Tuesday 24 November 2020

Verse 58


महावराहो गोविंदः सुषेणः कनकांगदी ।

गुह्यो गंभीरो गहनो गुप्तश्चक्र-गदाधरः ।।

 mahāvarāhō gōvinda suea kanakāṅgadī |
guhyō gabhīrō gahanō guptaścakragadādhara ||

 

542. Mahā-varāha:

Varaha refers to the great Cosmic Boar.

He incarnated as the great boar, Varaha hence he is mahavarahah.

Mahaan cha asau varahah cha mahavarahah

Maha + vara + aha  he bestows great blessings on his creations hence he is mahavarahah.

Just like the lord saved the earth from the greed of Hiranyaksha, we must also awaken from our materialistic desires and turn towards spiritual desire.

This name signifies our iccha shakti or sankalpa to rise above the ordinary.

 

543. Gōvinda:

Gobhireva tato vedyah govindas samudahritah

'Go' means Words, that is the Vedic sentences. He who is known by them is Gōvinda.

Though he is not fully describable using words yet these words of the scriptures enlighten us about his qualities and nature.

Go (gam-gacchati to move) + vid (labhate – to get)

Vedyat iti vedaanta vakyaih iti vaa govinda.

His qualities and nature are revealed by the sacred scripts such as Vedas and Upanishads.  

The name Govinda tells us that we can win over our desires and destroy ignorance only with knowledge.

This name signifies our jnana shakti.

Surya is also called ‘Go’. The Sun is the protector and nourisher of the universe. Worship the Lord through the Sun God.

 

544. Shuea:

He has a distinguished army or sena at his command and hence he is called as Shusena. The 9 ganas, 12 adityas, 10 vishvadevas, 8 vasus, 11 rudras, and other eternal army is always at his side.

An army is a resource to conquer the enemy. The deities which form his army also reside in our body. With the help of this army, we must also conquer the enemies like avidya, karma, kama etc through sravana, manana and nidhidyasana.

This name signifies our kriya shakti. When the jnana (knowledge) and iccha (sankalpa) shakti come together, then we can perform the actions that are fruitful.

Every atom in our body is our army. We have to prepare our army to reach our goal. The entire army in our body gets ready to realise the lord.

 

545. Kanakāṅgadī:

Kanaka means gold - that which shines. and angada means an armlet worn on the upper arm. It means that he has powerful arms and he uses them to protect his devotees and destroys evil.

When proper, fruitful actions are performed, the lord also bestows his blessings on us by protecting us which is the phala that we beget.

 

546. Guhya:

He is known as Guhya because he is hidden in the depths of our heart and not easily revealed.

Guhaayaam hridayaakaashe nihita iti vaa

There are two kinds of akasha – bhuta-akasha which is pervaded by Ganapathi and Avakrut-akasha or hrudaya-akasha is pervaded by Goddess Lakshmi.

The lord resides in the heart or hrudaya-akasha where Lakshmi lives.

The Bhagavad Gita 9.2 says,

Raja vidya raja guhyam pavitram idam uttamam.

It is not easy to understand the lord. The study of Vedas and their scriptures provide us a certain understand of the lord. The lord remains hidden from being directly perceived and this great secret can be realised only through meditation and contemplation.

 

547. Gabhīra:

Gabhira means depth or unfathomable.

His characteristics or attributes like omniscience, knowledge, wealth, strength, valour, etc are unfathomable, hence he is gabhira.

Jnana Aishwarya bala veerya adbhi gambhirah gabhira

The name guhya tells us that he is hidden and the name gabhira tells us that the depth at which he stays hidden is unfathomable.

 

548. Gahana:

Gahana means impenetrable and difficult to access.

His realm is impenetrable and dense and hence it is difficult to get access to him, hence he is gahanah.

In the Bhagavad Gita 11.8 the lord says,

na tu mam sakyase drastum anenaiva sva-caksusa

means it is not possible to see him with our physical eyes. The only way to see him is through our spiritual eyes which is through meditation.

549. Gupta

Gupta means secret or hidden.

The Lord stays hidden because he is not easily identified by everyone. It takes a lot of effort for the secret of the Lord to be revealed.

He cannot be gauged through words, thought, mind etc. hence he is Gupta.

All these four words guhya, gabhira, gahana and gupta describe that the Lord stays hidden in the depths of our heart and it is not easy to penetrate into the heart and find him. Through continuous shravana, manana and nidhidhyasana, we can realise him.

 

550. Chakra-gadā-dhara:

He holds a discus and gadha in his hands. They are instrumental in helping him carry out his functions of creation, protection, destruction, punishment and blessing.

The chakra destroys the tamo guna in us and the gadha punishes the rajo guna in us. He then becomes an adhara or protector for us so that we become pure in sattva guna.

The chakra also represents our mind and the gadha represents our vac. His chakra destroys the unwanted thoughts in the mind and his gadha controls our vac. 

He holds the manas and buddhi in his hands represented by the chakra and gadha.

Finally, we need his grace to help us control our mind and buddhi and realise him.

To summarise,  it is not possible to know the lord completely through words as the knowledge is at the peak of our consciousness (mahavaraha). We can know him only through knowledge (govinda) and resources (sushena, kanakangadi) such as meditation and contemplation. Though this knowledge is secret, hidden, and difficult to access (guhya, gahana, gabheera gupta), we must know that all this knowledge is present in our mind (chakra) and the vac (gadha), when we surrender to him, all this knowledge becomes available to us.

Jai Shri Krishna!

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