Lesson 17

Bhagavath Gita - Chapter 4 - Summary

Bhagavath Yamunacharya says:

PrasangAth swaswabhAvOkthi: karmaNOakarmathAsya cha |
BhEdA jgnyAnasya mAhAthmyam chathurthAdhyAya uchyathE ||

In the fourth chapter of Bhagavath Gita, Bhagavan Shree Krishna Paramathma addressed Arjuna and revealed certain secrets enshrined in the Veda.

The avathara-rahasyam (the secret regarding incarnation) was revealed as a part of discussion between Bhagavan Shree Krishna Paramathma and Arjuna. It is as follows:

1. The avataram (incarnation of Bhagavan Narayana: like Narasimha, Krishna, Rama) are real and are not illusion.
2. When Bhagavan Narayana: incarnates, his qualities like knowledge etc., do not contract and he incarnates with all his qualities in supreme absolute form.
3. The form that Bhagavan Narayana: takes in his incarnations are of sudhda-satva, which is divine and pure.
4. The birth of Bhagavan Narayana:, which is incarnation is as per his own wish.
5. He incarnates during the period when there is necessity to re-establish dharma.
6. He incarnates to make the Shree Vaishnavas enjoy his divine form and sport. He destroys adharma and re-establishes dharma.

Up to the third chapter, the importance of karma with sathvika tyaga was stressed. Now the discussion regarding j~gnyana yoga starts.

He who does the karma yoga as told before, gets his sense organs controlled gradually. On understanding the nature of jivathman, he contemplates on the jivathman, which is different from the body.

With this contemplation on the self (jivathman), the j~gnyana-yogi does the karma yoga perfectly. That is, the karma-yoga, which encompasses Athma-j~gnyana, gets the form of j~gnyana-yoga.

On doing this j~gnyana-yoga, the person gets to realize the jivathma's swarupam and this is called as the jivathma-sakshathkaram. This person, totally gets his ahamkaram and mamakaram removed from his mind. He gets himself ready to cross the ocean of samsara. By the grace of Bhagavan Sriman Narayana:, which gets invoked by the practice of j~gnyana and karma, the sins of the j~gnyana-yogi gets destroyed just like the huge logs of wood getting destroyed by fire. The glory of the person who practices karma and jgnyana is great. These aspects where covered in the fourth chapter of Bhagavath Geeta.

The following Sanskrit verses summarize the avatara rahasyam:

avathArasya sathyathvam ajahathswaswabhAvathA |
Sudhda-sathva-mayathvam cha swEchchAmAthra-nidAnathA ||
Dharma-iglAnOw samudaya: sAdhu-samrakshaNArthathA |
ithi janmarahasyam yO vEthi nAsya punarbhava: ||

The Bhakthi-yogi (he who practices the sadyopaya-bhakti as told in upanishads), who gets to know the avatara-rahasyam (which is told in Bhagavath Gita, which explains the Veda verses like "ajAyamAnO bhahudhA vijAyathE") gets his bhakti culminated in that birth itself and never gets rebirth.

top

Back to Tutorial Index       Go to Next Lesson