Commentary introduction to Chapter 17

Obeisance to you, Oh Indra (King) amongst the Ganas (Ganesha’s attendants)—the Preceptor—you whose concentrated meditation (yoganidrā) releases the hold of the Universe of names and forms. The individual soul in the form of Shankara surrounded by the three Gunas in the form of Tripura (Demons) and detained in the fortress in the form of individual existence is released by your remembrance (in the way Lord Shiva, surrounded by Tripura Demons and shut up in a fortress, was released by the remembrance of Ganesha.) You are therefore in your capacity as the Preceptor, weightier than Lord Shiva if weighed side by side in a pair of scales; and yet you are light enough (like a raft) to carry safe across the waters of worldly delusion. To those, that are ignorant about your true nature, you look as one having a crooked face (this refers to Ganapati’s bent trunk): yet to the learned you ever appear quite straight (ujū—not crooked).

Your Divine eyes (vision) look small: yet with their opening and closing you easily bring about respectively the creation and the dissolution of the Universe. With the flapping of your (right) ear, in the form of activism (pravṛtti), there blows the wind rendered fragrant by the ichor (mada—oozing) from the temple, and then the black bees in the form of the beings, sit on your forehead, as if decorating it with a wreath of blue lotuses offered in worship. But when the other (left) ear flaps about, the flowers offered in worship are scattered and disappear and then the grandeur of your bodily form is revealed in its pristine glory.

The sportive (graceful) movements of the deft dance, visible on the left side of your body, (this refers to the twisting motion of the trunk on the left side) which represents the false show of mundane activities, is displayed by you as an exquisite piece of art as it were of forceful manly dance. That apart: the wonderful thing is that with whomsoever you form a relationship, that person is at once deprived of that relationship. As soon as you remove the fetters (of mundane existence), the feeling that you are the very brother of the world is created and the sense of gratification felt by your devotees comes and sticks up to your person.

With the eradication of the sense of duality—that duality through which you had created separation, he (the devotee) forgets the existence of his (separate) body-form. You remain too far behind (i.e. hidden) for those that look at you as distinct from their own selves, and keeping you straight before their gaze, run after you by diverse means to reach you. You never even remain in the region of those that meditate upon you with wrapt concentration: yet that one becomes dear to you who forgets such meditations (through his oneness with you). One that does not know that you are eternally self-same, conducts himself (as if) he is all-knowing. (How can you be expected to hear such a one since) you are not prepared to lend your ear even to the Vedas that propound You. You pass by the name “Silence” (mauna) on account of the Rashi (rāśi—the sign of the Zodiac) in which you were born.

How could then one harbour the ambition of singing your praise? Whatever is perceptible is all born of Maya (illusion): how and in what way should then one worship you? Looking upon you as Deity, if I seek to be your servant then it would mean taking myself to be distinct from you and laying myself open to the charge of being disloyal to you. It would therefore be only proper not to establish any kind of relationship in regard to you. It is only when one drops all distinctions, that one can attain you, Oh one without duality! I have now come to know of this secret of yours, you O adorable one! The salt does not exist separately but gets dissolved in the (cooked) food: treat (accept) my obeisance to you in that way—what more should I say? An earthen jar dipped in water comes up overflowing with water when drawn out: or a wick becomes—the lamp itself by associating with a (lighted) lamp: In that way, O Preceptor Nivrttinath [Nivrtti Natha], I have attained perfection by bowing to you. I now set myself to (the work of) interpreting the Teaching of the Gita.

In the concluding stanza of Chapter XVI, the Lord gave the ever-abiding decision viz.

“Oh Partha, the Scriptures should be thine sole authority for determining what is proper to be done and what is not.”

On this, Arjuna thought to himself, “How is this? Is there no other alternative, but the Scriptures alone, for action? It is like (insisting on) wrenching out the snake-gem (sarpamaṇi) from the hood of Takshaka—the mighty Cobra (by stamping on its hood), and pulling out the hair from the nostrils of a lion, and then knitting these together into an ornament for wearing round the neck: and if that be not possible then to remain bare-necked is highly degrading!

Who would be able and how to bundle up (bring together) the loose, different (divergent) opinions propounded in different Scriptures and secure the fruit (a clear conclusion) as a result of their reconciliation? Assuming that such a reconciliation is secured, is there time available, sufficient to follow (i.e. to give a concrete shape to) that decision? How can one find leisure in his life time to get through such an intricate affair? And how would everybody be able (and fortunate enough) to secure the means to bring about the co-ordination and use for a common purpose of (i) the Scriptures, (ii) their interpretations, (iii) the place and (iv) the time? It is thus very difficult to perform actions strictly according to Scriptures, and under these conditions, how are the dull-witted (mūrkha) seekers to fare?

The solution (to this) which Arjuna is going to ask about, is discussed in this (XVII) Chapter. Arjuna, who is desireless in regard to all objects, and well-versed in all arts, who in his role as Arjuna has become a second Krishna (one who attracts); who is the main support of bravery, as also the ornament of the Soma (Lunar) Dynasty and to whom the enjoyment of pleasures is but a child’s play; who is the master intellect and the very resting place of the Brahmic Lore, and whose mind worked in close association with the mind of God—(such Arjuna spake)!