Krsna in the Gita nº 4

[Radha-Govinda Mandir]

4. Krishna is everything
Lord Krishna strongly and repeatedly declares in the Bhagavad-gîtå that He
is the source of all that be. It follows that God is not only distinct from
His creative energies, but He is also one with them since they are eternally
resting on Him. Srî Caitanya Mahåprabhu thus stated that the philosophy of
the Gîtå is acintya-bhedåbheda-tattva, which means that God is inconceivably
one with, and simultaneously different from, His creation. We shall survey
Krishna's statements that He is the source of everything, and then see how
this claim is logically linked to the claim that “all things are Krishna.”
Sri Krishna  declares in the Bhagavad-gîtå: “I am the source of everything,
from Me everything emanates.” [aham sarvasya prabhava? matta? sarvam
pravartate 10.8]. Similarly, He states: “I am the origin and the
annihilation of the entire cosmos.” [ahaµ k®tsnasya jagata? prabhava?
pralayas tathå 7.6] Krishna goes on to say, “There is nothing else beyond
Me, O Dhanañjaya. All this world rests on me like pearls strung on a
thread.” [matta? parataraµ nånyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya, mayi sarvam idaµ
protam sütre ma?i-ga?å iva 7.7] And as  previously quoted, “Neither the
hosts of gods nor the great sages know my origin, for in all respects I am
the origin of the gods and great sages.” [10.2] Krishna is not only the
source of the living beings, but of their qualities as well: “Intelligence,
knowledge, freedom from confusion [and ten other qualities], in their
various types, are states of being of the living entities, and they all come
from Me.”  [buddhir jñånam asammoha?
 bhavanti bhåvå bhütånåm matta eva
p®thag-vidhå? 10.4-5] “The seven primordial sages, and the four Manus owe
their existence to me for they are born of My mind.” [maharßaya? sapta pürve
catvåro manavas tathå mad-bhåvå månaså jåtå
 10.7]
Let us now examine the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gîtå, wherein Lord
K®ß?a claims [10.20-38] to be the superlative examplar in seventy
categories. Here is a sample verse from that section: “Of the Ådityas I am
Viß?u; of lights I am the radiant sun; of the Maruts I am Marîci; of stars I
am the moon.” [ådityånåm ahaµ viß?ur jyotißåµ ravir aµ?umån, marîcir marutåm
asmi nakßatrå?åm ahaµ ?a?î] To read monism into all of this would be a
transparent misreading of the text, for a serious look at the entire chapter
makes abundantly clear what K®ß?a is actually saying.
First, we notice that most of Krishna's statements, cited above, to the
effect that He is the source of everything come from this same tenth
chapter, namely verses 10.2, 10.4-5, 10.7, and 10.8. Krishna precedes, then,
His identification of Himself with the greatest items of this world by
emphasizing that He is the source of all these things. Recall that in the
seventh chapter Krishna stated that all the things of this world are His
energy, or prak®ti [7.4-6] and that He is therefore the source of all that
be. That Krishna is referring to the same ontological state of affairs
becomes clear when we notice the repeated use here of the word vibhüti,
which indicates the following: expansion, manifestation of might, great
power, glory etc. Arjuna introduces this term when he says to Krishna: “You
should speak about your own divine glories, those by which you pervade these
worlds and abide in them.” [vaktum arhasy a?eße?a divyå hy åtma-vibhütaya?,
yåbhir vibhütibhir lokån imåµs tvaµ vyåpya ti߆hasi 10.16]. The word for
"glories" here is vibhütaya?, the plural form of vibhüti. But that is just
the beginning of this word's career in the tenth chapter of the Gîtå. Arjuna
then says,  “O Janårdana (Krishna), please describe again, and extensively,
your mystic power and might for as I listen to this ambrosia, I find no
satiation.” [vistare?åtmano yogaµ vibhütiµ ca janåradana, bhüya? kathaya
t®ptir hi ?®?vato nåßti me 'm®tam 10.18] Again, the word for "might" is
vibhütim. Lord Krishna then answers, agreeing to explain His own divine
opulences, and again the word vibhütaya?, plural of vibhüti, is used 10.19].
