10. Chapter 10 — Vibhūti Yogaḥ · The Yoga of Divine Glories

10.1

श्रीभगवानुवाच | भूय एव महाबाहो शृणु मे परमं वच: | यत्तेऽहं प्रीयमाणाय वक्ष्यामि हितकाम्यया

śrībhagavānuvāca bhūya eva mahābāho śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ / yatte’haṁ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyāmi hitakāmyayā / / 10.1

Lord Kṛṣṇa says: Listen carefully again, Oh mighty-armed Arjuna! Because you are My dear friend, I shall speak further on the Supreme knowledge for your welfare.

śrī bhagavān uvāca — Lord Kṛṣṇa says · bhūyaḥ — again · eva — surely · mahābāho — mighty-armed · śṛṇu — hear · me — My · paramaṁ — supreme · vacaḥ — words · yat — that which · te — to you · ahaṁ — I · prīyamāṇāya — dear to Me · vakṣyāmi — say · hita- kāmyayā — with the desire for your benefit.

śri bhagavān uvāca bhūya eva mahā-bāho śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ I yat te ‘haṁ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyami hita-kāmayā II 10.1 AMaster’s relationship with his disciple is in many forms. Usually it is described in five forms. The most basic relationship between a Master and disciple is that of a Master and a servant, dāsa bhāva. The relationship of Hanumān with Rāma represents this type. Another is the relationship of a mother with her child, vātsalya bhāva, as in the case of Yaśodā to infant Kṛṣṇa. The third is the relationship of a child with the mother, mātru bhāva, like the relation of Rāmakṛṣṇa to Ma Kālī. The fourth relationship is that of friendship, sakha bhāva, feeling that the Master is the closest friend.

The fifth is that of the beloved, madhura bhāva, like the relationship of Radhā to Kṛṣṇa. Here, Kṛṣṇa refers to the fourth relationship, sakha bhāva, as exemplified by His friendship with Arjuna. He is the Master to His disciple Arjuna as well as Arjuna’s friend. Usually, as an individual ego, we see the Whole as our enemy. We are like small waves in a big ocean. However, suddenly, the wave starts thinking that the ocean is its enemy. When it is created, while it exists or when it drops, the wave is connected to the ocean. However, the wave thinks that it is in some way different from the ocean.

Not only that, the wave starts fighting with the ocean. For the wave to realize that it is fully connected to the ocean, it must be consumed by the ocean. The ego must dissolve. The individual identity of the wave must disappear. This is the first step to Enlightenment. We live in the illusion of our self-created identities. Each wave relates to another wave but not to the ocean. It adopts another wave as its father, mother, wife or child and relates with them. However, ultimately, each one of these related waves disappears into the ocean just like the wave itself. If we look at the human body, we can see this oneness so beautifully exemplified.

The human body consists of trillions of cells living in total harmony. The individual cell, though it has intelligence by itself, can survive even if its center, the nucleus, which is considered the central intelligence of the cell, is removed. However, when it is a part of the whole body, it is not the intelligence of the individual cell alone that is at work, but the collective intelligence of the body-mind system that governs. This collective intelligence ensures that this remarkable system of the human body-mind works smoothly. Listen. Enlightened people think they are ordinary. And unenlightened people think they are extraordinary! When we feel that we have undergone maximum suffering, our ego feels good; we feel we are extraordinary.

Only when our enemy is big, we feel big. When our enemy is small, we feel small. For the same reason, if our suffering is big, we feel good and our ego is satisfied. We measure life by the amount of our suffering. That is why we constantly torture others as well as ourselves. Because of our ego, we think that we are extraordinary and that a lot of things happen in this world because of us. We are all unique creations of Existence but we are not responsible for the world. The wave cannot attribute to itself the power of the ocean. It must realize that it is a part of the ocean.

Instead, if it tries to separate itself from the ocean, it is a futile effort. Please be very clear that the world does not run because of us. It runs in spite of us! Fifty years before our birth, don’t you think the world Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 723 was running as it is now? Fifty years hence, do you think the world will stop because you are not here? A proverb says that if the cat closes its eyes, it thinks the whole world has become dark! It thinks because it can’t see the world for those few moments, no one can see it either! Rāmaṇa Mahaṛṣi describes a beautiful story: A man was traveling on a train carrying his luggage on his head.

A fellow passenger asked, ‘Why are you carrying your luggage on your head? You can put it down and sit peacefully.’ The man replied, ‘It would be too heavy for the train!’ Little did he realize that the train was even now not only carrying him, but his luggage as well! In the same way, the Divine not only takes care of you, it also takes care of your mind. But you always think you are taking care of yourself. That is the foolishness of the mind. We are waves of the Divine. We are part of this Whole. We cannot be an isolated existence. We exist in the cosmic Whole just as the wave exists in the vast expanse of the ocean.

The ego gives us the feeling that we are individual, separate and isolated whereas the reality is that we are a part of this Existence, in It and supported by It. Existence Is Your Friend! There are two ways in which we can live. First, we can embrace and welcome reality, in which case our ego or root pattern must dissolve because only then can we face reality. Please understand that this reality is God. God is not some entity hidden in some remote corner of the Universe or in the sky. He is the reality around us. God is not remote, He is immediate. It is unfortunate that this word God is destroyed by the remote meaning of some old man with a long beard sitting in some remote heaven or hell.

If He is sitting in a remote heaven, it is useless hell. God is immediate! Divine is immediate! The second way of living is how most of us live: We create a shell, a dream world around ourselves to defend a false ego which has no substance in reality. This is what is meant by māyā—illusion. Since we are hidden in this capsule of our unreal world with our ego as the center, we cannot feel the immediate presence of God, who is actually the closest to us. The prāṇa (vital energy), the air that we breathe, which is going inside our body and coming out, is not our property.

It is the property of Existence. We do not need air to survive. We need prāṇa to survive. Constantly, we take prāṇa through the air from the Cosmos. If the incoming breath carries more prānā than the outgoing breath, we are going towards life. Then, we expand, we strengthen our body, our energy. If the outgoing breath carries more prānā than the incoming breath, be very clear, we are going towards death. Understand that whatever we think of as our being cannot function, if prāṇa doesn’t go in and come out. Again and again, we think that we end where the physical boundary of our body ends and anything outside that boundary constitutes the external world.

This physical boundary is not our boundary. We think that whatever is outside the physical boundary of our body constitutes Existence and that it is our enemy. Imagine that the sun disappears one day. Do you think we could live without the rays of the sun? If the air were to disappear, will we be able to survive? If we are dependent for our survival on the sun that is billions of miles away, how can our boundary end where the physical boundary of our body ends? Understand, we are deeply related to Existence. We are not completely separate, self-sufficient entities. When we lose sight of the Whole, we become unaware of our links to one another.

Since you consider Existence to be your enemy, you continuously try to protect yourself from others. Look at yourself carefully and you will notice that you always look at people with theattitude, ‘Why has he come? What is he going to take from me? How will he exploit me?’ Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 725 Continuously, you are in a protective mood, trying to protect yourself from others. This is because you feel threatened by the Existence of the other. The moment you think Existence or the Whole is your enemy, you become defensive. Defending is a polite word for offending. All over the world, the military forces of all countries are called defensive armies.

Then who is offending? Every country claims that its army is an army for defending itself. Then who is really offending? When you feel the Whole is your enemy, that everybody except you is your enemy, you spy continuously and fight constantly. The fighting mood creates an increasingly violent feeling in you, with more and more restlessness Listen! The first thing Kṛṣṇa teaches as rājavidya rājaguhyaṁ (secret of all secrets), is that Existence is not your enemy. It responds to your thoughts. It continuously cares for you. It is intelligence. Please listen! If you live with the attitude of enmity with the Whole, even when you live, you will constantly be tortured.

When you live with the feeling of friendliness or sakha bhāva, with the attitude that Existence is your friend, that Existence is your own, you feel a deep easiness. We need to realize that we are part of the same energy system as the Universe. Hindu scriptures describe the five energy elements that comprise Nature: earth, water, fire, air and ether. The human system is a combination of the same elements as the Universe, so are all beings, inanimate and animate. Above all, more than the easiness, you will feel deeply connected to Existence. Even if the wave thinks that it is different from the ocean and starts defending itself from the ocean, ultimately it will fall into the ocean, however much it tries to defend itself!

By its very nature, the wave starts in the ocean, exists in the ocean and falls into the ocean. If it understands that it is a part of the ocean, it will be utterly relaxed. It will live a blissful life. If it fights the fact, it will fight with the ocean. But eventually it has to fall into the ocean. The ultimate secret that Kṛṣṇa wants to reveal is that Existence, Parāśakti, Brahman, is your friend, not your enemy. It is intelligence and it responds to your thoughts. This is the first understanding. Next, in this chapter, Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am That.’ He says, ‘I am the whole of Existence.’

In the next chapter, He gives the experience of the Cosmic consciousness to Arjuna. These chapters lead Arjuna step-by-step to an elevated consciousness. In the previous chapter, rājavidya rājaguhyaṁ yogaḥ Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Drop your enmity with Existence, against the Universal energy, Brahman and Ātman.’ In this chapter, Vibhūti Yogaḥ, He says, ‘I am the same energy. Not only you don’t need to have enmity, you can have deep love.’ Now, He explains how to feel connected to Existence. In the next chapter, Viśvarūpa Darśana Yoga, He gives the Cosmic experience to Arjuna that He is in the whole Cosmic consciousness. First, He removes enmity, then, He creates the feeling of connectedness, deep friendliness.

Finally, He gives the advaitic (non-dual) experience. These three chapters lead Arjuna step-by-step. They elevate Arjuna from a low level to a higher level. Let us study this scripture, Yogaśāśtra, with intense devotion and deep sincerity. Along with Arjuna, we will grow into completion. We will not miss it. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘For your benefit, because you are My dear friend, I shall speak to you further, giving knowledge that is better than what I have already explained.’ Kṛṣṇa explains His glory not for His own sake but for Arjuna’s sake. Kṛṣṇa does not explain His glory to show His ego. Understand an important thing: The ego of the king is based upon how many people accept him as king.

Suddenly, if all his citizens are taken away from him, what will happen to his kingdom? He will lose the base, he will lose the very idea of kinghood. His ego will be totally shaken. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 727 Glory of Ātmajñāna (knowledge of the Self) A beautiful happening: A great saint called Dakṣiṇāmūrti Swamigal lived in Tamil Nadu. He lived the life of a Paramahamsa (enlightened one). The sky was all that covered his body. He never wore clothing. He lived like a child, in bliss. One day a king came to meet him. Swami was sitting under a big tree meditating blissfully. The king expected Swami to stand up and receive him with respect.

Swami however did not bother. The king egoistically said, ‘What! You are an ordinary beggar. I am a king. Don’t you know how to respect me?’ The Swami laughed and said, ‘Actually, you are the beggar. You are begging respect from me. You feel respected only when somebody gives you respect. However, I don’t feel respected when somebody gives me respect nor do I feel disrespected when somebody doesn’t give me respect. Whether somebody respects me or not, it is not in any way related to my consciousness. I do not ask you why you are not respecting me.’ Then he continued, ‘Your personality or ego could be shaken if your army and all your ministers leave you.

Oh king, your being is dependent upon somebody else.’ That is why it is said that when Buddha begged for alms, He looked like a king and the kings looked like beggars! Outward possessions cannot make us regal. The inner bliss that radiates makes us regal. Dakṣiṇāmūrti Swamigal says, ‘You are a king as long as your citizens accept you. So naturally, directly or indirectly, you will be begging your citizens to accept you because your consciousness is dependent upon them. In my case, whether somebody accepts or not, I am blissful! I am a Paramahamsa. My Paramahamsa-hood can never be taken away from me. But your kinghood can be taken away from you.

So, be sure that the moment you ask for respect, you are a beggar. I am not.’ A clear truth is that the person whose ego is fed by more and more citizens is a politician. He is an egoistic person. But an enlightened man reveals himself for the sake of the disciple’s understanding. Here, Kṛṣṇa does not speak about Himself out of ego. Whether Arjuna accepts it or not, Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa was in a blissful state even before Arjuna became His disciple. Kṛṣṇa will be in a blissful state even after Arjuna becomes His disciple. Irrespective of whether Arjuna is His disciple or not, Kṛṣṇa is in the same blissful consciousness.

One important thing: In the next chapter, Arjuna says, ‘Oh Kṛṣṇa! Forgive me. I called You by Your community name: ‘Hey Kṛṣṇa, Hey Yādava, Hey Saketi! I called You by Your first name.’ In India, if you are a very close friend to a person, only then you call him by his community name: Yādava (Kṛṣṇa’s community). Arjuna wails, ‘I called You Kṛṣṇa, Yādava and I called You my friend! I called You by these names thinking that You are my friend, a normal human being like me. But now, I understand. You are the God of gods. You are Mahādev (supreme God). Forgive me please, I beg of You!

Please accept me as Your disciple. Forgive me for my ignorance. I did not know Your greatness, please forgive me!’ Because of this statement, Kṛṣṇa’s ego does not become big. Please understand: Kṛṣṇa has all the glory from day one until the very end. Even with all His glory, He allowed Arjuna to call Him by His first names. He never said, ‘Don’t you know who I am? How dare you call me by my first name?’ He never carried a business card! Even when Arjuna was talking to Kṛṣṇa in a friendly way, He was humble. Kṛṣṇa responded to Arjuna in the same way that Arjuna spoke to Him.

Kṛṣṇa is simple and humble. Before the Gītā started, at the time of the Gītā and after the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa is the same, eternally. Only Arjuna Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 729 undergoes a tremendous change. Here, Kṛṣṇa does not explain His glories out of ego. He explains so that Arjuna will understand, intranalyze and experience Him. When Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am,’ He means the cosmic consciousness, the egoless being and the enlightened energy. Again and again, He expresses the glory of enlightenment, the glory of ātmajñāna (knowledge of the Self). That is why He is so complete and confident. With such clarity, with such integrity and authenticity, He explains, ‘I am Everything.’

Even to utter these words, you need courage. No normal man can say, ‘I am God’ to somebody else. If he does, the next day he will be in a mental asylum with a special seat reserved for him! Here, Kṛṣṇa is courageous enough to declare and the person who is listening experiences it. What is the science? What does it take for an enlightened man to declare himself as enlightened, as Incarnation and as God, Bhagavān? What do we need as a disciple to experience that as the truth? Many hundreds of enlightened Masters declare this truth again and again. Sometimes the people who listen to them become enlightened like Arjuna or Vivekananda.

Sometimes the disciple is hurt and disturbed by the statement and abuses the Master. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said, ‘The one who came as Rāma, who came as Kṛṣṇa, is residing in this body as Rāmakṛṣṇa.’ He boldly declared this, not when he was healthy, but when he was suffering from throat cancer. These words did something in Vivekananda. It was then that Narendra became Vivekananda. When Kṛṣṇa declared, ‘I am God,’ Arjuna became enlightened. How? What do you need to create this experience? Trust God has Intelligence, and Surrender See, be very clear that the experiences of Kṛṣṇa, Śiva, Buddha and Mahāvīra, are all one and the same. As the enlightenment experience, it is the same.

When they express the enlightenment, why are there different reactions? When they express their enlightenment and declare their divinity, some people become enlightened and some run away. How can we also become enlightened when we listen to Kṛṣṇa’s words? How can we listen? How can we have that benefit? With what mood are we supposed to receive the words? When people who hear this declaration of truth, vibhūti, the glory, are egoistic and aggressive, they abuse the Master. If they are egoistic but not aggressive, they run away. Next, Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa’s disciple, is totally in love with Kṛṣṇa. He has totally surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. He is not ready to suspect anything.

By now, he is clear. His head has stopped working. His logic has stopped analyzing. This truth should be declared only to a person who is totally, intimately related and feeling connected to the Divine. Arjuna has completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. What is surrender? When we hear the word ‘surrender’, we think that it is the easiest thing to do since we don’t need to do anything. For example, if we meditate, we need to do something. But if we need to surrender, we think we don’t need to do anything. Hence, we think it is easy. This is because we think about surrender in a totally different way compared to what the Masters mean by the word ‘surrender’.

When we use the word ‘surrender’, we only say that we have surrendered. We do not really surrender. Our faith and surrender are mere words. We delude ourselves thinking we have surrendered. In fact, we have not. Our faith, our surrender is never total surrender. There are three levels of surrender: Surrendering the ‘I,’ surrendering the mind, and finally, surrendering both the ‘I’ and the mind. Surrendering the ‘I’ is surrendering the individual ego. Surrendering the mind is surrendering the mental setup, the root thought patterns. When you truly surrender to the Divine, surrender can work miracles on you. When you offer yourself at the feet of the Master, your ego Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 731 disintegrates.

The mind is just your collection of all thoughts and habit that you have formed. For example, if you get up in the morning, your mind instinctively tells you that you need your morning coffee since that is a habit. Similarly, if you are constantly worried, it becomes a habit and you worry in every situation without realizing it. When someone praises you, you choose to get flattered. If someone criticizes you, you choose to get disturbed. The mental pattern has been etched so deeply that you don’t realize that it is you, who is making the choice of how to react. When you surrender, you cannot choose. A small story: One day, Lord Viṣṇu and goddess Lakṣmī were chatting in a relaxed mood in their abode, Vaikunṭa.

Suddenly, Viṣṇu jumped up from His seat and ran a few yards. Then he made a U-turn and returned to His seat. Lakṣmī was perplexed and asked, ‘Lord, why did You run in the first place? Then, why did You return immediately after running only a few yards?’ Viṣṇu replied, ‘I saw a man in the process of stoning one of My devotees. I ran to help. Then I saw him pick up stones to retaliate. Seeing that, I decided that he did not need My help.’ When you surrender, you cannot choose to react. When you surrender, the egocentric ‘I’ totally disintegrates. Please understand: The egocentric ‘I’ is eccentric.

When you surrender, you will be bubbling with joy and bliss. You will be like a kid. Have you seen an ugly child? Even in the poorest country, the kids are beautiful. On the same count, have you seen a single adult who is beautiful? Enlightened people are like children, bubbling with bliss. They are called dvijā (born again). After the death of the ego, it is a new birth. The father and mother give us our first birth. The second birth is given by God and the Guru. If you understand that Existence is your friend and it deeply cares for you, you will not feel the need to live according to a script for life.

Instead, you will have tremendous courage and trust in yourself to live life spontaneously. Then, instead of re-living life and reacting to life based upon past memories and experiences, you live life with spontaneous responses to situations. If you live in a simple way, you don’t need a script. Please understand, Existence constantly cares for you. Trust the intelligence in you. Be complete and welcome life as it flows. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘If you continuously merge in Me, I will take care of all your needs and necessities. You will be My responsibility.’ In the last chapter Kṛṣṇa promises: yogakṣemaṁ vahāṁyahaṁ: My responsibility is Yoga—to get the things that you need and kṣema—to take care that they remain with you.

