the Kausitaki Up. (III), Indra says to Pratardana "I am the vital breath. I am the conscious self. Worship me as life, as breath. He who worships me as life, as immortality, obtains full life in this world. He obtains immortality and indestructibility in the heavenly regions.[1] In the Gita, the author says : "Delivered from passion, fear and anger, absorbed in Me, taking refuge in Me, many purified by the austerity of wisdom have attained to My state of being. "[2] The ego holds something other than itself, to which it should abandon itself. In this abandonment consists its transfiguration. A liberated soul uses his body as a vehicle for the manifestation of the Eternal. The divinity claimed by Krsna is the common reward of all earnest spiritual seekers. He is not a hero who once trod the earth and has now left it, having spoken to His favourite friend and disciple, but is everywhere and in every one of us, as ready to speak to us now as He ever was to any one else. He is not a bygone personality but the indwelling spirit, an object for our spiritual consciousness.

God is never born in the ordinary sense. Processes of birth and incarnation which imply limitation do not apply to Him. When the Lord is said to manifest Himself at a particular time, on a particular occasion, it only means that it takes place with reference to a finite being. In Chapter XI the whole world is seen in God. The subjective and the objective processes of the world are only the expressions of the higher and lower natures of the Supreme; yet in whatever is glorious, beautiful and strong, God's presence becomes more manifest. When any finite individual develops spiritual qualities and shows large insight and charity, he sits in judgment on the world and starts a spiritual and social upheaval and we say that God is born for the protection of the good, the destruction of the evil and the establishment of the kingdom of righteousness.


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References and Context

  1. ↑ S., commenting on this, observes: "That is, Indra, a deva, looking on his own self as the Supreme Brahman by the vision of the sages according to the Sastras, says, `Know me' just as the sage Vdmadeva seeing the same truth, felt, `I am Manu, I am Surya ' In the Sruti (that is the Brhadaranyaka Up.) it is said, The worshipper becomes one with the god he truly sees ' "
  2. ↑ IV, to. Jesus spent his life in solitary prayer, meditation and service, was tempted like any of us, had spiritual experiences like the great mystics and in a moment of spiritual anguish, when he lost the sense of the presence of God, cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" (Mark xv, 34). Throughout, he felt his dependence on God. "The father is greater than I": (John xiv, 28). "Why callest thou me good ? None is good, save one, even God" (Luke xvxu, 19). "But of that day and that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son but the Father" (Mark XIII, 32) "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke XXIII, 46) Though conscious of his imperfections, Jesus recognized the grace and love of God and willingly submitted himself entirely to Him. Thus delivered from all imperfection and taking refuge in Him, he attained to a divine status. "I and the Father are one" (John x, 3o).