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Bhagavadgita Pages, Chapters 1 to 18

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Veeraswamy Krishnaraj: Tolerance with love is to speak in tongues of all faiths, hold in the heart the Truth of all faiths and see

all faiths in the face of humanity.

About the author:

Veeraswamy Krishnaraj, M.D; F.R.C.P (Canada) is a board certified pediatrician in active practice until the end of 1998. He immersed himself in study of Hinduism in depth. He has sufficient knowledge and understanding of Hindu religion that he is confident to publish this book. He kept the words simple, supple, illuminating and to the point, while retaining the original flavor, beauty and grace. Compound words in Sanskrit are a nightmare for the beginner, as they are spliced together compactly in one continuous stretch of characters. He parsed the compound words into digestible syllables or words with superscripts and sequential numbers and rearranged the words in the verse in a readable form in English. In this book, he claims ownership of shortcomings and cedes the rest to Bhagavan. 

This book is good for students, and devotees reading the Bhagavad-Gita in Satsang (true company). Two verses nestle in two boxes in one page with no break or carry-over to the next page. Diacritics help the reader enunciate the words like a Sanskritist. The English words are reader-friendly. Wherever there is a need for elaboration, an addendum supports it.

Simplicity, authority, universality, and profundity are the hallmark of the Bhagavadgita, the Bible of the Hindus. The Bhagavadgita is the Song of the Lord. It provides guidelines for daily living with no dogmas and ritual overtones. It encourages and supports your individuality. It also explains the consequence of errant ways. Total surrender to Bhagavan releases the devotee from the ills of life on earth. Hinduism as a term is an external appellation from non-Hindus. Its true name is Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Law or Eternal Order) commensurate with Rta (Cosmic Order). The beauty about the Bhagavadgita is its appeal is universal.

Veeraswamy Krishnaraj.   Contact:  myumbra-bgusa@yahoo.com

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The above file has all 18 chapters in Sanskrit, Transliteration, colorized words for easy identification, word 4 word translation, superscription of words, rearrangement of words in a readable form in English.  This is the best you can get on the internet in one file. This file will be uploaded and sent to you as an attachment to your email upon payment of fees.  The above file (18 Chapters and 700 verses) costs  USD 18.00 for email upload in PDF format and $22.00 for DVD within US and $25.00 for shipment outside US.  Method of payment is through Paypal, the beneficiary being Veeraswamy Krishnaraj.  There is a delay between payment and upload because of verification by paypal. You can see the sample verse below.

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BG CHAPTER 10:  MANIFESTATION

10.1: Sri Bhagavan said:

O Mahā-bāho, hear again My supreme words, which I say to you for your good, for you are dear to Me.

Mahā-bāho: Mighty-armed one

10.2: Neither the galaxy of gods, nor the great sages (Rishis) know My origin. I am also the origin of the gods and great Rishis in every way.

  Sapta Rishis are seers or sages: Atri, Bhrgu, Marici, Kratu, Pulaha, Pulastya, and Vasistha. Different Manvataras have various assortment of Rishis. The Sapta (7) Rishis make the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It is the Plough in British Isles, Starry Plough in Ireland, the Great Wagon in Romania, the Great Cart in Germany, the Saucepan in Dutch, Septen triones (seven Plough Oxen) in Latin, the seven Stars of Northern Dipper in China, the seven stars in Bible. Note: Latin Septen and Sanskrit Sapta are cognate and mean seven.

10.3: He who knows Me as unborn, beginningless, and the Great Controller of the worlds, is undeluded among mortals and freed from all sins.

10.4: Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from delusion, patience, truth, self-restraint, calmness, happiness, sadness, birth, death, fear, fearlessness,

10.5: and ahimsa (nonviolence), equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame and infamy: these different natures of living beings come from Me only.

Ahimsa: A + Himsa = No + Injury or non + Injury.  Ahimsa (non-injury to living things) is not a strong trait among many peoples. Ritual killing of animals and eating of animal flesh: How is it different from killing an animal for food? Animal sacrifice in the name of deities is a weak excuse.  The non-Hindu religions are of the belief that the animals (and plants) do not have a soul and thus do not have equal rights. What they do not realize is that animals do suffer pain.

The View from the West

 The West is of the opinion that Ahimsa came about as a protest movement in India against blood sacrifices, capital punishment, wars... The Indo-Aryans wanted to spread their rule, and acquire more territory; this desire collided with the protest movement.  The West points to the use of poisoned arrows and harsh and cruel treatment of prisoners, who were bound and killed. The women were taken as slaves and or concubines. The indigenous people were blamed for not honoring treaties and pacts. (Sounds familiar!) The West says that the Indigenes tormented the Indo-Aryan by Hit and Run and Scorched-Earth Tactics. (You thought Forest defoliation by Agent Orange in Vietnam is a modern phenomenon-- not so from what you read here.) The Vedic High Priests had a contempt for the Indigenes for lack of Indo-Aryan rituals, and observance of un-Aryan ordinances. The West surmises this ordinance may refer to phallic worship of the Indigenes: the worship of  Lingam (Siva in His aniconic [an-iconic] form). They were labeled Deva-Piyu (revilers of gods). The West says the Indo-Aryans did not impose any slavery in Mauryan times according to Greek observers. Thibaut observes that the Indigenes had names for numbers like a million and a billion while the Indo-Aryan knew only up to 1000. (Source: Harper's Dictionary of Hinduism.)  They were branded as A-Mitra. Mitra = Aryaman = bosom friend. Amitra = not a friend. When the Upanishads were composed (example: Chandogya Upanishad) ahimsa was considered inseparable from austerity, charity, truthfulness.  Jains and Buddhists along with Emperor Asoka (304 BC --232 BC) put Ahimsa to practice; the Jains were the originators of the moral code a thousand years before Jesus Christ. Asoka was the extraordinary Emperor of India, his empire extending to parts of Persia.

"The great king Asoka was at first called Chandashoka, i.e., Fierce Asoka, because of his ascending the throne by killing his brother and his other cruel deeds. After nine years of reign he became a convert to Buddhism, and his persona underwent a complete transformation; he was thenceforth known for his good deeds by the name of Dharmashoka, Virtuous Asoka." --- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 4 [ Page : 441 ]

 After many wars, victories, deaths and deprivations came Kalinga campaign into what is now modern Orissa. The destruction and death changed his mind. He wrote the Buddhist inscriptions in Pali.  He became a vegetarian, prohibited game hunting, and built hospitals for people and animals, universities, canals and irrigation systems.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 3 [ Page : 531-532 ] BUDDHISTIC INDIA And then Asoka writes this inscription, describing the terror and the misery of war; and then he became converted to Buddhist religion. Then said he: "Henceforth let none of my descendants think of acquiring glory by conquering other races. If they want glory, let them help other races; let them send teachers of sciences and teachers of religion. A glory won by the sword is no glory at all." And next you find how he is sending missionaries even to Alexandria. . . . You wonder that you find all over that part of the country sects rising immediately, called Theraputae, Essenes, and all those -- extreme vegetarians, and so on. Now this great Emperor Asoka built hospitals for men and for animals. The inscriptions show they are ordering hospitals, building hospitals for men and for animals. That is to say, when an animal gets old, if I am poor and cannot keep it any longer, I do not shoot it down for mercy. These hospitals are maintained by public charity. The coasting traders pay so much upon every hundredweight they sell, and all that goes to the hospital; so nobody is touched. If you have a cow that is old -- anything -- and do not want to keep it, send it to the hospital; they keep it, even down to rats and mice and anything you send. Only, our ladies try to kill these animals sometimes, you know. They go in large numbers to see them and they bring all sorts of cakes; the animals are killed many times by this [sic] food. He claimed that the animals should be as much under the protection of the government as man. Why should animals be allowed to be killed? [There] is no reason. But he (Asoka) says, before prohibiting the killing of animals for food even, [people] must be provided with all sorts of vegetables. So he sent and collected all kinds of vegetables and planted them in India; and then, as soon as these were introduced, the order was: henceforth, whosoever kills an animal will be punished. A government is to be a government; the animals must be protected also. What business has a man to kill a cow, a goat, or any other animal for food?

In Vamana Purana, Ahimsa is personified as the wife of Dharma (righteousness) whose children Nara and Narayana acquire spiritual enlightenment. Acaranga Sutra states that a wise man should know and consider the happiness of all things, nothing is  inaccessible to death, all beings love themselves, they avoid destruction and hang on to life, and life is dear to all beings.

Bhagavatam (Canto 11, Chapter 5, Verses 11-13) states the following: 11) Man is naturally inclined towards enjoyment of sexual pleasure, flesh and wine. No rules enjoin them to indulge in them.  A certain check is provided over these tendencies (by the Sastra) by permitting sexual commerce with one's wedded wife, meat-eating at the end of  animal sacrifice, drinking of wine during SautrAmani sacrifice; the intention is to turn man away from them. 12) They do not understand the pure essence of their religion. Only the smelling of wine is sanctioned and animal sacrifice is allowed for the adoration of the deities and it is not permissible to kill them for meat. 13) Those who are ignorant of this Dharma and, though wicked and haughty, account themselves virtuous kill animals without any feeling of remorse or fear of punishment, and are devoured by those very animals in their next birth.  Translation from Sanskrit by C.L.Goswami Shastri.

AnustaranI: Rg and Atharva Vedas describe the sacrifice of a cow at the funeral ceremony  so as to ensure that the dead had an adequate supply of beef for their after-life journey. Ravana, the abductor of Mother Sita had Anustrani ceremony at his funeral.  Anu = after; starana = scattering = sacrifice of a cow at the funeral.

SautrAmana = relating to Indra, the chief of gods; relating to Sura (= wine, god). It is a sacrifice in honor of Indra. Suras are gods. Asuras are not gods but demons. Suras and Asuras are half-brothers born of the same father and different mothers. The father is Kasyapa and the mothers are sisters: Diti of Asuras (demons) and Aditi of Suras (gods). Alternately Suras are called Adityas, and Asuras Dityas or Daityas after their respective mothers. Suras drink wine and Asuras are teetotalers. The Suras and Asuras are always at loggerheads. Humans are part Sura and part Asura; in humans, one or the other is dominant at one time, other time or all the time. Vishnu is God of gods, God of men and the Lord of the universe. When men earn merit on earth, they become gods. They are a dime a dozen. When their merit runs out, the gods descend to earth and live like humans. The gods' heaven (Indra) is a lower heaven; they who pray to Indra (chief of gods) go to Indra's heaven; they who pray to Vishnu (God of gods) and obtain liberation go to Vaikuntam where they live eternally without any trip back to earth. Thus Vaikuntam is superior to Indra's heaven. In the heaven, people do not sport bodies, move around by thought, walk without legs, see without eyes and do live in close proximity to God.

The view from the West.

The Suras and Asuras (gods and demons) inherited speech, true and false. That is to say that only god and man have the capacity to speak; animals don't. The gods adopted true speech, while the Asuras the false speech, which led to their downfall. The West says that all this is humbug. The real thing according to the West  is that the Indo-Aryan anointed himself as Sura and branded the hostile native rulers and tribes as Asuras. The West discounts and pooh-poohs the rest as mere mythology, fit for consumption by the Brahmana-dominated society of gullible underlings, and a nation of dupes and rejection by the all-knowing wise west. Filliozot surmises that the Asuras are lesser gods, charged with expounding the teachings of the gods themselves. The Vedic Asuras of India are the Iranian Ahuras. Consider the Egyptian War god Anhur and the Greek War god Ares.   The Mother of Krishna, the main Persona of Bhagavad Gita and the Lord of the Universe was born in the family of Adityas. His mother, Devaki was an incarnation of Aditi. Vasudeva, the father of Bhagavan Krishna was the incarnation of Kasyapa. Vāsudeva (with the long ā as opposed to short a of Vasudeva) is patronymic of Krishna, son of Vasudeva (Vāsudeva, son of Vasudeva ) and a Ksatriya of warrior caste.