In the very next ?loka, the Lord begins His identification of Himself with
the 70 categories mentioned above. At the end of the narration, Krishna
says, “O burner of the foe, there is no end to my divine powers, and so I
have given some example of the extension of my glory.” [nånto 'sti mama
divyånåµ vibhütînåm parantapa, eßa tüdde?atah prokto vibhüter vistaro mayå
10.40]  Predictably the word vibhüti is used twice in this vese, and it is
repeated in the following verse, wherein Lord Krishna says: “Whater
glorious, beautiful, or mighty being there may be, understand that it is
born of but a spark of my splendor. [yad yad vibhütimat sattvam ?rîmad
ürjitam eva vå, tat tad evåvagaccha tvam mama tejo-'µ?a-sambhavam10.41].
Here the word  vibhüti-mat means "that which possesses vibhüti, i.e. power,
glory etc.
By using the word vibhüti no less than six times, Lord K®ß?a makes clear
that He is talking about His powers, His properties, His opulences etc. In
the seventh chapter, there are three "identification verses" [7.9-11] which
exactly resemble in meter, language, and content the "identification verses"
of the tenth chapter [10.20-38]. These three verses, as in the tenth
chapter, are preceded by an elaborate analysis of how Lord Krishna is the
source of all that be, matter and spirit being His superior and inferior
potencies. At the conclusion of 7.9-11, K®ß?a declares that all of these
opulences that He has identified Himself with in fact come from Him, and are
resting in Him, but He is not in them. [matta eveti tån viddhi na tv ahaµ
teßu te mayi 7.12].
It also bears mentioning that one who rightly understands the sense in
which K®ß?a is the source of everything does not then consider that all
beings are God, but rather worships the real God with wholehearted devotion:
“I am the source of all, from me all proceeds. Knowing this, the wise
worship Me with all their being.” [ahaµ sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam
pravartate, iti matvå bhajante måm budhå? bhåva-samanvitå? 10.8]
The purpose of the identification verses is to nourish the devoted
thesists, as K®ß?a explains in the verse immediately following the above
?loka: “Their minds in Me, their lives dedicated to Me, the devotees
enlighten one another, always speaking about Me, and thus they are satisfied
and rejoice. [mac-cittå mad-gata-prå?å bodhayanta? parasparam kathayanta? ca
måµ nityaµ tußyanti ca ramanti ca 10.9]. Further, Arjuna explicitly states
that it is just to facilitate such meditation on the Lord, that he is
requesting Krishna to describe His glories: “Always thinking of You, O
Yogin, how can I know You? In which various forms, my Lord, am I to think
about You? Describe to me at length Your glories
etc.” [kathaµ vidyåm ahaµ
yogin tvåµ sadå paricintayan, keßu keßu ca bhåveßu cintyo 'si bhagavan mayå

vistare?åtmano yogaµ vibhütiµ ca janårdana bhüya? kathaya
10. 17-18]. There
is hardly a doctrine of pantheism in the Bhagavad-gîtå. The real message is
quite clear: surrender to Krishna.
  There is one instance where Lord K®ß?a says that after many births, one in
knowledge surrenders to the Lord, realizing that “Våsudeva (K®ß?a) is
everything.” [bahünåµ janmanåm ante jñånavån måm prapadyate våsudeva? sarvam
iti 7.19] Similarly, there is an instance where Arjuna tells Krishna, “You
cover everything and thus You are everything.” [sarvaµ samåpnoßi tato 'si
sarvam 11.40] In these cases also, there is devastating evidence against the
impersonal, monistic interpretation.
