(From the discourses of Pujya Sri Swamiji)

Compiled by Swami Datta Pada Renu

The tenth chapter gives us a beautiful description of the supreme glory of the Lord in all His excellences with necessary illustrations. Anything that is uplifting, awe-inspiring and superhuman has to be considered as an expression of God. There are many objects in this universe about which man’s knowledge is very meager. These wonderful objects are the ‘Vibhutis’ or glories of the Lord. As this chapter deals with ‘Vibhutis’, it is entitled ‘Vibhooti Yoga’.

The Lord has already referred to some of His miraculous glories in the 7th and the 9th chapters. Now, in this chapter, the Lord presents many more of His divine manifestations through which He has to be contemplated and worshipped.

The Blessed Lord said, “once again, O mighty-arrowed (Arjuna), listen to My supreme word, which seeking your good, I shall speak to you, who delight in it.” (1-X).

Arjuna is very much delighted in the teachings of His Master and listens to his Masters’s words with close attention. The Lord is highly pleased at this and proceeds to describe more and more of His glorious manifestations wishing the good of His disciple. The Lord describes His universality in many words over and over again. The Lord is doing so with the sole purpose of bringing about the spiritual good of Arjuna, like a mother who wishes only the good of her son.

“Neither the hosts of Gods nor the great seers know My origin; for, in all respects, I am the origin of Gods and the great seers.” (2-X)

Even the highest Gods or even the great sages are incapable of knowing the origin of the Lord because the Lord is the source of all Gods and sages. All the Gods and sages came into being after the creation of the Universe. That means the Lord was there long before the origin of Gods and sages. In other words, the Lord, the Supreme Being is infinite. Everyone else is finite. And with a finite mind no one can measure the infinitude of the Lord. As such no one has ever found the origin of the Supreme Being or the Eternal Self.

“He who knows Me as unborn and beginningless, as the great Lord of the worlds, he among mortals is undeluded and liberated from all sins.” (3-X)

The Lord, the Supreme Being or the Supreme Self is unborn (Ajah) and beginningless (Anaadi). All other beings are born and have an end. He who has realized the truth that the Lord as unborn and beginningless and also as Lord of all the worlds is really wise. Such a person is freed from all delusion.
Therefore, as a man attains to the knowledge of the Supreme Lord, he becomes sinless. Like fire burning up a heap of rubbish, knowledge of the Supreme Self destroys all his sins. He becomes liberated.

“Intellect, wisdom, non-delusion, patience, truth, sense-control, mind-control, pleasure, pain, birth, death, fear and fearlessness.” (4-X).

“Non-violence, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame, ill-fame, (these) different kinds of dispositions of beings arise from Me alone.” (5-X).

All the different qualities mentioned in these verses arise from the Lord, the Supreme Self alone. But the Lord is without any qualities. He is also actionless. Therefore the idea expressed in these verses is that no one can possess these qualities without the power of the self. The dispositions exhibited by people do not belong to the Lord. They belong to the people themselves. It is the Lord’s power that enables the people to exhibit their inherent qualities, good as well as bad. As iron bits move in the nearness of the magnet, the presence of the Self enables the mortals to exhibit their dispositions of the mind.

“The seven great seers, and the four ancient manes were born of My nature from My mind; and these beings in the world are their progeny”. (6-X0

According to the Hindu mythology, the seven great Rishis (seers) are the mind-born sons of the Creator. They are Bhrigu, Marichi, Atri, Pulaha, Pulastya, Angira and Kratu. Sometimes, in the place of Bhrigu, Vasishtha’s name is found. The four manes are well known as Savarnas. These great souls are of the highest order and are the original ancestors and teachers of the world. They were born by a wish or ‘Sankalpa’ of the creator. So they are called the mind-born sons of the Lord. They are all endowed with the essence of the Lord. All the beings of the world are their progeny.

“He who knows in truth this glory and power of Mine will be endowed with unshaken Yoga; there is no doubt about this.” (7-X)

The Lord possesses infinite wisdom and power. It is the Lord Himself who has manifested as the whole universe. Right from the creator Brahma to a blade of grass, there is nothing except the Lord. He who knows this truth becomes imbued with unswerving Yoga consisting in perfect knowledge. In other words, he attains the transcendental reality.