Sastra Caksusa

seeing through the eyes of scriptures

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is15.15
sarvasya cāhaḿ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham
SYNONYMS
sarvasya — of all living beings; ca — and; ahamI; hṛdiin the heart; sanniviṣṭaḥ — situated; mattaḥ — from Me; smṛtiḥ — remembrance; jñānam — knowledge; apohanam — forgetfulness; ca — and; vedaiḥ — by the Vedas; ca — also; sarvaiḥ — all; ahamI am; eva — certainly; vedyaḥ — knowable; vedānta-kṛt — the compiler of the Vedānta; veda-vit — the knower of the Vedas; eva — certainly; ca — and; ahamI.
TRANSLATION
I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
PURPORT
The Supreme Lord is situated as Paramātmā in everyone's heart, and it is from Him that all activities are initiated. The living entity forgets everything of his past life, but he has to act according to the direction of the Supreme Lord, who is witness to all his work. Therefore he begins his work according to his past deeds. Required knowledge is supplied to him, and remembrance is given to him, and he forgets, also, about his past life. Thus, the Lord is not only all-pervading; He is also localized in every individual heart. He awards the different fruitive results. He is worshipable not only as the impersonal Brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the localized Paramātmā, but as the form of the incarnation of the Vedas as well. The Vedas give the right direction to people so that they can properly mold their lives and come back to Godhead, back to home. The Vedas offer knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa in His incarnation as Vyāsadeva is the compiler of the Vedānta-sūtra. The commentation on the Vedānta-sūtra by Vyāsadeva in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the real understanding of Vedānta-sūtra. The Supreme Lord is so full that for the deliverance of the conditioned soul He is the supplier and digester of foodstuff, the witness of his activity, and the giver of knowledge in the form of Vedas and as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the teacher of the Bhagavad-gītā. He is worshipable by the conditioned soul. Thus God is all-good; God is all-merciful.
Antaḥ-praviṣṭaḥ śāstā janānām. The living entity forgets as soon as he quits his present body, but he begins his work again, initiated by the Supreme Lord. Although he forgets, the Lord gives him the intelligence to renew his work where he ended his last life. So not only does a living entity enjoy or suffer in this world according to the dictation from the Supreme Lord situated locally in the heart, but he receives the opportunity to understand the Vedas from Him. If one is serious about understanding the Vedic knowledge, then Kṛṣṇa gives the required intelligence. Why does He present the Vedic knowledge for understanding? Because a living entity individually needs to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedic literature confirms this: yo 'sau sarvair vedair gīyate. In all Vedic literature, beginning from the four Vedas, Vedānta-sūtra and the Upaniṣads and Purāṇas, the glories of the Supreme Lord are celebrated. By performance of Vedic rituals, discussion of the Vedic philosophy and worship of the Lord in devotional service, He is attained. Therefore the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Kṛṣṇa. The Vedas give us direction by which to understand Kṛṣṇa and the process of realizing Him. The ultimate goal is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vedānta-sūtra (1.1.4) confirms this in the following words: tat tu samanvayāt. One can attain perfection in three stages. By understanding Vedic literature one can understand his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by performing the different processes one can approach Him, and at the end one can attain the supreme goal, who is no other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this verse the purpose of the Vedas, the understanding of the Vedas, and the goal of the Vedas are clearly defined.
Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur
Just as I am the fire in the stomach, I am also dwelling in the hearts of all moving and non-moving entities, in the form of the element buddhi, intelligence. From me in the form of intelligence (mattah), there is remembrance of sensations from objects previously perceived. From me there is also knowledge, arising through contact of the senses with the sense objects, and also the removal of both knowledge and memory.
Having told how he helps the jiva in his bound state, the Lord then tells how he assists the jiva to attain liberation. I am known through the Vedas. I alone made Vedanta through Veda Vyasa, because I alone know the Vedas (veda vit): I know the real meaning of the Vedas, and no one except me knows the real meaning.
Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya:
Visnuswami
Sridhara Swami's Commentary
Continuing further the Supreme Lord Krishna confirms that He is situated  simultaniously within the etheric hearts of all jivas or embodied beings  as the internal monitor. The Supreme Lord is cognizant of hundreds of millions  of lifetimes for every jivasand from Him comes memory concerning things  remembered as well as knowledge and the loss of knowledge regarding things  experienced by the senses. Some are stored within the collective consciousness  and others are accessible directly within the individual consciousness. He is  the originator of the Vedas and thus possessing all knowledge He is the  promulgator of the Vedas exclusively through His four authorised channels of  disciplic succession which lead directly back to Him as revealed in the Vedic  scriptures. The Supreme Lord alone is to be known only through the eternal  authority of the Vedic scriptures.
Brahma Vaisnava Sampradaya:
Madhvacarya
Madhvacarya's Commentary
Here the words vedais ca sarvam refers to the conclusions of the Vedic  scriptures. The words vedanta-krt refers to Lord Krishnas avatar  or incarnation of Vedavyasa the author of the Vedas, Puranas and Vedanta Sutras  which all elucidate the absolute, ultimate truth.
Sri Vaisnava Sampradaya:
Ramanuja
Ramanuja's Commentary