Wine and dine the gods and by extension the politicians.

Historians say the Indo-Aryan's Sautramani sacrifice and the Greek's Souvetaurilla have commonality. Souvetaurilla is a  postmanteau  (composite word) formed from Sus (the pig), Ovis (the sheep—Ram) and Taurus (the bull). Joseph Campbell points out that in his opinion the Indo-Aryans and the Greeks are blood-brothers and performed similar kind of rituals. The geneticists say the Europeans, the Persians and Indo-Aryans share a common genetic stock, whose locus was Central Asia from where they fanned out to their respective places. Historians and archeologists refute the claim that Indo-Aryans originated in Central Asia but were indigenous to north-west India. Brown Indo-Aryans are closer to Europeans genetically than the Persians though the Persians are closer to Europeans geographically. Africans migrated to Europe along the coastal areas of Europe. As you may know there were many waves of human migration out of Africa. The migrants, starting from Africa 75 thousand years ago, stopped at Mesopotamia region, from where they departed to Russia, Siberia, Bering land, Alaska and the Americas; all of Europe; China; Japan; Southeast Asia; South Asia.  The Africans took a coastal journey along the west and east coasts of India and ended down under in Australia and are the progenitors of the Native Australian. Each pedigree has dominance of similar features; the African has all the basic features of all the pedigrees except the white color, which is an acquired phenomenon. Carbon is the common and basic element among graphite, diamond, soot, charcoal, nanotubes, nanofoam, and buckyballs (Buckminster Fullerines). (Diamond is extremely hard carbon naturally crystallized in the isometric system.) Likewise the African genes are our heritage.

The oral and written tradition of Indo-Aryans (one such African-derived Pedigree) does not suggest any origin outside India, though the African is the First Progenitor of all races.  The Indian historians suggest that the Aryans originated in India, fanned out to Persia, and Europe and some made a return trip back to India. The Europeans, far removed from the progenitor African by mutations of genes, wear our genes and speak many derivatives of Sanskrit. That is why they are called Indo-Europeans and their language is Indo-European. They are East Indians first and Europeans later. We are all Africans first and all other races later. The human speech originated in India only, according to Mark Twain. The Human race was making consonantal cockamamie sounds (if you call it human speech) until Sanskrit gave them the life-giving vowels.  Brr, grr, hmm, mm, psst, tsk are some of the consonantal English words (onomatopoetic interjections) without vowels.  Let us take the word Zebra. It was most likely called zbr; then came along the vowels; zbr acquired the sound of zebra and vowels show their stripes.

As you may know, the Tantrics and Indo-Aryans sacrificed male animals only, as the Greeks did.  The Indo-Aryans had many other animals at their disposal for sacrifice. Take the horse for instance. Human sacrifice was not unheard of.  Donald A. Mackenzie makes it a point to call the Indo-Aryans Brown Aryans in his book Legends and Myths of India.

Sautra refers to Indra, the chief of gods and also Sura, wine or god. The sacrifice is offered to Indra, Ashvins, Sarasvati…. It is a purification ceremony for man and god as deemed by the Greeks and Indo-Aryans. Sacrifice of a castrated bull or draught mare guarantees prosperity, progeny, annihilation of the donor's foes, realization of all desires and attainment of heaven. This sacrifice wipes off the sin of excess consumption of Soma by Indra and the priest.  Indra stole Soma from Tvastr (think of hijacking of a truck-load of liquor); this resulted in violent dismemberment of his limbs; they were restored to Indra, when Asvins and Sarasvati performed Sautramani sacrifice. This sacrifice has similarities with Abraham’s sacrifice. A prominent Indian saint says that Sautramani sacrifice is offered to appeal to the lower forces of deities so that the sacrifices bring benefits to the sacrificer.  What many cannot accept is that an animal has to die to be food, and bring prosperity to man or restoration of body parts to god. (Think of this: Man artificially inseminates the cows; many calves are born; man claims he gave life where there would not have been life; the cycle goes on; man milks the cows as long as they lactate plenteously; when their life of lactation is coming to a close, man kills the cow and eats it; man takes the hide to make useful products; man takes the rest of the animal, grinds it up and feeds it to other cows and other animals; that is how the cows got the mad cow disease; man eats the flesh of the mad cow and suffered from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.  There is no free lunch here; there is always a payback--this is what Hindus call Karma.)  Whole Foods Market has started selling meat from well-treated and compassionately slaughtered animals. That is progress in the right direction.

For gods, it is the wine, and meat. Yes, Soma, butter, grains and more. Soma gives a double whammy: inebriation and hallucinations. I bet some of today's teenagers want to imbibe or experiment with soma. Too bad, the recipe is lost for ever. Sautramani is like fundraising dinners where it is a win-win situation for the donors, lobbyists and politicians. Hey you lobbyists, you haven’t invented anything new.  (Madya [wine], Mamsa [meat], Matsya [Fish], Mudra [grains] and Mithuna [sexual union]--wine, woman and venison, MMMMM, that is good!): Tantrics* and Indo-Aryans perfected this art of social lubrication many eons ago. They devised ways to influence man and god for their mutual benefit. They knew gods would suffer famine without their sacrifices; gods trembled at the prospect of going hungry for want of sacrifices. They got the gods by the gonads.

There is a new pristine honor code in place, enacted into law. The lobbyists can sponsor and pay for Stand-and-Eat meals for the politicians. No sit-down-and-eat please: It smacks of hanky-panky.  I estimate that politicians wolf down more while they eat standing up. There are many Congressional Receptions everyday. One can eat as much as one wants as long as he is standing up, and go down the vomitorium to another reception to bite another snack. Politicos with a penchant for family values and a longing for spiritual uplift go to the Bible Study located in C Street SE. It is a sanctified house of refuge for the spiritually inclined politicos who beat a beeline retreat for savory succor. The media claims it is a house of mystery cloaked in silence and infested with profligates. The patrons claim that the media unfairly targeted them as C Street cheaters. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/opinion/19dowd.html?_r=1&hpw  The sports celebrities are no different from the profligate politicos (Tiger Woods, Dec 2009).  Madya and Madhu (Honey [honey-liquor]) in Sanskrit, Methy in Greek and Mead in English mean alcoholic beverage; now you see Sanskrit is the origin of the European words. The Europeans ignore the obvious and look for a language more ancient than Sanskrit and European languages to be the progenitor language (of Sanskrit and the European languages).

Who is this Tvastar? Tvastr: The divine artisan.   Tvak is to form or fashion; Tvastr  or Tvastar is the artisan.  Egyptian Ptah, Babylonian Mummu, Phoenician Chusor, and Greek Hephaistos are the divine artisans of their respective mythologies. Tvastar can not only fashion and create forms but also transform or morph himself into various forms. (Guess what: the Transformer toy maker stole the idea from Tvastar. Prove me wrong.) He applies his generative energy and skills to the embryo; that is how he transforms a one-cell embryo into a full-grown infant at delivery; naturally he earned the name, Garbhapathi (the Lord of the womb).  He fashioned the ladle for the sacrifice, wine cup, thunderbolt (Vajra) for Indra, heaven and earth....

There are deities involved in impregnation, and formation of the embryo. It makes sense; they seem to work like the female hormones that prepare the womb for implantation and a host of other physiological processes involved in the continuation of pregnancy. Vishnu prepares the womb for the implantation of the embryo; Tvastar (read: the genes and DNA) shapes the embryo and fetus; Prajapathi (Lord of creation), DhAtr (arranger or establisher of pregnancy), and Sinivali (Lunar goddess fashions the embryo) and the Asvins (physicians of heavens--protector of the womb) along with Vishnu and Tvastar are the primary cause of impregnation and embryo and fetus formation. The parents are only a contributing cause of pregnancy. A woman makes a facsimile of her husband in her son and so is called Dhātrī. As you see, ancient seers and sages of India thought about the physiology of pregnancy and Fax Machines too. Vishnu's role in human impregnation extends backwards to the creation of the universe and beings. He penetrates Brahmanda (Brahma's egg) and deposits Amsa (a fragment) of Himself and thus the universe and beings come out of the egg. Does it not sound like the penetration of the ovum by the sperm in the process of fertilization? Does it not sound like cloning? Now you may note that pregnancy and its progress to term is under the divine aegis. In India pregnancy, formation of fetus, delivery and human birth, life and sojourn on earth are divine events; that being so, no one has a right to take that divine-sent life; that is part of the basis of Ahimsa or non-injury. These events are celebrated even to this day in India and go under the term Samskara. There are Prenatal Samskaras, Pumsavana (quickening of the fetus),  Simantonnayana (hair-parting of wife during pregnancy), Jatakarma (Birth Ceremony), Namakarana ( Name-Giving), Niskramana (First Outing of the child), Anna-Prasana (First feeding of solid food), Chuda-karana (Tonsure), Karnavedha (Piercing of the ears: My parents got my ears pierced as a child), Vidyarambha (beginning of education), Upanayana (Initiation--think of Baptism), Kesanta (shaving of the first beard), Samavartana (end of studies), Vivaha (marriage), Antyesti (funeral ceremony).

Sinivali = The day when the moon rises is AmAvAsya; the day when first seen , SinivAli; the first day of disappearance is KuhU.

Lord Krishna has in Him the whole spectrum of human emotions, character, qualities, achievements, and knowledge, known, unknown and yet to be known. He has in Him the best, the worst, and everything in-between. There is nothing that He has not fathomed that we know now or will ever know in our thoughts, speech and deed. But they do not affect him; this quality is like the heat in the sun; the sun does not feel it, but we do. Such is His nature, power and Māyā.

Charity

Sattvika charity is giving with faith to those who deserve such gift. Garuda Purana (1.51.1-34) gives us many interesting details on (Dāna) charity.  It is of four types: Nitya (daily or obligatory), Naimittika (episodic or occasional), Kāmya (wanting in return a special result), and Vimala (free from filth). In Nityadāna, the recipient is a Brahmin who returns nothing for the charity. In modern days, you may or may not find a Brahmin to receive your gift or charity. Under those circumstances, feeding the poor is a worthy alternative. All good people perform Naimitikadāna and offer gift to a scholar to expunge one's own sins. This kind of gift is of selfish nature and thus its worth and merit are not laudable and yet necessary for the welfare of the recipient. In Kāmyadāna, charity is given with the expectation of something in return: progeny, prosperity, success in all endeavors, and eventually heaven.  This is trading with man or god. Political contributions, Legacy Contributions from Alumni ...come under Kamyadana.

Charity given to a person with the knowledge of Brahman in a sattvika mood (of the donor) is Vimaladāna (no-stain charity). It is auspicious and has no stain, because the recipient possesses knowledge of the Self (Brahman). A person who blocks a donor from giving charity to a deserving person is reborn in the body of an animal.

Buddhist concept of Ahimsa is special. Targeted killing of an animal for food is not allowed, but meat and fish may be bought from a commercial outlet where animal was not killed specially for one person. Meat and fish consumption is allowed under those circumstances. Killing of game animals, and elephants are prohibited.

