From Bhagavan Originates Everything

Is the purpose of Bhagavata to understand everything about Bhagavan?

No.

It is quite the opposite.

It is to realize that Bhagawan can not be understood fully, by anyone.

How he is, what he does, why he does what he does, his umpteen names, the meaning of all those names, his umpteen forms; we can never understand all these fully.

It is like the Vedas.

What we have with us is just a minuscule part of the whole knowledge called Veda.

We have been given exposure to a portion which is currently relevant to us which Sage Vyasa compiled and gave to us.

Every single ray that ever came out of the Sun, that keeps coming out, and will come out is a mantra.

Not just the Sun that we see, there are umpteen such Suns.

Can anyone say that I have learned the Vedas?

In the same way, nobody can say that I have understood Bhagavan fully.

This realization is what Bhagavata gives us.

That is the purpose of Bhagavata.

Now the first shloka from the first skandha, first adhyaya of Srimad Bhagavata:

जन्माद्यस्य यतोऽन्वयादितरतश्चार्थेष्वभिज्ञः स्वराट् तेने ब्रह्म हृदा य आदिकवये मुह्यन्ति यत्सूरयः।
तेजोवारिमृदां यथा विनिमयो यत्र त्रिसर्गोऽमृषा धाम्ना स्वेन सदा निरस्तकुहकं सत्यं परं धीमहि॥

The term DHEEMAHI in this shloka brings to mind Gayatri Mantra: bhargo devasya dheemahi.

Dheemahi means: we are meditating upon.

This shloka contains the essence of Gayatri Mantra itself.

Why is essence of Gayatri given right at the beginning of Bhagavata?

Because Gayatri is Veda-Mata.

Gayatri is the seed from which the tree called Veda emerged.

And the fruit of that tree is Bhagavata.

First, a broad meaning of this shloka:

We meditate upon: meditate upon whom?

1. upon Parabrahma: from whom this universe originates, in whom the universe stays, into whom this universe dissolves back; each and everything in this universe or universes.

अस्य जगतः जन्मादि जन्मस्थितिभंगं यतः भवति तं।
Upon him, we meditate.

Again, meditate upon whom?

2. upon that Parabrahma who knows everything, about everything, about the four arthas called the Purusharthas, the life goals:

How to make people conduct themselves virtuously, how to make resources available to them, how to put desires in their mind and make them achieve them, and how to take them towards the final destination of complete freedom and bliss.

Upon him, we meditate.

अर्थेष्वभिज्ञः
Upon him, we meditate.

Again, meditate upon whom?

3. Upon the Parabrhama even while having full knowledge about these, keeps himself away from all these, doesn’t become part of this.

A man is running a restaurant, he owns a restaurant with 400 dishes in the menu; he is in charge, he runs it.

Thousands of people come and eat there every day.

But he doesn’t even taste anything.

He goes home to have his lunch and dinner.

In the same way, this Parabrahma is very much in this.

It is his show.

But he is outside of it.

Purpose of a restaurant is to provide food.

But the owner of that restaurant doesn’t take that food.

He doesn’t consume anything that is prepared there.

Do you get it?

This is how Parabrahma is.

अर्थेषु अन्वयादितरतश्च - both involved and not involved, at the same time.

Without him, this show doesn’t run.

But he is not a beneficiary of this show.

He doesn’t gain anything out of it.

He doesn’t lose anything because of it.

His enjoyment is in his own self, bliss, not in anything lesser than him, not anything with limitations.

If you are habituated to five-star comforts, travel by first-class, will you settle for anything lower than that?

Parabrahma is in perpetual bliss, it is not that the bliss is coming from another source.

It is he himself.

I listen to you singing and enjoy it.

That is one thing.

I sing myself and enjoy it.

That is another thing.

This is Parabrahma's state of bliss; independent of an external source.

So he is involved and not involved at the same time.

अर्थेषु अन्वयादितरतश्च योऽस्ति तं।

Upon him, we meditate.

Again, meditate upon whom?

4. Swarat.

What is Virat and what is Swarat?

Who is Virat-Purusha?

This entire created universe is compared to a human form, comprising the 14 worlds.

They are all organs of that Virat-Purusha.

The power that controls him from inside, this is Swarat.

What is this power?

It is knowledge.

Knowledge that never changes.

This knowledge never increases, never diminishes, never modifies itself.

Kalpa after kalpa, at the time of creation, it is this knowledge that causes the creation of the Virat, the Virat-Purusha.

This knowledge is Parabrahma.

An apple falls from a tree, the Newton's apple,

It falls to the ground due to gravity.

This is superficial knowledge.

But who has put that force called the gravitation there, in the first place?

For putting that gravitational force there, a lot of knowledge is needed, that it should attract, not repel, this force should be proportionate to the mass, it should go on decreasing as you move away from the center of this force.

This knowledge, where does it come from?

Newton only discovered gravitation, he didn't make gravitation.

The engineer who makes a device, he knows that a 12 V battery is required to make it work.

That he has calculated.

That is knowledge.

He has learned it from a book or college.

But the knowledge that we are talking about here is how to make everything work, everything in the universe to work, in harmony, in disharmony; this original knowledge, knowledge itself.

It is not the person who has that knowledge.

It is the knowledge itself.

It is not the container; it is the content.

That is Parabrahma, Swarat.

Upon him, we meditate.

स्वतः सिद्धज्ञानवान् तं।

We will continue to see this shloka more.

Knowledge Bank

Why is Krishna called Bhagavan?

Bhaga means six qualities:1. Jnana (knowledge). 2. Dharma (righteousness). 3. Vairagya (dispassion). 4. Aiswarya (rulership). 5. Yashas (fame). 6. Shree (abundance of resources). Someone who has bhaga is Bhagavan. Krishna has all these, so he is Bhagavan.

What is the meaning of Virat in Purusha Sukta?

This entire universe comprising of the 14 worlds is compared to a human form, This is Virat Purusha. Everything is part of his body.

What is the meaning of Swarat?

The power that controls the Virat (manifested universe) from inside is Swarat. Swarat means knowledge.