Lord Krishna's manifestation of Himself as paramatma the Supreme Soul  situated within the etheric heart of every jiva or embodied being next to  His expansion of the atma or individual immortal soul. The heart is the  exclusive, absolute center from where all consciousness radiates. It is also the  factual center from where all impulses and frequencies originate both active and  passive. The Brihadaranya Upanisad V.VI.I beginning manomayo ayam puruso  states: One meditating should perceive the resplendent Supreme Lord the ruler  and lord of all within the heart of the size of a grain of rice. The Chandogya  Upanisad VIII.I beginning harih sum atha yadidamasmin states:  Within the jiva or embodied being in the inner sanctorum of the heart  abides the atma or immortal soul which is an infintesimal portion of paramatma.Hence from the Supreme Lord comes all memory remembered from  past experience. All wisdom accruring from factual true perception and  inference. Intuitive knowledge related exclusively to the authority of the Vedic  scriptures and meditation which expands the consciousness. Contrarily also from  the Supreme Lord comes the antithesis of the above which are loss of memory,  speculative reasoning, erroneous hypothesis, conjectural suppositions and  deprivation of consciousness.
The Supreme Lord is to be known by the exclusive authority of the Vedic  scriptures. He is the atma within all jivas, the witness, the  monitor, the inner guide. The terms found in the Vedas of demigod, humans,  demons, etc. are alluding to the jivatma or individual immortal soul  within the myriad of varieagated forms of embodied beings. The compound word vedanta-krt refers directly to Lord Krishna's avatara or  incarnation of Vedavyasa who compiled the Vedas and divided them into four  divisions. It also denotes the performance of Vedic enjoined rituals. The  antonym antah also means the end which infers the fruits, the results of  such rituals. He is the sole bequeather of all the fruits promised in the Vedic  scriptures. This was previously touched upon in chapter seven verses 21 and 22  where Lord krishna confirms that in whatever form one chooses to worship the  Supreme Lord, He renders there faith firm and they obtain the wishes they  yearned for from Him alone. He is also the supreme knower of the Vedic  scriptures for they originated from Him to guide and teach jivas about  Himself.Whosoever understands the Vedic scriptures otherwise then what  has been instructed by Lord Krishna in Srimad Bhagavad-Gita factually has no  knowledge of it at all. This is due to their understanding and comprehension  being influenced by under faulty assumptions and erroneous suppositions. The  Vedic scriptures must be understood exclusively in light of the comprehensive  and full authority of the Bhagavad-Gita.
Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya:
Nimbaditya
Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary
The Supreme Lord Krishna affirmed that sun, the moon and fire which  accomplish universal well being are His divine vibhutis or opulences . He  previously revealed that the entire creation comprised of the sentient and  non-sentient are fully dependent upon Him; yet He is completely independent. He  inspires cosmic intelligence, He is worth knowing through the Vedas and is the  precceptor of all as He is situated equally within the etheric heart of all jivas or embodied beings from Brahma the most evolved sentient being to  the least evolved sentient being. He is the witness, the monitor and inner  controller of every jiva. Memory of things experienced and true knowledge  arising from accurate perception of contact with the senses comes from Him as  well as the rationalisation faculty of faulty knowledge and loss of memory and  knowledges also flow from Him. The Supreme Lord Krihsna is paramount to all and  thus essential to know because everything manifests from Him and because He  manifests Himself within all etheric hearts as the immortal part of every jiva. All the 33 million demigods who supervise universal management in  trillions of unlimited universes throughout all material creation are expansions  of His vibhutis and dependent solely upon Him such as Vayu the wind god,  Agni the god of fire, Surya the sun god, etc. The Mahabharata confirms some  worship the Supreme Lord as the sun, the moon, the wind, fire, the life breath,  the infinite, the absolute. All the luminaries of the worlds, all the sovereigns  of creation, the three sacrificial fires, the five daily austerities, all are  verily the Supreme Lord Krishna. But this material creation comprises only one  fourth or 25 percent of His unlimited potency. The remaining three quarters or  75 percent compries the eternal unlimited spiritual worlds. We offer praises to  Him, the eternal repository of all praises. The Vedas glorify Lord Krishna.  Propitiations of ghee and grains are offerred by the Vaisnavas and Brahmins to  Him sanctifying the sacred fire. Throughout the Vedas, the Puranas, the Ramayana  and the Mahabharata; Lord Krishna is glorified in the beginning, the middle and  the end. The Katha Upanisad I.II.XV beginning sarve veda yat  padamamanvatistates: The Supreme Lord is whom all the Vedas declare and for  whom all austerities are performed. His personal sound vibration is OM, the all  encompassing sound frequency of the Supreme Lord Krishna.
The Supreme Lord Krishna is the absolute authority on the Vedas, the deciding  authority on the contrary statements of the Vedas when they appear contradictory  to each other due to varying angles of vision while expounding on various,  diverse topics. He is the eternal, universal guru and the propounder of the  philosophy of the Vedic scriptures. As the originator of the Vedic scriptures He  has imbued them with the ultimate import and no one can fathom this and know the  meaning of the Vedic scriptures without His grace. One becomes a knower of the  Vedic scriptures when through the grace of Lord Krishna one realises the reality  that the Vedic scriptures originated from Him to guide and protect those in  material creation to return to Him. Those who who are not graced by the Supreme  Lord can never fathom and discover the import of the Vedic scriptures even if  they are reknowned scholars and erudite professors who give detailed discourses  on them. This is because they are not devotees of the Supreme Lord Krishna. Lord  Krishna is the absolute, original establisher and ultimate authority on the  Vedas and there are none qualified to expound upon any aspect of the Vedic  scriptures contrary to that which has been directly revealed, declared and  instructed by Him, His authorised avataras or incarnations and expansions  as confirmed in Vedic scriptures and by His devotees in authorised disciplic  succession who have received His grace. An example of this is the devotee  Prahlad receiving the grace of Lord Krishna through His avataraknown as  Narasinghadeva who rescued His devotee from death nine times.
comments: This sloka also reminds me of the verses spoken earlier in the caturslokis of Bhagavad Gita:
BG 10.8: I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.
BG 10.9: The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.
BG 10.10: To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.
BG 10.11: To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.

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