 More on Buddhist view of eating meat. Non-Destruction of life. pânâtipâthâ veramanî sikkhâ pada samâdiyâmi (I agree to follow the precept of abstaining from taking of life). This involves not contributing to the death of any living being. This means not only the actual killing but also "causing to kill". However this rule does not require one to be a vegetarian, only that meat consumed should not have been "specially killed" for direct, personal consumption. Meat purchased in the market does not come under the "specially killed" category.  Strict vegetarians all over the world do not agree with this view because direct killing of animals for food or obtaining them from slaughter houses makes no difference. They opine hand that kills and mouth that eats are causing death of the animal and are non-different. If it is not for the latter, the former would not exist. This does not mean that all vegetarians are worthy of praise and exaltation. Take Adolph Hitler, the most prolific killer: he was a vegetarian. He actually cried over the death of a bird, and got upset over injury caused from cutting the stems of flowers.  We will accept non-vegetarians who are kind and non-violent to fellow human beings and reject killer-vegetarians.

Was Jesus Christ a vegetarian? Probably so, except on two occasions when he might have eaten fish.

In certain parts of India, people consider themselves as vegetarians, euphemistically call fish, Jala Pushpa (water flower) and eat it as if it is a vegetable.

From the Toronto Vegetarian Association:

While it is true that Hitler's doctors put him on a vegetarian diet to cure him of flatulence and a chronic stomach disorder, his biographers such as Albert Speer, Robert Payne, John Toland, et al, have attested to his liking for ham sausages and other cured meats. Even Spencer says that Hitler was a vegetarian from only 1931 on: "It would be true to say that up to 1931, he preferred a vegetarian diet, but on some occasions would deviate from it." He committed suicide in the bunker when he was 56 in 1945; that would have given him 14 years as a vegetarian, but we have the testimony to the contrary of the woman chef who was his personal cook in Hamburg during the late 1930s - Dione Lucas. In her "Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook," she records that his favorite dish - the one that he customarily requested - was stuffed squab (pigeon). "I do not mean to spoil your appetite for stuffed squab, but you might be interested to know that it was a great favorite with Mr. Hitler, who dined in the hotel often."

By possessing a higher intelligence, man not only ascends over animals but has an undeniable responsibility for them. Underlying the animal rights movement is the belief that we must treat fairly those creatures placed in our care by nature. By not fulfilling this obligation, we have sunk very low. Kathryn McCullough, Ithaca, N. Y.

10.6:  The seven Great Rishis and the four Manus of ancient days are of My Nature and born of My mind. In this world,  these creatures are born of them (Rishis and Manus).

Rishi is derived from drs meaning “to see.” The seven rishis or Saptarishis are the Maharishis (the primary progenitors); Rajarishis are of royal lineage, while Brahmarishis are the priestly rishis. Narada is Devarishi or divine Rishi. (There are Rishis in every religion.) These Rishis wrote the Vedas, but they are not the authors. As our body and mind are sensitive to external objects and stimuli, the rishis are sensitive in matters of religion; that intuitive consciousness in a rishi is ārsa-jnāna– knowledge of a rishi. As a dog has supersensitive olfactory sense (take the K-9 unit of NYPD), the rishis have a supersensitive spiritual sense. The rishis have gone beyond or transcended limits of reason and senses to comprehend the Truth; their consciousness is transcendental. These truths are in abstract and not concrete as in science. Here (as in science) one is trying to measure, define, and characterize the Infinite with the finite faculties. That is impossible. Finding God is not science. If God were a science test subject, the human intellect and reason would not be adequate and would not measure up to study It. One has to transcend the limits of human consciousness and go to the fourth plane: Turiya. (The other planes of consciousness are wakefulness, dream sleep and deep sleep; still deeper than Turiya is Turiyatita--end of Turiya. Turiya, according to Ramana Maharishi is Wakeful Sleep, when one is plugged into the divine grid for flow of divine knowledge and bliss.) Ramana Maharishi received Vedic and spiritual knowledge in this manner.

During dreamless deep sleep, our body and mind are at rest except for physiological functions. This is the state where the individual self embraces the Greater Self. It is bliss because that state knows no evils, no fears, or no desires. In this pristine deep sleep state, we lose our identity; we are not fathers, mothers, sons, brothers, daughters, husbands, uncles, aunts, thieves, or murderers. The sorrows of the phenomenal world drown during deep sleep, which is bliss. Everyone in deep sleep is in communion with the Greater Self; that is sacrifice to God; and during sleep, his world is at peace. During this state, the Self is the Seer and the Self shines. When the individual self communes with the Greater Self in deep sleep, bliss is the result. He knows not that he is a seer; the seer and the Seen are One. This is only temporary empirical consciousness without manifestation. Transcendental consciousness beyond deep sleep is Turiya, which is not liable to interruptions as in deep sleep. The rishi and the Brahman are one. In this fourth state namely Turiya (wakefulness, dream sleep, deep sleep and Turiya are the four states), there is a permanent union with Brahman. Nonduality or metaphysical unity with the Greater Self is realized. Rishis, Munis, and yogis experience this state. Ramana Maharishi was one among the Rishis to experience Turiya.    

Raising human consciousness to the transcendent Turiya Consciousness is like raising the humongous ship from sea level to Gatun Lake in Panama. Please click the link to see the actual passage of ships in the canal with gates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfoTVvhiGzE

Just like the ship is elevated by canals, lakes and locks, one has to elevate oneself from human consciousness to transcendental consciousness (Turiya state) to commune with Brahman.

10.7:  He who knows in truth My Pervasive Manifestation and  power of Yoga (Vibhutim and Yogam) is steadfast in yoga. Never is there any doubt.

10.8:  I am the origin of all. From Me everything emanates. Thus knowing, the wise ones worship Me with conviction.

10.9:  With their mind (Citta) focused on Me and their lives (prānas) dedicated or surrendered to Me, enlightening one another by always talking about Me, they enjoy happiness and delight.

Citta consists of Mahat or buddhi, ahankāra, and manas. Mahat is the Great principle; buddhi comes from Mahat; ahankāra, I-ness or individuation comes from buddhi. Mahat and buddhi are the cosmic and individual aspects of intellect born of prakriti; and citta, a product of Prakriti, is an unconscious entity. Buddhi or intellect (Citta) gets its discerning capacity by its proximity to the self-effulgent Self. Buddhi is an unthinking prakriti  (matter) without reflection from Self. Buddhi is like the moon; moon appears effulgent in the night and it is only a reflected glory. Moonlight is sun-dependent: No sun, no moonlight; and no Self, no intellect or Buddhi.  

10.10:   To them who are continuously devoted, and worship Me with eternal love, I give Buddhi Yogam (Yoga of intelligence), by which they come to Me.    

Buddhiyogam is the kind of intelligence, wisdom, facility, intuition, and understanding a person needs, in order to see the Brahman in all, all in the Brahman; unity in existence, and universe in Him; and the Atman beyond avidya and māyā (ignorance and illusion). Buddhi and yogam act in combination and collaboration: without yogam, buddhi is inert. Once buddhi is close to the Self, buddhi acquires the light and the energy to function.

10.11:  Out of compassion (anukampā-artham) for them alone, I destroy their ignorance and darkness by abiding in their self (Ātmabhāvasthah) with the shining lamp of wisdom.

Anukampā-artham: the purpose of compassion.

Ātma-bhāvasthah: by abiding in their self.

By waving the lightning rod of wisdom and compassion and abiding in our self, he removes the ignorance and darkness in our personality. This Light is Self-knowledge and Self-realization (Jnāna and Vijnāna). The cloud of ignorance and the veil of māyā, which interpose between the jivātman and Paramatman, lift and the self-effulgent Light of Atman (Paramatman) shines on the jivātman.

10.12:  Arjuna said:

You are the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme abode, the Supreme purifier, the Eternal, the Divine, the First Primal God, the Unborn, and all-pervading.

10.13:  All Rishis (sages) say this of you. The deva-rishis like Narada, also Asita, Devala, Vyasa, and You Yourself are telling me.

Deva Rishis are divine sages or seers. Narada was the foremost among Deva-Rishis or Divine Seers or Sages and was one of the Prajapatis, the progenitors. He was born from Brahma’s throat or forehead, and gained his eminent standing among Saptarishis by observing vrata (pious observance) for twelve years with the blessings of Lords Skanda and Ganesa. One may get wrapped up in literal meaning, wonder, question and cast doubts about a person being born of the throat or forehead. One who is born of the throat is excellent in the art of words; one born of forehead is excellent in mind and knowledge. Just think of modern miracles. The stem cells in the skin can be programmed to become Totipotent Stem cells which with addition of proper genes can be made into heart muscle, pancreas etc. So the heart or the pancreas is born of the skin. With this analogy, one would hesitate to dismiss such births as mere phantasma. Think of cloned calves, which do not have a contribution from a bull.  What would you say, when I say that Dolly the sheep came from the mammary gland (the breast)?

They, who are familiar with Kundalini Yoga, are also quick to understand the euphemism in this statement: Born of the throat  (Visuddha Chakra) means perfect articulation, ideation, wisdom, knowledge... Forehead is Ajna Chakra, the seat of dawning of spiritual Consciousness. Visuddha Chakra is the zone which separates the material man from spiritual man. Narada has the knack of stepping into and out of the lives of mortals and immortals over centuries across continents and different worlds. Sankaracharya explains this travel in time and space: Such perfect sages, free from ignorance and delusion, appear from time to time, to carry out their mission to completeness. Narada has foreseen the death of Kamsa at the hands of Lord Krishna. See Supplement to read on Vyasa, the author of Mahabharata, and Lord Ganesh, the scribe.

There is a debate among the students of Hindu religion and Mythology whether Deva Rishis like Narada and Vyasa really existed and whether the Mahabharata war did really happen. Here is an excerpt from Devi Mahatmya, page 46 by Thomas B. Coburn.

An unknown Hindu is supposed to have made the following observation.

"One of the characteristics of ancient Hindu thought is its indifference to history."139 A host of reasons for this indifference has been suggested--ranging from alleged psychological peculiarities of Indians, absence of national sentiment, lack of scientific attitude of mind, inclination to mythologize, and lack of horizons beyond one's caste, to climactic determinism but they are not of concern to us here. What is important is that whatever insight we gain through various methodological ingenuities not be gained at the expense of the integrity of what it is we are trying to understand, viz., the vision of the Goddess in the DM, or, more precisely, the reality which is reflected in the vision or that text. We have tried in the above discussion to suggest the potential distinctiveness of matters of faith from matters of academic inquiry. That, however, was primarily a process of setting boundaries to the academic task, of suggesting what academic inquiry cannot do vis-a-vis religious matters. It also has a positive, constructive obligation. As Pathak has remarked, "there is a marked difference between the attitude of the modern historian with his exuberance of historical consciousness and of the ancient writer living in an ideal world and steeped in the tradition of the Vedico-agamic culture, based upon the intrinsic authority of the revealed word.”141 If the history that the "modern historian" writes does not adequately convey the attitude of that "ancient writer," then it is, in fact, no history at all. It is merely an intellectual autobiography of the "modern historian." To avoid such conceptual imperialism, and to delineate constructive alternatives is, of course, the central task of hermeneutics. Pathak has suggested that the particular problem with which we are faced is a function, not of India's lack of historical concern, but of her different understanding of history: "To the writers of itihasa [and, we might add, purana] tradition, history was not just a meaningless succession of events [but mundane events] below which lay the fascinating drama of man's fulfillment of the sovereign purpose of human existence. ltihasa [and purana] tried to grasp this inner story...," and, therefore, "what is needed [for the modern historian to accom­plish his task] is to grasp the idea of the author which gave meaning to the whole narrative." We have identified several of the "idealizing agents" operative in our, material. Sanskri­tization is one of them. As another we have suggested a process of "Puranicization," where "the only [salient] characteristic of a Purana is that it should be old. Anything old may be the subject of a Purana, and it covers all the aspects of life."