Yogakṣemaṁ: He makes this promise. He says, ‘I will take care of you spiritually and materially. You shall not lack anything. You will always be in bliss.’ You may wonder how this is possible. When you surrender to the Divine, your higher consciousness will be activated and you will have the intelligence and courage to live everything. The ultimate intelligence is first understanding that Existence cares for us, and secondly, surrendering to that Existence. Realizing that Existence is not a brute force or power but an intelligent energy, is the key to a life of bliss. When we surrender the mind, we go from ‘mind’ to ‘no-mind’ state. The mind actually arises from possessiveness.

Tantra says that the ego is based upon possessions. Look deeply and we will see that the origin of our mind lies in whatever we think of as ours. Our idea of ‘mine’ creates the sense of ‘I’. Most of us think that from ‘I,’ the ‘mine’ arises. No! It is from the sense of ‘mine’ that ‘I’ arises. The root of the tree of ‘I’ is ‘mine’. We think that if we have more possessions, we have more freedom. Yes, we will have more freedom, but only the freedom to choose between one suffering and another suffering. We can never choose between suffering and joy through possessiveness. How can we enjoy something with the feeling of possessiveness?

We will be in constant fear of losing our possessions. The feeling of ‘mine’ never lets us enjoy anything. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 733 Just understand. When we surrender ourselves to Existence, it carries us in its very arms. We won’t feel the pain of life. But if we try to calculate things after saying that we have surrendered, we project our mind onto the idea of what will happen after surrender. When we say that we have surrendered, how can we say that nothing has happened in spite of our surrender? If we have truly surrendered, we have no right to expect something to happen after we have surrendered.

A Master was asked, ‘How do I know that I have really surrendered?’ The Master replied, ‘If you have really surrendered, this question itself will disappear. There will be a feeling of utter bliss and relaxation.’ Just surrender everything, not only your pain and suffering but also your responsibility. This does not mean that you stop doing household work or going to office. You continue to do so but with the mood of utter relaxation. Surrendering yourself is a clear, conscious decision. Listen! Total surrender with total responsibility is Living Enlightenment. If we look into our lives, we see that our relating with God is never true surrender. Most of the time, we beg God to give us what we want.

The next stage is when we bargain: If you give me this, I will give you that. The third stage is blaming God: I went to this temple so many times; yet, God has not listened to me. Understand, we don’t have the intelligence to know what we want. If God were to listen to our requests and desires, this world would have perished a long time ago! This game of begging, bargaining and blaming in the name of praying has nothing to do with true devotion. There is a beautiful story in the Mahābhārat: Before the war started, Duryodhana and Arjuna went to Kṛṣṇa’s palace to seek help from Kṛṣṇa for the war.

Both of them were relatives of Kṛṣṇa and wanted Kṛṣṇa’s help. Kṛṣṇa was sleeping. Arjuna, the Pāṇḍavas’ representative, sat at the feet of Kṛṣṇa. Duryodhana, the Kauravas’ representative, sat near the head of Kṛṣṇa. The moment Kṛṣṇa opened His eyes, He saw Arjuna sitting at His feet. He asked him, ‘How are you, Arjuna? When did you come? Arjuna said, ‘I have come to seek your help.’ Kṛṣṇa smiled and assured him, ‘Surely I will help, don’t worry.’ Duryodhana, who was sitting at the head of the bed, demanded from Kṛṣṇa, ‘I came before Arjuna. You should help me first.’ Kṛṣṇa turned and saw Duryodhana. Kṛṣṇa replied, ‘Surely I will help, don’t worry.’

He added, ‘I will be on one side and My powers will be on the other side. And I will not raise weapons in this war. As Arjuna first came in front of Me, he gets to choose, first. Which one do you want, Arjuna?’ Arjuna thought, ‘Let us have buddhi (intelligence).’ He was happy to have just Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa on his side. Duryodhana thought, ‘Let us have śakti (power).’ He replied, ‘I will have your powers and weapons, Nārāyaṇi senā.’ Obviously, the Pāṇḍavas were the ones who won the war. If you have a Master like Kṛṣṇa with you, you can conquer even Duryodhana’s sena (army)! You can win any number of warriors.

All the warriors of the Kauravas’ side are your sufferings, your root thought patterns, your ‘mine’ and ‘I’. Kṛṣṇa alone is enough! He will finish them off. But, when you don’t have Kṛṣṇa on your side, any struggle you try to do, any plan you try to do, it will be failure. There are only two possibilities: either you choose Nārāyaṇa or you choose Nārāyaṇi senā, either you are in peace or in piece-piece. You can bring peace to you or piece-piece to you. The man who chose intelligence, the man who trusted God, had intelligence, had peace and won the war. Arjuna won the game of life. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 735 He had Nārāyaṇa, God Himself who is the source of all the powers, the source of Nārāyaṇi senā.

The man who chose just the power was in piecepiece. Duryodhana neither remained with power nor with God. If we look deeply into what kind of a relationship we have with God, we will see that when we pray, we think that God has the power, śakti to give but He does not have the intelligence or wisdom, buddhi to know what to give. This is what we believe when we insist that He gives us what we want right now. If we trust God has only power, śakti, we never win in life. When we trust He also has intelligence, buddhi, we surrender. Only then things can start happening.

When we surrender, we believe that God has power and intelligence. When we believe God has only power, religion starts. When we believe He has wisdom, spirituality starts. When we believe He has only power, we do rituals and pamper Him. We start doing all possible things to continuously bribe Him to give us what we want. We go to the temple and tell the priest not only our name but our father’s name, our forefathers’ names, and so on. Do we think God doesn’t know where we are from and who we are? Understand, your whole life is nothing but Mahābhārat. In your life of Mahābhārat, victory or failure, who is going to win or lose is going to be decided only based on which side you are going to side; whether you are going to side your Consciousness or your unconsciousness, your Completion or incompletion.

Listen, whichever side Kṛṣṇa sided would have won the game. Kṛṣṇa is Consciousness! Kṛṣṇa is Completion! Please listen. Decide consciously that from this moment, you will surrender everything at the feet of God, to the energy that runs this whole world. We don’t need to believe in any name or form. Trust the energy pervading the Universe and trust it to run your life. Now, even after we surrender, at some time, a doubt will naturally arise in us whether we have totally, actually surrendered. Understand that the divine intelligence gave us the intelligence to surrender in the first place and that same divine intelligence has given us this doubt to doubt our surrender.

Surrender the doubt also at the feet of the divine energy. So, do not wait to change and become perfect before surrendering. No! Surrender yourself as you are, consciously, totally. Surrender deeply and your whole being will be flooded with new bliss. True Love Is Divinity Kṛṣṇa says, Because you are My dear friend, you are deeply connected to Me, I am revealing this truth to you. bhūya eva mahā-bāho śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ I yat te ‘haṁ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyami hita-kāmayā II 10.1 Let me explain a few basic things. Actually, when we feel deeply connected to some person, the person will almost look like God. Whether it is our spouse, kids, parents or our Master, he will look like God.

Whatever he does, we will feel that he is divine. When we feel deeply connected, when we are in love with another being, that other being will look almost like God. Look at the great Mīrābāi. She was so much in love with Kṛṣṇa who was not even physically in front of her. Yet, she felt so deeply connected to Him. She talked to Him, sang His praises and became totally immersed in Him. When Mirābāi was given poison, she even drank that, totally surrendering herself to Kṛṣṇa. The power of her love and devotion was such that even a deadly poison had no effect on her! We have forgotten how to connect through the heart.

All our relationships have become superficial. Now, the wife is no more a wife. In the modern day society, the husband is no more a husband. He is just a boyfriend. Be very clear: In Saṃskṛit, we don’t have an equivalent word for divorce. The idea never existed! In Hindu marriage, no divorce is allowed. Both take an oath in front of agni (fire), ‘As long as you are alive, as long as I am alive, I will support and enrich you.’ With the cultural invasion of the so-called developed cultures, the materialistic cultures, changing the Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 737 wife, house and car has now become a fashion.

Once in three months, the house, car and wife become outdated. The outer world is a projection of the inner world and the eye projects it. Whatever is visible as the outer world is a mere projection. We try without success to change things in the outer world. Our frustration and depression are due to our attempt to manipulate the screen rather than the projector. We fantasize about a holiday on a beautiful beach in Hawaii as ultimate bliss. However, when it happens, our thoughts are not of the beach but of our office and deadlines! I tell people that if we sit in the house and worry, it is homework.

If we sit in the office and worry, it is work and if we sit on the beach and worry, it is vacation! The mind is the same incomplete mind, only the location is different. How can we change the incomplete mental state by changing the place? In Saṃskṛit, we have two beautiful words: pravṛitti and nivṛitti. Pravṛitti means the incompletions that you carry, leading you to more and more incompletions. The incompletion you carry makes you do many actions, which lead you to do more and more incompletions. That is pravṛitti. Nivṛitti means the completion that you carry, leading you to more and more completion.Your actions should be nivṛitti based not pravṛitti based.

You need to change the state of incompletion to completion. When you begin to change the state, you work directly with the projector and make progress from completion to more completion, nivṛitti. Working with the projector is the process of completion. But changing your status is like working with the screen and associating with your incompletions that lead to more incompletions, pravṛitti. Changing your wife, your house or car is like working with the screen and it does not enrich you. Changing your mind by completing with your patterns, your relationships and therefore your fantasies is the only way. Your actions should be nivṛitti based not pravṛitti based. When we don’t pass judgment on life, on others and on us, we reach the state of non-resistance, the state of completion, the state of compassion.

When intelligence happens, we reach the stage of non-resistance leading to completion. When we welcome people and situations from the space of completion, compassion happens. Beloved means being loved, not ‘body love.’ What is the difference between intellect and intelligence? Intellect is always prejudiced. Intelligence is always fresh. When we pass judgment and collect evidence to substantiate our decision, it is intellect. When we first collect evidence and pass judgment without bias or prejudice, it is intelligence. Look into your life and see how your mind works out of incompletions and creates conflicting images about you, about others, and about life! How do you act in your daily life? The vast majority of the time, your judgment is ready.

For example, after living with your wife for a few months, you create a concept, an inadequate life image or svānyakāra about her. Then, whatever she does, you pick only those arguments that are necessary for your already formed judgment. Whenever we think too much of ourselves, we believe only in our judgments and lay the blame on others. When we start completing with ourselves and others, we create a new inner image about ourselves, a new mamakāra. We understand that we are simple, complete beings, we start seeing the arguments clearly before passing judgment and restore our integrity and authenticity. Actually, we have forgotten how to relate through the heart, the intense way of relating.

Our relationships have become superficial. We don’t really know the meaning of the term, ‘falling in love.’ Whenever Rāmakṛṣṇa worshipped, did pūjā, he felt that Devi was present. He never felt that the statue was a stone. He spoke to Kāli Devi directly. When we deeply fall in love, even a stone can become God and guide us. When we don’t feel connected, even if God comes down, we will ask for His business card! Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 739 Let me tell you a beautiful happening from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s life: Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was the priest in the Devi temple. He used to taste the food before offering it to Devi.

All the temple authorities told him, ‘No! You cannot do this. That is sacrilegious.’ Rāmakṛṣṇa said, ‘I don’t know all these things. I feel that She is my Mother. How can I offer the food unless I know that it tastes good? And if you don’t want me to offer, I will stand outside and offer. But, I will offer.’ They agreed, ‘Alright, do whatever you want.’ Not only that, when he decorated the idol of Devi, he placed a small thread near Her nose to see whether She was breathing or not, alive or not. And the history says, the thread moved due to Devi’s breath. He felt Devi everywhere.

When we feel deeply connected, when we know how to surrender, then even a stone can become God and guide us. Feel Deeply Connected to KṚṣṆa Now, all we need is the mood of being deeply in love with Kṛṣṇa, deeply connected to Kṛṣṇa, deeply related to Kṛṣṇa. If we can open ourselves to Kṛṣṇa when He describes His glories, His vibḥūti, it will not be words. We will feel it. First,Kṛṣṇaremovedtheenmitybetweenjivātma(Self)andparamātma (supreme Self). Arjuna is the jivātma. Kṛṣṇa is the paramātma. We may not be aware but we continuously maintain enmity with paramātma, Existence. That is why we suspect life. We have fear about what will happen in the next moment.

We are afraid of life because we don’t believe what is going to happen the next moment will enrich us. We don’t trust Existence. All life insurance policies are only because we don’t trust Existence. Understand that life insurance is not life insurance. It is death insurance. Real life insurance is devotion to the Ultimate. Understanding that Existence is taking care of us is the only real life insurance. All other things are death insurance that goes to our families who are waiting for it! A small story: A young child was playing on the beach. He wanted to wade into the ocean. His mother ran after him and said, ‘Don’t go into the ocean.

Play in the sand. Don’t go into the water.’ The boy asked, ‘Why? Daddy is going into the water. Why are you not stopping him? You are stopping me.’ The mother said, ‘He is insured!’ So please be very clear: All our insurance is death insurance. It is not life insurance.Understanding thatExistence istaking careofusandthatitisnot our enemy is the only life insurance we need. One more thing: When we have the deep love—the connection with Existence, even when we die, we know that He knows where to keep us. We will be utterly relaxed as we know He will protect and guide us. So now itself, our mind should be prepared to fall in tune with this energy; to obey, to surrender to the ultimate will.

Now itself, our body and mind should be prepared. If we live life fighting with Existence, our life will be hell. Nothing else can be done. All we need to do is know how to feel connected. First, Kṛṣṇa removes the enmity between the individual Self and Existence. Now, He explains the glory of Existence. Next, He gives the experience that the individual Self and the supreme Self are the same. Step-by-step,HeleadsArjunafromviśiṣiṭādvaita(aschoolofthought which says that the individual self is a part of Existence, with its own attributes) to dvaita (duality, a school of thought which says that the individual self is separate from Existence), to advaita (non-duality, truth that the individual self is Existence), to beyond advaita into anubhūti, experience.

He leads Arjuna to a spiritual experience step-by-step. I spoke earlier about the three essential identities in our lives. These are: Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 741 jīva—individual Self; jagat—the world in which this self lives, and Iśvara—creator of jīva and jagat, or in other words God. Initially, we see these three as separate entities, just as the water drop sees itself as separate from the ocean. There are different approaches in Hindu philosophy as to how the individual Self can reach the Creator, the Divine. The concepts of viśiṣiṭādvaita and dvaita are based on a separation between the Self and the Creator, with deep devotion connecting the two.

Devotion leads the Self to the Divine and an understanding of the Divine. Yet they remain separate. It is like the water drop realizing it is part of the ocean and yet separate. Advaita philosophy integrates the Self and the Creator into one non-dual entity, of which jagat, the world, forms a part. So the three seemingly separate entities merge into oneness. Advaita says that separation is an illusion, māyā, and that true realization of the non-dual aspect of the Self and the Divine leads to liberation and Enlightenment. These are different ways of looking at the same truth. None of them is wrong. Kṛṣṇa leads Arjuna from the concept of separation into the understanding of integration.

Kṛṣṇa makes Arjuna understand that nothing stands between him and Kṛṣṇa, except his level of understanding of the space of completion. Please be very clear: These are not contradictory. Many people ask me, ‘Swamiji, is dvaita or advaita right? Is viśiṣiṭādvaita or dvaita right?’ They are not contradictory. They complement each other. They lead us step-by-step to more and more understanding of completion. They lead us step-by-step to the ultimate spiritual experience. Listen! Completion makes us understand that we are connected with the whole Universe – this is the essence of viśiṣṭādvaita. Completion makes us understand that we are deeply connected to the paramātma (supreme Self)—this is the essence of dvaita.

Completion makes us understand that we are not one, but we are the ultimate infinity with each one infinitely powerful, which is the essence of advaita. In India, this clash between advaita and dvaita is a big fight. Is the Śankara bhāṣya (Śankara’s commentary) big or is Rāmanuja bhāṣya big? Śankara was the founder of advaita philosophy and Rāmanuja founded the dvaita philosophy. All Enlightened Masters speak the same thing in different ways. If we surrender, we will have the same experience of advaita-anubhav, non-duality experience. If we achieve the non-duality experience, we will have deep surrender. The man who has achieved advaita-anubhava has tremendous devotion. For example, the verse of Śankara says: bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ govindaṁ bhaja mūḍhamate samprāpte sannihite kāle nahi nahi rakṣati ḍukṛñkaraṇe Śankarasays,‘OhFool!MayyoustartmeditatingonGovinda(Kṛṣṇa’s name) now.

May you start remembering Govinda now. Nahi nahi rakṣati ḍukṛñkaraṇe means: When Yamadharma, the Lord of death comes, intellectual knowledge will not help you or protect you. A great advaita-jñāni, sage of non-duality experience, will be a great devotee. And a great devotee will be an advaita-jñāni! Both are one and the same. Only those who have not realized the experience argue. If you go inside dvaita and advaita philosophies, both show the same knowledge, wisdom and experience. All we need to know is how to open ourselves and surrender to this Existence. Then we will experience at the level of our being that Existence is taking care of us.

Please be very clear: If Existence doesn’t want us here, we cannot be here even for a single moment. There is no reason for Existence to keep us alive. If it is keeping us alive, we are wanted in this form, in this way, in this place. That is why we are still alive. God continuously cleans all the garbage. He never waits. Everyday He clears away all the old things. He is the perfect energy that maintains cleanliness. They say that cleanliness is next to Godliness. I say that cleanliness is Godliness. It is not next to Godliness. Trust Existence and Radiate Divine Grace Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 743 Unless we are needed, we will not be kept alive.

Just by being alive, He proves that we are needed. We are wanted. We are not an accident; we are an incident. Don’t think that we are alive as an accident. We are an incident. When we understand that we are an incident, we feel deeply connected. We open ourselves to Existence. I tell people: Trust, even if you are exploited. You may say, ‘What is this, Swamiji? What kind of teaching are you giving? You are asking us to trust even if we are exploited.’ Be very clear: There are two kinds of lives. One is living completely with trust and the other is living completely with an insecure feeling.

The person who lives in insecurity may have more wealth. He may have two or three more beds, a little bigger house, yet he can never rest. The person who lives with the insecure consciousness may have more comfort but he will never be blissful. On the other hand, the person who lives with deep trust in Existence may have less comfort but he never misses that comfort. People who trust Existence are always showered with blessings. They will live like God on planet earth. They will be a blessing for the whole planet. The Earth is alive because of a few people who live radiating this trust, who live radiating the divine grace.

We should trust, even if we are exploited. After all, we are going to live on this earth for a maximum of seventy to eighty years. In those years, why should we continuously suffer? If we defend ourselves because of our insecurity, we will not only offend others but we will also miss the joy of living on planet Earth. According to the Hindu purāṇic histories, Śrī Veda Vyāsa lived longer than any other man. Someone asked why he didn’t build a house. Vyāsa replied, ‘After all, I am only going to live for a few years. Why should I build a house? Why waste my time?’ If we can, let us live with the completely relaxed mood of deep trust.

Our presence will be a blessing. Our existence will save planet Earth. No matter what crosses our path, we will just be living, enjoying, and enriching everything. It is a blessing. What have we brought here to lose? Our insecure consciousness is nothing but ignorance of the truth. What are we going to carry with us after death? Nothing! A simple truth: Neither have we brought anything nor are we going to take back anything. While we are here we can relax and trust that Existence will provide for us. If the energy moving inside our body can convert bread into blood, can’t it bring bread to us? The big problem is that we don’t trust our energy.

