Chapter 10 – Vibhuthi Yoga

When you meet a person who is highly knowledgeable about a subject you love, there’s no end to the conversations you can have with him. The more he speaks, the more you want to listen. The same happens in this chapter. Our friend Arjuna, having heard from the Lord about His infinite nature and how He pervades the entire existence, asks the Lord to elaborate further—how can we see Him in shape and form, or experience His power in this existence? The Lord graciously obliges and describes, through various examples, numerous ways to experience Him everywhere.

In the previous chapter, the Lord explained His all-pervasive and infinite nature. In this chapter, He asserts that He alone is the source of that infinity. Even all the Devatās and Maharshis (great sages) cannot know Him fully, as they too came into being from Him. Thus, one who understands that He alone is at the very source of every aspect of creation can see beyond the delusion created by the material world and thereby attain liberation.

The Lord - the Origin of Everything

Elaborating further, the Lord states: intelligence, knowledge, the ability to discriminate, forgiveness, truthfulness, restraint of the senses and mind, happiness, sorrow, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, non-violence, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, success, and failure - all these arise only from Me.

Aren’t these the very qualities that drive any form of creation or destruction in our lives? Everything we, as humans, create or destroy arises from these qualitative aspects. The Lord says that even these qualities themselves arise from Him - thus, He is at the source of every form of creation and destruction.

Thinking that we humans accomplish things solely by our own effort is a myth - a delusion. If we sincerely reflect upon any action we’ve performed that we’re proud of, careful observation reveals countless factors that were beyond our control. It was divine grace that aided the ultimate result. While it’s fine to take joy in our efforts, claiming that the result was achieved by our efforts alone is selfish.

The Lord goes on to state that even the seven great sages (Sapta Rishis) and the four Manus are products of His mind. It is well known that Lord Brahma is the divine form responsible for all creation. The first creations of Lord Brahma were the four Manus, who in turn created all living beings. Lord Brahma himself is considered a product of the Lord’s mind. Thus, the Lord indicates that He is not only the source of the qualitative aspects that drive creativity, but also of the living, dynamic, and thriving creation itself.

The Lord further states: one who understands this truth with conviction remains unwavering in all situations and will surely attain Me—there is no doubt about it.

How so? When we understand the vastness of divine grace and the comparatively minuscule role of the individual “I” (ego), we begin to acknowledge and appreciate the contribution of everything and everyone around us that aids each of our actions. This helps us accept every situation—pleasant or unpleasant—as His blessing alone.

How to Attain Such Conviction?

There are two ways.
The first way is to rely entirely on one’s intelligence and try to find answers to such questions of existence through critical observation. Given the enormity of existence and the limited comprehension of the human mind, even collective research would take countless generations to reach the truth. Hence, an individual approach is practically impossible.

Our scriptures are the products of such collective exploration. Thus, one can rely on studying them, experimenting, and observing the world around to gain conviction.
The second way is to simply trust the words of the Lord. Moreover, He provides ample reasoning and logical explanations for every point—He never forces belief. If studied and practiced with sincerity, one can arrive at the same conviction.

This approach requires one to constantly keep the Supreme Being in their thoughts, engaging all senses as instruments to experience the divine, and remaining ever content speaking and singing about the Lord.

If you set aside, for a moment, the rigidity of the approach that mandates thinking only of God—what it truly does is ensure you are implicitly engaged in constant research about the Supreme, with positive conviction. Naturally, this leads your discriminative intellect to shed all illusion created by pride and to see divinity at play all around you.

Food for Thought — for Meditation

At this point, Arjuna, completely absorbed in the conversation, humbly requests the Lord to share more about His glories and how one can experience Him in everything. “How can I think of You? In what different forms can I see You?”
We are fortunate that Arjuna asked this question, as it makes it easier for us to observe the divine in everything around us.

The Lord obliges His dearest friend but warns that despite giving numerous examples, they remain limited - for there is no end to His divine manifestations! In a way, this is a positive assurance from the Lord. It is as if He says: “Don’t think you can experience Me only in these ways - there’s no limit to how I can manifest and hold the hand of My devotees!”

The Lord then enumerates numerous aspects of existence and states that He is the best among all forms of creation. While the Lord exists in everything, those beings or forms that possess a higher degree of divinity naturally stand apart. These individual beings or things may manifest one or a few divine qualities, unlike the Supreme Being, who embodies all qualities in their highest form. The very presence of perfection in even one quality is indicative of divinity.

While the Lord gives numerous examples in the chapter, the author here quotes only a few - partly because he has yet to fully comprehend their depth, and partly because it is recommended that the reader explore them directly from the Upadesha and marvel at the completeness of His representation.

Some Divine Manifestations
I am the Ātman of every being.
I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all.
I am the Sāma Veda among the Vedas (for it is the essence of the Rig Veda, with the added beauty of melody).
I am Vāsava among the Devatās (Indra, the king of the gods).
I am the mind among the sense organs (the controller of all senses).
I am the intelligence of all living beings.
I am Brihaspati among the learned (the Guru of the Devatās).
I am Skanda among war chiefs (the warrior prince).
I am the ocean among lakes.
I am Bhrigu among sages.
I am ॐ among letters.
I am Japa among Yajnas.
I am the Himalayas among immovable things.
I am the Ganga among rivers.
I am the Ashwatha among trees.
I am Prahlada among the Daityas.
I am the lion among animals and Garuda among birds.
I am death for all that exists.
I am prosperity among the prosperous.
I am fame, wealth, speech, memory, intelligence, stability, and forgiveness.
I am Margashira among months.
I am spring among seasons.
I am victory and excellence in action among the virtuous.
I am the goodness in the Sātvic people.
I am the seed of all beings; there is no being—living or non-living—that can exist without Me!
The Lord concludes that there is no end to His manifestations. Whatever you see as powerful, prosperous, or magnificent—know it to be a manifestation of just one small part of the Supreme Being.
As the Lord said earlier in the chapter, by reading about these varied manifestations, reflecting upon them, and constantly thinking of them, your eyes will begin to perceive much more than what they physically can. You will begin to experience the Supreme in every being!

DISCLAIMER: 

This our sincere attempt to summarise the Gitōpadesha, via a series of short blogs. This is NOT the whole translation, or commentary of the divine book. We seek forgiveness of reader and the lord, for omissions which is inevitable to keep the blog short. The write-ups include both, writer’s personal opinion and summarised version of many shlokas from the Bhagavad Gita. Intent of blog was never to be a commentary of Bhagavad Gita, but simply inspire the reader to read Bhagavad Gita in it’s entirety. The writer is neither a scholar, nor a bummer, somewhere in between, with a firm belief that the lord gets him to do all the things he does. Being human, he still keeps erring. Forgive him for all such mistakes.

Sarvam Krishnarpanamasthu!