10.14:  I hold all that you told me as true, O Kesava (Krishna). O Bhagavan (Lord), neither the gods nor the demons know your manifestation.

Arjuna addresses Krishna as Bhagavan because He is never afflicted with six transformations: Birth, Death, Hunger, Thirst, Old Age, and Sorrow.  The infamous six are our inescapable reality.

10.15:  You alone know Yourself by You, O Supreme person (Purusa-Uttama), Creator of all beings, Lord of everything, God of all gods, and Lord of the universe. 

10.16:  You alone can give me details of your divine manifestations, and by such manifestations, you pervade all the worlds and abide (in them).

10.17:  How may I know you O Yogin, by always thinking of you? Moreover, in what aspects, am I to think of you O Bhagavan?

You are on my mind all the time. You are everything to me. You have so many forms. What form of yours should I focus on, in my mind?

10.18:  O Janardhana (Krishna) tell me again in detail your yogam and vibhutim (power of yoga and manifestation). There is no satiation or satisfaction in me to hear your nectar-like words.

O Janardhana, Please give me all the details of your yogam and manifestations for I will never ever be satiated to hear your sweet words.

Sri Bhagavan said:

10.19:  O Kurusreshta, My manifestations are divine; I will now tell you only the most important of the manifestations, because there is no end to My expansion.

Vistara: Expansion 

He is only ONE, the Supreme Self but has many manifestations. Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are the manifestations of ONE SUPREME SELF. The Supreme Self or Brahman can be Sabda-Brahman and Param-Brahman, Nirguna Brahman and Saguna Brahman, Formed and Formless Brahman. Sabda Brahman is Brahman associated with AUM. There are two kinds of knowledge: Sabda-Brahman and Param-Brahman. Param-Brahman is superior and Sabda-Brahman is only a means to Param-Brahman. Knowledge of Upanishads and Vedas, sacrifices, and rituals are essential for growth and development of the soul or atman to a finite stage; after that stage, they have to end in the same spirit of detachment from desires at early stages of development. Here you stand by your own self:  No props, no cheers, and no support are available to the self. You are dead to the world, figuratively: You give up everything that you owned, be it material or knowledge. Names and forms do not matter anymore. You ride the OM sound waves of Sabda-Brahman until you reach the Param-Brahman, when the sound-syllable OM falls into silence. Sabda-Brahman or Brahman of Sounds consists of all book knowledge including rituals, sacrifices, and Vedas. (Soundless Brahman is superior to Sound Brahman.) But the latter is the preliminary step before attainment of Soundless Brahman. When Soundless Brahman is attained, the names, forms, books, rituals, sacrifices, prayers, and hymns fall or should be abandoned. It is like saying that the raft should be abandoned once you reach the shore. It is like saying that the chaff should be abandoned or thrown away, when one has the rice.

Then there is Nirguna Brahman and Saguna Brahman. Sankaracharya has talked on this subject. He calls Nirguna Brahman as IT or THAT. We do not know WHAT IT is. If you know WHAT IT is, IT is no more Nirguna Brahman. The idea is that IT has no limits; and that IT is colorless, odorless, formless, tasteless, nameless, and stainless; and that IT is free from all impurities and unknowable. Then we have Saguna Brahman. This is a little easier to understand. He has a mind; His Body is Life; His Form is Light; and He is Truth. His Soul is Space. When the absent parts of Nirguna Brahman as said earlier are added, transformation to Saguna Brahman takes place and He is all colors, all odors, and all tastes. He is the Universe. Saguna Brahman is Nirguna Brahman with māyā factor coloring It.   

Sankaracharya dwells on the cause and the effect: The cause is Nirguna Brahman and the effect is Saguna Brahman. According to Sankara, the cause is real and the effect is a superimposition and therefore unreal. Samkhya philosophers hold a different view. A clod of clay is the cause and the pot is the effect. The argument goes the pot was in the clay, meaning the effect was already in the cause and the skill of the potter made the difference.

Siddhantists say that Maya is the clay (material cause, upādāna kārana), Sakti is the potter’s wheel (instrumental cause, Sahakāri kārana), and God (the efficient cause, nimitta kārana) is the maker of world and beings.

Vaishnava view:

He is the instrumental or efficient cause (Nimitta Karana); his sakti is the cooperating cause (Sahakāri Karana); His body is the material cause (Upadana Karana).  He is also Akārana, meaning that there is no cause other than Him.

upādāna kārana = material or proximate cause; Sahakari kārana = concurrent, expedient, cooperating cause; Nimitta kārana = instrumental or efficient cause.  In terms of potter, pot, clay and wheel, His Sakti is the Instrumental cause (Nimitta Karana); Sakti, earth, wheel, and staff are the cooperating causes (Sahakāri Karana); the clay is material cause (Upadana Karana).  He is the potter, the clay, the Sakti, the wheel, and the staff. He is One and becomes many.

    When clay becomes a pot that is Parinama (transformation). Paramatman is also called Vivarta karana (inducting cause).

10.20:  I am the Atma O Gudakesa (Arjuna) seated in the hearts of all living beings. I am the beginning, also the middle, and certainly the end of all beings. 

 At death, the individual soul going up the artery from the heart, and leaves the body from the top of the head, anterior fontanel area or brahma-randhra, which is the point of first entry for the soul. It is common knowledge the Greater and the lesser souls live in the spiritual heart, which is on the right chest. (The individual soul's point of entry and exit are on the crown.) The soul climbs up the shaft of sun's rays and reaches the sun, when the ascending soul is in the “know.” The one not in the “know” takes other paths and reenters another body by the anterior fontanel. Katha UP2.3.16

Osiris is the Egyptian god of birth and death.

I am the “Self” seated in the heart of all living creatures. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.

10.21:  Of the Adityas, I am Vishnu. Of the lights, I am the radiant sun. Of the Maruts, I am the Marici. Of the stars, I am the moon.

 Krishna says, "I am Vishnu."  This has so much significance in that it covers eight qualities of Vishnu. Tamil words are obtained from the books குறையொன்றுமில்லை (= Kruraiyonrumillai Book 3 by Mukkur LaskmiNarsimachariyar, Madras [Chennai]).

1. Jagath-kArana Vastu = ஜகத்காரண வஸ்து: world-cause substance meaning that he is the causal agent of the universe.

2. Sarva Raksakan = சர்வ ரக்ஷகன்: All-Savior. He is the savior of all.

3. Sarva-VyApi = ஸர்வ வியாபி: All-Pervader. He pervades all, Cit and Acit (beings and mater = animate and inanimate).

4. Sarva-Sesi = சர்வசேஷி: All-Master or Lord. Lord, Master, owner of all. He is the Master and we are His slaves.

5. Sarva-anthar-yAmi = ஸர்வாந்தர்யாமி: SarvAntharyAmi: All-inside-abider. The One who abides inside all of us. This includes abiding inside  inanimate things. Example: Narasimha emerged from a palace Pillar.

That is why Narasimha (Vishnu) is Sarva-antar-yAmi of SarAsaram. He abides in all and all abide in Him.  Sarva-antar-yAmi = all -inner-abider; SarAsaram = Saram + Asaram = mobile things + immobile things.  Vishnu is the inner abider of all mobile and immobile things.

6. VEda VEthyan = வேத வேத்யன்: Veda Vethyan: The One who is knowable through Vedas.

7. VEdAnta VEthyan = வேதாந்த வேத்யன்: Vedanta Vethyan: Veda-end-the-Knowable. The end of Veda (Vedanta)  is the essence of  Vedas. He is knowable by the essence of Vedas.

8. SriyahPathithvam = ஸ்ரீய:பதித்வம்: The One (husband) who is close  to Sri or Lakshmi.

The twelve Adityas are Aryama,  Bhaga,  Dhata, Mitra, Pusa, Rudra, Savita, Surya, Tvasta, Varuna, Vishnu, and Vivasvan

Adityas are the sons of Aditi and the Vedic gods. Aditi is antithetical to Diti, “limited.” Aditi is female and a female principle with no limits and represents the unmanifest nonexistence. Since Adityas are sons of Aditi, it is reasonable to assume that they are limitless. One of the Adityas is the Savita or the Solar Vishnu. The sun is one of the six doors to Nirguna Brahman, while the other doors are fire, wind, water, moon, and lightning. There are twelve Adityas, one for each solar month; Vishnu is the last, the twelfth and the most important. Marici is the son of Brahma and one of the secondary prajapatis, the progenitors or creators.  To read about Maruts, go to commentary on verse 23, Chapter 10.

Aditi and Kasyapa desired to attain Yoga Siddhi and hence performed Tapas. Responding to their deep faith, Bhagavan appeared before them. Once they took a look at the heavenly beauty of Bhagavan, they changed their mind and begged him to become their son. Bhagavan blessed them with the anugraha (favor or support) of becoming their son. Thus Vamana was born as Upendra-Vamana, Vamana, the younger brother of Indra. He is also known as Prachnigarbhan, product of pregnancy from entreating (of Bhagavan). Krishna always keeps his parents same (though of different names and places) in his many man-avatars: Kasyappa and Aditi. Aditi was Devaki, the mother of Krishna.

Good gods and evil gods are not unique to Hinduism. Adityas are good gods and Dityas (Daityas) are demons or bad gods; both were fathered by Kasyapa, the mothers being Aditi and Diti. They are half-brothers, gods and demons. In Zoroastrianism, there are two primary gods, one good and one evil; One is Light and the other is Darkness; other gods chose to join one or the other group; in Hindu terms, one side of Zoroastrianism consists of gods and the other side demons. Cyrus of Persia believed that the good should triumph over evil and he set to conquer the world. Yahweh, the Jewish God, visited him in his vision and asked him to rebuild the temple and establish worship in Jerusalem. Some and not all Jews went from Babylon to Jersusalem to worship Yahweh in the temple of Solomon, which was earlier put to the torch by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.

    When the Christians came along, they took the one God, the Almighty as the Real One and the evil god of Zoroastrianism antithetical to Yahweh as the devil, the Hindu equivalent of Dityas or Asuras. Hebrew tradition believes that Satan belongs to Yahweh's circle in its periphery, thus agreeing with the Hindu concept that good and evil (god and satan) are two sides of the same coin. Krishna says, "I am all-devouring death" (10.34) and  I am the absolute virtue of the virtuous. (10.36). The Vedic Asura of India are the Iranian Ahura.

10.22:  Of the Vedas, I am the Samaveda. Of all the gods, I am the Vasavah. Of all the Indriyas (senses), I am the mind. I am consciousness in living beings.  

Vasava is Indira.

10.23:  Of the (eleven) Rudras, I am Sankara (Lord Siva). (I am) Vitteso (Kubera) of the Yaksas and Raksasas. Of the (eight) Vasus, I am Fire. I am Meru of all mountaintops or peaks.

Scholars from West regard Rudra as a Dravidian god of thunder and lightning, and Indra as the Aryan counterpart. Rudra means “Red and flashing One.” Rudras or Maruts are the sons of Rudra. When Maruts enter, they raise a ruckus, flash the lightning, roar like a lion, unleash their thunder, and wear robes of rain. Rudra wields 100 weapons and is Pasupati, the Lord of the cattle. Rudra is later known as Siva, who was born of Brahma and is in charge of dissolution of the universe. Lord Siva is part of the Hindu Holy Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Siva’s image appears usually (in the temples) in the form of Linga, which has at least two meanings:

1.      Li, to dissolve; and gam, to go out

2.      Sign

The meaning has significance in that what leaves the body after death or dissolution and is involved in transmigration of the soul is Lingasarira or subtle body. Linga also means “Sign.” The sign stands for transcendental power and generative principle. MERU is a mountain, considered as the epicenter of the universe and the abode and playground of the gods. Ganga River gracefully falls on its high point and runs down in four directions. Brahma's city of gold graces the summit, surrounding which there are eight satellite cities; Krishna and Vishnu have abodes on Mount Meru. Deep below the base of the mountain are the seven netherworlds, and the mountain is supported by and balanced on the seven manifold heads of snake Vāsuki, whose movement causes tremor of the mountain. At Pralaya or dissolution, his fiery breath consumes the whole creation and universe. (Mount Meru is the Himalayas and the tremor felt is from the manifold head of the snake [of a South Asian subcontinent thrusting] under the Himalayas.) As Olympus is the mythical abode of the greater Grecian gods, Meru is the abode of Hindu gods (a sort of Hill Station for the High and the Mighty).

