GITA 7.7

GITA 7.7

Today's [17th March 2008] lecture is from the sannidhi of Alwars and Acharyas in the temple of Sri Saranatha Perumal at Thirucherai. Nammalwar, Madurakavi Alwar, Thirumangai Alwar, Swami Ramanuja and Swami Manavala Mamunigal are gracing from here. Thirumangai Alwar desired to be with the devotees of this Kshetram and wanted to be at the feet of the devotees. In the garbha gruha we see Mother Kaveri and sage Markandeya.

Markanteya and Kaveri with Sri Saranatha Perumal

 Markandeya was responsible to persuade the King of Chola to worship the Lord here for progeny. Later, their desires fulfilled, the Kings have donated large wealth and got many constructions made.

 We will now proceed to the 5th sloka of Chapter 7. Sri Krishna told that [moola] prakruti, branches into Eight entities and all such Achits are His property. This moola prakruti is in the Body of the Lord and He transforms it to create the entire Universe. Here, one doubt may arise, that normally Brahma is associated with creations in this world. It is clarified that upto certain stage Sriman Narayana is the Creator and from that stage Brahma takes over, with the supervision of Sriman Narayana. This is clear from Upanishads. 'Yatova imani bhoothani jayante | yena jatani jivanti | yatra yam tam vishanti | tad vidigyastha tva | tad brahmeti| ' - "understand That as Brahmam, from Which entire Universe emerges and in Which all merge and Which is the Cause for sustaining all". Brahmam [or the Lord] first decides [sankalpam] to create and so He Himself transforms into the Universe. All the 24 entities we saw earlier are part of Him. Moola prakruti slowly gets transformed into various entities such as mahaan, ahankaram, pancha bhootham, etc. Like the seed gives rise to germination, tender shoot, branches, leaves, etc. Till all these 24 entities are created, Sriman Narayana is directly involved in the Creation. This is called samashti srushti. With moolaprakruti, bunches of Atman [jeevatman] will be sticking. All the 24 entities are all achit or without intellect [inanimate]. All the billions and billions of Atman are Chit and they possess intellect. At the beginning of the end of pralayam or the great deluge, all Atman are sticking to various achit entities in bunches. After all the 24 entities are fully developed, the Lord creates andam or a globe consisting of all the 14 worlds in which we are living. Like a potter makes a pot with the mud, water and using implements, like wheel. All Atman have to live in this andam, now they are without a body and are in bunches sticking to various entities. All Atman have certain papa/punya of past. Depending on these, each Atman takes a particular body and, are born, When we say an Atman is born, it takes a body to reside and if we say Atman dies, Atman leaves that body. Atman never disappears and is permanent entity. Brahma's work is to make each Atman to be resident in a body according to the Atman's karma. Here, Sriman Narayana is not directly involved. But He is inside Brahma to induce him to do this work and create various groups like Devas, Asuras, humans, animals, etc. This is called Vyakti srushti. So the raw materials like moolaprakruti and the 24 entities are called samashti srushti and this creation is done by Sriman Narayana. While Brahma creates the various groups like Devas, Asuras, etc., for the Atman to reside and this is vyakti srushti. Now the 5th sloka:

apareyam itas tv anyam
prakritim viddhi me param
jiva-bhutam maha-baho
yayedam dharyate jagat

Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.

"Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature."

Here the Lord says all Atman are His belongings. Apara = inferior, iyam = these. Here we have to use this word to denote the 24 entities He told in the last sloka ie, sloka 4. He says that all the moolaprakruti branching to eight entities are all lower and belong to Him. He is going to tell about His higher grade property of Chit. Achit being without intellect, He has regarded it as inferior to the Chit, which has intellect. Itas tu = from all these [Achit], anyam = different, jiva bhutam = Atman , param = superior [to Achit], prakruti = entities, me = Mine [Sri Krishna's], viddhi = understand, maha baho = long armed [Arjuna]. Here He calls Atman also as prakruti, because, as told earlier all Atman are sticking to the 24 entities that constitute Achit prakruti and so the same terminology is used. Yaya = that atman, idam = this, jagat = world, dharyate = is sustained. Those atman, which sustain this universe is His higher grade property, the Lord tells Arjuna. The 24 entities are combined to make so many inanimate things in this world, like our body or the body of a bird, mountains, trees, etc. All these are sustained by atman. The Lord sustains the atman which sustains a body. So the Lord is in an atman and controls it. That atman is in a body made of 24 entities and atman controls it. Such is the complexity of Creation. Thus both Chit and Achit are His properties. He controls them, rules them, pervades them and sustains them. He is going to tell further what are His properties and now we take leave of this Panchasara Kshetram of Thirucherai.
                                                                                                                      (continued)