We don’t trust the cosmic energy. When it can convert bread into blood, can’t it help us with our small things? Can’t it give us the intelligence to bring bread, sustenance into our lives? It can guide us. It can give us enough intelligence to bring bread for our life. When the energy can move planets and run the whole Universe, can’t it take care of us? Let me narrate to you a real incident: Śāradā Devi, the consort of Rāmakṛṣṇa, opened a charitable hospital in Calcutta. There were two counters: one counter where medicines were given free for the poor and another for people who could afford to buy medicines.

One employee of the hospital complained to Śāradā Devi, ‘Mother, even rich people stand in the counter for the poor and take advantage of the free medicines. What should we do about this?’ Śāradā Devi replied, ‘Don’t be concerned. When a rich man stands in the line for the poor, be assured that he is also poor, and give him medicines. Even if he has money, he is a poor man. He has come here as a beggar.’ She makes a beautiful statement, ‘Outer wealth doesn’t make one rich or poor. It is the inner space that matters. If you live with trust, even if you are exploited, even if you Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 745 lose your comforts of the outer world, you will live like God on this planet Earth.

You will simply float. You will become a divine person.’ I am asking you to trust Existence, not based upon my intellectual knowledge but from my personal experience. If you trust my words, when you trust Existence and relax from your tensions, headaches, worries and problems, be sure that you will be taken care of. Miracles will happen in your life. When you put your energy totally on trust, an alchemy takes place in you. Understand, when you surrender, there is utter relaxation in you and your responsibilities are shifted to a higher authority. This is surrender. Do your duty and leave all of the responsibility to Existence. She will take care!

So we have two choices: We can live offending and defending continuously. Even if we have comfort, our being will carry a wound. Or we can lead a totally relaxed life with utter freedom and complete trust in Existence. We can have physical, mental, emotional and psychological freedom. We can have liberation here and now. The moment we live with trust, we are liberated. Nothing hurts us anymore. If we live with the truth, we beautifully live even our death because we trust that Existence will take care of us even then. If we live without trust, we will be killed by the fear of death. Every moment, we will be dying.

With trust, even in our death, we will be living, celebrating! Here, if we can relax and feel deeply connected to what Kṛṣṇa says, we will experience the state that Kṛṣṇa is now going to express about His glories in Yoga of His Divine Manifestations, Vibhūti Yogaḥ. I Am The Source

10.2

न मे विदु: सुरगणा: प्रभवं न महर्षय: | अहमादिर्हि देवानां महर्षीणां च सर्वश:

na me viduḥ suragaṇāḥ prabhavaṁ na maharṣayaḥ / ahamādirhi devānāṁ maharṣīṇāṁ ca sarvaśaḥ / / 10.2

Neither the hosts of deities nor the great sages know My origin, My opulence. I am the source of the deities and the sages.

na — not · me — My · viduḥ — know · suragaṇāḥ — demigods · prabhavaṁ — glories · na — not · maharṣayaḥ — great sages · ahaṁ — I · ādiḥ — origin · hi — certainly · devānāṁ — of the gods · maharṣīṇāṁ — of the great sages · ca — and · sarvaśaḥ — in all respects.

10.3

यो मामजमनादिं च वेत्ति लोकमहेश्वरम् | असम्मूढ: स मर्त्येषु सर्वपापै: प्रमुच्यते

yo māmajamanādiṁ ca vetti lokamaheśvaram / asaṁmūḍhaḥ sa martyeṣu sarvapāpaiḥ pramucyate / / 10.3

He who knows Me as the unborn, without beginning, and supreme Lord of all the worlds, Only he, who has this clarity, is wise and freed from all bondage.

yo — who · mām — to Me · ajaṁ — unborn · anādiṁ — without beginning · ca — and · vetti — know · loka — worlds · maheśvaram — supreme lord · asaṁmūḍhaḥ — without doubt · sa — he · martyeṣu — mortal · sarva — all · pāpaiḥ — sins · pramucyate — delivered.

means that neither people who work in the line of comforts and luxury nor the people who work in the line of religion and tapas (penance) know Him. ‘But, I am their origin, aham ādiḥ.’ na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṁ na maharṣayaḥ I aham ādir hi devānāṁ maharṣīṇāṁ ca sarvaśaḥ II 10.2 Whether we live a spiritual or a materialistic life, our root is our consciousness. We should understand an important thing: Whenever Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Me, Me, Me, aham, aham, aham.’ He is referring to the enlightened consciousness. Let me narrate a real incident from my life: I was invited to a conference by a group of Kṛṣṇa bhaktas (devotees).

I can’t say devotees as the word devotee is a beautiful word. They were more like fanatics. I went humbly, in a friendly way. Suddenly, they confronted me and started arguing. They asked me, ‘Do you believe in the Gītā?’ Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 747 I said, ‘Yes, Gītā is the ultimate book. I respect it and I worship it.’ Theyquestionedme,‘ThenwhydoyouworshipŚiva?’Iwas shocked. They asked me, ‘You should worship only Kṛṣṇa. Why are you worshipping Śiva? Why do you put vibhūti (holy ash) on your forehead? Why you wear rudrākṣa (fruits of rudrākṣa tree)?’ I asked them, ‘How does respecting Śiva and wearing rudrākṣa contradict respecting and following the Gītā?’

They said, ‘No. Kṛṣṇa says in the Gītā, ‘I am everything,’ so how can you worship Śiva?’ I was surprised. I said, ‘When Kṛṣṇa says ‘I,’ He means the Parabrahma svarūpa (universal Self) of Him. He means the formless consciousness of His being. He represents the Universal energy. He doesn’t mean the six-foot form with the flute and peacock feather. The form is beautiful as long as it leads you to the formless.’ If He means the six-foot form, how could He say that He taught this knowledge to Vivasvān? He says, ‘I gave this knowledge to Ikśvāku. I gave this wisdom to Surya.’ He says again and again, it is He who gave this knowledge to these great people who lived thousands of years before Him!

When the Gītā was delivered, Kṛṣṇa was thirty-two years old. If He was speaking about His form, how could He say, ‘I gave this knowledge to Surya. I gave this knowledge to Manu?’ When Kṛṣṇa says ‘I’, He means the cosmic consciousness. Immediately, the people who were arguing asked, ‘How can you say the form and energy are different? When He says ‘I,’ He means the form also.’ I explained, ‘I do not want to disrespect Kṛṣṇa’s form. When the form represents the energy, the form is also energy, no doubt. But it is not that you cannot worship another form. You don’t have to become a fanatic.’ One person started arguing, ‘How can you say that when Kṛṣṇa says ‘I’, He doesn’t mean the form but He means the energy?’

Then, I had to refer to another important scripture, the Anu Gītā that was delivered in the Mahābhārat after the Bhagavad Gītā. After the war is over, Arjuna asks, ‘Kṛṣṇa, please tell me whatever You taught to me earlier. I remember the essence but I forgot the words because You taught me the whole thing during the war. Please repeat them once more. I want to listen to those great teachings.’ You will be surprised but Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Arjuna, not only you, I have also forgotten.’ He says: na cākhyaṁ tanmayā bhūyastataḥ bhaktom aśeṣataḥ param hi brahma rati yoga yuktena tanmayaḥ This is in the Mahābhārat in Aśvamedhika Parva. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Arjuna, I can’t give the teachings again because they were said in that high spiritual, Eternal Consciousness.

At that time, I was in that high, Eternal Consciousness. I was radiating My enlightenment. That very Enlightenment spoke through Me. The Universal consciousness spoke through Me. That is why all those teachings came out. I represented the Universal energy, the Universal consciousness at that moment. Now I cannot give you the same teachings again.’ He says that these things are expressed in that high, Eternal consciousness. Please understand that when Kṛṣṇa says ‘I’, He means the Enlightened energy, the Universal Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 749 consciousness. However Kṛṣṇa recollected a few things from what He told and delivered what is called the Anu Gītā, to Arjuna. When I quoted this verse, the senior religious pundits (scholars) arguing with me said, ‘You look young, but you seem to be well read.

We cannot argue with you!’ The greatness of Sanātana Dharma—the religion of eternal righteousness later called Hinduism—is that it doesn’t propagate the religion or produce fanaticism. Whether you worship Kṛṣṇa, Śiva, Devi or Buddha, it does not make a difference. Please continue to worship whomever you believe in and whomever you connect with, that’s enough. Be intense in your path. Nothing else needs to be done. There is no need for fanaticism because all forms are representations of the same divine energy. There is a question here from the audience: ‘I am a worshipper of formlessness, the formless energy. Can I become your disciple and follow dhyāna (meditation)?’ Only then can you become my disciple!

Only if you are the worshipper of the formless, you can become my disciple. There is a strict instruction for my disciples that they should not meditate on my form. If you have done any of our meditation camps, you know. There is a strict instruction: You cannot meditate on my form. And be aware, if any guru tells you to meditate on his form, escape from him. You are falling into the net of indirect slavery. You will slowly get exploited. Spiritual slavery is the worst slavery. Never, never be caught in that. The basis of spirituality is that it should lead us to liberation. In spirituality, if we are caught in slavery, then even God cannot save us.

Never meditate on my form. In our spiritual healing initiation, in the Inner Awakening program, there is a clear instruction: You cannot meditate on my form. The form will be here today and gone tomorrow. It will disappear tomorrow. How long will forms be here? Form is a representation. Understand: It is like the finger pointing to the moon. I am telling you, ‘There is the sun. There is the moon!’ Instead of looking at the sun or moon, if you catch hold of my finger, you miss what I am showing you! You miss what I represent. When the finger points to the moon, if you catch the finger, you miss the moon.

In the same way, the Master represents the Divine consciousness. If you catch His form, you miss the Divine. Never be caught in the form. All I want you to understand is that when Kṛṣṇa says ‘I’, He means the Universal consciousness. In the next verse, He uses the word mūḍhaḥ, fool. Again He uses the word ‘fool’. He says only someone who is free from all the sins understands Him. Again and again, what does He want to convey? what does He expect as a qualification from us in order to experience Him? Where exactly are you missing it? There is one more question: ‘Swamiji, again and again, you say all we need is one simple understanding.

Exactly what am I missing? I think I have that understanding. I almost feel I am around the corner. Yet, I am unable to experience what Kṛṣṇa says. Where am I missing? Please tell me.’ The person who asked this question is totally frustrated. He says, ‘Everyday at the end of the discourse, you bring everything to the one point that the inner being should be transformed. Exactly what am I lacking? Please tell me.’ Everyday I stop at that subject so that you will ask this question. Now, I can tell exactly where you are lacking. First, the thirst should be created. The quest should be created. Then, the quest should be answered.

When the question becomes a quest, you speak in this language. When the urge becomes urgent, you speak in this language. Listen. Many seekers are just like window shoppers. They go from master to master. Going from master to master is not wrong. It is perfectly alright. However, not learning from anybody is wrong. I tell people, Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 751 ‘Go to all the gardens, but pick flowers and make a beautiful bouquet.’ But, we don’t pick flowers from any garden. That is where the problem starts. A lot of people are just window shoppers. They go around doing nothing. They act as if they are seekers.

Above all, they want to satisfy themselves that they are seekers. This is hypocrisy. Listen, either put your whole effort into seeking, or forget it and carry on with life. Rāmakṛṣṇa says beautifully, ‘If somebody’s hair is burning, will he keep quiet? Will he say, ‘I have no time now. I still have many more years. Later on, I can take care?’ The moment there is fire on a person’s head, he tries to put out the fire. He runs towards water. Exactly where are we lacking? Because we feel too much ego in our being. When Kṛṣṇa says He is God, we feel He is egoistic. For example, if I suddenly say, ‘I am God,’ what will you naturally think?

‘This guy has gone crazy and he has too much ego.’ Please understand: When you say the word ‘I’, the meaning is different from when a Master says it. When you say the word ‘God’, the word is empty for you. It is just a superficial understanding for you. It has no solid truth behind it. Whereas when you say the word ‘I’ or your name, there is a solid meaning and experience behind that word for you. When it comes to enlightened Masters, the word ‘I’ has no solid meaning. It is vague, superficial. However, the word ‘divine’ or ‘enlightened’ or ‘God’ has a solid meaning. It is their very experience.

Just because you have ego, you think Masters have ego and you miss the meaning of their expression, their declaration. Just push your ego a little aside, let go off it, be complete and authentically listen to the words of the Masters. I Am Everything I know, I can see how this whole scene of the Gītā between Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa would have happened. After Kṛṣṇa’s teachings Arjuna completely and totally melted in front of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa explains, ‘Oh my dear! Understand, I am everything—vetti loka maheśvaram (10.3). I have come down. I have happened in this body to liberate you.’ Immediately, the man who is centered on fear, says, ‘If you are everything, do all these things for me.

Alter this world.’ If he is centered on greed, he says, ‘If you are everything, give me all these boons.’ The moment the Master says he is God, the moment Kṛṣṇa says He is God, if you are centered on greed, you catch him and ask him to give you all the boons. You start begging, ‘Give me this, give me that.’ If you are centered on fear, again, you catch him and say, ‘Please protect me from this or that.’ The moment we demand, divinity disappears because we have brought in the business mind. The attitude which exists between the Master and us plays a major role in our experiencing Him as divine and our experiencing ourselves as divine.

Many people say, ‘Swamiji, if my son is healed, I will give you so much money. If my daughter is healed, I will give you this property.’ I start laughing! First of all, I never asked them for anything. Second, the moment we start bargaining, the whole beauty of the relationship is gone. For healing to happen, a special bridge is necessary. The bridge or deeply feeling connected is required. A deep love is necessary. The moment we bring in the business mood, it is over! As soon as we start bargaining, neither can I heal nor can the person being healed receive the energy. The bridge is disconnected. If that bridge is there, even without seeing me, you can be healed.

You don’t need to be in my physical presence. Continuously, I receive emails from all over the world, ‘Swamiji, you gave me darśan (vision) and removed my sufferings. Swamiji, you appeared in front of me and answered my question.’ Then they ask, ‘Swamiji, are you aware of the times when you appear and give darśan to us?’ Now, let me tell you clearly, honestly: I do not know when the darśan Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 753 is happening. Let me break the business secret. Let me tell the whole truth as it is. Just because of your trust, deep love and devotion, the cosmic energy guides you by giving darśan using this form, that’s all.

I rent this body to the Divine. Because I disappeared, because my ego disappeared, the Divine uses this form to guide you. Over! Otherwise, it is totally between you and the cosmic energy. I cannot involve myself. I have no say. I cannot appear for any specific person and say, ‘He is my favorite!’ No! I cannot show favoritism. It is not under my control. It is between your inner space and the Divine. It is your ability, your attitude to receive, that creates the bridge. Again and again, I tell people: All I can do is, go back and download the information regarding the darśan that you had, and tell you what exactly happened and what instruction was given to you.

That’s all. With all enlightened people, this is what happens. The moment I claim that I gave darśan, the whole thing is over. Then, the Divine will stop using this form. As long as I am clear that this is not me and it is Parāśakti, Existence, using this form, She continues to use this flute to play Her songs. She continues to use this form to carry on with Her mission. She continues to use this form to bless Her devotees. When I say Parāśakti, I mean the cosmic energy. Don’t think there is a lady with four hands! It is the cosmic energy. She does Her job using the forms of people who have surrendered their form to Her.

Because I vacated, She is lives in my body. All you need to do is—just get out of your system. The Divine will get in. If you get out of your system, the Divine will get in. Surrender­ , A Deep Passive Waiting Listen. When you feel connected, you are open. You don’t need to see the Master. The cosmic energy will guide you. There is no need for His nearness. But when you spoil the relationship, when you bring business into the relationship, nothing can be done because the bridge is broken. The very bridge does not happen between you and the Master when business enters. For the bridge to happen, we need the space of complete surrender or feeling deeply connected.

Here, by now, Arjuna is almost feeling connected. He has just dropped his fear and greed. The big problem with the spiritual process is that you will have what you want when you drop the idea of having that. A deep, passive waiting without knowing what is going to happen is passive surrender. That is total surrender. The moment you decide, ‘I will wait forever,’ things happen. As long as you are in a hurry, you are agitated. You stop things from happening in you. It is like trying to get the lotus to blossom. You open the petals by hand. Will it be a flower? It will never be a lotus flower.

The lotus flower blooms by itself when the sun’s rays pierce it. Give a little space to yourself so that your being blossoms. Listen. The moment you decide to wait, things start happening. You don’t need to wait anymore. You must wait until you decide to wait. The moment you decide to wait, you don’t need to wait anymore. A beautiful story: Nārada, a devotee of Viṣṇu, was going to Vaikunṭa (abode of Lord Viṣṇu). On the way, he saw a yogi sitting in meditation. The yogi asked Nārada, ‘Oh Nārada, please ask Viṣṇu how long I must wait before I become enlightened?’ Nārada said, ‘Surely I will ask,’ and he went on his way.

Next, Nārada encountered a man who was jumping and dancing under a tree. He asked Nārada, ‘Oh Nārada, please ask Viṣṇu when I will have his darśan.’ Please listen, he never asked when he would become enlightened. He asked Nārada when he would have Viṣṇu’s darśan, His vision. He said, ‘Ask Him to grace me. How long should I wait for His grace?’ Nārada said, ‘Surely I will ask, don’t worry.’ Nārada went to Vaikunṭa and came back with the replies. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 755 Nārada said to the first yogi, ‘Viṣṇu said you must wait four more janma (lives) to become enlightened.’ The yogi fell into depression, ‘Oh, four janmas!

What will I do?’ The person who was dancing around asked Nārada, ‘What did Viṣṇu say?’ Nārada said, ‘He said you must wait for as many janmas as there are leaves on this tree. Then you will have His darśan. Only then His grace will fall upon you.’ As soon as he heard this, the man said, ‘Oh! He gave me the assurance that He will grace me! That is enough.’ He started jumping and dancing again. The moment he uttered this, there was a stroke of lightning and the Divine descended. The man became enlightened. So understand, deep patience and the decision to wait is surrender. Take the life of Buddha as an example.

With utmost sincerity he tried to get enlightened with all meditation techniques and spiritual practices. When nothing worked, He relaxed and let go of everything, trusting Existence. That very moment, He became enlightened. In my life, as long as I was doing meditation, I never became enlightened. As long as I was doing all the practices, penance, I was so agitated. Nothing happened. Actually after my enlightenment, I came to know that because of the penance, I had postponed my enlightenment. To tell you honestly, at the age of twelve, I had become enlightened. I did not know that I had become enlightened. I tried to hold on to the experience.

I tried to possess nitya ānanda, eternal bliss. The moment I tried to possess it, it started slipping away, like wet soap. The day I decided ultimately that I would do no more catching, no more searching, no more seeking, when I decided to relax and wait, it simply happened. The day you decide to wait, things happen. Usually, when somebody is blessed and if he is healed, he tells someone else about it. If the second person comes with the attitude of getting healed, he naturally misses the whole game. If he comes with a fresh mind, healing automatically happens as a by-product. When we want it as the main product, we miss the whole bridge.

