Krsna in the Gita nº 5

[Radha-Govinda Mandir]

5. Krishna has spiritual form
In the Bhagavad-gîtå, Lord Krishna stresses the personality of the Godhead
as the highest feature of the Absolute Truth and therefore the goal of the
yoga process. For example, at 8.8, Krishna states:
“One who is  engaged in the practice of yoga, meditating with undeviating
consciousness on the Supreme Divine Person, goes to that Supreme Person. One
who constantly remembers Him as  the primeval scholar, the steady ruler,
smaller than the smallest, the creator of everything, as He whose
inconceivable form is luminous like the sun and beyond darkness
one who
remembers Him thus attains to that Supreme Divine Person.”4 [8.8-10]
Similarly, Arjuna declares Krishna to be the “eternal divine person,”
[purußaµ ?å?vataµ divyam 10.12]  and later he says “I consider You the
eternal Person.” [sanåtanas tvam purußo mato me 11.18] At this point it is
good to recall the strict ontological rule which Krishna enunciated at the
very beginning of His teaching, “Of the termporary there is no real
existence, and of the eternal there is no cessation.” [nåsatao vidyate bhåvo
nåbhåvo vidyate sata? 2.16] Thus when Arjuna declares Krishna to be the
eternal person, it is understand that Krishna's personality has no beginning
or end, and indeed Arjuna states that Krishna is ajam, "unborn" [10.12]. It
is signficant that Krishna states that not only He Himself, but in fact
individual souls in general are beginningless: “Know that both material
nature and the individual person [purußa] are beginningless. It is the
accidental qualities and transformations of prak®ti that come into being.”
[prak®tim purußaµ caiva viddhy anådî ubhåv api, vikåråµ? ca gu?åµ? caiva
viddhi prak®ti-sambhavån]. So the sanåtana-purußa, the "eternal person", can
not refer to a material form.
As Krishna is an eternal, supreme, divine person, it is natural that He has
an abode, and that is also described within the Gîtå: “The sun does not
brighten it, nor the moon, nor fire, and going to it, they never
return ---that is My supreme abode.” [na tad bhåsayate süryo na ?a?åõka na
påvakah yad gatvå na nivartante tad dhåma paramam mama 15.6] Similarly: “It
is said to be unmanifest and indestructible, and they call it the supreme
destination. Having achieved it, they never return from My supreme abode.”
[avyakto 'kßara ity uktas tam åhu? paramaµ gatim, yam pråpya na nivartante
tad dhåma paramam mama 8.21]
According to the Bhagavad-gîtå, the supreme personality of the Godhead is
not merely myth, poetry or symbol, but rather spiritually tangible form and
being, which is avyakta, unmanifest, only to the materially conditioned
soul. Thus in the seventh chapter of the Gîtå, Lord Krishna says, “The
unintelligent think that I am unmanifest, but that I have become a manifest,
visible person, for they do not know My supreme nature which is
inexhaustible and of incomparable excellence. [avyaktaµ vyaktim åpannam
manyante måm abuddhaya?, param bhåvam ajånanto mamåvyayam anuttamam 7.24] So
important is this ?loka that we shall examine its key terms in detail. Lord
K®ß?a says that “the unintelligent (abuddhaya?, plural of abuddhi, literally
"those without intelligence") think (manyante) that I am avyaktam,
unmanifest, but that I have become vyaktim, a manifest person.” The term
avyaktam contrasts with the term vyaktim not only in the sense of the
invisibile versus the visible, but also in contrasting a type of impersonal
existence with a personal, individual reality. This sense of avyakta as
impersonal, in contrast to the personal, is clearly evident at 12.1, and
12.3, and is also strengthened by the fact that here at 7.24, Lord Krishna
contrasts avyaktam not with its immediate antonym vyaktam, "the manifest",
but with the cognate vyaktim which more specifically indicates a manifest,
individual person. Krishna says, then, “The unintelligent think that I am
impersonal and unmanifest, but that I have become a distinct, visible,
individual person. They think this because they do not know my supreme,
transcendental nature (param bhåvam)
” The param bhåvam, or "supreme nature"
mentioned here is clearly the transcendental nature of the vyakti, or
visible personal identity of K®ß?a. It is diffcult to find another
straightforward reading of this simple Sanskrit sentence.
Lord Krishna's statement at 7.24 contrasts in a curious way with another
use of the terms avyakta and vyakti at 8.18. There the Lord says, “On the
coming of the day (of Brahmå) all the individual beings come forth from the
unmanifest, and on the coming of the night (of Brahmå), they are merged into
the very place that is called the avyakta.” [avyaktåd vyaktaya? sarvå?
