TEN: THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS
“Lord Shri Krishna said: Now, O Prince! Listen to My supreme advice, which I give thee for
the sake of thy welfare, for thou art My beloved.
Neither the professors of divinity nor the great ascetics know My origin, for I am the
source of them all.
He who knows Me as the unborn, without beginning, the Lord of the universe, he,
stripped of his delusion, becomes free from all conceivable sin.
Intelligence, wisdom, non-illusion, forgiveness, truth, self-control, calmness, pleasure,
pain, birth, death, fear and fearlessness;
Harmlessness, equanimity, contentment, austerity, beneficence, fame and failure, all these,
the characteristics of beings, spring from Me only.
The seven Great Seers,* the Progenitors of mankind, the Ancient Four,** and the
Lawgivers were born of My Will and come forth direct from Me. The race of mankind has
sprung from them.
[* Mareechi, Atri, Angira, Pulah, Kratu, Pulastya, Vahishta.
** The Masters: Sanak, Sanandan, Sanatan, Sanatkumar.]
He who rightly understands My manifested glory and My Creative Power, beyond doubt
attains perfect peace.
I am the source of all; from Me everything flows. Therefore the wise worship Me with
unchanging devotion.
With minds concentrated on Me, with lives absorbed in Me, and enlightening each other,
they ever feel content and happy.
To those who are always devout and who worship Me with love, I give the power of
discrimination, which leads them to Me.
By My grace, I live in their hearts; and I dispel the darkness of ignorance by the shining
light of wisdom.
Arjuna asked: Thou art the Supreme Spirit, the Eternal Home, the Holiest of the Holy, the
Eternal Divine Self, the Primal God, the Unborn and the Omnipresent.
So have said the seers and the divine sage Narada; as well as Asita, Devala and Vyasa; and
Thou Thyself also sayest it.
I believe in what Thou hast said, my Lord! For neither the godly not the godless
comprehend Thy manifestation.
Thou alone knowest Thyself, by the power of Thy Self; Thou the Supreme Spirit, the
Source and Master of all being, the Lord of Lords, the Ruler of the Universe.
Please tell me all about Thy glorious manifestations, by means of which Thou pervadest
the world.
O Master! How shall I, by constant meditation, know Thee? My Lord! What are Thy
various manifestations through which I am to mediate on Thee?
Tell me again, I pray, about the fullness of Thy power and Thy glory; for I feel that I am
never satisfied when I listen to Thy immortal words.
Lord Shri Krishna replied: So be it, My beloved fried! I will unfold to thee some of the chief
aspects of My glory. Of its full extent there is no end.
O Arjuna! I am the Self, seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the beginning and the life,
and I am the end of them all.
Of all the creative Powers I am the Creator, of luminaries the Sun; the Whirlwind among
the winds, and the Moon among planets.
Of the Vedas I am the Hymns, I am the Electric Force in the Powers of Nature; of the
senses I am the Mind; and I am the Intelligence in all that lives.
Among Forces of Vitality I am the life, I am Mammon to the heathen and the godless; I am
the Energy in fire, earth, wind, sky, heaven, sun, moon and planets; and among mountains
I am the Mount Meru.
Among the priests, know, O Arjuna, that I am the Apostle Brihaspati; of generals I am
Skanda, the Commander-in-Chief, and of waters I am the Ocean.
Of the great seers I am Bhrigu, of words I am Om, of offerings I am the silent prayer,
among things immovable I am the Himalayas.
Of trees I am the sacred Fig-tree, of the Divine Seers Narada, of the heavenly singers I am
Chitraratha, their Leader, and of sages I am Kapila.
Know that among horses I am Pegasus, the heaven-born; among the lordly elephants I am
the White one, and I am the Ruler among men.
I am the Thunderbolt among weapons; of cows I am the Cow of Plenty, I am Passion in
those who procreate, and I am the Cobra among serpents.
I am the King-python among snakes, I am the Aqueous Principle among those that live in
water, I am the Father of fathers, and among rulers I am Death.
And I am the devotee Prahlad among the heathen; of Time I am the Eternal Present; I am
the Lion among beasts and the Eagle among birds.
I am the Wind among purifiers, the King Rama among warriors; I am the Crocodile
among the fishes, and I am the Ganges among rivers.
I am the Beginning, the Middle and the End in creation; among sciences, I am the science
of Spirituality; I am the Discussion among disputants.
Of letters I am A; I am the copulative in compound words; I am Time inexhaustible; and
I am the all-pervading Preserver.
I am all-devouring Death; I am the Origin of all that shall happen; I am Fame, Fortune,
Speech, Memory, Intellect, Constancy and Forgiveness.
Of hymns I am Brihatsama, of metres I am Garatri, among the months I am
Margasheersha (December), and I am the Spring among seasons.
I am the Gambling of the cheat and the Splendour of the splendid; I am Victory; I am
Effort; and I am the Purity of the pure.
I am Shri Krishna among the Vishnu-clan and Arjuna among the Pandavas; of the saints
I am Vyasa, and I am Shukracharya among the sages.
I am the Sceptre of rulers, the Strategy of the conquerors, the Silence of mystery, the
Wisdom of the wise.
I am the Seed of all being, O Arjuna! No creature moving or unmoving can live without
Me.
O Arjuna! The aspects of My divine life are endless. I have mentioned but a few by way of
illustration.
Whatever is glorious, excellent, beautiful and mighty, be assured that it comes from a
fragment of My splendour.
But what is the use of all these details to thee? O Arjuna! I sustain this universe with only
small part of Myself.”
Thus, in the Holy Book the Bhagavad Gita, one of the Upanishads, in the Science of the Supreme
Spirit, in the Art of Self-Knowledge, in the colloquy between the Divine Lord Shri Krishna and the
Prince Arjuna, stands the tenth chapter, entitled: The Divine Manifestations.
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