Especially when we bring the business approach, like a deal between friends, the whole attitude, the relationship is no more that between Guru and disciple. Energy cannot be transmitted in a business relationship. Understand, we need courage to stake everything on trust. It is like that moment when a seed must let go of its fears and break to open and become a tree. This is why we call Nirvāṇa as the last nightmare. If a dream is too wild, we will wake up! Similarly, when we get a jolt or shock in life, we wake up to enlightenment! Enlightenment happens when there is a sudden shock to our dream state.

The wonder with Masters, Incarnations is that there is no failure, ever. Their’s is a foolproof system! A small story: A nāgā (Hindu sannyāsi who is usually unclothed) was so fond of his Master that he would stand behind the master and constantly imitate his hand and body movements. The master did not mind this on account of his sincerity. Once when a discourse was on, the master raised his hand and so did this disciple. The master turned to the disciple and cut off his hand with a sword. So great was the disciple’s devotion that along with his severed hand, his ego fell and he became enlightened! The other disciples asked the master if this was not too high a price to pay for enlightenment.

The Master replied, ‘Compared to the number of lives people must take to achieve this state, this is a small price indeed!’ We need the energy to let go, to allow the transformation to happen. Like the seed that lets go of its fear in becoming a tree, we too must have the energy to let go, to allow the transformation to happen. In that moment, when our ego is dying, we must be willing to let go of the past. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 757 Enlightenment never happens as a continuity of something. It happens in a flash, as a new birth. In Saṃskṛit we call it viṣāda.

The first chapter of the Gītā is Arjuna Viṣāda Yogaḥ. Arjuna’s dilemma was so great, yet he was willing to trust Kṛṣṇa and let go. In such a powerless situation, no mental decision taken is correct and when the Master guides you, you must be ready to let go and follow what he says completely, implicitly. Arjuna had the courage to believe totally in Kṛṣṇa and let go, which was why he had the Viśvarūpa Darśan, the cosmic vision of Kṛṣṇa. We must have the energy to let go, to allow the dark night to happen to us. Only if we have trust in the Master can the ultimate gain happen to us.

We need to trust in order to experience the unknown space. At that moment, we have only the Master to hold onto. We must accept the new experience happening to us, and deeply trust that the energy to transcend our old personality is entering us. Kṛṣṇa emphasizes the feeling of connectedness. Feeling deeply connected to the Master is the basic need to understand this Truth. That is why the East gave so much importance to the Guru, the Master. I Create You

10.4

बुद्धिर्ज्ञानमसम्मोह: क्षमा सत्यं दम: शम: | सुखं दु:खं भवोऽभावो भयं चाभयमेव च

buddhirjñānam asaṁmohaḥ kṣamā satyaṁ damaḥ śamaḥ / sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ bhavo ’bhāvo bhayaṁ cābhayameva ca / / 10.4

Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delu- sion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the senses, control of the mind, happiness, distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, non-violence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy, all these various qualities of living beings are created by Me alone.

buddhih — intelligence · jñānam — knowledge · asaṁmohaḥ — free from doubt · kṣamā — forgiveness · satyaṁ — truthfulness · damaḥ — control of senses · śamaḥ — control of mind · sukhaṁ — happiness · duḥkhaṁ — distress · bhavo ’bhāvo — birth and death · bhayaṁ — fear · cā — and · abhayaṁ — fearlessness · eva — also · ca — and

10.5

अहिंसा समता तुष्टिस्तपो दानं यशोऽयश: | भवन्ति भावा भूतानां मत्त एव पृथग्विधा:

ahiṁsā samatā tuṣṭis tapo dānaṁ yaśo ’yaśaḥ / bhavanti bhāvā bhūtānāṁ matta eva pṛthagvidhāḥ / / 10.5

Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delu- sion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the senses, control of the mind, happiness, distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, non-violence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy, all these various qualities of living beings are created by Me alone.

ahiṁsā — non-violence · samatā — equanimity · tuṣṭis — satisfaction · tapo — auster- ity · dānaṁ — charity · yaśo — fame · ayaśaḥ — infamy · bhavanti — become · bhāvā — nature · bhūtānāṁ — living beings · matta — from me · eva — surely · pṛthagvidhāḥ — in various forms

10.6

महर्षय: सप्त पूर्वे चत्वारो मनवस्तथा | मद्भावा मानसा जाता येषां लोक इमा: प्रजा:

maharṣayaḥ sapta pūrve catvāro manavastathā / madbhāvā mānasā jātā yeṣāṁ loka imāḥ prajāḥ / / 10.6

The seven great sages and before them, the four great Ma- nus, endowed with My power, They arose from My mind and all the living beings populating the planet descend from them.

maharṣayaḥ — great sages · sapta — seven · pūrve — before · catvāro — four · manavas — Manus · tathā — and · madbhāvā — endowed with My power · mānasā — from the mind · jātā — born · yeṣāṁ — of them · loka — worlds · imāḥ — all this · prajāḥ — living beings.

10.7

एतां विभूतिं योगं च मम यो वेत्ति तत्वत: | सोऽविकम्पेन योगेन युज्यते नात्र संशय:

etām vibhūtiṁ yogaṁ ca mama yo vetti tattvataḥ / so ’vikampena yogena yujyate nātra saṁśayaḥ / / 10.7

He who knows all this glory and powers of mine, truly, he is fully united in Me; Of that there is no doubt.

etāṁ — all this · vibhūtiṁ — glory · yogaṁ — powers · ca — and · mama — My · yo — who · vetti — knows · ta tvataḥ — truth · so — he · ’vikampena — without distraction · yogena — in yoga · yujyate — engaged · nā — not · atra — here · saṁśayaḥ — doubt.

If you understand this first verse, you can immediately relax. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Whatever you have, whether you have a good name or a bad name, it is created by Me.’ Then be certain that whatever you have is a gift from the Divine. Kṛṣṇa asks us to complete with life as it is. Only when we accept ourselves as we are, can we accept others. Only then we will feel deep friendliness with others. Deep friendliness with others is spirituality. Understand that spirituality is honest and deep friendliness with others. I Am Everything, Complete With Everything Love is the flowering of our consciousness. Whenever our consciousness expresses itself through the heart, compassion happens, lust becomes love.

The touch will become so vibrant, so soothing. I firmly believe that love is the greatest healing power on planet Earth. I tell my healers, ‘If you can’t spread love, you can never heal.’ Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 759 When people meet me, I stretch out my hands as soon as I see them. Many feel strange. They feel that spirituality means seriousness and being reserved. Here I am reaching out to people with my stretched hands. It doesn’t match the picture of spirituality or the spiritual person that they carry in their heads! According to them spirituality is never associated with sharing or loving. People from various backgrounds visit our ashram for healing: young and old people, cancer and HIV patients, and people with various other disabilities.

If a person has pain in the leg, naturally I get up from my seat and touch their leg to heal. After all the foot is just another part of the body. An elderly, traditional and conservative Swami gave me friendly advice about this practice. He remarked, ‘You are a Swami. It is unbecoming of a Swami to come down from his seat and touch someone’s feet. It is against the tradition.’ I replied politely, ‘The very seat and the cloth which I wear (saffron robes) mean compassion. I acquired this seat because of my compassion. I am not here for the seat.’ Spirituality means flowing. Spirituality means radiating, spreading love and compassion.

Whenever we enrich out of compassion, we never feel that we have served. We feel that we have been given an opportunity to serve, to enrich. Whether we believe it or not, as of now, we have a deep enmity or hostility towards others and ourselves. We live in constant self-doubt, self-hatred and self-denial. We may smile at others like models posing for the camera. We may smile, but we never feel friendly. We keep a safe distance and play a safe game because we never feel any real friendliness with others. To correct this, the first thing you need to do is completion with yourself and accept yourself as you are.

Some people tell me, ‘I am unable to accept myself as I am, Swamiji. What can I do?’ I tell them, ‘At least accept that you are unable to accept yourself, that is enough.’ If we accept that we are unable to accept ourselves, it is enough. We will drop from the mind. That very acceptance will bring completion in us and open a new consciousness in us. Forgiving others and forgiving yourself are one and the same. When we torture others with our judgment and prejudices, we torture ourselves, too. Please listen. If your inner image aligns itself to life image, it is destruction. When your inner image stands up to life image, it is destruction.

Because your inner image, what you feel as you, is always lower than life’s image, the idea you carry about life and others. If the inner image, mamakāra tries to make the life image, svānyakāra you carry as reality, it will be destruction. We use the same sword to kill others and to commit suicide ourselves. The same mind deals with others as well as with us. When we try to poison others, there will be a deep sense of guilt in us becausethesamemindisworkinginourinnerspace.Weusestrongwords when we are angry. And once the anger dies down, the sharpness that had beenemittedoutwardturnsinwardtocreateadeepguilt.Theheightofthe angerandthedepthoftheguiltareequal.Iftheheightincreases,thedepth increases as well. When Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Happiness and distress, birth and death, fear and fearlessness, non-violence and equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, name and fame, fame and infamy, all these various qualities of living beings are created by Me alone,’ He means be complete with life as it is, be authentic to all aspects of your life: your inner image, outer image, others’ image and life’s image.

If all the four images reach their peak possibility, it is Enlightenment. The moment we create the space of completion and complete with life as it is, we experience divinity in everything. We don’t exclude anything. The moment we complete, a cognitive shift happens in us. As of now, the cognitive process happening inside our mind, is centered on enmity. The moment we declare completion with ourselves and with life, we complete with the whole world. Then, the complete cognition hap- Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 761 pens inside our system, which will be centered on bliss. Kṛṣṇa explains His glory. He says, ‘I am everything.’ He declares, ‘I am the Universal Consciousness.

The person who truly knows My glories and powers, engages in yoga, the union of individual consciousness with the divine consciousness, and undoubtedly attains liberation.’ etāṁ vibhūtiṁ yogaṁ ca mama yo vetti tattvataḥ I so ‘vikalpena yogena yujyate nātra saṁśayaḥ II 10.7 Listen! When you are complete with you, the Universe will be complete with you. When you are incomplete with you, the Universe will be incomplete with you. Completion with you is sātori. Completion with the Cosmos is samādhi. The Saptaṛṣis, the seven sages that Kṛṣṇa talks about, are not seven old men with flowing beards sitting in meditation and penance, waiting for something to happen. From my experience, this is the energy field that drives this Universe.

This energy field referred to as the Saptaṛṣis has the intelligent power to make decisions that determine the course of the Universe. During my parivrājaka, wandering days before enlightenment, I lived for several months in Tapovan, beyond Gaṅgotri and Gomukh, in the Himalayan mountain range at a 17,000 feet altitude. Even now, no roads lead to Tapovan and there are no permanent structures to stay in. I lived like many other Sannyāsis, staying in caves, covering myself with jute cloth and newspaper in the winter and eating whatever fruits were available. Tapovan is referred to as Śambāla, heaven on earth. It is the point from which one can move from the material earthly plane up to the spiritual plane.

Kṛṣṇa refers to the Saptaṛṣis as the Universal consciousness that was born from His mind, from Him, the Primal Source and Primal Creator. He is the Saptaṛṣis. His energy decides what enlightened beings should do, and directs their actions. Every movement that I make is governed and decided by this energy. In Hindu tradition, Manus are the children of Brahma, the Creator. There is a lineage of Manus, fourteen Manus, who populated the earth. Each Manu ruled for a period. The collective period of all fourteen Manus equals one kalpa, one day in the life of Brahma. In Saṃskṛit, all humans are termed Mānava, meaning those descended from Manu. As the Universal consciousness, Kṛṣṇa is all in one.

He is the Creator, Sustainer and Rejuvenator. He is Brahma, Viṣṇu and Śiva. He also transcends all three as the Parabrahman, the Supreme Superconsciousness. One needs to do nothing except understand and accept what Kṛṣṇa is. The Master says that understanding and completing alone liberates us. Nothing more is needed. Experience The Light Of Knowledge

10.8

अहं सर्वस्य प्रभवो मत्त: सर्वं प्रवर्तते | इति मत्वा भजन्ते मां बुधा भावसमन्विता:

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate / iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāvasamanvitāḥ / / 10.8

I am the source of all the spiritual and material worlds. Everything arises from Me. The wise who know this are de- voted to Me and surrender their heart to Me.

ahaṁ — I · sarvasya — all · mattaḥ — from Me · sarvaṁ — all · pravar- tate — emanates · iti — thus · matvā — knowing · bhajante — pray · māṁ — to Me · budhā — wise · bhāvasamanvitāḥ — surrender

10.9

मच्चित्ता मद्गतप्राणा बोधयन्त: परस्परम् | कथयन्तश्च मां नित्यं तुष्यन्ति च रमन्ति च

maccittā madgataprāṇā bodhayantaḥ parasparam / kathayantaśca māṁ nityaṁ tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca / / 10.9

With mind and lives absorbed on Me, always enlightening one another and talking about My glories, the wise are content and blissful.

maccittā — with mind engaged in Me · madgataprāṇā — lives absorbed in Me · bodhayantaḥ — enlightening · parasparam — one another · kathayantaḥ — talkin about My glories · ca — and · māṁ — about Me · nityaṁ — always · tuṣyanti — satisfied · ca — and · ramanti — enjoy bliss · ca — and

10.10

तेषां सततयुक्तानां भजतां प्रीतिपूर्वकम् | ददामि बुद्धियोगं तं येन मामुपयान्ति ते

teṣāṁ satatayuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prītipūrvakam / dadāmi buddhiyogaṁ taṁ yena māmupayānti te / / 10.10

To those who are always engaged in Me with love, I give them enlightenment by which they come to Me.

teṣāṁ — to them · satatayuktānāṁ — always engaged · bhajatāṁ — praying · prītipūr- vakam — with love · dadāmi — I give · buddhiyogaṁ — intelligence · taṁ — that · yena — by which · mām — to Me · upayānti — come · te — they

10.11

तेषामेवानुकम्पार्थमहमज्ञानजं तम: | नाशयाम्यात्मभावस्थो ज्ञानदीपेन भास्वता

teṣāṁ evānukampārtham aham ajñānajaṁ tamaḥ / nāśayāmy ātma-bhāvastho jñānadīpena bhāsvatā / / 10.11

Out of compassion to them, I destroy the darkness born out of their ignorance by the shining lamp of knowledge.

teṣāṁ — to them · evā — also · anukampārtham — out of compassion · aham — I · ajñā- najaṁ — born of ignorance · tamaḥ — darkness · nāśayāmi — destroy · ātma — within · bhāvasthaḥ — themselves · jñānadīpena — lamp of knowledge · bhāsvatā — shining

Now, instead of understanding these statements of Kṛṣṇa intellectually, we should try experiencing them. In the deep meditative mood, let us feel connected to the Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, to our very life source, to our very life energy. Let us enter into meditation, because all the following verses in this chapter must be experienced. They cannot be understood. There is nothing much to understand. Later Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Amongst the Ṛṣi, I am Nārada. Among the months, I am Margazhi. Among the rivers, I am Gangā. Among the fish, I am Makara.’ He explains His glories at length. We may think, ‘Why does He explain these things in a detailed way?’ He makes us understand, wherever we see the glory, wherever we see the Divine radiating, there lies the greatness.

We realize this is true when we start experiencing, when we deeply understand these basic truths of completing with ourselves and connecting with the Universe. We experience life as divine and a blessing when we understand these things. It happens when we connect with the Divine, when we trust, when we completely open up, when we don’t have other vested interests and when we do not beg for anything from life. As long as we are begging for things in the hope that, ‘with this, I will feel blissful,’ or ‘with that, I will feel blissful’, we will ask only for this or that. Only when we understand, ‘I want just Him, nothing else.

I want the pure experience of the Divine, nothing else,’ we experience the whole of Existence in a totally different way. The cognitive shift starts happening in us. I can imagine how Arjuna felt when Kṛṣṇa revealed these things for the first time, inch by inch. ‘Oh Arjuna, I am that. I am this. I am everything.’ Arjuna may not have said anything, but he surely must have felt that he was expanding. Understand this example: You and your husband were ordinary people when you were first married. Slowly, your husband entered politics and became a mayor. After five years, he became governor, a well-known person. Already, you feel connected to him since he is your husband.

Now, he becomes a famous person or you understand him as a big person. You deeply feel the gratefulness or the gratitude to him because his expansion has helped bring about yours. In the same way, Arjuna already felt deeply connected to Kṛṣṇa as his friend. Now, he understands the glories of Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa reveals His glories and expands, Arjuna also expands. He says, ‘Oh God! I am a friend of such a great person. Oh Kṛṣṇa, You are a great person. I am your friend. I am deeply connected to You.’ When we deeply feel connected to the Master and He expresses His glory, we expand. Here, Arjuna is enjoying the same mood that Kṛṣṇa enjoys.

Inch by inch, Arjuna is enjoying the joy and bliss. Arjuna asks, ‘Oh Lord! It is so beautiful. I never feel bored. Please tell Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 765 me again and again, all of your glories.’ Always Engage In Me Kṛṣṇa explains inch by inch. He reveals who He is and how He is shining. He talks about Līlā dhyāna, meditating on the divine play of the Lord. What the eyes see intensely gets registered in the mind. What gets registered in the mind, the eyes see intensely. When the mind is engaged in the Divine, when the heart is captivated by the Divine, we automatically live every moment remembering the Divine.

We enjoy talking to each other about the Divine glories because all around us, we see these glories. We are so full of Divine ecstasy and bliss, so fully complete and not wanting anything, because we see life overflowing with Divine bliss and glory. This was the state of the gopīs, the blessed girls who tended cattle in Kṛṣṇa’s home Briṇdāvan. They constantly played with Kṛṣṇa from the time of His infancy. Their entire world revolved around Him. Their minds and hearts were filled with Kṛṣṇa, with no intellect filtering their emotions. Viṣṇu, whose incarnation Kṛṣṇa is, wanted to teach a lesson to his disciple, Nārada. Nārada considered himself to be Viṣṇu’s greatest devotee.

Kṛṣṇa played His līlā (divine play) and pretended he had a headache. His devotees brought him all kinds of medicines, which he tried and pronounced useless. He told them, ‘The only substance that will cure my malaise is the dust from the feet of a true devotee.’ Nārada and the great sages were shocked. How could they allow the dust of their feet to fall on their Master’s head? ‘It will be a sacrilege,’ they argued. One day Viṣṇu pretended to become annoyed. He told Nārada, ‘Get out of My sight. Go to the gopīs in Briṇdāvan and tell them what I said and seek a solution.’ When Nārada reached Briṇḍāvan, the gopīs were so busy with their chores that they would not talk to him.

