Daily Readings from the Works of Swami Venkatesananda


Bhagavad Gita - Song of God - Chapter10: 21-23

July 25, 2023

™ādityānām ahaṁ viṣṇur jyotiṣāṁ ravir aṁśumān
marīcir marutām asmi nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī (X-21)

™vedānāṁ sāmavedo ’smi devānām asmi vāsavaḥ
indriyāṇāṁ manaś cā ’smi bhūtānām asmi cetanā (X-22)

rudrāṇāṁ śaṁkaraś cā ’smi vitteśo yakṣarakṣasāṁ
vasūnāṁ pāvakaś cā ’smi meruḥ śikhariṇām ahaṁ (X-23)

X/21. Among the twelve ādityā, I am Viṣṇu; among the luminaries, the radiant sun; I am Marīci among the wind-gods; among the stars the moon am I.

X/22. Among the vedā I am the Sāma-veda; I am Vāsava among the gods; among the senses I am the mind; and I am intelligence among living beings.

X/23. And, among the rudrā, I am Śaṅkara. Among the yakṣā and rakṣasā,
Kubera. Among the vasū I am fire. Among the mountains I am the Meru.

Swamiji's Commentary

      All these names of gods deserve deep study and research. We do not recognize the existence of many gods. We are not polytheists. We are not even pantheists, believing in one deity somehow enveloping all. Indeed, we are not even monotheists, believing in one God. We are monists, believing that one alone exists, and that ultimately even the distinction between God, world and man ought to be resolved into the transcendental self-realization of non-duality. All the names of gods and deities, divine and demoniacal beings, mentioned in the scriptures and alluded to here have a meaning and are not mere proper names.

      The twelve ādityā have been identified with the twelve signs of the zodiac. The twelve suns are worth identifying in the heavens, of whom the most powerful is Viṣṇu whose light envelops all (that is the literal meaning of the word). ‘Of all luminaries I am the sun’ – which is most luminous. In all these it will be noticed that we are asked to regard the best as the manifestation of God. This does not mean that only the best is his manifestation. At the present stage it is easier for the mind to accept it to be so, and eventually its vision will expand in concentric circles to include all else into it, for,‘among the senses I am the mind’. Thus, the mind’s own undefiled substratum with unlimited potentialities, is God himself. He is the ‘intelligence among living beings’. When this ‘knower’ of all is understood and realized, all objects will be perceived as
divine, one with the subject!

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