prabhavanty ahar-ågame, råtry-ågame pralîyante tatraivåvyakta-sañjñake 8.18]
There are several significant features of this statement. Krishna uses the
term vyaktaya?, the plural nominative form of vyakti?, and He says that all
these vyaktis (my translation: all the individual beings) come forth from
the unmanifest, avyakta, during the day of Brahmå. Since there is clearly a
plurality of living beings mentioned here (and everywhere else in the Gîtå),
and since the term vyakti is here used to describe the beings at their
specific stage of manifestation, coming forth on the coming of Brahmå's day,
it is clear in this context also that the term vyakti refers to an
individual, manifest person, active within the world. Because one might tend
to associate the term with the conditioned souls visible in this world,
Krishna takes care to emphasize, when using the word to refer to Himself,
that He does not, as do the conditioned souls, acquire a visible form upon
coming to this world. Indeed the entire argument at 7.24 is that Lord
Krishna does not assume His visible, personal form at all, but that His
personal form is His superior nature, param bhåvam. Indeed, Krishna explains
almost immediately after this, at 8.20, that the param bhåvam [inflected
here as paro bhåva? since it shifts to the nominative from the accusative]
is beyond the avyakta, the unmanifest from which the ordinary souls come
forth on the coming of Brahmå's day. Although Lord Krishna describes that
paro bhåva? as being a superior avyakta or unmanifest realm, we find at 8.21
that here the paro bhåva? actually refers to the Lord's supreme abode. In
other words, although His supreme abode is not manifest to ordinary persons,
Krishna descends from His abode so that we can see Him as He is. This is the
highest sense of avatåra.
The same term paro bhåva? has been used at 7.24 to indicate the spiritual
nature of Krishna's personality, and at 8.20, the term is used specifically
to describe the spiritual quality of the Lord's abode, but in either case,
it is clear that the paro bhåva? at 8.20, or indeed the param bhåvam
mentioned at 7.24, are beyond the avyakta mentioned at 8.18, as the status
from which conditioned souls, also called vyaktis, come forth to manifest in
this world. The conclusion is that the Gîta affirms the spiritual
personality of the Lord, which is not a mere symbol, incarnation, way of
getting at, etc. etc., an unmanifest impersonal Absolute Truth. But it is
not by mental speculation that the personal form of the Lord is to be known.
Thus the term vyaktim is used also at 10.14, when Arjuna says to Krishna,
“Neither the gods nor the demons, O blessed Lord, know Thy personality
(vyaktim). [na hi te bhagavan vyaktim vidur devå na dånavå? 10.14] Rather,
“It is by devotion that one knows Me in truth, as I actually am.” [bhaktyå
måm abhijånåti yåvån ya? cåsmi tattvata? 18.55]
The fact that Lord Krishna is ultimately to be known as the Supreme Person
is made even more explicit at the beginning of the twelfth chapter. Arjuna
asks the Lord,
“Who are the greatest knowers of yoga--- those who are Your devotees,
always engaged in worshiping You, or those who worship the unperishing
unmanifest? [evaµ satata-yuktå ye bhaktås tvåm paryupåsate, ye cåpy akßåram
avyaktaµ teßåµ ke yoga-vittamå? 12.1] Here Arjuna places in direct
competition personal devotion to Krishna and worship of the avyakta, the
unmanifest feature of the Absolute. Krishna at once replies, “Always engaged
in fixing their minds on Me, those who worship Me with transcendental faith
I consider to be most intimately united with Me in yoga.” [mayy åve?ya mano
ye måµ nitya-yuktå upåsate, ?raddhayå parayopetås te me yuktamatamå matå?
12.2] Both in Arjuna's original question [12.1], and in Lord Krishna's
reply, the personal pronoun indicating Krishna (Arjuna's tvåm, You, and
Krishna's måm, Me) are used to indicate the personal concept of God, in
contrast to the impersonal unmanifest.
The artificiality of the impersonal path for the eternal individual soul is
made clear at 12.5, wherein Lord Krishna says that in contrast to the path
of bhakti, which is susukham kartum, “very joyful to perform” [9.2], the
path of meditation on the unmanifest, the ineffable, all-pervading absolute
is just the opposite, it is du?kham, or miserable to perform.  Indeed,
Krishna calls the impersonal path kle?o 'dhikataras, or “exceedingly
troublesome” [12.5].
Krishna also states: “Because I inhere in a human-like body, foolish people
disrespect Me, for they do not understand My transcendental nature.”
[avajånanti måm mü?hå? månußîµ tanum å?ritam, param bhåvam ajånanto
9.11].
It is certainly noteworthy here that Lord K®ß?a repeats the exact same words
as in 7.24, i.e.  “not knowing My transcendental nature” [param bhåvam
ajånanto
7.24, 9.11]. Thus the unintelligent [abuddhaya?] who think that
K®ß?a has assumed His personal form, are compared to the foolish [mü?hå?]
who disrespect K®ß?a because He appears in a human-like body.
Krishna states at 9.11 that He inheres in a human-like body. The Sanskrit
phrase is månußîm (human-like) tanum (a body) å?ritam (I) have inhered in.
That which is inherent is essential and intrinsic, and this notion that the
Lord originally manfests in a spiritual form is also indicated elsewhere in
the Gîtå. Let us turn to chapter four of the Gîtå wherein Lord K®ß?a
elaborately describes His descent into this world. Lord Krishna states:
“Although I am unborn and My Self never deteriorates, and although I am the
Lord of all beings, utilizing My own energy I appear by My own potency.
Whenever there is a decline of dharma, O Bhårata, and a prominent rise of
adharma (irreligion), at that time I manifest My Self. To deliver the pious,
and to destroy the evil-doers, and to establish dharma, I appear in every
age. [4.6-8]6 ”