Nārada explained, ‘I have come from Vaikunṭa.’ They were not impressed. He told them, ‘Vaikunṭa is the home of Viṣṇu.’ ‘Who is Viṣṇu?’ they asked. Nārada said, ‘Viṣṇu is Kṛṣṇa.’ As soon as he uttered the word Kṛṣṇa, they gathered around Nārada and asked him in one voice, ‘How is our Kṛṣṇa, our darling?’ Nārada said, ‘He is suffering from a headache.’ They asked, ‘What can we do? We cannot let our Kṛṣṇa suffer.’ Nārada told them that Viṣṇu had asked for the dust from the feet of one of his true devotees. One gopī immediately removed her upper cloth. She placed it on the ground and all the gopīs danced upon this cloth to collect the dust from their feet.

Folding the cloth, not worried that she had nothing covering her breasts, the gopī said, ‘Here take this to our Kṛṣṇa. We do not know which of us is his true devotee. So this has all the dust from all our feet. Go now and give it to Him.’ Nārada asked, ‘Aren’t you worried that you are giving Kṛṣṇa the dust from your feet to put on His head?’ In one voice, the gopīs answered, ‘Are you crazy? He, our Lord and Lover, is suffering and has asked for the dust from our feet. If it would cure Him, we are ready to dance on His head! We shall give our lives for Him.’

Nārada, humbled, returned to Vaikunṭa with the gopī’s upper cloth filled with dust from their feet. Viṣṇu took the cloth in His hands, smelled the dust and pronounced Himself fully cured. The sages, devas and Nārada watched in amazement. ‘What did they tell you, Nārada?’ He asked. ‘Did they give useless reasons and advance futile arguments as to why they could not apply the dust from their feet on their Lord and Master, as you all did?’ Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 767 Nārada hung his head in shame. Even to this day all main entrance steps to Viṣṇu temples have the imprint of feet carved upon them. These imprints represent the feet of devotees whose feet dust Viṣṇu covets more than all the crowns He is adorned with!

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘With mind and lives absorbed on Me, always enlightening one another and talking about My glories, the wise are content and blissful. To those who are always engaged in Me with love, I give them enlightenment for which they come to Me.’ teṣāṁ satata yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ pṛīti pūrvakam I dadāmi buddhi yogaṁ taṁ yena mām upayānti te II 10.10 Kṛṣṇa here talks about satsang, the collection of people whose hearts, minds and bodies are immersed in Him. They are the ones who can talk about nothing except Him, who are filled with bliss and love for their Lord and Master. He promises He will provide them the intelligence to enlighten them and bring them to Him.

I keep telling my devotees about the importance of satsangs. These are regular get togethers where people listen to the Master’s words, dance to the kīrtans and go home with refreshed and reinforced memories of their Master. Everyone who attends satsangs regularly can tell you that the Master is present with them, wherever they may be, at that particular moment. Master Destroys Ignorance An ashram is an intensified satsang that is forever, twenty-four by seven. That is why I motivate groups of people to form ashrams, spiritual communities, where they can follow their spiritual quest with one-pointed minds. We are eligible to be part of an ashram community when we are deeply in love with our Master.

The motivation to live in an ashram is neither fear that he will hurt us if we leave, nor greed that he will take us to a non-existent heaven if we stay. Rather, it is love born out of this present moment of completion. We must have shed our entire ego and surrender ourselves to the One who has already surrendered Himself. Only then the process works. Otherwise, it is just the blind leading the blind, which is a cult. Here Kṛṣṇa talks about such an energy field, an ashram. An ashram is not a serious center of penance with old people meditating in painfully distorted postures. Come to one of our ashrams and see for yourself.

No one will be serious. They will be laughing all the time. They are not like Nārada and the sages engaged in intellectual arrogance. They are the gopīs who are in love with their Master; with their entire being filled with love for Him. Their being carries the space of brahmaṇyam bahuputratām, the feeling that they are the favorite inheritor of the cosmos. At the ashram, each one does what he can, noone forces them to do anything. But the energy of the Master provides them with intelligence to live for others, to enrich others to the peak of their possibility. It does not allow them to waste themselves in frivolous activities.

They live and radiate the truth that life is for enriching! One does not work out of fear, greed, motivation or necessity. An ashramite (ashram resident) works out of gratitude. Once we start to measure what people do and start comparing, we create a political organization, not a spiritual organization. Listen. A man who works out of fear and greed is a śūdra. The man who works out of attention need is a vaiśya. The man who works out of jealousy or comparison to prove that he is superior to others is a kṣatriya. The man who works out of gratitude is a brāhmaṇa. These differentiations do not come by birth.

They are a result of our guṇas, our attributes, our mental make-up, our root patterns. They come into our being when we earn and develop them. A man cooked for a certain monastery for thirty years. He never bothered to be around the Master, nor did he attend the Master’s discourses regularly. When it was time for the Master to leave his body, he called everyone to announce the heir to the monastery. Everyone expect- Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 769 ed someone who was always very close to the Master to take that seat. Instead the Master said, ‘You have all listened to my discourses all these years.

However, this cook lived my teachings. He is my successor.’ By saying that, he gave the cook the experience of his enlightenment. People are not equal. Each one comes with his own karma (unfulfilled actions) and a particular root pattern. As long as the Master is there, He takes care of everything. When the Master is not there in body, the whole thing becomes dharma, righteousness. When the Master is there, everything becomes mokṣa, liberation. That is the difference between dharma and mokṣa. Work for mokṣa. That is the difference between an ashram and a monastery. My mission is for people to live together focused on spiritual evolution; to enrich with science of living enlightenment, towards transformation of oneself through meditation.

Soon people will find out how much better this system works compared to their normal lifestyle. I say to all of them, as Kṛṣṇa said: those who are always engaged in Me with love, I give them Enlightenment by which they come to Me. The Master defines Himself in the last verse: ‘I destroy the darkness of ignorance within them, with the shining lamp of wisdom, through my compassion.’ teṣāṁ evānukampārtham aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ I nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho jñāna-dīpena bhāsvata II 10.11 The Saṃskṛit word ‘Guru’, meaning Master, has two syllables: gu refers to darkness and ru to light. The Master leads the disciple from darkness into light with compassion. This darkness of ignorance is the identification that one has with one’s self, one’s material attachments and material possessions.

This identification surely leads to sorrow since this attachment is for things that are fleeting and not for something long lasting. Wealth gets created overnight and disappears just as quickly. Relationships, however sound, last only as long as the body lasts, most often far less, since the mind is even more incomplete in holding onto relationships. Nothing that exists in this world, nothing that is of material creation, can last eternally. Our impression that material possessions and attachments last, comes from ignorance. This ignorance is born of self-identity, ego. The Master is the only person who can dispel that darkness. Only He can light up that wisdom within you in order for you to realize that you are already one with Existence and therefore need nothing from this material world. Your Master gains nothing from teaching you. He gains nothing from enlightening you. He does it out of sheer compassion, so that others may experience the same bliss that He constantly experiences. Know Yourself By Yourself

10.12

अर्जुन उवाच | परं ब्रह्म परं धाम पवित्रं परमं भवान् | पुरुषं शाश्वतं दिव्यमादिदेवमजं विभुम्

arjuna uvāca paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān / puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam ādidevamajaṁ vibhum / / 10.12

Arjuna says: You are the supreme truth, supreme suste- nance, supremely purifier, the primal, eternal and glorious Lord.

Arjuna uvāca — Arjuna says · paraṁ — supreme · brahman — truth · paraṁ — supreme · dhāma — light · pavitraṁ — pure · paramaṁ — supreme · bhavān — yourself · puruṣaṁ — person · śāśvataṁ — original · divyam — godly · ādidevam — original god · ajaṁ — unborn · vibhum — glorious

10.13

आहुस्त्वामृषय: सर्वे देवर्षिर्नारदस्तथा | असितो देवलो व्यास: स्वयं चैव ब्रवीषि मे

āhustvāmṛṣayaḥ sarve devarṣiṛnāradastathā / asito devalo vyāsaḥ svayaṁ caiva bravīṣi me / / 10.13

All the sages like Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa have explained this. Now you are personally explaining to me.

āhuh — say · tvām — to you · ṛṣayaḥ — sages · sarve — all · devarṣiḥ — sage of gods · nāradaḥ — Nārada · tathā — and · asitaḥ — Asita · devalaḥ — Devala · vyāsaḥ — Vyāsa · svayaṁ — personally · ca — and · eva — surely · bravīṣi — explain · me — to me

10.14

सर्वमेतदृतं मन्ये यन्मां वदसि केशव | न हि ते भगवन्व्यक्तिं विदुर्देवा न दानवा:

sarvametadṛtaṁ manye yanmāṁ vadasi keśava / na hi te bhagavanvyaktiṁ vidurdevā na dānavāḥ / / 10.14

Oh Keśava, I accept all these truths that You have told me. Oh Lord, neither he gods nor the demons know You.

sarvam — all · etad — these · ṛtaṁ — truths · manye — accept · yan — which · māṁ — to me · vadasi — say · keśava — Keshava · na — not · hi — surely · te — your · bhagavan — lord · vyaktiṁ — express · viduḥ — know · devā — gods · na — nor · dānavāḥ — demons

10.15

स्वयमेवात्मनात्मानं वेत्थ त्वं पुरुषोत्तम | भूतभावन भूतेश देवदेव जगत्पते

svayamevātmanātmānaṁ vettha tvaṁ puruṣottama / bhūtabhāvana bhūteśa devadeva jagatpate / / 10.15

Surely, You alone know Yourself by Yourself, Oh Perfect One, the origin of beings, Oh Lord of beings, Oh God of gods, Oh Lord of the world.

svayam — own · evā — surely · atmanā — by yourself · atmānaṁ — yourself · vettha — know · tvaṁ — you · puruṣottama — perfect man · bhūtabhāvana — origin of beings · bhūteśa — lord of beings · devadeva — god of gods · jagatpate — lord of the world

10.16

वक्तुमर्हस्यशेषेण दिव्या ह्यात्मविभूतय: | याभिर्विभूतिभिर्लोकानिमांस्त्वं व्याप्य तिष्ठसि

vaktumarhasyaśeṣeṇa divyā hyātmavibhūtayaḥ / yābhirvibhūtibhirlokān imāṁstvaṁ vyāpya tiṣṭhasi / / 10.16

Only You can describe in detail Your divine glories by which You pervade this universe.

vaktum — say · arhasi — deserve · aśeṣeṇa — in detail · divyā — divine · hi — surely · ātma — Your · vibhūtayaḥ — glories · yābhir — by which · vibhūtibhiḥ — glories · lokān — worlds · imān — these · tvaṁ — You · vyāpya — pervade · tiṣṭhasi — remain

10.17

कथं विद्यामहं योगिंस्त्वां सदा परिचिन्तयन् | केषु केषु च भावेषु चिन्त्योऽसि भगवन्मया

kathaṁ vidyāmahaṁ yogiṁs tvāṁ sadā paricintayan / keṣu keṣu ca bhāveṣu cintyo’si bhagavanmayā / / 10.17

How may I know You by contemplation? In which forms should I contemplate on You, Oh Lord?

kathaṁ — how · vidyām — know · ahaṁ — I · yogins — yogi · tvāṁ — you · sadā — always · paricintayan — contemplation · keṣu-keṣu — in which · ca — and · bhāveṣu — nature · cintyo’si — contemplated · bhagavan — lord · mayā — by me

10.18

विस्तरेणात्मनो योगं विभूतिं च जनार्दन | भूय: कथय तृप्तिर्हि शृण्वतो नास्ति मेऽमृतम्

vistareṇātmano yogaṁ vibhūtiṁ ca janārdana / bhūyaḥ kathaya tṛptirhi śṛṇvato nāsti me’mṛtam / / 10.18

Tell me in detail of your powers and glories, Oh Janār- dana. Again, please tell for my satisfaction as I do not tire of hearing your sweet words.

vistareṇā — in detail · atmano — of Yourself · yogaṁ — powers · vibhūtiṁ — glories · ca — and · janārdana — Janārdana · bhūyaḥ — again · kathaya — say · tṛptiḥ — satisfaction · hi — surely · śṛṇvato — hear · nā — not · asti — is · me — my · amṛtam — nectar

Arjuna becomes the perfect disciple. He has no doubts about whatever Kṛṣṇa has said to him so far. It only corroborates what the great sages have said. All that Arjuna seeks is that his Lord and Master tells him more about Himself, His glories, ‘I just need to know how I should approach You, how I should see You. Tell me more, I can never tire of listening to Your words.’ Arjuna is in love with His Master. When you are in such deep love as Arjuna is now, and as the gopīs were with Kṛṣṇa in Briṇdāvan, there is nothing to be said. There is nothing even to be heard.

Whatever Arjuna says is merely to keep his end of the dialogue going. Arjuna knows that there is no need for Kṛṣṇa to say anything now. Yes, he would be delighted if Kṛṣṇa were to speak of His glories, His līlā. However, Arjuna is in such a state of meditation, ready for his ultimate experience, that whatever his Master says or does would not matter to him. Therefore, when Arjuna asks the Lord to talk about His glories that no one else understands, Arjuna is requesting on behalf of humanity. He would have been perfectly happy to sit in silence, in deep meditation upon Kṛṣṇa. And in His compassion, Kṛṣṇa would have eventually revealed Himself to his chosen disciple.

However, the rest of humanity would not have been enriched from a revelation that came to Arjuna alone. Arjuna wants to know about Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Ultimate Superconscious being. He does not want to know about his friend and charioteer, Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vāsudeva. Arjuna is in the mood of the perfect devotee and disciple. Anything that he can listen about his Master is nectar to his ears. He is in a state of complete immersion. Rāmakṛṣṇa asked Vivekananda, ‘If you were a fly and you were on the rim of the cup of nectar, what would you do?’ Vivekananda said, ‘Sip from the cup, of course, what else?’

‘You fool!’ said the Master, ‘You should fall into the nectar and submerge yourself! When would you ever get this opportunity again? Arjuna is on that verge of immersion. His intellect has almost disappeared. He needs the last nudge, so to speak. You too, as the reader, make your plea to Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Jagatguru, so that He may tell you about His glory, and so that you may meditate upon His glory with single pointed focus of the mind. As He promised, He will provide the light of wisdom for you to be enlightened. I am The Beginning, Middle And End

10.19

श्रीभगवानुवाच | हन्त ते कथयिष्यामि दिव्या ह्यात्मविभूतय: | प्राधान्यत: कुरुश्रेष्ठ नास्त्यन्तो विस्तरस्य मे

śrībhagavānuvāca hanta te kathayiṣyāmi divyā hyātmavibhūtayaḥ / prādhānyataḥ kuruśreṣṭha nāstyanto vistarasya me / / 10.19

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Yes, Oh kuruśreṣṭha, I will talk to you surely of My divine glories; but only of the main ones as there is no end to the details of My glories.

śrī bhagavān uvāca — The Lord says · hanta — yes · te — to you · kathayiṣyāmi — I will talk · divyā — divine · hi — surely · ātma — My · vibhūtayaḥ — glories · prādhānyataḥ — main · kuruśreṣṭha — great among the Kurus · na — not · asti — there · antaḥ — end · vistarasya — detail · me — My

10.20

अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थित: | अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च

ahamātmā guḍākeśa sarvabhūtāśayasthitaḥ / ahamādiśca madhyaṁ ca bhūtānāmanta eva ca / / 10.20

I am the Spirit, Oh Guḍākeśā, situated in all living beings. I am surely the beginning, middle and end of all beings.

aham — I · ātmā — soul · guḍākeśa — Arjuna · sarva — all · bhūtā — living beings · aśayas- thitaḥ — situated in · aham — I · ādiḥ — beginning · ca — and · madhyaṁ — middle · ca — and · bhūtānām — of living beings · anta — end · eva — also · ca — and

10.21

आदित्यानामहं विष्णुर्ज्योतिषां रविरंशुमान् | मरीचिर्मरुतामस्मि नक्षत्राणामहं शशी

ādityānāmahaṁ viṣṇur jyotiṣāṁ raviraṁśumān / marīcirmarutāmasmi nakṣatrāṇāmahaṁ śaśī / / 10.21

Of the Ādityas, I am Viṣṇu. Of the luminaries, I am the bright sun. Of the Maruts, I am Marīcī. Of the Nakṣatras, I am the moon.

ādityānām — of the Ādityas · ahaṁ — I · viṣṇuḥ — Viṣṇu · jyotiṣāṁ — of the luminaries · raviḥ — the sun · aṁśumān — bright · marīciḥ — Marīcī · marutām — of the Maruts · asmi — am · nakṣatrāṇāṁ — of the Nakṣatras · ahaṁ — I · śaśī — the moon

10.22

वेदानां सामवेदोऽस्मि देवानामस्मि वासव: | इन्द्रियाणां मनश्चास्मि भूतानामस्मि चेतना

vedānāṁ sāmavedo’smi devānāmasmi vāsavaḥ / indriyāṇāṁ manaścāsmi bhūtānāmasmi cetanā / / 10.22

Of the Vedas, I am the Sāma Veda. Of the gods, I am Indra. Of the senses, I am the mind and in living beings, I am the consciousness.

vedānāṁ — of the Vedas · sāmavedaḥ — Sāma Veda · asmi — I am · devānām — of the gods · asmi — I am · vāsavaḥ — Vasava · indriyāṇāṁ — of the senses · manaḥ — mind · ca — and · asmi — I am · bhūtānām — of living beings · asmi — I am · cetanā — consciousness

10.23

रुद्राणां शङ्करश्चास्मि वित्तेशो यक्षरक्षसाम् | वसूनां पावकश्चास्मि मेरु: शिखरिणामहम्

rudrāṇāṁ śaṅkaraścāsmi vitteśo yakṣarakṣasām / vasūnāṁ pāvakaścāsmi meruḥ śikhariṇāmaham / / 10.23

Of the Rudras, I am Sankara and of the Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, I am Kubera, god of wealth. Of the Vasus, I am fire and of the peaks, I am Meru.

rudrāṇāṁ — of the rudras · śaṅkaraḥ — Shankara · ca — and · asmi — I am · vitteśaḥ — god of wealth · yakṣa — demigods · rakṣasām — demons · vasūnāṁ — of the Vasus · pā- vakaḥ — fire · ca — and · asmi — I am · meruḥ — Meru · śikhariṇām — of the peaks · aham — I

10.24

पुरोधसां च मुख्यं मां विद्धि पार्थ बृहस्पतिम् | सेनानीनामहं स्कन्द: सरसामस्मि सागर:

purodhasāṁ ca mukhyaṁ māṁ viddhi pārtha bṛhaspatim / senānīnāmahaṁ skandaḥ sarasāmasmi sāgaraḥ / / 10.24

Of the priests, understand, O Pārtha, that I am the chief Brihaspati. Of the warriors, I am Skanda. Of the water bodies, I am the ocean.

purodhasāṁ — of the priests · ca — and · mukhyaṁ — main · māṁ — Me · viddhi — understand · pārtha — Pārtha · bṛhaspatim — Brihaspati · senānīnām — of the war- riors · ahaṁ — I am · skandaḥ — Skanda · sarasām — of the water bodies · asmi — I am · sāgaraḥ — the ocean

10.25

महर्षीणां भृगुरहं गिरामस्म्येकमक्षरम् | यज्ञानां जपयज्ञोऽस्मि स्थावराणां हिमालय:

maharṣīṇāṁ bhṛgurahaṁ girāmasmyekamakṣaram / yajñānāṁ japayajño’smi sthāvarāṇāṁ himālayaḥ / / 10.25

Of the great sages, I am Bhrigu. Of the vibrations, I am the OM. Of the sacrifices, I am the chanting of holy names. Of the immovable objects, I am the Himālayas.

maharṣīṇāṁ — of the great sages · bhṛguḥ — Bhrigu · ahaṁ — I · girām — of the vibra- tions · asmi — I am · ekam akṣaram — single letter (Om) · yajñānāṁ — of the yajnas (sacrifices) · japayagñaḥ — chanting of holy names · asmi — I am · sthāvarāṇāṁ — of the immovables · himālayaḥ — Himalayas

Of the immovable objects, I am the Himālayas. There is no way to describe the Divine fully because the Divine pervades every bit of this entire Universe. When it exists in every atom, when it is the essence of all that exists, how can we describe or comprehend it in its entirety? So Kṛṣṇa explains the main manifestations that give a glimpse of the unfathomable Divine. Kṛṣṇa refers to Arjuna as Guḍākeśa, meaning one who has conquered sleep! He implies that Arjuna has overcome sleep, signifying darkness or ignorance. Therefore Arjuna is ready to receive what Kṛṣṇa is about to deliver. Throughout the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa refers to Arjuna by different names.