          The eight Vasus are the personifications of natural phenomena: Apa for water, Dhruva for the Pole-star, Soma for moon, Dhava or Dhara for earth, Anila for wind, Anala for fire, Pratyusha for Dawn, and Prabhasa for light.  

Kubera or Kuvera is the half brother of the Raksasa, Ravana, who is the infamous abductor of Sita, wife of Lord Rama of Ramayana. Kubera is the Vedic Bill Gates, Rockefeller, the Queen... Read supplement section piece titled “Children Eat Free” to find out how Lord Ganesa gave him the fright of his life. He is the richest being on this universe and can divine the exact location of precious gems without a divining rod. He rolls in gems, gold, and anything that is precious. Therefore, he is the Lord of riches (Dhanapathi), and is the celestial keeper of wealth of gods. It is said that his father, Pulastya was a non-Aryan Rishi and his mother, Idavidā, was the daughter of Rishi Bharadvāja. According to Mahabharata lore, his mother also was a non-Aryan. His half brother, Ravana is a ten-headed, twenty-handed, and fiery-eyed bad Raksasa. He went on a rampage defeating the fiercest of all celestial fighters, Yakshas and Gandharvas. He had an eye on the celestial chariot owned and operated by his half brother, Kubera. This chariot is a flying city; no flying object is a match to Pushpaka Vimanam (Pushpaka + Vimanam = flower + plane). The beauty about Pushpaka Vimanam is that it does not need any fuel:  It runs on thought! We humans have to worry about the price of gas ($3.00 a gallon)  to go from here to there (June 2006). Thought was the energy that gods use to go from one universe to another, no gas tanks, no gears, no transmission, no breakdown, no exhaust and no pollution. To make matters worse, Ravana stole Kubera's throne too.

10.24:  Of all the priests, know Me O Partha, to be the most important priest, Brhaspati. Of the Army Chiefs, I am Skanda. Of all ponds, I am the ocean.

Brhaspati is Lord of prayer:  Brh, prayer; pati, Lord. He is the priest of the gods, and keeps asuras, demons and raksasas at bay or destroys them. Skanda, born of the sparks emanating from the third eye of Lord Siva, is the war god, whose other names especially in South India are Muruga, Kartikeya, Subramanya, Shanmukha, and who is the son of Siva and Parvathi, and the younger sibling of Ganesa. Shanmukha's vahana or vehicle is peacock and the banner is cock; Valli and Deivayani are His divine consorts, and represent sakti or power. His six heads stand for six attributes: Divine power, wealth, fame, strength, detachment from passion, and knowledge.  Next time you see a polycephalic Hindu deity, you know they represent qualities. Polycephalic = many-headed.

If a person is Janus-faced (Roman deity Janus), ambidextrous, deceitful, double-dealing and double-faced....

10.25:  Of the great Rishis (sages), I am Bhrgu. Of sounds, I am Aksaram (monosyllable, AUM). I am Japa of sacrifices. I am Himalaya of the immovables.

The view from West:

Bhrgu Muni = Burn or roast + observer of silence = Fire-priest who observes silence. The priest who inducts fire in the alter by magic. Bhrgu Muni was the mind-born son of the Creator Brahma. Once the Rishis (Seers) were not sure about the supremacy among Brahma, Siva and Vishnu and whom to worship. Bhrgu Muni was deputed from Rishi headquarters to interview the three gods. It was a mission of subterfuge and subreption.  He found Siva doting on Sakti (Parvati) all the time so much so that he cursed Siva to take the form of Lingam, deprived of oblations. He went to Brahma, found him self-absorbed all the time and decided that he was not worthy of worship. Lastly, he went to Vishnu and as was the case, found him in Yoga Nidra (Yogic Sleep) and kicked him awake. Vishnu instead getting mad with the foot-loose Muni announced that he was honored and blessed by being awakened by a Muni of such repute. Vishnu the confounder and the Mayin of Mayins even offered to massage Bhrgu's kick-foot. Impressed by humility, magnanimity, and even temper of Vishnu, Bhrgu Muni declared that Vishnu alone was worthy of worship. The West regards this incident as the rivalry between Saivas and Vaishnavas (Sects of Siva and Vishnu).  Yogic Sleep: A state of Consciousness in a Yogi while in communion with the Divine Energy radiating and pervading the whole universe and beyond. Here Vishnu appears as if He is sleeping on the coiled bed of snake Sesa and yet His diffusing and pervading Energy keeps the Universe in motion and balance. Yoga Nidra is personified as His sister (Durga).

Aksaram: means imperishable, indestructible, Om, a letter, a word, a syllable. Since Aksara is indestructible, it is Brahman and hence the whole world. Here it means Om; Om is Brahman.

AksarA (with a long a) means a personification of speech who upon invocation protects her devotees.

10.26:  Of all trees, I am Asvattah. Of all the divine Rishis, I am Narada. I am Chitraratha among Gandharvas. Of all perfected beings, I am Kapila Muni.

Asvattah is Ficus religiosa, aka Banyan tree.

Narada: He is the Seer who straddles many centuries and millenniums. Sankaracharya says that such perfected beings are born again and again to accomplish divine mission. Is Narada one person or many persons with the same name and divine perfection? That is the question the West poses. Narada had many lives (Cat has nine lives). He was a Gandharva, celestial musician of the gods before he was born a Rishi (seer). In one of his lives, he was born of a Seer and his maid. Boy Narada had the privilege of eating Prasada (sacrament) previously served to Vishnu. As a boy he received the divine vision of Vishnu. Narada appears in continents, the three worlds and anywhere else in the universe all at the same time, thus being an omnipresent soul. How is it possible? The East says, he is TrilokaSanchari (the Nomad of the three worlds); the perfected beings travel by thought and can be in many places at one time. We all believe in the concept that God is here, there and everywhere else all at the same time --omnipresence. The unbelieving West says that the composers of Mahabharata used his name to 'fill in any gaps in the life or lives of Narada.'  What the west means is that Narada jumps from eon to eon carrying the memory from the past and singing the glory of Narayana. He is Prajapati, the progenitor of human race born from the throat of Brahma or forehead. Thus born from the throat, he is the best musician of all times and plays on Tambura, a stringed instrument. He sings the glory of the Lord 'under all circumstances and at all times.'  He is born from the forehead too, meaning that he has a divine vision and also the mind of all-knowing Brahma in its perfection.

Chitraratha: is the king of Gandharvas (celestial musicians) and Apsarasas (Seductive celestial nymphs living in Svarga [heaven]). Apsarasas dance for the gods while Gandharvas play musical instruments and sing for the gods.  The gods can be incorporeal (without body) or can assume any form or name.

Kapila Muni: Muni is a sage who has taken a vow of silence. The West questions the historical validity of Hindu accounts relating to Kapila because they are full of contradictions. The West says that Buddhist's account, being more credible, connects Kapila with Samkhya philosophy and the City of Kapilavastu, the birthplace of Buddha.  Dr. Radhakrishnan and Moore say that Kapila lived during the 7th century B.C. The legend says he was born of Brahma or an incarnation of Vishnu. Another legend says that Kapila reduced the 60K sons of Sagara to ashes for offending him.. River Ganges came down to earth to purify the Sagara sons  and send them to heaven. From the waters of Ganges, ocean (Sagara) was formed.

10.27:  Know Me,  to be Ucchaisravas among horses born along with the nectar. Of the elephants, I am Airavata. Of men, I am king.

Nectar or Amrta refers to the ambrosia that floated on the surface of the cosmic ocean, when the gods and demons churned it. Amrta or A+ mrta means deprivation of death. Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, collected Amrta, considered as the rejuvenator by gods and demons, from the ocean surface. Many other living and nonliving entities came out of the cosmic causal ocean including Sri (the consort of Lord Vishnu), the celestial horse, and the celestial elephants. Does this not sound like Darwin's theory of evolution? Our ancestors came out of the causal ocean.

Flying white Elephants and long-eared Horses

Ucchaisravas is the long-eared horse, which came out of the ocean because of the churning. Lord Vishnu claimed ownership of Ucchaisravas, a white horse with a black tail. Airavata also came out of the churning of the ocean; the main product was Amrtam or Celestial nectar. Airavata was a white elephant with four tusks. When Brahma was holding the two halves of the celestial, primordial, and pluripotential golden egg (Hiranyagarbha) in His hands, eight male and eight female elephants emerged from the right and left halves of the eggshells. These paired elephants hold up the earth at all cardinal and other critical points, and originally had wings but were deprived of them from a curse laid by a rishi teaching his students under a tree, when one of them crash-landed by their side breaking a few branches of the tree.  

Churning of the Milk Ocean.

10.28:  Of weapons, I am the thunderbolt. Of the cows, I am Kāma-dhuk. Of procreators, I am Kandarpa (Cupid). Of serpents, I am Vasuki.

Kāmadhuk, Kāmadhenu, or Surabhi is the cow of plenty emerging out of the ocean churned by suras (gods) and asuras (demons). It is a white cow and a wish-giver. It is symbolic of motherhood, nature and plenty. America is the Surabhi of modern times. Bhagavatham 10.27.19-28 speaks of Surabhi invoking Krishna as the protector of cows, Brahmanas and gods. She crowns Him as Govinda, the Ruler of cows and bathes Him with her milk (Abhisekham). Indra, the chief of gods bathes Him with water from the Sacred River Ganges. The milk flows in the land; there are bumper crops; the trees blossom forth yielding plenty of honey; the mountains are strewn with gems; the unploughed barren land yields crops; the wild animals became free of violence and enmity.

Why is the cow sacred to the Hindus?

    According to sacred scriptures, cow’s body is an embodiment of Devas [gods]; Maharishis [Seers]; Trimurtis [three gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Siva]; Mahalakshmi [goddess of wealth]; Sarasvati [goddess of arts]; Parasakti [Supreme Sakti = Mother Goddess]; sacred rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Kaveri, Krishna, Godavari, Tungabhadra, and Sindh; Supreme purifying lakes Manasarovar, Pushkaram, Suryakundam, and Brahmasaras; four Vedas, Rg, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva and Upanishads. It is so sacred that Krishna's abode is named Goloka (the world of cow; go = cow; loka = world. What is Whitehouse for President Obama is Goloka for Krishna--Jan 2009. Goloka is not just a house; it is a world. For Krishna, there are no term limits.)

    Pancagavya: the five products of a cow, milk, yogurt, butter, urine and cow dung are purifying. (chuckle if you must; consider ground meat that is contaminated with cow dung and urine, which sometimes give gastroenteritis and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome and kidney failure in children and the elderly in the U.S.A.) Eating these in various combinations expunges sins. Most religious people (exclude urine and cow dung and) consume milk, butter and yogurt (curds). --Chapter 48 Padma Purana.  It is a very common sight in India's countryside that balls of cow dung mixed with hay are plastered on the wall into round cakes, which when dry and desiccated  are used as fuel for cooking, emitting greenhouse gasses (That subject is for another day, another time and another place.)

