वेदाहं समतीतानि वर्तमानानि चार्जुन |
भविष्याणि च भूतानि मां तु वेद न कश्चन || 26||
vedāhaṁ samatītāni vartamānāni chārjuna
bhaviṣhyāṇi cha bhūtāni māṁ tu veda na kaśhchana
veda—know; aham—I; samatītāni—the past; vartamānāni—the present; cha—and; arjuna—Arjun; bhaviṣhyāṇi—the future; cha—also; bhūtāni—all living beings; mām—me; tu—but; veda—knows; na kaśhchana—no one
Translation:
O Arjuna! I know the past, present, and the future of all beings, but Me no one knows.
Commentary:
The Omniscience of the Lord is here declared. All beings are in the womb of time, and time as the cosmic illusion, is in the Lord. As the whole universe from creation to dissolution is functioning in the Lord, there is nothing that He does not know. His eye is on all beings, past, present, and future. Knowing this, how can man commit sin?
By contrast with the Omniscience of the Supreme Iswara, we understand the limited character of the individual Jiva. He is controlled by time. He is subject to death and change. He does not know the past or the future. His understanding is limited to very small things around him. Whereas the Lord is ‘Sarvajna’ (omniscient) the individual Jiva is ‘Kinchijna’ (of little knowledge).
The Lord is eternal, beyond time, all-knowing. What is man after all in the presence of the Lord? And yet this little man is proud of his strength, position, wealth, beauty and knowledge. He thinks that he is everything and thus has no thought of the Lord. This is the illusory power of Maya working on the human mind. He who knows the truth sings the infinite glory of the Lord with a hundred tongues. He prostrates himself before the Lord with deep faith and devotion. When a common mortal exhibits some ray of genius, people honour him and pay homage to him. That being so, what is the homage that man should pay to the Omniscient Lord with all His infinite power. It is the primary duty of man to contemplate the transcendental glory of the Lord, His omniscience, omnipotence, and His imperishable nature. Pride and egoism cannot have any place in the heart of the spiritual aspirant.
Mam tu veda na Kaschana – No one knows me. This should refer to men of demonical nature who have no faith in the Lord, who have no Self-knowledge and who are devoid of devotion. It is true that the Lord alone knows His full glory. The rest, the highest of his devotees, men of perfect knowledge, are one with Him. Standing at the screened window of his high palace, the King can see the crowds below, but not one of the crowd can see the King in the palace. So also, the Lord knows all beings, but very few know Him. Therefore it is the duty of man to understand his limitations and the unlimited power of the Lord, to have faith in Him, and to cross the ocean of samsara by His grace. As the raindrop merges in the ocean, so should the individual self merge in Him. This is Moksha, perfect freedom. Till then like the animal bound to the tether, man’s life is limited by a thousand restricting influences.
māṃ tu veda na kaścana — no one knows Me. These words have a deep spiritual implication. ‘Knowing’ happens when the mind flows out through the senses and meets the other. Such knowing is impossible in the case of Existence, one’s own Self. The only way to know the Lord is to be the Lord; that is, you cease to exist as a person; only He exists. That is the way of God-Realisation. Sri Ramana Maharshi says, “To be the Self is to see the Self. There are no two Selves, one to see the other. That is Ātmanishṭhā—abidance in the Self.”
आत्मसंस्थितिः स्वात्मदर्शनम्।
आत्मनिर्द्वयादात्मनिष्ठता॥ Upa.Sa. 26
When one beholds the world too as God—seeing everything as Vāsudeva—it is not seeing in the usual sense. No beholding and no seeing happens there. There is no holding on to anything at all because there is no working of the intellect there. There is no thought process, because the moment the whole world becomes the Atman—ātmaiva abhūt—the thinking process comes to a halt. A kind of spontaneity alone exists, just like the natural spontaneity with which the right hand goes to help an itchy left hand. The whole world is you. You experience it as Existence. The Upanishad says,* “No one can know Me because I am the Knower. No one can see Me because I am the Seer.” You cannot see the Seer; you cannot know the Knower; you can just be.
Question: What is the power of the Lord?
Answer: He knows the past, present and future, Few know him.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 7 🔻 (30 Verses)