Each one is appropriate within a particular context. Sometimes He calls Arjuna—Kaunteya or Pārtha, meaning that he is the son of Kuntī. Kuntī in Mahābhārat is the epitome of patience and forbearance. No one suffers like she does. When Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna as the son of Kuntī, it is in the context of advising Arjuna to be patient and listen carefully. While addressing Arjuna here as Guḍākeṣa, one who is in the light, having conquered sleep, Kṛṣṇa readies Arjuna for liberation. Kṛṣṇa declares that He is everything that really matters. Kṛṣṇa says that He is the ultimate consciousness in all beings and He is the beginning, middle and end of all beings.

He declares that He pervades the entire space and time and beyond. aham ātmā guḍākeśa sarva-bhūtāśaya sthitaḥ I aham ādiś ca madhyaṁ ca bhūtānām anta eva ca II 10.20 Kṛṣṇa is both the macrocosm and the microcosm: the Brahmāṇḍa, Cosmos and the pindāṇda, individual being. His energy permeates all living and non-living entities and He decides upon their nature. Young Prahlād was subjected to an inquisition by his demonic father Hiraṇyakaśipu. His father asked, ‘You speak about Nārāyaṇa all the time and refuse to give up even when I command you to do so. Where does your Nārāyaṇa live? Where is he now?’ Prahlad replied, ‘He may be in this twig lying on the floor.

He may be in this pillar next to you. He is everywhere.’ Hiraṇyakaśipu kicked the pillar in fury daring Nārāyaṇa to appear. Nārāyaṇa appeared in the form of Naṛsimha, Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 775 half-man half-lion! Prahlād trusted fully that Nārāyaṇa was everywhere. He did not have one iota of self-doubt about it. When Prahlād was being challenged by Hiraṇyakaśipu to show Nārāyaṇa anywhere, it is said that Lord Viṣṇu (Nārāyaṇa) suddenly started preparing to leave Vaikunṭa, His abode, when Lakṣmī, His consort asked, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Viṣṇu smiled and said, ‘I have no idea where this devotee of mine, this young boy Prahlād, is planning to call me from.

Wherever he calls from, I need to appear from there!’ Not only does the Lord reside everywhere, He will also go to any length to ensure that His true devotee’s words don’t go futile! In this Universe, there are twelve planes of existence. These are a combination of the factors of length, breadth, depth, time, space and consciousness. At best we are aware of the first five and only partially that too. It is difficult for those in the human plane to comprehend even time and space fully. We can only exist in one aspect of time and space in relationship with the three dimensions of length, breadth and depth.

Quantum Physics now recognizes that fundamental particles can exist simultaneously in different locations at the same time. Matter can transcend time and space. Matter and energy can exist beyond the bounds of time and space. A Master is one who can transcend time and space and reach consciousness. Kṛṣṇa, the great Master, is in the twelfth plane, that of pure consciousness. He is beyond all dimensions, beyond time, and beyond space. He is the beginning and He has no beginning. He is the end and He has no end. He is the Creator. He is the Created. He is also the Creation. In this huge canvas of the Universe, He is the canvas.

He is the paint. He is also the strokes and He is the painting. There is nothing that He is not. The only way to understand even a part of Him is to become immersed in Him. In the Chandogya Upaniṣad, Āditya is a name of Śrī Viṣṇu in His Vāmana avatār. In the ten incarnations of Śrī Viṣṇu, Vāmana is the fifth incarnation as a small brāhmin boy. When King Bāli of the demon race was performing a series of fire rituals to attain supremacy over the Universe, the demigods requested Viṣṇu to prevent Bali from conquering the Universe. On King Bāli’s last fire ritual, Viṣṇu appeared as a small brāhmin boy.

The king, as per the custom, respectfully welcomed the brāhmin boy and offered to give anything that he wished for. Vāmana asked king Bāli to give him three steps of his land as his property. Once Bāli consented, Vāmana grew from the size of a small boy to a huge figure. He stepped over the entire earth in a single footstep. In the next step, he stepped over the heavenly worlds. Having thus conquered the worlds, Vāmana asked Bāli where he could place his third step. Having nothing else to offer, Bali offered Vāmana his own head. Vāmana placed his foot on Bali’s head. The history symbolizes how arrogance and pride leads to one’s downfall since all possessions are temporary and of no inherent value..

Surrendering only to the Divine, to the Ultimate consciousness, leads us to liberation. Kṛṣṇa says that among the Māruts, He is Māricī. The Māruts are the thought-gods associated with power and knowledge. Māricī is the father of sage Kaśyapa who is the father of the Māruts. Many Ṛgveda hymns are dedicated to the Māruts. The Māruts aid the activities of Indra, the representation of the mind. This is a metaphysical representation of the power of thoughts that originate from the mind. A common representation of the Maruts in the Ṛg Veda, is a flock of birds. This symbolizes the power of Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 777 thoughts that influence the recipient.

When a person is established in integrity, and radiates positive thoughts, he is receptive to similar thoughts and attracts similar incidents in his life. If we are blissful, people with a similar attitude will be attracted towards us. If we are dull, lethargic and depressed, the same type of people will be attracted towards us. Thoughts and desires are energy. They contribute towards shaping our actions and lives. Everyday we create our bodies, minds, actions and our reality by our thoughts. We are what our thoughts are. Next, Kṛṣṇa says that He is the sun amongst all the shining objects, and among the stars He is the moon. We may say that the moon is not a star.

We would be factually correct. Kṛṣṇa refers to the influence that the moon wields upon earth and humans. It is scientifically established that out of all celestial bodies around planet earth, the two most important influences are the sun and the moon. No one doubts that the sun is a star and that it is the brightest object that can be seen. The moon influences the tides of the ocean as well as the tides of the human minds. Of all planetary, non-planetary and solar bodies that surround us, with the exception of the sun, the moon exerts the greatest influence on us both in a broader planetary sense and in an individual sense.

People have mood variations depending on the phases of the moon. New moon and full moon days dramatically influence our emotional well-being, for good and for bad. Being the physical mass closest to the earth, the gravitational force of the moon affects each of us deeply. This is why the Hindu astrological and astronomical systems consider the moon to be a planet. This belief is not based on whether the moon revolves around the earth as a satellite instead of around the sun as a planet. It is based on the effect that the moon has on human beings and upon planet Earth. In Vedic astrology, the stars, are the different positions in the sky that the moon passes through in a cycle of 27 to 28 days.

These stars are referred to as the wives of the moon. This is why Kṛṣṇa refers to Himself as the moon amongst the stars, that He is the pride of the stars. I Am Viṣṇu. I Am Śankara. I Am OṀ Kṛṣṇa declares that amongst the Vedas, He is the Sāma Veda. The Vedas are the timeless truths expounded by the ṛṣis (sages) as the expressions of truth experienced by them. These are the revelations of the truth experienced through intuition by the seers. There are four Vedas: Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda and Atharva Veda. Each Veda consists of four parts: mantra-saṁhita or hymns, brāhmaṇa or explanations of mantras (or rituals), āranyaka, forest books which give the philosophical meaning of rituals, and the Upaniṣads, essence of the Vedas.

The Sāma Veda is a collection of hymns in praise of agni (fire), Indra (king of the gods) and soma (drink of the gods). While the Ṛg Veda is the oldest Veda, Sāma Veda is the basis for all musical systems of India. The basic notes of all music, not just of Indian music, originated with Sāma Veda. The seven notes, which are the fundamentals of all music all over the world, were derived from Sāma Veda, which even today is sung, and not recited. The Ṛg Veda and other Vedas may be recited only by a few scholars today, but Sāma Veda is heard everywhere. It is the essence of Carnatic and Hindustani music forms, the two major classical music forms of India.

As the essence of music, Sāma Veda is also the essence of dance forms. One does not need to understand music and dance. It is enough to indulge and experience. So it is with Kṛṣṇa. All we need to do is experience Him. Among the gods, Kṛṣṇa says He is Vasava (Indra), the king of gods.The five senses, jñānendriya, namely sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, originate from the mind and are of the mind. Without the mind, the senses cannot function. He says He is the subtlest and most powerful, the mind. In living beings, He is the life force, the consciousness, not merely body and mind. Rudras are the elemental powers worshipped by the Ṛg Veda.

The word Rudra means to cry. Metaphorically the Rudras were worshipped Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 779 to obtain some gain. When in deep anguish, if one prays to one of the Rudras in awareness, it was believed to bring results. There are eleven Rudras: Aja, Ekapāda, Ahirbudhnya, Vīrabhadra, Girīśa, Śaṅkara, Aparājita, Hara, Anakaraka, Pināki, Bhaga and Śambhu. Śankara is the doer of good. Śankara is also the precursor to Śiva in the evolution of the Hindu constellation of divinity. Śiva means causeless auspiciousness; auspiciousness born without a reason. Wherever Śiva is, good happens for no reason. Of the Rudras, Kṛṣṇa says He is Śankara, rudrāṇāṁ śankaraś cāsmi (10.20).

Yakṣas are celestial beings considered to be the creators of wealth. The king of the Yakṣas is Kubera, the god of wealth. Rākṣasas too are celestial beings of a negative nature of hoarding power and wealth. Yakṣas and Rākṣasas are keepers of wealth. They do not enjoy wealth. Of the Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, Kṛṣṇa says He is the god of wealth, the king Kubera. The Vasus are the attendants of Viṣṇu. They represent various aspects of Nature. The Brihadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad mentions eight Vasus: agni (fire), pṛthvī (earth), vāyu (wind), antarikṣa (space), āditya (light), dyaus (sky), candramas (moon) and nakṣatrāṇi (stars). Kṛṣṇa says among the Vasus, He is the formless fire.

Meru is the golden peak, the metaphoric abode of gods, and its foothills are the Himalayas. It also represents the human spine. Amongst the peaks, Kṛṣṇa says He is the majestic Meru. Bṛhaspati is the priest of the gods. He dispels darkness and ignorance and destroys the enemies of the gods. Among the warriors, Kṛṣṇa says He is Skanda, the supreme General of the forces of gods. Skanda is the son of Śiva and Pārvati, who destroyed Tārakāsura, the demon who, along with his hordes of demons, tormented the devas. This is a metaphysical representation of the Divine as the Supreme General of the being, vanquishing the senses, desires and ego.

Of the water bodies, Kṛṣṇa says He is the mighty ocean, infinite in expanseandessentialtoalllifeforms.Infact,itistheoriginofalllifeforms. Of the great sages, Kṛṣṇa says He is Bhṛgu, one of the Saptaṛṣis (seven sages who form the cosmic energy). Bhṛgu is believed to have been created by Brahma to aid him in the creation of the Universe. Of the vibrations, Kṛṣṇa says He is the transcendental OṀ—girāṁ asmy ekam akṣaram (10.25). OṀ is the primal sound from which the Universe manifested itself. It is the praṇava, the mystic symbol. The symbol of OṀ— contains three curves, a semicircle and a dot. Out of the three curves, the upper curve symbolizes the waking state, the lower curve denotes deep sleep and the right curve denotes the dream state.

It thus represents the three states of individual consciousness. The dot represents the fourth state of consciousness, turīya, complete awareness. The semicircle represents māyā, illusion, and separates the dot from the three curves. But the open semicircle represents the Absolute which is unaffected by māyā. Of the different types of sacrifices, Kṛṣṇa says He is the japa or chanting of holy names—yajñānāṁ japa-yajño ‘smi (10.25). Of the immovable objects in the world, He says He is the mighty and majestic Himalayas. The Himalayas, literally meaning ‘the abode of snow’, is home to hundreds of peaks, including the highest peak in the world. Some great rivers originate in it and flow through it, including Gangā, Yamunā, Brahmaputra and Indus.

The Himalayas have a great unique spiritual significance as well. Kailasa, abode of Śiva, is the earthly representation of the metaphorical Meru. The Himalayan mountains are the spiritual incubator of the world. The Himalayas are truly a powerful energy field. For thousands of years, millions of Sādhus (sages) have lived there and left their bodies from there. When Enlightened Masters leave their bodies, the result of their penance, the energy of their spiritual penance, is not carried by the spirit. They leave behind this energy in their bodies. Imagine how much energy is in the Himalayas, where so many Enlightened beings have left their bodies! We should Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 781 be thankful to the Himalayas since their positive energy balances the collective negativity in the world.

The Himalayan Mountains are home to me. I never believed, when I left home to travel to the Himalayas, that I would return to South India. It was in the Himalayas that I met Mahāvatār Bābā, the great Master who has been living in these mountains for thousands of years. You may believe it or not believe it, but that is the Truth. On the way to Kedarnath, Mahāvatār Bābā called me by the name I am now called. He walked into me after calling me ‘Paramahamsa Nithyananda’. I thought he was asking me to look for a master named Nithyananda! So I went searching for this master. More than a year later, at Calcutta, on the banks of the river Hooghly, a tributary of the river Gangā, an old Sannyāsi insisted on giving me Sannyāsa before he died.

I was not keen to take Sannyāsa. I was looking for Enlightenment. But he insisted. So I agreed. To my utter surprise he gave me the name— Paramahamsa Nithyananda. I asked this Sannyāsi, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I do not know. This is what I was asked to do.’ He did not explain who asked him to give me the name and initiation. So, I tell my disciples that Mahāvatār Bābā is our Kulaguru, Master of our lineage, and Kedar is our kṣetra, our spiritual location. When Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am the Himalayan Mountain out of all unmoving things, sthāvarāṇāṁ himālayaḥ (10.25).’ I can feel the energy of Kṛṣṇa in these mountains. Everyone who has been with me on these trips have felt it at some point. They are blessed. They have been in Kṛṣṇa consciousness! I Am Banyan Tree, I Am Time

10.26

अश्वत्थ: सर्ववृक्षाणां देवर्षीणां च नारद: | गन्धर्वाणां चित्ररथ: सिद्धानां कपिलो मुनि:

aśvatthaḥ sarvavṛkṣāṇāṁ devarṣīṇāṁ ca nāradaḥ / gandharvāṇāṁ citrarathaḥ siddhānāṁ kapilo muniḥ / / 10.26

Of all the trees, I am the Banyan tree and of all the sages of the gods, I am Nārada. Of the Gandharvas, I am Chitraratha. Of the realized souls, I am the sage Kapila.

aśvatthaḥ — banyan tree · sarva — all · vṛkṣāṇāṁ — of the trees · devarṣīṇāṁ — of the sages of the gods · ca — and · nāradaḥ — Nārada · gandharvāṇāṁ — of the Gand- harvas · citrarathaḥ — Chitraratha · siddhānāṁ — of the Siddhas · kapilaḥ — Kapila · muniḥ — sage

10.27

उच्चै:श्रवसमश्वानां विद्धि माममृतोद्भवम् | ऐरावतं गजेन्द्राणां नराणां च नराधिपम्

uccaiḥśravas amaśvānāṁ viddhi mām amṛtodbhavam / airāvataṁ gajendrāṇāṁ narāṇāṁ ca narādhipam / / 10.27

Of the horses, know me to be Ucchaiṣravas born of the nectar generated from the churning of the ocean; Of the elephants, Airāvata and of men, the king.

uccaiḥśravasaṁ — Ucchaishravas · aśvānāṁ — of the horses · viddhi — know · māṁ — Me · amṛtodbhavam — Born of nectar produced from the churning of the ocean · airāvataṁ — Airavata · gajendrāṇāṁ — of the elephants · narāṇāṁ — of men · ca — and · narādhipam — king

10.28

आयुधानामहं वज्रं धेनूनामस्मि कामधुक् | प्रजनश्चास्मि कन्दर्प: सर्पाणामस्मि वासुकि:

āyudhānāmahaṁ vajraṁ dhenūnāmasmi kāmadhuk / prajanaścāsmi kandarpaḥ sarpāṇāmasmi vāsukiḥ / / 10.28

Of the weapons, I am the thunderbolt. Of the cows, I am Kamadhenu; For begetting children, I am the god of love. Of the snakes, I am Vasuki.

āyudhānām — of the weapons · ahaṁ — I am · vajraṁ — thunderbolt · dhenūnām — of the cows · asmi — I am · kāmadhuk — Kamadhenu · prajanaḥ — for begetting children · cā — and · asmi — I am · kandarpaḥ — god of love · sarpāṇāṁ — of the snakes · asmi — I am · vāsukiḥ — Vasuki

10.29

अनन्तश्चास्मि नागानां वरुणो यादसामहम् | पितृणामर्यमा चास्मि यम: संयमतामहम्

anantaścāsmi nāgānāṁ varuṇo yādasām aham / pitṛṇāmaryamā cāsmi yamaḥ saṁyamatāmaham / / 10.29

Of the serpents, I am Ananta. Of the water deities, I am Varuṇa. Of the ancestors, I am Aryama and of the ones who ensure discipline, I am Yama.

anantaḥ — Ananta · ca — and · asmi — I am · nāgānāṁ — of the serpents · varuṇaḥ — Varuṇa · yādasām — of the water deities · aham — I am · pitṛṇām — of the ancestors · aryamā — Aryama · ca — and · asmi — I am · yamaḥ — Yama · saṁyamatām — of the ones who ensure discipline · aham — I

10.30

प्रह्लादश्चास्मि दैत्यानां काल: कलयतामहम् | मृगाणां च मृगेन्द्रोऽहं वैनतेयश्च पक्षिणाम्

prahlādaścāsmi daityānāṁ kālaḥ kalayatāmaham / mṛgāṇāṁ ca mṛgendro’haṁ vainateyaśca pakṣiṇām / / 10.30

Of the Daitya (demons), I am Prahlad and of the reckoners, I am time. Of the animals, I am the king of animals (lion) and of the birds, I am Garuda.

prahlādaḥ — Prahlada · ca — and · asmi — I am · daityānāṁ — of the Daityas · kālaḥ — time · kalayatām — of the subduers · aham — I · mṛgāṇāṁ — of the animals · ca — and · mṛgendraḥ — king of animals · ahaṁ — I · vainateyaḥ — Garuda · ca — and · pakṣiṇām — of the bird

Kṛṣṇa says among the trees He is the banyan tree, aśvatthaḥ sarva vṛkṣānāṁ (10.26). The banyan tree develops its root-like structures from the branches. These grow into the earth as secondary roots. The metaphysical meaning of the banyan tree is that just as the banyan tree grows its roots upside down unlike other trees, the spiritual person shuns the illusory outer world, the world that most people run after. Instead, he goes inwards towards the Absolute. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 783 In a later chapter Kṛṣṇa says that the leaves of the banyan tree are the Vedas. He who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.