Astronauts or cosmonauts who stay in space for months process their urine into drinking water. It tastes as good as regular drinking water with a faint hint of iodine, so it is said in published accounts. So don't laugh at Hindus when they prepare Panchagavya. I bet you have seen 'Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmerman' in TV (2008-2009). He was visiting India to taste its prolific cuisine and went to Goa to dine on the sumptuous ethnic food of Goans. Yes, he drank processed blackish and brackish cow urine from a labeled bottle in an Ayurveda Center. It takes spunk and pluck to swill such scrumptiously delicious fluid from bovine cistern. There is reference in Bible on drinking urine from one's own cistern.

    Padma Purana continues in glorifying the cow. The Vedas reside in the mouth of the cow. Hari and Kesava (Vishnu) reside on the horns. Skanda (warrior god and son of Siva) lives in the abdomen; Brahma (Creator)  in the head; Sankara (Siva) in the forehead; Indra (Chief of gods) on the tips of the horn; the deities, Asvins, in the ears; the Moon and the Sun in the eyes; Garuda (the mythical bird resembling Eagle and the Mount of Vishnu) in the teeth; Sarasvati in the tongue, Tirthas (sacred places) in the anus; Ganges in the urine; sages in the pores of the skin; Yama, god of death, in the backside of the face; Kubera (god of love) and Varuna ( god of the sky, of waters and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law) in the right side; Yaksas (Benevolent nature-spirits residing in trees, roots and earth) in the left side; Gandharvas (musical husbands of celestial dancing Apsaras) in the center of the face; the serpents in the tip of the nose; the celestial nymphs in the hind parts of the hoofs; auspicious Lakshmi in the cow dung and cow urine; the sky walkers (movers) in the tips of the feet; Prajapati in the bellow of the cow; the oceans in the udder.

Gifting a white cow to a Brahmana makes a man wealthy, gets him a palace and pleasures of daily living; gifting a gray cow eradicates sins and takes the donor to heaven; tawny cow to inexhaustible wealth; black cow keeps him afloat. Yellow cow is difficult to obtain and makes the family happy. If one desires a handsome physique, he should gift a cow with red eyes; a black cow for wealth; tawny cow for expunging sins by thought, word, deed at various age levels; and for cohabitation, treachery, fraud in business, and animadversions on girls and cows. Killing cows takes the person and his manes to Raurava hell. He who listens to this account is relieved of all sins committed during seven previous births.  Cow is goddess and bull is god.

We suffer from fuel shortage. In India, Gobar Gas (Cow dung gas)  is produced from anaerobic decay of biomass (cow dung); this bio-gas has methane and carbon dioxide; the latter is removed by filtering it through lime water. The Methane gas is then used to generate electricity in villages and for cooking, automobiles... The residual organic matter is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus and used as manure. Now you see the power of cow dung. The American farmer should use this nature's gift wisely. ( They started this ordure to power processing already.)  We have garbage dumps (they are actually mountains of garbage), which generate methane from their bowels and depths.

Go, Go Cows   (Go = Cow in Sanskrit)

Agni Purana, Chapter 292, speaks of the greatness of the cow. The king is the protector and guardian of the cows and Brahmins. Cows being sacred and auspicious sustain the world. (In the west, [without cow milk and] with paucity of breast-feeding, most of the infants will starve to death because most of the infant formulas are based on cow milk.) Its dung and urine mitigate and destroy poverty. Cure for bad dreams is to consume urine, dung, milk, curd, butter, and rocana (yellow pigment from a cow), which is also an antidote for poisons and demons. Feeding a cow belonging to another person facilitates passage to heaven. If you do good to a cow, you go to the world of Brahma. Gifting, praising, and saving a cow uplift a family. The sweet breath of cow purifies the earth; its touch destroys sins. (Modern science discovers that cows and sheep exhale  greenhouse gas methane. Grass-eating cows emit less methane than corn-fed cows. Modern dairy farmers are trying to manipulate feed to engender less methane emission by cows. An average cow emits 200 to 400 pounds of methane a year, amounting to 2% of heat-trapping gases.) A vile person can be cured with cow products and water soaked with Kusa grass (Desmostachya bipinnata). Three days of this practice, Mahasantapana fulfills all desires and destroys all inauspicious things. If one lives on milk alone for 21 days, he becomes stainless, has his desires fulfilled and goes to heaven (Bottle-fed babies qualify for passage to heaven!). Consuming hot items and air for three days destroys sins and takes the consumer to the abode of Brahma. Bathing in cow urine, consuming its milk, moving with cows and eating after their feed (govrata -- cow penance) expunges sins in one month. (The cowboys have it made.) If one chants Gomati Vidya (mantra), he would ascend to the world of cows, "enjoy music, dance and the company of nymphs in celestial car." Cows exude fragrant smell akin to guggulu (oleogum resin from a small tree (Commiphora mukul [Hooker, Stedor] which grows in northwestern India). (The cowboys and milk farmers take that avocation and learn to love the smell of cows.) The food of gods is clarified butter from cows, which are holy and very auspicious. (Don't worry about gods having high cholesterol and LDL levels; they have a very high HDL levels which prevent arteriosclerosis; their (gods) metabolism is different from the human's.) Cows are ladder to heaven. Cows are a chief support of the universe along with gods, Brahmins, holy men and chaste women; thus they are fit for worship.

Pancapravahana: five boats (Tulasi [Holy Basil], Brahmanas, cows, Vishnu and Ekadasi  transport a soul across the ocean of Samsara (existence).

Goddess loves her devotees and follows them as a cow would follow her calf.

Here is what Gandhi the champion of cows says about cow.

Apotheosis of the Cow and Apoptosis (my word) of the soul.  Apotheosis = Glorification to a divine level. Apoptosis = programmed death or deterioration (of the soul).

Cow protection is a measure of man in his identity with all that lives. Cow is a poem of pity; it is a giver of plenty; it made agriculture possible; it is a gentle animal; protection of cow means protection of the whole dumb creation of God.  Speechless lower order of creation tests man's humanitarianism. Cow protection is the gift of Hinduism to the world. Hinduism will live as long as there are Hindus to protect the cow. Cow protection has brought the Hindu against the Mussulman (Muslims). Cow protection is love with which one can conquer Mussulman. (Hey, here is an idea, which the Govts. of the world should look into!) Hindus are not good to the cows in the following instances. Hindus bleed them, starve them, deprive the calves of their milk, castrate the oxen cruelly, beat them, and overload them. If the cows, bulls and calves could speak, they will bear witness to our crimes which would stagger the world. Every cruelty to our cattle means disowning God  and Hinduism. Causing misery to cattle is criminal negligence. (Industrial slaughter houses, take note!) Hindus are judged NOT by their Tilaks --forehead mark- (¾¢Ä¸õ), not by Mantra chanting, not by pilgrimages, not by observing caste rules but by their ability to protect the cow. (Hello Hindu brothers and sisters, do you follow Gandhi's logic.) I pray to God so he may change the heart of Mussulman and fill them with pity for their Hindu neighbors and the cows. End of Gandhi's opinion on cow.

Bhagavan Krishna  says, "Of serpents, I am Vasuki."  Vasuki is the serpent-son of KadrU. Vasuki is the serpent Vishnu used as the churning rope around Mandara Mountain to churn the milk ocean to obtain the Nectar of Immorality. Vasuki, Sesa and Taksaka are the NAga kings. NAga = serpent. Sarpa is the Sanskrit word for snake. English Serpent; Greek Herpes; Latin Serpens; the words, Herpes, and Herpetology came from Sanskrit word 'Sarpa' for Serpent. 'Serpere' means to crawl. Vasuki supports the world on its manifold heads; its movements cause earthquakes. Scandinavian myth says that Serpent Miogarosormr forms the girdle of the earth and dwells in the ocean. At Deluge, the serpent whips its tail, creates tsunamis and drowns the earth. (Shh, the snake is sleeping.)

10.29:  Of the Nagas, I am Ananta. Of water-dwellers, I am Varuna. I am Aryama among (the departed) ancestors. I am Yama among subduers.

Samyamatām: those who subdue or restrain.

NAga = Serpent demon living in the waters having human face and serpent-like lower body.   Ananta means the Endless or the Infinite One. When the snake has it tail in the mouth, it depicts a circle, a symbol of the infinite. There is no beginning and no end. Ananta Sesa, the Cosmic Serpent,  sports a hood of a thousand heads.  Sesa destroys the world by its fiery breath and kalAkula poison at the end of an Era; the resultant ashes sink in the formative ocean, meaning the return of the cosmos to its undifferentiated state, from which a new cosmos will rise in the future. Only Vishnu and Sesa will remain after the terminal cataclysm and start the creative process once again. Vishnu reclines on the bed of coils, which represent the endless coils of Time. Snakes are the soul, meaning that they renew themselves (incarnation) with a body again and again. Sesa the soul emerged from dying Balarama and entered the earth and received a welcome from other snakes.

Serpent and serpent-staff of Aesculapius are the emblem of medicine. Aesculapius is the Greek god of healing.  The serpent, a sign of life and death is the messenger between earth’s surface and the netherworld; that is living and dying; the physician is the benevolent interloper between living and dying.

 Jewish and Greek traditions spoke of the serpent as the mother of all. Ancient Chinese wisdom regarded the First Parents of the human race as chimera, meaning upper human body and lower serpentine body. The shedding of the skin and the emergence of a new snake are signs of renewal, rebirth…. The Sumerians believed that the serpent shed its old skin after ingesting the herb of New Life (compare it with the Hinduism’s Nectar of Immortality and the use of Serpent Vasuki as the churning rope).  The Sumerian serpent stole the Herb of New Life from Sumerian King Gilgamesh.

The Hebrews were blaming God and Moses for bringing them out of Egypt into the wilderness to die by snakebite, hunger and thirst. They repented, begged Moses and God for forgiveness and rescue from the snakes. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone, who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ –Numbers 21: 5-9.    The advice worked.

  Ananta Sesa is the epitomic devotee of Krishna and an incarnation. He has been singing the glory of Bhagavan Krishna (Vishnu) from time immemorial from His thousand mouths and has not yet found an end to His qualities.  The mind-born sons of Brahma, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara collectively called Kumaras or Sanakadis heard Bhagavatam from the mouth of Sesa and immersed themselves in the bliss and love of Bhagavan.  Ananta Sesa morphs as occasion demands into any kind of utility in the form of throne, umbrella, sacred thread, foot ware, bed, pillow, clothes, couch for the use of Bhagavan. His most celebrated form is that his coils become the couch for Lord Vishnu to recline or sleep on.

10.30:  Of daityas, I am Prahalada. I am Time among timekeepers. Of animals, I am the king of beasts (the lion). I am also Garuda (= Vinateya = son of Vinata) among the birds.  

All beings (plant, animals, humans, and celestials) have Paramatman (Supreme Soul) as the Greater Soul, besides the individual soul in each one of them. Animals serve as Mounts (riding animals) for the gods.

Animal Mounts for Gods.

The view from the West.

