अव्यक्तं व्यक्तिमापन्नं मन्यन्ते मामबुद्धय: |
परं भावमजानन्तो ममाव्ययमनुत्तमम् || 24||
avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannaṁ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mamāvyayam anuttamam
avyaktam—formless; vyaktim—possessing a personality; āpannam—to have assumed; manyante—think; mām—me; abuddhayaḥ—less intelligent; param—Supreme; bhāvam—nature; ajānantaḥ—not understanding; mama—my; avyayam—imperishable; anuttamam—excellent
Translation:
Not knowing My supreme Nature, immutable and transcendent, foolish men think that I, the Unmanifest, am endowed with a manifest form.
Commentary:
The Lord is really formless and universal. He is transcendental, beyond Maya, infinite and eternal. For the purpose of protecting the righteous and punishing the wicked, and establishing Dharma, He takes birth in this world. As Maya is under His control the power of adopting or discarding His form is in His own power.
When the Lord thus incarnates Himself as a separate individual, His immortality is not at all affected. The separate form as Krishna or Rama is His own creation, and when the purpose of His Avatara is fulfilled, the form is dissolved and He remains the Eternal. The devotees are blessed by such Avataras. But unfortunately, the ignorant men of little intelligence consider the name and form of the Lord as His real nature, and so, they do not find Him different from other mortals. No doubt the devotees are endowed with faith and devotion when they see the manifestation of the Lord as Rama or Krishna. But they should Know the higher nature (Parambhavam) of the Lord, and should not get confused.
Four attributes are mentioned about the higher nature of the Lord. (1) He is unknowable (Avykta). (2) He is transcendental (param). (3) He is imperishable (Avyayam). (4) He is supreme (Anúttamam). He is unknowable by the senses and the mind. The phenomenal world is visible to the senses and comprehensible by the mind. If the Lord also is a composition of the elements, he would dissolve like any other mortal form. But he is imperishable. He is subtler than any other. The material sky (Akasa) is itself invisible and so how can the Lord whose nature is more subtle (Chidakasa) be an object of perception? He is the whole universe, but he is at the same time not bound by physical laws because He is transcendental. Since He is beyond time and place, and is uncontaminated by material elements, since He is not subject to dissolution like other things, He is described as Supreme, most excellent (Anuttama).
It should be clearly understood that this verse is not a disparagement of the worship of the different manifestations of the Lord in temples and images. The common devotee must go through this process of fixing some form of the Lord in the mind and worshipping Him in that manner. But he should not stop there. As his vision enlarges and his devotion deepens, he will naturally evolve towards the transcendental perfection of the Lord. Devotion of this type is commendable.
What is condemned here is to attribute mortality to the Lord and regard Him to be no more than a man. Sisupala could see Lord Krishna as a cowherd-boy and nothing more. It was Bhishma who could understand the transcendental nature of the Lord, while he appeared in the beautiful form of Krishna. Bhishma could worship the Lord as Krishna, and at the same time know that He is the imperishable Paramatma. Ravana could think of Sri Rama only as a mortal, subject to death like any other. But sages like Vasishta and others could understand that Sri Rama is the Lord Himself appearing as the Prince of Ayodhya. It is this understanding which is suggested in the verse for the guidance of all seekers. (Verse 6.4)
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
MASTER (referring to the brahmani and her relatives): “Ah! How happy they were!”
M: “How amazing! A similar thing happened with two women at the time of Jesus. They too were sisters, and devoted to Christ. Martha and Mary.”
MASTER (eagerly): “Tell me the story.”
M: “Jesus Christ, like you, went to their house with His devotees. At the sight of Him one of the sisters was filled with ecstatic happiness. It reminds me of a song about Gauranga:
My two eyes sank in the sea of Gora’s heavenly beauty
And did not come back to me again;
Down went my mind, as well, forgetting how to swim.
“The other sister, all by herself, was arranging the food to entertain Jesus. She complained to the Master, saying: ‘Lord, please judge for Yourself — how wrong my sister is! She is sitting in Your room and I am doing all these things by myself.’ Jesus said: ‘Your sister indeed is blessed. She has developed the only thing needful in human life: love of God.'”
MASTER: “Well, after seeing all this, what do you feel?”
M: “I feel that Christ, Chaitanyadeva, and yourself — all three are one and the same. It is the same Person that has become all these three.”
MASTER: “Yes, yes! One! One! It is indeed one. Don’t you see that it is He alone who dwells here in this way.”
As he said this, Sri Ramakrishna pointed with his finger to his own body.
M: “You explained clearly, the other day, how God incarnates Himself on earth.”
MASTER: “Tell me what I said.”
M: “You told us to imagine a field extending to the horizon and beyond. It extends without any obstruction; but we cannot see it on account of a wall in front of us. In that wall there is a round hole. Through the hole we see a part of that infinite field.”
MASTER: “Tell me what that hole is.”
M: “You are that hole. Through you can be seen everything — that Infinite Meadow without any end.”
Sri Ramakrishna was very much pleased. Patting M.’s back, he said: “I see you have understood that. That’s fine!”
M: “It is indeed difficult to understand that. One cannot quite grasp how God, Perfect Brahman that He is, can dwell in that small body.”
The Master quoted from a song:
Oh, no one at all has found out who He is;
Like a madman from door to door He roams,
Like a poor beggar He roams from door to door.
M: “You also told us about Jesus.”
MASTER: “What did I say?”
M: “You went into samadhi at the sight of Jesus Christ’s picture in Jadu Mallick’s garden house. You saw Jesus come down from the picture and merge in your body.” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Question: What is the real nature of the Lord?
Answer: It is unmanifest, transcendental, imperishable, and supreme.
Question: Who thinks of the Lord as a mortal?
Answer: The ignorant, with deluded understanding.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 7 🔻 (30 Verses)
