GITA 7.32

GITA 7.32

srirAma rAmeti ramE rAmE manOramE

sahasranAma tattulyam rAma nAmam varAnanE||

yatra yatra raghunAtha kIrthanam

tatra tatra krutamastukAnjalim|

bhAshpavAri paripUrNa lochanam

mArutim namatarAkshakAntakam||

SRI KARANJA NARASIMHASWAMY TEMPLE

In Ahobilam, Lord Sri Narasimha appeared to Hanuman, as Sri Rama. The spot, where He gave darshan like this, is the sannidhi of Sri Karanja Narasimha [कारांज ]. 

Today's [21st April 2008] lecture is from that sannidhi. Karanja tree is also called punga maram or karungali maram in Tamil. Under a Karanja tree, the Lord is gracing the devotees. About one and half miles away in the forest, Hanuman was meditating on the Lord. When the Lord appeared before Hanuman, as Sri Narasimha, Hanuman was puzzled as to why he could not see the Lord as Sri Rama. When Sri Narasimha told that He was same as Sri Rama, Hanuman was doubtful. To dispel that doubt, the Lord appeared with the majestic crown He was wearing at the time of His coronation. But Hanuman could not see his Sri Rama in the dazzling brilliance of the crown and the face of theLord. The Lord, by the brilliance of His Third eye, revealed to Hanuman He was Sri Rama. But still Hanuman could not see the Bow, which Sri Rama is always associated with, and so the Lord immediately displayed a bow in His hand. Hanuman said that how he could come near the Lord, as he used to do when the Lord was Sri Rama? The Lord then indicated by pointing to His feet by His right hand. When Hanuman came near, the Lord showed His left hand in Abhaya [protection] mudra. Here the Lord Sri Narasimha appears with a Bow. The Lord appeared before Hanuman in Ghatikachalam or Cholasimhapuram, popularly known as Sholingar, nearArakkonam, in Tamilnadu. 

We will now proceed to sloka 26. This sloka came up to dispel a doubt in Arjuna, whether the Lord was not perceived now only or always?

vedaham samatitani
vartamanani carjuna
bhavisyani ca bhutani
mam tu veda na kascana

"O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me, no one knows."

The main theme of this sloka is that the Lord knows all, but none knows Him. Aham = I [Sri Krishna], vedam = know, samatitani = past times, vartamanani = present times, bhavisyani = future times. We have already seen that the Lord can not be gauged or understood by the past, present and future. He can not be conceived as restricted to any particular place or form or time. So, He is beyond time, place and object; that is why He is called Sri Ananthan. When He says He knows the three times -past, present and future, it does not mean mere times, but He knows every person or object in all these three and He knows all their activities and their results. In Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, He is called Bhootha bhavya bhavath Prabhu. He is the Lord of the three times and all those living in those three times. Bhutani = all living beings [of the past, present and future]. Arjuna's query was however not for this reply. He never asked whether the Lord knew all; but he asked whether all of them did not understand Him and was there or will there be, a time, when people understood or understand Him. So, what the Lord says that He knew all at all times is an additional information connected with the reply for Arjuna's question. Mam = [but] I [ Sri Krishna], veda = am understood by, na kascana= nobody. So, the Lord knows all and is interested in all of us. We, on the other hand, do not understand Him. The Lord takes lots of efforts to redeem every one of us. If a child is sleeping, the mother takes care of the child by driving away insects. Child comfortably sleeps, without the knowledge that the mother is taking care. After waking up also the child would remain unaware that the mother had taken care of. Nor the mother is going to tell the child that she took care of it. Because this task mother does without a return of reward; but, as a duty. Mother knows all the requirements of the child, even if the child does not know what it needed or who is to provide. We are all children of God and so He takes care of us by knowing all our needs and activities. Then one might ask that if that be so, then just as a mother has to look after the child because it is her duty, so also the Lord should look after us without our asking, as it is His duty. This is correct, but the child is advised to respect the mother as God [माथ्रू देवो भव]. Therefore, we should also respect God as God. Unfortunately, everyone thinks He is a mere Cowherd or another Person like them. In spite of His many deeds to protect the gopis, He is still not understood as the Protector. When He says nobody understands, nobody word indicates all those lived in the past, living in the present and going to live in future. People, therefore, go to all sorts of gods to get favours. Those devoted to these gods go to them, while His devotees reach Him at the end. They do not understand that those favours are also granted by gods with the power delegated to them by Sri Krishna. To get those favours, the devotees of those gods have to tread a very difficult path; and the favours are inferior and transient. So with hardship, they approach the gods to get temporary and cheap benefits. But Bhakti to the Lord is pleasant and results are unimaginably very great and permanent. The Lord expects only selfless devotion. Sri Narasimha appeared in Krutha yug, while Sri Rama avatar was in Tretha yug, thousands of years later. Hanuman was associated with Sti Rama. But He gave Darshan to Hanuman. If this sloka's intention was that Sri Krishna was lamenting that nobody knows Him, then all will cease to learn anything from Gita or Vedas or other scriptures. But the main import of this sloka is that Sri Krishna tells that a very infinitely small number of persons understand Him as everything and such a person is regarded as Gyani by Him. In 19th sloka, He told that a Gyani thinks Vasudevamidi sarvam and these slokas are all to explain the greatness of such Gyani.

                                                                                              (continued)