Bhagavan says,"I am Time" meaning Time is in Him and He is beyond Time. The West says that the generic expression of TIME appears in Rg Veda. Vedic Agriculturists and herdsman associated time with the sun and the seasons (rtu). Atharva Veda talks about time as KAla. KAla existed before creation and created the Progenitor Prajapati and the waters. Brahma was regarded as time and timeless. Real study of Time did not take place until 300 -- 200 B.C. in India according to the West. Solar and lunar calendars were formulated. The West relegates and dismisses the concept of Yugas, Kalpas, and Manvantaras as mythical theories. The West and the world had no concept of Yuga and so embarrassingly and enviously called it a myth. The west could not count beyond 1000, when in India counts ranged beyond the capability of the west.  How could one conceive Yuga without concept of time? The world is created, destroyed and recreated every 4,320,000 years (Maha Yuga).  Science tells us the earth is 4.5 billion years old. The West says the postulation of Zero and the numbers 1 to 9 took place in India. The west did not have one symbol, say for 8 but had four symbols (VIII, while the Hindus had one symbol for it (८). The West held on to I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X.... We will have difficulty in putting three trillion dollars in national debt with the Roman Numerals. (Oct 2009). Since no body can put this enormous debt down on paper in Roman Numerals, we don't have to pay our national debt to the Chinese. I am writing this article on a Chinese-made computer! Three-quarters of things I buy are made in China.  Let us revert back to Roman numerals! We would not have computers without 0 and 1. The West would not adopt the Hindu numerals until they were shown that profits are easy to calculate with zeros and single-symbol numerals in the place of multi-symbol numerals such as VIII and others.

Vishnu and Siva are forms of Cosmic Time. Sakti in the form of Kali is devourer of Time. Siva is MahakAla (Great Time) and Kali is devourer of Mahakala. Vishnu, the west says, consists of matter (Pradhana) and inducting spiritual principle (Purusa), manifest visible substance (Vyakta) and time (KAla). The Vaishnava Vishistadvaida principle of Isvara, Cit and Acit was not mentioned. Space and time are connected with cycles of creation, preservation and destruction. Immortality is the axle; the seven worlds are the seven wheels; the time is the steed with seven reins (rays of the sun).  End. 

insert: exoticindia.com

Garuda: Since he devours snakes, he goes by other names: Nagantaka and Sarparati apart from Tarksya. Om Tārkṣya Mantra cures people suffering from snake bite and diseases. He is considered as one of the thirty-nine avatars of Vishnu: Vihangama the ninth and Amrtaharana the eighteenth. Serpent is Sarpa in Sanskrit; now you know that if it is not for Sanskrit, you won't have a name for that thing that creeps and crawls.

The View from the West on Garuda and others

The stories of Garuda originated from non-Indo-Aryan sources. The bird was the centerpiece of nursery stories. A Naga (serpent) tribe carried the name of Garuda. Some even suggest Vishnu means bird. Garud is the one who fights with wings.  Gara means swallowing a poison. Garuda is a devourer, associated with the all-consuming fire of  the sun's rays. Ud = flows out.  ḍī = fly.  VinAyikA is the female counterpart of Vinayaka and Garuda. The West draws similarity between Garuda and the Sumerian storm-bird Zu (half man and half bird), who steals the tablet of destiny, the giver of power over destiny of everything. Remember Garuda stole Ambrosia from the heavens to release his mother from slavery.  Other similarities are the Eagle form of the Egyptian Sun-god and the Candor form of Mayan sun-god. It appears all mighty birds are associated with the sun as Garuda is. They soar towards the sun.

This is the mantra of Eulogy to Garuda: O Garuda! most excellent bird! Thou art the favored one of the Husband of Lakshmi; thy beak is hard like adamant; thy talons are sharp, and golden are thy wings. Obeisance to thee, most excellent among birds! I bow to thee, O king of birds.

As thou abidest near Vishnu with folded palms, do thou, O destroyer of the pride of enemies! help me to be there as thou art there. When thou art pleased, the Lord of the Universe is pleased, and grants success. Excerpted from The Great Liberation P 413 by Woodroffe

Time (Kāla) exists in the Lord, but He is not subject to the ravages of Time. As the wind dissipates the clouds, Time carries people from shore to shore: Samsara.  All the gunas, (Sattva, virtue; Rajas, passion; and Tamas, Darkness) function in man due to Time. Time separates soul from body.  Time creates and destroys sun, moon, Siva, water, Indra, fire, sky, herbs, Vasus, rivers, seas, the existent and the non-existent in its march. When the hour of death tolls, a disease or condition pops its head to snuff out life. The heat in the body dissipates from withdrawal of fuel, which damages the vital functions (Garuda Purana, 2.2.35-46).

    Creator is ParaKāla (Supreme Time) and MahaKāla (Great Time); Time is broken up into Lesser Times for the Sun, Moon, the Earth, the seasons, living beings who are finite entities.  

    "Of Daityas, I am Prahalada," thus says Bhagavan Krishna. Daityas are born of Diti and Adityas are born of Aditi; both Diti and Aditi (the sisters) are married to progenitor Kasyappa. Daityas are the Asuras or demons; Adityas are Suras or gods. This just indicates that gods and demons are half brothers and so is man, half god, half demon. Prahalada comes from a family of demons but turns out to be a devotee of Vishnu and friend of gods. Prahalada the son and Hiranyakasippu the father are poles apart, the former a devotee of Vishnu and the latter a sworn enemy of Vishnu. King Hiranyakasippu does all kinds of cruel things to his son for being the devotee of Vishnu. (Here is an instance of state terrorism, lack of free association and freedom of worship.) Once he throws him down a mountain; Prahalada clutches his chest with his hands so that the Bhagavan in his heart would not sustain any injury. This is witnessed by Bhagavan, Bhuma Devi and Mahalakshmi, the latter two being Vishnu's consorts. Bhuma Devi, the Mother Earth seeing Prahalada's protective act offers Raksa (protection) and cradles him in soft earth on every roll of his body until he lands in a cradle of soft earth. Prahalada lives. Of course, Vishnu in the incarnation of Narasimha, man-lion (a Divine Chimera), emerges from an apparently lifeless palace pillar in a show of shock and awe, razzle-dazzle and Wham-Bam-Boom, rips Hiranyakasippu apart and brings an end to his terror. This sudden emerging of Narasimha from the pillar was a precipitate event (and incarnation), when Hiranyakasippu kicks a palace pillar and asks his son whether his God Vishnu is in the pillar. (The imbibing gods [Suras = those who drink wine] are afraid of teetotalling Asuras and envy their discipline.)

Man-Lion Incarnation: Religion somehow brings out some scientific truths in unusual ways even before science captures its essence. All animals and humans are related to each other, considered on a scientific basis. Man has all the genes that a mouse has; we have only 300 genes that are special to human beings:  Genetically speaking we are mouse first and human later. Our origin begins at a single cell, and goes on to creatures of the sea, reptiles, four-legged animals, birds... The placental mammals in the tree of evolution branched out about 100 million years ago. Thirty million years ago, primates, rodents, horses, elephants, tigers, lions branched out. In people we see some  vague and yet recognizable facial and or behavioral resemblance to dogs, goats, pigs, buffaloes, horses, lions, tigers, chimps, gorillas, apes, simians a reminder that the humans and the placental animals had a common ancestral heritage. Common sayings are that he pigged-out on $5 buffet-lunch , someone is a lapdog of somebody else, where does a gorilla sit? here comes the snake in the grass, you dirty rat, .... This Commonality of behavior and physiognomy is portrayed when cars are advertised on television.

One such ad shows an equine-faced man finding a dancing partner in an equine-faced woman followed by galloping horses and a myriad-horse-power car.  The truth remains that we share the trunk and branch in the tree of evolution with many animals.  More amazing is the fact that we share genes with round worm and bacteria. The truth is our origins are lowly, and we try to rise and blossom like a lotus flower whose origin and roots are in the slimy mud. Our evolution is most advanced on earth and is at the terminal branches of the evolutionary tree.  Here is a depiction of Vishnu in his Theriomorphic forms, indicating that He exists in inanimate matter, animals, humans....

10.31:  Of all the purifiers, I am the wind. Of warriors, I am Rama. Of fish, I am Makara (Marine Monster, Crocodile or Shark). Of the rivers, I am the River Ganga.

The view from the West:

The West says the priests started the fiction that a celestial Ganga (AkAsaganga) was issuing from the left foot of Vishnu. Ganga was called Devabhuti (flowing from heaven), MandAkini (the Milky Way), Vishnupati... The great-great grandson of Sagara, Bhagiratha prayed to Siva, and Ganga to descend to the earth to purify Sagara's sons. Siva-Gangadhara caught the three great torrents of Ganga on his matted russet hair on His head thus preventing the flooding of the earth. All this was to purify the ashes of Sagara's 60K sons destroyed by Kapila and send them to heaven and thus Ganga earned her name, Bhagirathi. Ganga River surrounds the Great City of Brahma on Mount Meru and divides into four mighty rivers going in four cardinal directions. The west claims that Ganga was a river-spirit before she was elevated to the status of River Goddess, Parvati, Mother Goddess Annapurna, and a Mermaid with sacred Saiva ash mark on her forehead by the South Indians. The Bengalis regard Ganga as white in color (depicting her purifying properties) adorned her with a crown and gave her a vahana, a makara, a lotus on her right hand and a lute on her left hand. All the bathers in Ganga go to heaven. They whose bones, hairs and other remains after death left on the banks of the river go to Swarga (heaven). Wherever Ganga (Gangaksetra) flows is sacred to the Hindus. Sin vanishes when a person sees, touches, drinks and or invokes Ganga as 'O Mother Ganga'. (Many devotees and I feel strongly that the habit of placing dead bodies in river Ganges is not a good idea.)

Santanu (the third and youngest son of Pratipa) fell in love with Ganga who morphed into a human form for the marriage. Earlier, Santanu married a fisher-girl by name Satyavathi who extracted a promise that her son would supersede his son Bhisma by previous marriage to the throne. Ganga extracted a promise from Santanu that she would leave him if he treated or talked to her unkindly . The West offers the opinion that Bhisma was the 8th son of Ganga and historically Satyavati story was open to dispute. Ganga threw the seven neonates in the river saying it was for their own good. Santanu called Ganga a murderess when she was about to drown the 8th child. Ganga then revealed that she was Goddess Ganga and their sons were the gods called Vasus who were born as humans on account of a curse of Rishi Vasistha. She named him Gangadatta (later Bhisma) and vanished for ever. The west says that this story of eight Vasus draws its inspiration from Aditi having eight sons, taking her seven sons to meet the gods and leaving behind the 8th one, Martanda. Nile River also was personified, took its origin in the heavens and later went into the underworld. Another reason why Ganga came from heaven was to fill the oceans consumed by Agastya. The west draws a parallel with the Biblical version of the river that flowed out of Eden and divided into four rivers. (Genesis II.10)

10.32:  Of all creations, I am the beginning, the end, and the middle. O Arjuna, of sciences (I am) the science of self (Universal and individual). Of those who argue, I am the right argument (Vāda).

This I consider is an important statement by Bhagavan.  Science is Brahma Vidya, the knowledge that takes you from endless cycle of birth and death to liberation; its other name is Para Vidya (Supreme Knowledge).  All modern science (Arts and Science) are Apara Vidya (Not Supreme knowledge, unessential Knowledge, Faustian knowledge) that does not take you from bondage to freedom.

10.33:  Of the letters, I am the first letter, A. Of compounds (I am) the dual. I am also imperishable time. I am the creator, whose face is all-around: Brahma. (Visvatah-mukhah).

Of the letters, I am the first letter.

More than 2000 years ago, before Jesus Christ and possibly The Buddha, here is what  poet  Valluvar, whose day job was weaving, says in beautiful and honey-sweet Tamil.

அகர¹ முதல² எழுத்தெல்லாம்³ ஆதி⁴

பகவன்⁵ முதற்றே⁶  உலகு⁶     0001

akara¹ mudhala² ezhuththellaam³ aadhi⁴

pakavan⁵ mudhatrE⁶ ulaku⁷

A¹--first²-of all letters³-the beginning⁴

bhagavan⁵-the first⁶-in the world⁷

"A" is the first of all letters; the beginning of all, Bhagavan is the First in the World.

