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Re:Doubt in Bhagavad gita ch.13

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bindinganavale suresh • September 25, 2000 


Dear Bhagavatha,
   You wrote :-

    I have a doubt in Bhagawat Gita chapter 13, the
verse 
in which Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna about the
"knowable".

jnEyam yat tat pravaksyAmi yajjnAtvAmrtam aSnutE |
anAdhi mat-param brahmA na sat tan nAsad uchyatE ||

    In this verse and the following one,

sarvata pANi pAdham tat sarvata kshiSirO mukham |
sarvata sruti mal lOkE sarvam Avr~thya thishtati ||

    Is Sri Krishna referring to the Supreme Brahman in
these 
stanzas ? Please correct me.. The Lord also says
"mat-param" which as 
per some translation means "subordinate to me".. So is
He referring 
to a spirit/soul which is different from Him. If not,
why does Sri 
Krishna describe an all-pervading being as something
different from 
Him...

    Please shed some light..

The answer is as per Sri.Ramanuja's Gita Bhashya and
is as follows :-

jnEyam yat tat pravaksyAmi yajjnAtvAmrtam aSnutE |
anAdhi mat-param brahmA na sat tan nAsad uchyatE ||

After having told Arjuna the meaning of "Knowledge"
with respect to the nature of individual self in
slokhas prior to the above slokha,Lord Sri.Krishna in
the above slokha tells arjuna the object of attainment
as a result of following the means of Knowledge which
he had earlier mentioned starting from
Amanitva,alambithva and so on.
This object of attainment is the "Nature of Individual
self in its pure state free from contamination of
prakriti,knowing which the kshetrajna or the
individual seeker bound in prakriti becomes
immortal.This eternal self in its true nature belongs
to and is under the control of the supreme lord
Sri.Krishna,who is the ultimate kshetrajna of both
jiva and prakriti". 

sarvata pANi pAdham tat sarvata kshiSirO mukham |
sarvata sruti mal lOkE sarvam Avr~thya thishtati ||

The Individual self in its pure state has its
Dharmabhuta jnana or attributive consciousness
expanded everywhere i.e it becomes omniscient or an
all knower like the Lord.Even though it has no sense
organs,it can still do the functions of the same and
the functions are not limited by space.By its
attributive consciousness it pervades everything(i.e
it knows everything) like the unobscured rays of the
sun.   

I hope the above explaination satisfies your
query.Feel free to write to me if you still have
doubts.

Sri Krishnaarpanamasthu
Suresh B.N.


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