In the first instance, Lord Krishna's statement comes in the midst of a
discussion of four types of people who do not surrender to God, and four
types who do. Krishna's point in the verse we have cited [7.19] is that
surrender to Krishna is the symptom and proof that one is actually in
knowledge, after many lifetimes of seeking the truth. In fact, the learned
one who realizes that Krishna is everything is one of the four classes of
men who surrender to the Lord. We have already explained at length the many
verses in chapter seven, preceeding 7.19, which claim that K®ß?a is the
source of everything, and that He is identical with the opulent features of
this world in the sense that such items, composed of the inferior modes of
nature (sattva, rajas, tamas) are but expansions of the Lord's power. And
the verses following 7.19 emphasize that it is Krishna alone who is to be
worshiped, and not other gods. In other words, the topic under discussion is
nothing but surrender to Krishna, and an elaborate ontological explanation
in this very chapter has clarified that Krishna is to be identified with the
wonderful things of this world only in the sense that such items rest on
Him. It was explicitly stated that Krishna is simultaneouly aloof, that He
is “not in them.” [na tv ahaµ teßu te mayi 7.12]
Similarly, Arjuna declares to Krishna: “You are everything because You
entirely possess everything.” [sarvam samåpnoßi tato 'si sarvam] Arjuna's
statement is in response to the cosmic vision of God, in which Krishna
devours all the universe, and all beings are subdued by the Lord's
omnipotent feature of time. That is, in the context of God's absolute
domination of the subordinate living beings, Arjuna utters His prayer, “You
are everything!”
Still, it is worthwhile to take a closer look at the somewhat complex
ontology operating here, and Krishna Himself provides us such a focused
metaphysical analysis in the ninth chapter of the Gîtå [9.4-10] where He
intentionally speaks in apparently contradictory language: “By Me in My
unmanifested form, I pervade this whole universe. All beings are situated in
Me, but I am not situated in them. The beings are also not situated in me.
Behold My mystic power. I am the maintainer of all beings; I am not also
situated in them. My self is the source of the beings. Just as the great
wind, which goes everywhere, is situated in the sky, similarly understand
that all beings are situated in Me.” [9.4-6]3
Lord Krishna here makes several ontological distinctions between Himself,
God, and the many living beings like ourselves:
1. Krishna states that He individually pervades the entire universe. There
is no similar claim for any of the individual living beings. [9.4]
2. All beings are situated in Krishna, but He is not in them. [9.4]
3. Krishna is the maintainer of all beings, but not they of Him. [9.5]
4. Krishna is the source (bhåvana) of all beings, but not they of Him. [9.5]
5. Lord Krishna compares Himself to the sky, and the living beings to the
air which moves within the sky but does not mix with it. [9.6] This metaphor
is further developed at 13.3  wherein Krishna compares the sky to the soul
which does not mix with the body. Krishna states at 13.3 that although the
sky extends everywhere (sarva-gatam) because of its sublety (saukßmatvåt) it
does not mix with anything, and hence nothing can taint it (nopalipyate). At
9.6, then, Krishna means to state that although the great winds blow
throughout space or sky, the sky is never covered by the air, which is a
grosser element in the traditional cosmology. By analogy, then, although God
contains all living beings within His existence, because of His being
superior, He can not be affected by the inferior qualities of the beings
which He contains. Indeed, Krishna states that He pervades the universe in
an unmanifest form (avyakta-mürtinå), and the term avyakta here,
"unmanifest", is clearly related to the concept of subtlety in 13.33. This
sense of subtlety as a cause or condition of imperceptibility is explicity
given at 13.6, where it is said that “the Absolute is incomprehensible
because of its subtlety.” [sükßmatvåt tad avijñeyam]. This very word
sükßmatvåt, is given at 13.33, to mean "because of its subtlety".
Thus the analogy of the sky and the air [9.6] is meant to explicate the
same message given at 9.4-5: although Srî Krishna is all-pervading, and
although all beings live and exist within His existence, He is always
distinct and superior, and is never affected by the inferior qualities of
the living beings that He contains. Thus it is very difficult to mount
anything like a serious argument for monism from the statements of the
Bhagavad-gîtå.