Akara is like alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet.

A is the first, the beginning, the life and the base letter of all letters. So also Bhagavan, the beginning of all, is the first in the world, from whom the world of beings and matter proceed. Without A there is no spoken or written word. Without A and its cohort vowel life-letters, all we can make is cockamamie sound. Without Bhagavan there is no world. Thus word and world are Bhagavan, Parabrahman and Sabdabrahman and vice versa.  Sabdabrahman is the origin of the letters, words and sentences and also of the world of beings and matter. Ideas in the form of letters and their infinite combinations are passed on from generation to generation by spoken and written word. Bhagavan in his Tattvas and combinations thereof manifests in infinite forms and names. We see the mind of the author in his word; we see the handiwork of Bhagavan in his manifestations. Akaram and Bhagavan are one. When it comes to knowledge, we are all abecedarians (கற்றுக்குட்டி); God is the knower of all with no exceptions.

Time is in the Lord; It has no separate existence from him; It is under His dynamic control. Time propels Avyakta, the Unmanifest to manifest itself and the result is Mahat-tattva, the Great Principle, which is the beginning of the creation cascade. There are three aspects to Time: God, God’s will and march of Time. Time carries out God’s will and disturbs the equilibrium of gunas and Prakrti and thereby creation cascade is set in motion. Time, therefore, pre-exists creation but not the Lord Himself. Time represents the Lord’s power, his desire to effect a change. Time has a pervasive control over man as long as he is immersed in Samsara, until he reaches the feet of the Lord. Starting with Mahat-Tattva, Time entered 23 principles, Mahat, ego, five subtle elements, five gross elements, five motor and five sensory organs, and mind. These elements by themselves could not work in an embodied soul, until the Lord entered the body. That is Kriya-sakti (action-power) of the Lord.  

When animals are created in the lab by cloning, man claims responsibility for its creation. It is not true. Man does not create the egg which belongs to the female of the species. What man does is suctioning out the nuclear material from the egg and put in new nuclear material in its place, zap the modified egg with electric current, implant it in the womb and hope for development of the fetus. If God does not enter that zapped diploid egg with His Kriya-Sakti, there would not be any blast formation, embryo, and fetus. That is why there is so many failures in cloning animals. It costs $15,000 dollars to clone a cow, while a natural calf costs $2000.00. (08/2006)  There are unknown factors which elude the scientist.  God is different from god; the former is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent; the latter is a perfected human being living in heaven. There are millions of gods serving the One and only GOD in heaven; He is the God of gods, humans and beings. When was the last time you heard of a newly-hired messenger boy in the office taking over the job of the company CEO?  When their tenure is over in heaven, the gods come down as humans.  Man is trying to be god; yes, it is possible; man can go to heaven and be a god; but man cannot be GOD. We are half god and half demon. We have to give up the demonic side before we become god. If we give up the demonic side and become god, we can live in close proximity to Him. He created many universes and zillions of stars.  You think you have the ability to displace and take the job of the  CREATOR.  Since we are half-demons, we have the vicarious longing to emulate God in creation, maintenance and destruction. You are a human, you have the demonic qualities, so there is no way a human can supplant God.  When you give up the demonic qualities, you will move to heaven and not live here on earth. It is like getting tons of money and moving to an upscale neighborhood. I do not see any harm as long as humans do all these experiments on cloning and stem cells within legal and ethical considerations for the good of fellow man. Human cloning must be a no-no at all times. There is no way of knowing whether that clone will turn out to be another Hitler.

Prajapati, the creator himself is subject to time. Brahma is subject to time. Everything under the sun and beyond is subject to time.

Time is a vessel that is always full and replenishes itself continuously; Time never runs out; you cannot outrun Time; yet, Time is in Bhagavan; He is the only One who outlasts Time.

10.34:   I am all-devouring death and (am) the origin of future (beings). Among women (I am) fame, prosperity (Srih), speech, memory, intelligence, firmness and patience.  

Shri: One of the consorts of Lord Vishnu.

10.35:  Of the hymns in Sama Veda (I am) Brhatsama; of meters, I am Gayatri; of months (I am) Margasirasa (Dec-Jan); of all seasons, I am flower bearer (spring).

Of  months (I am) Margasirasa (Dec-Jan). In the West, these are the bitter months of cold; in India in December and January, the weather is clement.

Hindu Manners Customs and Ceremonies by Abbe Dubois lists the following--Page 617.

The Divine Essence

In prayer, I am Gayatri.

In speech, I am the word AUM.

Among the gods, I am Indra.

Among the stars, I am the Sun.

Among the hills, I am Mount Meru.

Among the Rudras, I am Sankara.

Among the rich, I am Kubhera.

Among the elements, I am Fire.

Among the purohitas, I am Bruhaspati.

Among the generals, I am Kartika.

Among the penitents, I am Bhrigu.

Among the sages, I am Kapila-Muni.

Among the Gandharvas, I am Chitrarata.

Among the weapons, I am the Thunderbolt.

Among the birds, I am the Garuda.

Among the elephants, I am Airavata.

Among the cows, I am Surabhi.

Among the monkeys, I am Hanuman.

Among the serpents, I am Ananta.

Among the waters, I am the sea.

Among the rivers, I am the Ganges.

Among the trees, I am Asvatta.

Among the shrubs, I am the Tulasi.

Among the grasses, I am the Darbha.

Among the stones, I am the Salagrama.

Among the giants, I am Prahalada.

Among the months, I am Margasirasha.

Among the learned books, I am the Sama-Veda.

In short, I am the spirit of all that exists; I permeate the universe.

The View from the West

Here is a man who talks in his own slanted words (italics) and whose disdain I portray in his own words. He knows Hindu religion and yet has not understood its essence and teaching; this is what the West knows about Hinduism.

page 611

Though Dubois (1765-1848) is an inveterate, profligate and profuse Hindu and Brahmin basher, he knows the Hindu religion and its people very well.  Here are his words highlighted not in bold letters but in slanted characters to emphasize his aspersions. It sounds comical, though his intentions, knowledge and opinion are sinistrous.  (Hindu) religion does not proceed from God.  Absurd trammels and  Brahmin deceit surround them. Strange doctrine of metempsychosis. Robbers, liars, murderers receive immunity  after death provided they give presents to the Brahmins.  Lo and behold, he said something good: Hindu religion unites various castes and tribes into one body; otherwise India would be many nations.  His skill of observation and accurate recording of Hindu manners do not make him wonder how so many millions of Hindus could be intellectually effete and guilty of such deficiencies. He does not stop and wonder whether his conclusions could be wrong. A deceptively friendly backslap, a knockout punch and a spit on the face are couched in a charitable statement: The Hindu religion is bad and absurd, but it is better than no religion at all.  One thing I must be happy about is that I would not have known my old country, my people, my customs, my manners and more without his help. It is a journey within my soul. I now have a better understanding of Hinduism because of Dubois and I feel blessed that I was born a Hindu in spite of its man-made deficiencies and inequities, though I think other religions are worthy of my respect and even adoration. Hinduism encompasses all religions and knows their heart, soul and message. Dubois does not stop and think that there is one God and many are His names and His followers come from many regions and religions.  God was there before man came. Man discovered God at various times in his story (history). In Christianity and Judaism, man discovered God from Old Testaments and with the advent of Jesus Christ; in Islam with the advent of Prophet Muhammad; in Hinduism with the advent of who, what, when, but long before everybody else. Hinduism has been in the god business long before everybody else.

God, religion and its followers take the color and the contour of the region and yet He remains as one God. He is the True Chameleon (in the good sense of the word) and fools all provincial, narrow, type-cast, rigid minds; God is not provincial; if he is, he is not God; he must be man. A jealous god, an angry god: Is he really a God? That is the portrayal of god by ill-informed people.

Hinduism, simply put is religion of man in a generic sense, because its proper name is Sanatana Dharma, Eternal Order, which does not have a prophet but has a code of ethics, ideas, hopes, aspirations, conduct....  Hinduism is not a one man show. Its tenets are written neither on stone nor on water, nor on wind. They are written on the genome of the heart and mind so that these tenets are dynamic and change as a healthy genome undergoes changes for the better depending on environment, exposure, stress.... If there is no dynamism and change we will all be worms and would not have climbed up the evolutionary tree and arrived at the top. Tenets once written and observed unchanged for several millenniums become stale and out of touch with changing times. And yet certain tenets must remain the same for ever. A religion must grow and change in its never-ending evolution. In Hinduism there is order and symmetry as in Rta, the Cosmic Order. Religion sets some rules for human conduct. God does not need us for his edification. God of Dubois must be a man because no man can fathom God as Dubois tries to measure his God. Christian thought is that God created man in His image. We are an image in a mirror; we are a reflection; we are an apparition; we are unreal. The image dissipates without God and mirror? How could an image know the substance of God? How could a shadow know the substance of which it is a shadow? If a person has right thoughts, right words and right deeds, it does not matter whether he belongs to any religion or not. Right thoughts, right words and right deeds make the religion of man.  All particularized names matter less. Hinduism is Polytheism within Monotheism and vice versa. Confusing, yes. Here is an example. You are a father and one person: you are also a son, a brother, an uncle, a husband, a grandfather, a father-in-law.... In each roll, you take and play an exclusive character; you cannot mix the rolls. God's names are many (Polytheism) and yet He is One (Monotheism).  That is Polytheism within Monotheism or vice versa.  Thank you Dubois, wherever you are. I am letting the less palatable material remain buried in his book in the name of decency.  One should read his book with detached interest; otherwise proficient puppeteer Dubois of dubious perception and conclusion would make you a fool, a clown and a cartoon character.

10.36:  I am the fraud of the gambler; of the splendid, I am the splendor; I am victory; I am the resolve (of the resolute); I am the absolute virtue of the virtuous.  

10.36:  I am the gambling of the fraudulent; of the splendid, I am the splendor; I am victory; I am the resolve (of the resolute); I am the absolute virtue of the virtuous.

10.37:   Of the Vrsnis, I am Vasudeva; of the Pandavas (I am) Dhananjaya (Arjuna); of the Munis, I am Vyasa; of the poets, I am Usana.

10.38:  I am the punishment of the punishers; I am justice of the victorious; I am the silence of the secrets; I am the wisdom of the wise.

10.39:   Whatever may be the seed of all existence (living beings), that I am, O Arjuna; there is no being or entity (Bhūtam), moving or unmoving that exists without Me. 

Bhutam: living being, human, animal, and even vegetable; the world; the Spirit; the ghost; the elements.

It covers everything that you see and do not see in this universe and beyond.

            There are eight million four hundred thousand (8,400,000) species of living creatures, divided into four classes: Andajas, egg-born; Svedajas, sweat-born (insects and vermin); Udbhijjas, seed-born; Jarayujas, the viviparous (Garuda Purana, 11.12.2-3).

Svedajas (sweat or heat): These creatures are called sweat-born, because sweat indicates heat. The eggs laid by insects in the cavities of dead body come out as larvae in 12 to 24 hours if the dead body stays warm (from the high environmental temperature).  

10.40: There is no end to My divine manifestations, O Parantapa, conqueror of enemies. This is only a brief exposition by Me of the vastness of My manifestations.

10.41:  Whatever being has vitality, splendor and power, know that to be a manifestation of a fragment of My splendor.

Take all the achievements of humanity so far; all this is a fragment of His Splendor.  If it is not for a spark of His, none of them would have able to do their bit and mite.

10.42:  What benefit do you gain from surfeit of this knowledge, O Arjuna? I support this entire universe with a fraction of My energy or Myself.

End BG CHAPTER 10: MANIFESTATION