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Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.
People who are familiar with the Ashram, our publications and our Jñāna-yajñās, satsangs etc. must be knowing by now very clearly that we always try to expose the knowledge and understanding part of devotional life, spiritual life, yogic life etc. Our Vedas are themselves a book of knowledge, a treasure of knowledge. When we approach the Vedas, our idea must be to gain the knowledge that we want, the knowledge which is not otherwise available to us. It is very clear that if we understand the Vedas and their insight properly, everywhere what we need is knowledge.
Tomorrow I have to speak for Muktisudhakaram and I am in the tenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita. The tenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita deals with vibhūti, vibhūti yoga. The word ‘vibhūti’ is a very interesting and profound word. It means something very powerful, great, stupendous, splendorous, incomparable, very rare, unique, intriguing, anything that is not very common.
Our world is very huge, endless and it consists of a number of, a variety of complexities. How is it that the whole world is consisting of such abstruse complexities maintained in a certain rhythm and order? It is true that we have suddenly a spate of flood in Chennai, maybe we also are going to have it as somebody told me. Now this flood itself is something unimaginable. They say that for the past hundred years there was nothing like this in Chennai. Suddenly it happens.
In the vibhūti of God, you will find something great, good, beautiful, helpful, attractive, alluring, such things are there. But things which are very dangerous, fierce, destructive, threatening, they also are there. So the world consists of everything that you can imagine.
We are living in this world. Unlike animals, we have a mind, we have an intelligence. So we not merely live and experience things, we also analyze them and try to evaluate them. Tell me for a moment after thinking that does not the world have all that we want to have in order to live in this world comfortably and well? Gold is the most costly metal. That is also there. And it has got its corresponding properties. We have so many things here, rare, unusual and the like. So the word vibhūti literally means something that calls for special attention, appreciation etc.
Why are these vibhūtis there if you ask, it is for man’s mind to find an answer. Suppose the world did not have these exceptional elements, I think it will prove to be stale and troublesome. What is the greatness of Himalayas? It is completely covered by snow and that snow is something that we are not able to see in the plains. So the sight of snow and especially snow-covered mountain becomes something very, very rare and attractive for us. So people like to go there. Suppose snow was everywhere, then they may not like it.
Similarly you go to great heights where even breathing will become difficult. We have established some of our temples in mountainous areas. And see what kind of a selection our forefathers have made! When you go to Badari, where it is very difficult to live because of cold, we cannot live all the year, only at most six months or four months there. There, there is a hot spring. How do we expect a hot tank or a spring in such a height where everything is covered by snow? That is a wonder. Because of the wonder, it becomes a place of hunting. We have to hunt such a place, go there and we feel very happy. We have got so many temples like that on top of hills or mountains.
So the idea is we should think about the greatness of the world, the greatness and majesty of the creator. The feeling of Godliness will not come always by looking into the world. The world itself is an evolution from God, creation from God. So everything in this world is suggestive of God. In this manner to think, it is not easy at all! So we want some special manifestations or special displays to think about God.
We are making an idol. The purpose of making an idol is to give it something whereby it will remind us about God. Actually the idol that we are making is from a stone that is already there in the earth. So if an idol made by us signifies God, then what about the stone, the rock and the mountain? They should signify all the more. But nobody is able to think like that.
So I believe the idea of vibhūti is to provide for human imagination something exceptional, strange and hence fascinating. And it can be in any area. It can be in the solid earth, it can be in the blowing air, it can be in water, it can be in other agencies also.
Look at the sun, look at the sky, there are so many stars. All the stars, we are not able to see their close movement. They are all moving but we are not able to see. But the movement of the sun is very fast when looked from the earth and there is a repetition and a constancy. There is a movement vertically like that round the earth; there is also a movement horizontally from the south to north and from the north to the south. So the sun became a special vibhūti. But the sun does not apparently change its size. It is always hot and brilliant.
Now when we look at the moon, it is different. We can look at it, it is visible only in the nights and then you find there is a reduction and increase in the moon. About the other stars and luminaries, we are not able to observe any such feature. So the sun became a vibhūti, the śaśi, the moon also became a vibhūti because we are not able to find anything like the moon. One day it completely dies, it becomes non-existent; next day it comes in a small digit. So that became a wonder.
Like that, these wondrous elements are there only for you to associate yourself with God and feel devotional and divine. The purpose of vibhūti is that - To take the mind from the visible to the invisible, from the gross to the subtle, from a momentary thought and association with God (devotion) to a twenty-four hour devotion; it is not easy at all. So all these agencies help us to move to that destination. If these vibhūti elements were not there, perhaps we would have missed God and also devotion to a very large extent. This is what I feel about the vibhūti yoga.
Arjuna speaks something and finally he says, “Please explain to me all the vibhūti elements so far as you are concerned.” And then Krishna goes on describing a few.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.