Of all the spiritually enlightened Masters, the Ṛṣis, Kṛṣṇa says He is Nārada. Nārada is considered the greatest of all devotees. His mind is immersedinrememberingViṣṇu,foreverchanting‘Nārāyaṇa,Nārāyaṇa’. Kṛṣṇa identifies Himself with His greatest devotee. Of the Gandharvas, the celestial beings, Kṛṣṇa says He is Citraratha. Gandharvas are celestial beings skilled in music and they are guardians of the soma juice—the nectar of the divine beings. Citraratha is the king of the Gandharvas. I Am the Complete Being Among the Siddhas, the complete beings, the Self-realized persons, Kṛṣṇa says He is Kapila, the complete sage. Kapila is the author of the Sāṅkhya Yoga system of philosophy, which deals with the elements of the physical Universe and the spiritual world.

He is also the founding father of Mahānirvāṇi Pīṭha—Kapila Sarvajña Pīṭha. Kapila is considered an incarnation of Viṣṇu and Mahādev. Listen. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the greatest follower of Sāṅkhya Yoga of Mahānirvāṇi Pīṭha, the oldest apex body of sanātana-dharma. Understand, after the first chapter, Arjuna Viṣāda Yogaḥ, the first words that come out of Bhagavān’s mouth are Sāṅkhya Yoga—nai’naṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nai ’naṁ dahati pāvakaḥ (2.23). I can be sure that Kṛṣṇa was filled with Kapila. So, here Bhagavān introduces Himself saying, ‘Among the perfect complete beings, I am Kapila—siddhānāṁ kapilo muniḥ (10.26).’ This means that in Kṛṣṇa’s time, Kapila was the star of the spiritual world. That is why He mentions Kapila.

I can see the whole compassion of Kapila. I know for sure that he was the first man who started thinking. Till then, thinking was not part of humanity. The first human being on planet Earth who started thinking and experienced completion was Kapila. Kapila Muni is one of the great Incarnations celebrated in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. There is a beautiful book called Kapila Gītā, Kapila’s teachings to his mother, Devāhuti recorded in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and other books Kapila’s Sāṅkhya Sūtra and Sāṅkhya Kārika based on his philosophy. When I was studying them, I found such beautiful expressions! If you read Kapila, you won’t find a single moral lesson or even a definition of morality or immorality.

But, the followers of Kapila will be the most beautiful moral beings on planet Earth, because He just puts you into the natural flow of your being. You don’t hide anything from others and yourself. You are not afraid of anything that is within or outside you. What pristine purity! Kapila is the definition of the natural law of Existence, the innate intelligence. I tell you, Kapila is as beautiful as the gopikās of Bhāgavatam, as intelligent as Kṛṣṇa’s Gītā, and as natural as Dharmarāja (name of Yudhiṣṭra, the righteous king). Only with certain completion, can you understand the intelligence, beauty, and naturalness, all that can flow together in one space, that is Kapila.

Next, Ucchaiśravas is the legendary snow-white horse that emerged during the churning of the ocean of milk described in the Bhāgavatam. According to the history, the devas, the good, oppressed by the asuras, the evil, appealed to Lord Viṣṇu for help. Viṣṇu directed devas to churn the ocean of milk upon which Viṣṇu rests, using Meru, the mountain, as the staff and Vāsuki, the serpent, as the rope. Viṣṇu became the base as a tortoise upon which Meru rested. Since the devas did not have the strength to do the job alone, they took the help of the asuras promising them a share in whatever materialized. During the churning, various divine entities emerged.

Among these were the divine horse, Ucchaiśravas, and the four-tusked king of the elephants, Airāvata, whom Indra took as his mount. As part of the churning process, a deadly poison hālahāla also emerged that threatened to take the lives of the devas and asuras. Śiva came to their rescue and drank the poison. Finally, the nectar of immortality emerged. Viṣṇu, in the form of a beautiful damsel Mohini Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 785 kept the asuras occupied, while He allowed the devas to drink the amṛta, nectar of immortality, and become invincible. This is a metaphysical representation signifying how we are pushed and pulled by desires in our lives.

From this churning in our life, various products emerge. The nectar of immortality emerges when we offer our entire being to the Divine, as we go beyond the push and pull of desires, beyond life and death. Then we dwell in ultimate bliss. There may be obstacles in the path. Yet, the Master supports and protects us during our churning, as we endeavor to realize the ultimate state. Just as Śiva drank the poison that came out as a result of churning the ocean, the Master holds the disciple steady as the unconscious root patterns, saṁskāras rise to the surface during our spiritual maturing. Kṛṣṇa says, among the weapons, He is vajra, the thunderbolt.

This is the weapon of Indra, king of the demigods. Viṣṇu is considered to be present in the vajra. Indra was specifically given this weapon—the thunderbolt, for a purpose. Kṛṣṇa does not choose His own weapon, the cakra, the mighty discus. Instead he used Indra’s vajra that was made from the bones of the great sage Dadhici, who gave up his life to destroy the evil Vṛtāsura. Among the cows, He says He is the sacred cow, Kāmadhuk or Kāmadhenu, which also emerged during the churning of the ocean. In the Hindu way of life, the cow is worshipped for her essential utility. Kāmadhuka is considered to be the cow that grants all wishes and is the mother of all cows.

Kṛṣṇa says, for begetting children, He is the god of love, the basis for procreation. He says He is the Vāsuki of serpents. Vāsuki is the king of snakes. Vāsuki was used as the rope and he wound himself around Meru, the staff, for churning the ocean of milk. Kṛṣṇa says, among the nāgas, non-poisonous snakes or creatures of the nether world, He is Ananta, the many-hooded serpent who forms the bed of Lord Viṣṇu. He is said to support all the planets on his various hoods, including the Earth. Among the water beings, Kṛṣṇa says He is Varuṇa, the god of the mightiest water body, the ocean. Among the ancestors, Kṛṣṇa says He is Aryamā, one of the Ādityas, who presides over a planet occupied by the energy bodies of our ancestors.

Of the ones who ensure discipline, Kṛṣṇa says He is Yama, the Lord of death. Death is the perfect equalizer of all beings. Death is the only certain thing in the life of all beings and it treats everyone exactly the same whether they are big or small, rich or poor. So the Lord of death, Yama, ensures perfect discipline. The Saṃskṛit word yama means both discipline and death. Yama is the first of the eight limbs of Patañjali’s Aṣṭāṅga Yoga. Of the Daityas, Kṛṣṇa says He is Prahlād—prahlādaś cāsmi daityanāṁ (10.30). The Daityas are considered to be a race of beings that warred against the demigods. Prahlād was the son of a powerful Daitya King, Hiraṇyakaśipu.

Prahlād was a pious child, an embodiment of integrity. The young Prahlād is a supreme example of devotion. His life is the example that total surrender to the Divine is possible and that such surrender leads the Divine to completely care for His devotees, in all situations and at all times. Of the reckoners, Kṛṣṇa says He is Kāla, Time itself—kālaḥ kalayatām aham (10.30). Time is the ultimate reckoner. No being exists who can beat Time. Irrespective of who it is, Time always moves on. It cannot be stopped by anyone. Of the animals, Kṛṣṇa says He is the Lion, king of the jungle. Among birds, He says He is Garuḍa, king of birds, the eagle who is the mount of Lord Viṣṇu. I Am Rama

10.31

पवन: पवतामस्मि राम: शस्त्रभृतामहम् | झषाणां मकरश्चास्मि स्रोतसामस्मि जाह्नवी

pavanaḥ pavatāmasmi rāmaḥ śastrabhṛtāmaham / jhaṣāṇāṁ makaraścāsmi srotasāmasmi jānhavī / / 10.31

Of the purifiers, I am the wind. Of the wielders of weapons, I am Rāma. Of the water beings, I am the shark and of the flowing rivers, I am Jahnavi (Gaṅgā).

pavanaḥ — wind · pavatāṁ — that which purifies · asmi — I am · rāmaḥ — Rama · śastrabhṛitām — wielders of weapons · ahaṁ — I · jhaṣāṇāṁ — of the water beings · makaraḥ — fish · cā — and · asmi — I am · srotasām — of the flowing rivers · asmi — I am · jānhavī — Jahnavi (Ganga)

10.32

सर्गाणामादिरन्तश्च मध्यं चैवाहमर्जुन | अध्यात्मविद्या विद्यानां वाद: प्रवदतामहम्

sargāṇāmādirantaśca madhyaṁ caivāhamarjuna / adhyātmavidyā vidyānāṁ vādaḥ pravadatāmaham / / 10.32

Of all creations, I am surely the beginning and end and the middle, O Arjuna. Of all knowledge, I am the spiritual knowledge of the Self. Of all arguments, I am the logic.

sargāṇāṁ — of all creations · ādiḥ — beginning · antaḥ — end · ca — and · madhyaṁ — middle · ca — and · eva — surely · aham — I · arjuna — Arjuna · adhyātmavidyā — spir- itual knowledge · vidyānāṁ — of all knowledge · vādaḥ — logic · pravadatām — of arguments · aham — I

10.33

अक्षराणामकारोऽस्मि द्वन्द्व: सामासिकस्य च | अहमेवाक्षय: कालो धाताहं विश्वतोमुख:

akṣarāṇāmakāro’smi dvandvaḥ sāmāsikasya ca / ahaṁevākṣayaḥ kālo dhātāhaṁ viśvatomukhaḥ / / 10.33

Of the letters, I am the ‘A’. Of the dual words, I am the compounds and surely I am the never-ending time. I am the Omniscient who sees everything.

akṣarāṇām — of the letters · akāraḥ — The letter A · asmi — I am · dvandvaḥ — of the dual words · sāmāsikasya — compounds · ca — and · ahaṁ — I · evā — surely · akṣayaḥ — never-ending · kālo — time · dhātā — creator · ahaṁ — I · viśvatomukhaḥ — faces facing the world (Brahma)

10.34

मृत्यु: सर्वहरश्चाहमुद्भवश्च भविष्यताम् | कीर्ति: श्रीर्वाक्च नारीणां स्मृतिर्मेधा धृति: क्षमा

mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham udbhavaśca bhaviṣyatāï / kīrtiḥ śrīrvākca nāriṇāṁ smṛtirmedhā dhṛtiḥ kṣamā / / 10.34

I am the all-devouring death and I am the creator of all things of the future. Of the feminine, I am fame, fortune, beautiful speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience.

mṛtyuḥ — death · sarvaharaḥ — all-devouring · ca — and · aham — I · udbhavaḥ — creation · ca — and · bhaviṣyatāï — of the future · kīrtiḥ — fame · śrīr vāk — wealth of words · ca — and · nāriṇāṁ — of the feminine · smṛtiḥ — memory · medhā — intelligence · dhṛtiḥ — faithfulness · kṣamā — patience

10.35

बृहत्साम तथा साम्नां गायत्री छन्दसामहम् | मासानां मार्गशीर्षोऽहमृतूनां कुसुमाकर:

bṛhatsāma tathā sāmnāṁ gāyatrī chandasām aham / māsānāṁ mārgaśīrṣo’ham ṛtūnāṁ kusumākaraḥ / / 10.35

Of the Sāma Veda hymns, I am the Bṛhat Sāma and of all poetry, I am the Gāyatrī. Of the months, I am Mārgaśīrṣa and of the seasons, I am Spring.

bṛhatsāma — Bṛhat Sāma · tathā — and · sāmnāṁ — of the Sāma Veda · gāyatrī — Gāyatrī · chandasām — of all poetry · aham — I · māsānāṁ — of the months · mārgaśīrṣaḥ — Mārgaśīrṣa · aham — I · ṛtūnāṁ — of the seasons · kusumākaraḥ — spring

10.36

द्यूतं छलयतामस्मि तेजस्तेजस्विनामहम् | जयोऽस्मि व्यवसायोऽस्मि सत्वं सत्ववतामहम्

dyūtaṁ chalayatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham / jayo’smi vyavasāyo’smi sattvaṁ sattvavatām aham / / 10.36

Of all the cheating, I am Gambling. Of the effulgent things, I am the Effulgence. I am Victory, I am Effort, I am the Goodness (sattva) of those who are with satva (good) quality.

dyūtaṁ — gambling · chalayatām — of all cheating · asmi — I am · tejaḥ — effulgence · tejasvināṁ — of all the effulgent things · aham — I · jayaḥ — victory · asmi — I am · vyavasāyaḥ — of all adventure · asmi — I am · sattvaṁ — the satvic nature · sattvavatām — of those who are tranquil · aham — I

10.37

वृष्णीनां वासुदेवोऽस्मि पाण्डवानां धनञ्जय: | मुनीनामप्यहं व्यास: कवीनामुशना कवि:

vṛṣṇīnāṁ vāsudevo’smi pāṇḍavānāṁ dhanañjayaḥ / munīnāmapyahaṁ vyāsaḥ kavīnāmuśanā kaviḥ / / 10.37

Of the descendants of Vṛṣṇi, I am Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa. Of the Pāṇḍavas, I am Arjuna. Of the sages, I am also Vyāsa and of the seer, I am Uśāna.

vṛṣṇīnāṁ — of the Vṛṣṇis · vāsudevaḥ — Vāsudeva · asmi — I am · pāṇḍavānāṁ — of the Pāṇḍavas · dhanañjayaḥ — Dhanañjaya · munīnām — of the sages · api — also · ahaṁ — I · vyāsaḥ — Vyāsa · kavīnām — of the thinkers · uśanā — Uśāna · kaviḥ — seer

10.38

दण्डो दमयतामस्मि नीतिरस्मि जिगीषताम् | मौनं चैवास्मि गुह्यानां ज्ञानं ज्ञानवतामहम्

daṇḍo damayatām asmi nītirasmi jigīṣatām / maunaṁ caivāsmi guhyānāṁ jñānaṁ jñānavatāmaham / / 10.38

Of rulers, I am their Sceptre. Of the victorious, I am Statesmanship. Of all secrets, I am also Silence. Of the wise, I am Wisdom.

daṇḍaḥ — rod of punishment · damayatām — of all punishments · asmi — I am · nītiḥ — morality · asmi — I am · jigīṣatām — of the victorious · maunaṁ — silence · ca — and · evā — also · asmi — I am · guhyānāṁ — of the secrets · jñānaṁ — knowledge · jñānavatāṁ — of the wise · aham — I

Of the rivers, He says He is Gangā. The river Gangā is worshipped in India as goddess Gangā. Millions of people pray in the waters of the Gangā everyday. On its banks, millions of people gather everyday to offer pūjā to Gangā and to take a holy dip in the waters. The sage Jahnu swallowed Gangā as She rushed down the Himalayas into his ashram. Bhagīratha begged the ṛṣis to release Gangā. That is why Gangā is known as the daughter of Jahnu and has the name ‘Jāhnavi’. As Gangā descends from the Himalayas to the plains, there are multiple places of pilgrimage where people revere the river and offer daily prayers.

Gangā is considered the sacred river that descended from the heavens, blessing the planet with the Ganges based civilization. Millions of people standing and praying in the waters have energized the whole river and this explains why Gangā has the inexplicable ability of cleansing Herself. Let me share a factual observation recorded in the reminiscences of the British who ruled India. When the British traveled by ship from England to India, their water became spoilt during the long journey. However, on the return trip from India to England, the water from the Gangā remained pure even after reaching England. The research showed that the Gangā water had the miraculous power of cleansing Herself.

Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 789 Of all the creations, Kṛṣṇa says He is the beginning, the middle and the end, thus establishing that He is all that existed, exists and will exist. He is the creator, created and creation—sargāṇāṁ ādir antaś ca madhyaṁ caivaham arjuna (10.32). Of the various branches of knowledge, He is the ultimate spiritual knowledge, Self-realization—adhyātma vidyā vidyānāṁ (10.32). Other branches of knowledge result from intelligence. Only Self-realization requires intuition and something beyond. Of all arguments, He says He is the logic that binds everything together. Of the letters, Kṛṣṇa says He is the first letter, ‘aksarānāṁ a-kāro ‘smi’, the origin of all that is spoken and written.

Of the dual words, a class of words in Saṃskṛit, He is the compound word. He affirms He is never-ending time and the Creator of this Universe, Brahma. Kṛṣṇa says He is the Creator and Destroyer. Of the feminine qualities, He says He is the seven Devīs, goddesses, who impart fame, fortune, beautiful speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience. In Saṃskṛit all these qualities have feminine nouns to represent them. He says these attributes in women come from Him. Kṛṣṇa said in an earlier verse that among the Vedas, He is the Sāma Veda that contains beautiful songs and hymns. Now, He says, among these hymns, He is the Bṛhat Sāma, a unique melody.

I Am GĀyatrĪ Of all poetic meters, He says He is Gāyatrī—gāyatrī chandasām aham (10.35). Various invocations and prayers in the Vedic literature are set to Gāyatrī meter, including Devi Gāyatrī, Rudra Gāyatrī, etc. This chanda, meter is 24 syllables, usually in 3 or 4 lines. This verse can also be translated to mean that Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am Gāyatrī amongst the mantras.’ Mantras are the sacred syllables that create awareness of the divinity within our inner space. The very vibrations created while chanting the Saṃskṛit mantras purify the mind-body system and raise the energetic frequency. Here, Kṛṣṇa states that Gāyatrī is the greatest of the mantras. Its popularity has been evident from the earliest Vedic times.

This was the first mantras taught when the child entered a gurukul, the traditional Cedic schools of Enlightened Masters. Gāyatrī literally translated means ‘the song that liberates’. Gāyatrī is an invocation to the ultimate intelligence. This prayer creates self-awareness, self-completion: Om bhūr bhuva suvaḥ tat savitur vareṇyam bhargo devasya dhīmahi dhiyo yonaḥ prachodayāt Freely translated, this means: We bow to You, that Ruler of physical, mental and spiritual planes, That which is beyond all, the supreme Brilliance, May You kindle our inner awareness! It is a prayer to the supreme intelligence to awaken our inner intelligence. Gāyatrī is not merely a prayer or a mantra. It is far more than that.

It is a tantra, a technique that can create tremendous awareness and intelligence in our being. Mantra means the syllable that shows the way to go beyond joys and sufferings of the world. Mantra makes us more centered and complete. Tantra is more than that. It is an instant delivery system. Generally, religions condition us from childhood by installing in us value systems and beliefs, our saṁskāras—root patterns or past bio-memories. Gāyatrī is a technique that completely liberates us from our saṁskāras. It is like a torch to guide one on one’s path. Children were taught this mantra from early childhood in ancient times so that they could be free from their saṁskāras.

