Chapter 10. The Opulence
of the Absolute
TEXT 15
svayam evatmanatmanam
vettha tvam purusottama
bhuta-bhavana bhutesa
deva-deva jagat-pate
SYNONYMS
svayam--personality;
eva--certainly;
atmana--by Yourself; atmanam--Yourself;
vettha--know;
tvam--You; purusa-uttama--O greatest of all persons; bhuta-bhavana--O
origin of everything; bhuta-isa--O Lord of everything; deva-deva--O
Lord of all demigods; jagat-pate--O Lord of the entire universe.
TRANSLATION
Indeed, You
alone know Yourself by Your own potencies, O origin of all, Lord of all
beings, God of gods, O Supreme Person, Lord of the universe!
PURPORT
The Supreme
Lord Krsna can be known by persons who are in a relationship with Him through
the discharge of devotional service, like Arjuna and his successors. Persons
of demonic or atheistic mentality cannot know Krsna. Mental speculation
that leads one away from the Supreme Lord is a serious sin, and one who
does not know Krsna should not try to comment on Bhagavad-gita.Bhagavad-gita
is the statement of Krsna, and since it is the science of Krsna, it should
be understood from Krsna as Arjuna understood it. It should not be received
from atheistic persons.
The Supreme
Truth is realized in three aspects: as impersonal Brahman, localized Paramatma
and at last as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So at the last stage
of understanding the Absolute Truth, one comes to the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. A liberated man and even a common man may realize impersonal
Brahman or localized Paramatma, yet they may not understand God's personality
from the verses of Bhagavad-gita, which are being spoken by this
person, Krsna. Sometimes the impersonalists accept Krsna as Bhagavan, or
they accept His authority. Yet many liberated persons cannot understand
Krsna as Purusottama, the Supreme Person, the father of all living entities.
Therefore Arjuna addresses Him as Purusottama. And if one comes to know
Him as the father of all the living entities, still one may not know Him
as the supreme controller; therefore He is addressed here as Bhutesa, the
supreme controller of everyone. And even if one knows Krsna as the supreme
controller of all living entities, still one may not know that He is the
origin of all the demigods; therefore He is addressed herein as Devadeva,
the worshipful God of all demigods. And even if one knows Him as the worshipful
God of all demigods, one may not know that He is the supreme proprietor
of everything; therefore He is addressed as Jagatpati. Thus the truth about
Krsna is established in this verse by the realization of Arjuna, and we
should follow in the footsteps of Arjuna to understand Krsna as He is.
  
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