GITA 9.9

GITA 9.9

When viewing Sri Krishna's Viswaroopam [Great grand form], Arjuna is excited and says, ' pitasi lokasyacharacharasya....'. In this Universe with moving and non-moving matter created, He is the Father. He is the Guru [Teacher]. None to equal or greater than Him. Arjuna says that He salutes such a Person. This sloka comes in the Chapter 11, when Sri Krishna exposes Arjuna to His mammoth form. This sloka aptly reflects the Lord of this Kshetram, Oppiliappan Koil, as there is none equal or greater and He is the Father. There is no father equal to this Father. Though everyone has a father, none can be a father for all. Similarly, there is none without a father. But these qualities are attributable to the Lord. He is the Father of everyone and He has no father. Father created us; father advises us on the right path; father moulds us; father is proud, if we get a good name. Here the Divine Couple is the Parents for everyone. Nammalwar says, he is not bothered whether the Lord is the Father of lord Brahma and others, but He is Nammalwar's Father, and that makes him proud. Because they are all very great people but Alwar regards himself as lowly and being a father of him and made him an Alwar, is so great. Parents also get themselves attached more to the weak child and care more for that. We also should be more considerate to physically challenged people as that would please the Lord, and this is reiterated by Alwars and Acharyas. Unlike the mortal parents, this Divine Parents are never partial to anyone. Every one of us can feel that these Parents are special to every one of us. That is what Alwar also repeatedly says as Ennappan [my Father]. Like Alwar, all of us can claim that the Lord is Ennappan. Today's [18th June 2008] lecture is from the sannidhi of Sri Ennappan.

SRI ENNAPPAN

 This Lord holds the discus in the ready-to-fly pose [prayoga chakra].

 Now we will see sloka 8:

prakritim svam avastabhya
visrijami punah punah
bhuta-gramam imam krtsnam
avasam prakriter vasat

"The whole cosmic order is under Me. Under My will, it is automatically manifested again and again, and under My will, it is annihilated at the end."

Prakrter vasat = bound by prakruti, imam =this, krtsnam = without any exception, bhuta-gramam = groups of living beings, visrijami = [I, Sri Krishna] create, puna puna = again and again, svam = my [Sri Krishna's], prakrutim = prakruti [as My, Sri Krishna's, body], avastabhya = manifests into Eight entities. We had already seen these Eight entities, in Chapter 7: [ moola] Prakruti is the raw material and it is transformed into prakruti, mahan, ahankaram and pancha tanmatras [ shabda, roopa, rasa, gandha and sparsa - sound, light, taste, scent and touch]. Such a transformed prakruti is all what you [Arjuna] see. All kings and relatives, animals and everyone without exception, are all bound by prakruti. Every atman resides in matter formed by prakruti and expends the accumulated karma as papa/punya. Atman can not remain without a body, except for a short time. Even in Vaikuntam, it takes a body to serve the Lord. But the body formed by prakruti is a result of the past papa/ punya and so, is dependent on karma we do. An Atman in a fish body can swim but can not roar like a lion and an atman in a lion's body can not swim like a fish. These activities are peculiar to the body in which an atman resides. If the same atman resides in a cat's body it can only mew and not roar like a lion. So atman behaviour is dependent on the body it is residing. So in a way, atman also is bound by prakruti. Atman thus is not independent. All these happen out of the willpower of the Lord. We will now take leave of this Kshetram.

                                                                                                              (continued)