Wednesday 16 September 2020

Verse 39

 

अतुलः शरभो भीमः समयज्ञो हविर्हरिः ।

सर्वलक्षण लक्षण्यो लक्ष्मीवान समितिंजयः ।। 

atula śarabhō bhīma samayajñō havirhari |
sarvalakaalakayō lakmīvān samitiñjaya ||

 

357. Atula:

Tula means a balance to measure or to compare

Atula means immeasurable or one who has no comparison.

Tulopamanam asya na vidyate iti

He cannot be compared to anything else.

He can take any form, forms with chetana or achetana, as living being or non-living entity. His knowledge is immeasurable and there is no one comparable to him, hence there can be no one higher than him. 


358. Śharabha:

Sharabha comes from the dhatu ‘Sru’ means to destroy

That is why it is said, Srunati iti sharabhah.

His shakti can destroy everything, when we transgress the boundaries of ethics.  

Rules of ethics have to be followed, when we digress, he destroys the one who crosses the limits. It is applicable to us as well to devas and all shaktis.

The body is a upadhi or tool and there are rules how this body must be used.

Shara also refers to the body which is perishable.

Bha means bhati or bhaskara which means light or to shine.

He lives even in the perishable body and illuminates us till we perish.

Sharabha also refers to an eight-legged beast considered to be mightier, stronger and fiercer than any other creature, considered as the avatar of Rudra.

Hence Sharabha is the rudra tattva.  

 

359. Bhīma:

One of whom everyone is afraid. Bibheti asmaat sarvam iti bhima.

Bhi means to fear.

Even devas are scared to break his rules or his will. The entire universe operates in an orderly manner because they fear the consequences of breaking the rules and go against his will.

He is the one who is formidable. No one can conquer him.

The kathopanishad says that Surya and agni keeps blazing, Vayu, Indra, Yama and all other Gods carry out their duties without breaking the rules because they fear the Lord.

Bhayadeva agnis tapati bhayat tapati suryah

Bhayat indrascha vaayuscha mrityur dhavati panchamah. 

These gods are the most important and without them we cannot exist. Even they do not act against his will.

 

360. Samayajña:

Samayajna can be written as ,Samaya + jnah

Samaya meaning time.

He who knows the correct time for creation, sustenance and dissolution of the universe. He knows the right time for the six seasons and hence he is samayajna

Srishti Sthiti Samhara samayavit

Shat samyaan jaanati iti vaa samayajna

Shat samyan means the six seasons.

He doesn’t wait for anyone, he completes his work like clockwork just like the sun doesn’t wait to be told to rise or the seasons don’t have to be reminded to change.

Also, he treats everyone equally without discriminating between his creations, sarvabhuteshu samatvam yajanam saadhvasya iti samayajnah.

He treats everyone equally. Rules are for everyone and everyone is expected to follow them.

 

361. Havir-hari:

Havir means yajna

Like a sacrificial offering is made in the yajna fire, we offer unto him what belongs to us, but with the thought that nothing belongs to me because everything is His.

His creation, sustenance and, destruction also is sacrificed for us. The universe is for us.

Idam na mamah. Idam- this , na – not mamah- mine

Meaning this does not belong to me. It belongs to Him.

We follow his will and rules, because it is a form of an offering to him. It is our Yajna.

The Bhagavad Gita 9.24 says,

Aham hi sarva yajna naam bhokta cha prabhureva

He partakes the offerings of all the Yajnas.  

Yajneshu havirbhagam harati iti havirharih

All our final offerings are to him. Hence he is havir harih

He is also the one for whom all yajnas are conducted.

Hooyate havisha iti havih.

Smriti martena pumsaam papam samsaaram vaa harati iti

He takes away or destroys all our sins and delivers us from the binding of the samsara. Just remembering him or chanting his name, takes away all our sins and destroys the samsara bandhana.

harid varnatvaat vaa harih

He is blue in colour, hence he is harih.

The root word for Harih is ‘hr’ which means to obtain.

We can obtain harih through an offering of the havis or yajna.

And lastly, he removes all obstacles/sins hence he is harih

Harih harati papain.

 

362. Sarva-lakaa-lakaya:

All the vibhooti roopas have some or the other lakshana or qualities. But He is rich in all lakshanas.

It also tells us that He is our lakshaya or goal.

Another interpretation is that he is the ultimate truth, the final and the absolute.   

 

363. Lakmīvān:

Lakshmi vaan – always with Lakshmi

Lakshmi resides in him always and hence he is Lakshmivan. 

He is the one on whose chest the Goddess Lakshmi always resides.

With this we understand that both are inseparable.

Lakshmi is prakruthi and Vishnu is purusha, together the sankalpa shakti and iccha shakti has created the universe.

Lakshmi is obtained from the Dhatu ‘luk’ which means goal or Lakshya. 

Hence it tells us that we must utilise the shakti of the Lord to attain the goal of reaching Him.  

 

364. Samitiñjaya:

Samiti means groups. It also means battle 

Jaya – victory

One who is victorious in Samiti or war.

When we surrender to Him and follow the laws and rules set by him, and our goal is to reach him, he helps us emerge victorious in the war between goodness and evil that goes on within us.

This verse as a whole also talks about the Time factor that we often take for granted. We believe we have a lot of time on our hands and we delay the ishwara bhakti and samarpana. But it is the time itself which determines the gathi of our life. We must realise that time never stops.  

We keep accumulating karmas not just in this life but in every life we have. We must decide if we will only keep reaping the fruits of our karmas whether good or bad or do we work towards being rid of the karma forever and attain moksha from this cycle of birth and death.  

Hence many people pray to ask him to give them all their karma phala in this life, no matter how difficult it is. So when all the karma has been rid, there is no more karma and they can attain moksha.

Therefore when we follow the rules and laws of the Lord, surrender to him and make it our goal to reach him, he holds our hand. The climb is no doubt difficult but we can climb one step at a time.

We are achala or atula, frozen in time, we need moksha. But time is like Shara, an arrow that has left the bow and cannot be taken back, hence he creates Bhima – creates fear about the time we have left. We can overcome fear when we have Samayajna – knowledge of time. hence we must offer our karma and kriya to Hari as a havih, keep him as Sarvalakshana lakshanya, our goal, and Laksmivan – utilise the shakthi of the lord to reach our goal. If we do that he ensures Samitinjaya – we win that war which goes on within us.

Time become a very important factor. We have very little time, and plenty to achieve. Whatever we do, we must do havir hari- do as an offering to him.

The fourth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita talks about how to become a Karmayogi. It tells us to offer all karma to him as a yajna.

Our goal is him, and the goal is time-bound, let’s offer to him as idam na mama.


Jai Shri Krishna!

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