Gāyatrī is not about giving someone a belief or prayer to be chanted to any gods or during any form of worship. It is a pure technique that Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 791 can lead to pure intelligence. Continuous meditation on this mantra, just continuous recitation of this mantra with awareness, directly leads one to the ultimate intelligence. Gāyatrī mantra says, ‘Let us meditate on the energy which awakens the intelligence in our Being. Let that intelligence help us meditate on It.’ Contemplating on the meaning of Gāyatrī mantra, creates a beautiful vibration inside our being. Repeating the mantra mentally and letting the mantra sink into our being is like planting a seed in our being that will lead to thousands of fruits in the outer world as well as inner world.

It gives us what we want along with giving us the inner space, in which we don’t want anything. Among the months, Kṛṣṇa says, He is the month of Mārgaśīrṣa, November and December in the Gregorian calendar. In India, these months bring joy to people as they are the time when grains are collected from the fields. Also, the month has a lot of spiritual significance because the auspicious days of Vaikunṭa Ekādasi fall in this month. This month in the divine calendar is the early morning time, the brahma muhūrtaṁ, the most auspicious part of the day. This is the time recommended to focus on worship. Among the seasons, Kṛṣṇa says, He is spring.

Nature is at the pinnacle of Her creation in spring with new blossoms on trees and pleasant weather, which is neither too hot nor too cold. Spring thus signifies life, growth and the beginning of the cycle of life. Kṛṣṇa declares that of all vices, He is gambling. Even in the vices He says He is present! Anybody who deludes himself by thinking that He is not present in ‘unvirtuous’ activities should realize that the Divine exists everywhere and in all activities and things. By this, Kṛṣṇa also refers to the fact that Yudhiṣṭra’s vice of gambling brought about this Great War. Known as the wisest of all men, the most righteous being, Yudhiṣṭra, the Pāṇḍava prince, had one vice that brought him down.

That was his weakness for gambling. Kṛṣṇa says, He is the effulgence that is the essence of all radiant things. He declares He is the Victory of the victorious, the effort needed to succeed, and satva, Goodness, amongst the attributes. Kṛṣṇa’s father, Vāsudeva, was a member of the Vṛṣṇi or Yādav race. Amongst the Vṛṣṇis, Kṛṣṇa says He is the ultimate, Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa. Amongst the Pāṇḍavas, He says He is the arch bowman, Arjuna. Of the sages, He says He is Vyāsa, author of the great epic Mahābhārat that includes the Bhagavad Gītā. Vyāsa is also referred to as Veda Vyāsa, the compiler of the Vedas who split one Veda into four Vedas so that the common person could understand the knowledge in the Vedas.

Of the thinkers, Kṛṣṇa says, He is Uśāna, also known as Śukra, guru of the asuras, celestials with a negative bent of mind. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am the scepter, the daṇḍa, the rod of punishment of the King.’ As a Master, Kṛṣṇa wields the yoga daṇḍa, the divine staff of wisdom. A ruler is not merely a refuge for his subjects, but also the rule giver, the disciplinarian. So is the Master. There Is No End To My Glories

10.39

यच्चापि सर्वभूतानां बीजं तदहमर्जुन | न तदस्ति विना यत्स्यान्मया भूतं चराचरम्

yaccāpi sarvabhūtānāṁ bījaṁ tadahamarjuna / na tadasti vinā yat syān mayā bhūtaṁ carācaram / / 10.39

Also, of whatever beings exist, I am the seed, O Arjuna. There is nothing that exists without Me in all creations, moving and unmoving.

yat — what · cā — and · api — also · sarva — all · bhūtānāṁ — beings · bījaṁ — seed · tat — that · aham — I · arjuna — Arjuna · na — not · tat — that · asti — is · vinā — without · yat — that · syān — exists · mayā — by Me · bhūtaṁ — created · cara — moving · acaram — unmoving

10.40

नान्तोऽस्ति मम दिव्यानां विभूतीनां परन्तप | एष तूद्देशत: प्रोक्तो विभूतेर्विस्तरो मया

nānto’sti mama divyānāṁ vibhūtīnāṁ parantapa / eṣa tūddeśataḥ prokto vibhūtervistaro mayā / / 10.40

There is no end to My Divine glories, Oh Parantapa. What have been says by Me are examples of My detailed glories.

na — not · antaḥ — end · asti — is · mama — My · divyānāṁ — divine · vibhūtīnāṁ — glories · parantapa — Supreme Lord · eṣa — all this · tu — that · uddeśataḥ — examples · proktaḥ — says · vibhūteḥ — glories · vistaraḥ — detailed · mayā — by Me

10.41

यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमेव वा | तत्देवावगच्छ त्वं मम तेजोंऽशसम्भवम्

yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ śrīmad ūrjitameva vā / tat tad evā’vagaccha tvaṁ mama tejoṁśa saṁbhavam / / 10.41

You should know that whatever glories exist or whatever beautiful and glorious exists, all that surely is born of just a portion of My splendour.

yad-yad — whatever · vibhūtimat — glorious · sattvaṁ — existence · śrīmad — beautiful · ūrjitam — glorious · eva — also · vā — or · tat-tad — all that · eva — surely · avagaccha — you should know · tvaṁ — you · mama — My · tejaḥ — splendour · aṁśa — part · saṁbha- vam — born of

10.42

अथवा बहुनैतेन किं ज्ञातेन तवार्जुन | विष्टभ्याहमिदं कृत्स्नमेकांशेन स्थितो जगत्

athavā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna / viṣṭabhyāhamidaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat / / 10.42

Of what use is to know about the many manifestations of this kind, O Arjuna? I pervade this entire world with just a part of Myself.

athavā — or · bahunā — many · etena — of this kind · kiṁ — what · jñātena — know · tava — you · arjuna — Arjuna · viṣṭabhya — full · aham — I · idaṁ — this · kṛtsnam — of all man- ifestations · eka — one · amśena — part · sthito — situated · jagat — world

Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, ‘Enough has been said. You can take no more. Whatever I have said, whatever more I can say, will only be a drop in the ocean, a small fragment of what I am. There is nothing that is not Me, nothing that can exist outside of Me, and nothing that has not been created from and by Me.’ yac cāpi sarva bhūtānāṁ bījaṁ tad aham arjuna II na tad asti vinā yat syān mayā bhūtaṁ carācaram II 10.39 nānto ‘sti mama divyānāṁ vibhūtīnāṁ parantapa I eṣa tūddeśataḥ prokto vibhūter vistaro mayā II 10.40 He has given the background to Arjuna, so that Arjuna is prepared to see His formless form.

Arjuna is now in a mode of total surrender and in deep gratitude. Now, let us also experience these words of Kṛṣṇa in a mood of absolute surrender and total gratitude. Close your eyes, and meditate on the divine glory of Kṛṣṇa. Express deep gratitude for whatever way your life has been elevated. Express deep gratitude to whoever has helped you achieve health, wealth and education. Each and every one of these are expressions of the Divine. Remember every one of them for the reasons they were in your life. Remember all of them who helped you to flower in your life. Remember all of them with love and respect, with love and gratitude.

Remember your mother who gave you this body. She is the embodiment of the Divine, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa. Give her your gratitude. Remember your father who gave you life. Feel him and give your gratitude to him. Remember all the teachers and professors who gave you education. They are embodiments of the Divine. Feel deeply grateful to all of them for enriching your life and to your being. Whoever has helped you to grow economically, whoever contributed to your economical growth, directly or indirectly, remember all of them and give your gratitude to them. Feel deeply connected to all of them. Whoever gave you mental strength and understanding about life when you needed it, whenever you were depressed whoever gave you courage, remember all of them.

They are embodiments of the Divine, representatives of the Universal Consciousness. Remember all of them and give them your gratitude. Whoever helped you grow spiritually, whoever helped you grow in spiritual understanding, remember all of them. Give them your gratitude. They are representatives of the Divine. Whoever helped you with understanding on the level of material wealth or spiritual growth, remember all of them and offer them your gratitude. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 795 Ultimately, give gratitude to the divine energy, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, who gave this intelligence and understanding to us in our life. Just drop yourself and become one with the Cosmic energy. May you become part of the whole Universe, part of the energy that is moving the sun, moon and planet Earth.

Oṁ śānti, śānti, śāntihi... Relax. Now open your eyes. Continue to spend at least the next few hours in this mood of surrender. Drop yourself. You will see this experience works miracles in your being. It can transform you. Forget about yourself. Drop yourself and let the Divine, let this Cosmic energy prevail. Let Him be. Let the Divine be. This surrender mood can transform your whole consciousness. It can make you experience the ultimate truth that Kṛṣṇa explains here: His glories, His vibhūti, His Divine glory. When you are blissful, whatever you see looks divine and glorious. May you reach that bliss. Let us pray to Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Universal energy, Existence, to guide us all and to give us all the experience of eternal bliss, Nityānanda.

Thank you! Thus ends the tenth chapter named Vibhūti Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Divine Manifestations,’ of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṃvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Krsna: The Cosmic Window How does one experience Universal consciousness? What exactly happens? What basic qualification does one need for this experience? Krsna explains and gives the direct, pure experience with His very Cosmic Presence! c h a p t e r Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ . . . ... In this chapter, Kṛṣṇa shows His Cosmic and Divine form to Arjuna. Kṛṣṇa gives Arjuna the experience of Universal consciousness.

For the first time, Arjuna is about to experience Kṛṣṇa’s Divine form. Of all the chapters in Bhagavad Gītā, this chapter, Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ—Vision of the Cosmic form, has a very special significance. It is in this chapter that Kṛṣṇa reveals His Divine Self, that of Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa. Elsewhere He speaks with the authority of Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, but He is still present as the mortal human Kṛṣṇa form. Now, at Arjuna’s request, He reveals His true Cosmic Self to Arjuna. In this sense, this is the most important of all the chapters in Bhagavad Gītā, not for its philosophical or spiritual importance, but because of the direct revelation of the Divine.

When the Cosmic form is revealed to Arjuna, if one is immersed in this chapter’s content as he was, nothing more needs to be said to be experienced. In the previous chapter, along with Arjuna, we too listened to the glories of Kṛṣṇa, the complete expression of the Divine. Kṛṣṇa declares, ‘Amongst the trees, I am the Banyan tree, amongst the wielders of weapons, I am Rāma, amongst the siddhas, I am Kapila; whatever is best, I shine in that.’ Kṛṣṇa is not boasting that He is the best. All that He conveys is that whatever there is, is manifest in Himself. He is the very essence of Existence. Now, Kṛṣṇa goes beyond all verbal expressions of His glories.

Enough words have been said. It is now time to demonstrate. Kṛṣṇa proves who He is by giving a solid experience to Arjuna. The difference between an enlightened person and an egoistic person is that an egoistic person also declares what he perceives to be a fact, but Krsna: The Cosmic Window . . . Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 799 ... only the enlightened person can give the experience itself. A mortal can talk, that is all he can do. He has no experience to back it up with. Our entire existence as we know it, is unreal. So therefore, what can be true about it? How can we boast and take credit for a life that we don’t have any control over?

We have no control over the next breath we take. We have no control over how long our loved ones will live. We have no control over what will happen during the course of our lives. Yet, we believe we are in control of the whole of our lives. Divine or Delusion? Hiraṇyakaśipu, the demon king, thought he was God and he made his subjects chant his name, ‘Hiraṇyāya namaḥ’. Kṛṣṇa also stated that He was God. The difference between the two was that Hiraṇyakaśipu could not give the experience to his subjects. He told them, ‘Either believe that I am God or I will kill you!’ He threatened his subjects into this behavior, whether or not they actually believed he was God.

Please understand that conversion by blood or bread does not help. While both of them declared they were gods, Kṛṣṇa could actually prove it. He could give the experience of Universal consciousness to people! No great Master believed in spreading his words through fear and greed. All great Masters spread their words through unconditional love and compassion. That is the only way truth can spread. Unfortunately, the disciples who followed these spiritual Masters were not always masters themselves. They were there to establish business practices in the form of religions. They were organizers, not leaders. Fear and greed became handy tools of organization and propagation, since these followers did not have the experience of truth within themselves.

How to find out whether a person is an Enlightened Master, an Incarnation? How to establish whether a person is enlightened or just egoistic? Listen! This is the scale: If he can give the experience, then whatever comes from him is the truth. Here Kṛṣṇa shows clearly that He Is Everything. He demonstrates His Divinity to Arjuna. Kṛṣṇa walks His talk in this chapter. In the Bhāgavatam, there is a beautiful verse that the gopī (cowherdess of Briṇdāvan), sings to Kṛṣṇa, who is everything to her clan: tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta jīvanaṁ kavibhirīritam kalmaṣāpahaṁ śravaṇamaṇgalam śrīmadātatam bhuvi grhṇanti te bhūritā janāḥ ‘O Kṛṣṇa, tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta jīvanaṁ…Your words and the words uttered about You are kathāmṛtaṁ, words of immortality, words of nectar, words both on You and by You.

Just by listening to these words, You create auspiciousness in us. ‘These words are worshipped and expressed as the highest truth by the great Ṛṣis. We who have experienced You, feel the joy again and again by speaking about You. You rejuvenate our whole being. Just by listening to these words about You and by You, we are transported to a different plane.’ If you have fallen in love with Kṛṣṇa, this is the chapter to know Him and enjoy Him. Here in this chapter He does not give any teachings. All intellectual teachings are over. He gives the experience directly: ‘I am Everything.’ He gives the experience of the ultimate Universal consciousness and the realization that He is present in everything.

Arjuna experiences the Universal consciousness. This whole chapter is pure experience. The first thing we need to understand is whether it is possible to have the experience of the Universal consciousness. Secondly, what is the basic qualification to experience it? Thirdly, what really happens inside our being during such an experience? These three things we shall understand from this chapter and explore the wonderful possibility of experiencing Kṛṣṇa as the Cosmic window. Love KṚṢṆa To Experience KṚṢṆa In the previous chapter, Kṛṣṇa gave the intellectual explanation that He is the Ultimate. More than an intellectual expression, I may say that Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 801 ... this is an expression given to a person who is deeply in love.

Kṛṣṇa can be God only when a person achieves the maturity of Arjuna. The truth should be declared only when a person is qualified and mature. Only when you reach the maturity of Arjuna can you experience the divinity of Kṛṣṇa. When you feel deeply connected to a person, he looks divine even though he may be quite ordinary in reality. Śiva says in Tantra that when one drops one’s fantasies, he becomes Śiva and his wife becomes Uma. He reaches the state of Śivatva, the state of Śiva, and she reaches the state of Devi. Truth can only be expressed when the listener is ready. Kṛṣṇa rules by love.

Though He was the king of the Yādava clan, He ruled not by authority and power, but by personal example of love and compassion. Those who lived with Kṛṣṇa identified with Him and loved Him beyond their own selves. How does one attain Enlightenment living a normal life? In the Śiva Sutra, Śiva says there is nothing wrong with a husband and wife living a normal conjugal life, but they need to drop their fantasies about one another. When we live without fantasies, the other person looks like God. Only then the other person is real. Please understand, everybody is God, including you. But each of us carries our own idea of God and tries to put everyone else into that frame.

When they do not fit into the frame, we throw the person out instead of throwing the frame. Just understand. When you are deeply connected with the other person as they are, when you can be complete and accept anybody as he or she is, you establish a divine relationship. However, to do so, you must first learn to do self-completion and accept your own self as you are. Listen, when you try to chisel each other constantly, you will only cause unhappiness and incompletions in your life. But when you do completion with yourself and completion with others, and accept everyone as they are, the whole world appears as God.

This can be achieved in two ways. Firstly, by your own tapas, your spiritual penance, you acquire maturity by undergoing this experience repeatedly. You need to keep dropping your fantasies about other people. Secondly, a Master can also give you this experience by infusing tremendous energy in you, by bringing you to his own frequency. But even to retain the energy of the Master, you need a certain level of maturity. This is what happens here in this chapter. The frequency of Kṛṣṇa’s Cosmic form is too much for Arjuna to bear and he cries out to Kṛṣṇa to resume his normal form. A small example: Once I was watching the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in the USA on television when an ashramite asked me why such calamities were taking place.

I tried to explain to them that it is something like driving your car or SUV and incidentally it goes over a small anthill. As far as the ants are concerned this is a natural calamity for them. They may call it ‘Hurricane SUV!’ But as far as you are concerned you are not even aware of this disaster. You are just driving the SUV. Can you relate with the ants in this incident or say that driving over their anthill was pre-destined? Their logic and yours are completely different. Neither can they question you nor can you answer them. We can only conclude, ‘This is all God’s will.’ The kind of explanation any organized religion gives is also this!

No logical answer or explanation can ever be given for these experiences. The frequency, logic, perception and concepts of the ants are completely different from ours, just as ours is again completely different from the Cosmic consciousness. The frequency of this consciousness is in a completely different dimension. From the Cosmic level, it is something like a mug of water spilling onto an anthill, washing away the ants. It is not possible to comprehend what that level or frequency is. What is possible is for us to raise the frequency of our will or consciousness to be one with It, to learn to live with It and experience It. Neither God nor your wife can be understood; just learn to live with them!

If the person is charismatic, has a way with words, he will have created a new philosophy and cheated a group of people. This is Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 803 ... probably why great philosophers convince others, but they themselves are not convinced. I know a great atheist who chanted God’s name when he lay dying! The very act of trying to convince and convert others testified to the fact that he was not convinced himself. Please be aware that conversion is an intellectual and psychological crime. And preachers who convert others without any deep, personal experience of the divine, always fall into the worst kind of depression.

They punish themselves by their own acts. One person from Oklahoma who was associated with us was a reverend of the clergy. He enjoyed our programs and eventually went on to become a teacher of our meditation programs. I had never asked him to convert himself to our religion. To begin with, I myself do not have any religion! There is no need because what I teach is pure satya, the truth. It is like this: The truth of the inner light given by Kṛṣṇa belongs to humanity and not to any particular religion. It is not necessary to convert to any religion. It is enough if you understand the truth and live your life happily and intensely in the space of completion.

Please understand, each one of you is divine! You are all cast in the mold of the Divine. All you need is this awareness that you too are divine and just start powerfully living and radiating the Divine. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa, the Incarnation, and Hiraṇya, demon. Hiraṇya is just trying to play the game when he himself does not have the experience. Kṛṣṇa gives the experience directly. When He declares that He is God, it is not for Him to satisfy His ego but for us to experience the truth. He tells Arjuna that He is uttering these words for Arjuna’s sake. Let us now go into the verses and examine three questions: Can Universal consciousness be experienced? What is the basic qualification for this experience? What happens when one experiences it? These three questions are explained beautifully by Śrī Kṛṣṇa in this chapter. I Wish To See Your Divine Form

iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsūpaniṣatsu brahmavidyāyāṁ yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasaṁvāde vibhūtiyogo nāma daśamo’dhyāyaḥ