In the previous episode, we had witnessed the commencement of the fifteenth “Adhyaaya” of the Bhagawad Gita, which is also referred to as the “Purushottama Yogam”. Here, Bhagawan Krishna once again makes a few important declarations to the world and reiterates that He is the supreme saviour of this entire world. We’ve seen Bhagawan talking about the “Ashva tree” with its roots above and branches below, which is compared to the tree of “Samsaara”, wherein the roots for all of us are at Bhagawan Brahma’s “Satya Lokha” and our births are in the “Manushya Lokha” which is below it. Thus, to come out of this tree of “Samsaara”, one needs the “Vairaagya” to cut through it and walk the path of “Bhakti Yogam” to reach Bhagawan. Moreover, Bhagawan Krishna is also going to explain in what forms can we worship Him in this world and let us witness this in today’s episode.
Bhagawan says thus,
“Aham vaishwaanaro bhudhwaa praaninaam dehamaashrutaha!
Praanaa paana samaayuktaha pachaamyannam chaturvitam!!”
Here, Bhagawan says thus, “Oh Arjuna! I exist as the fire that is constantly burning inside your stomach (“Vaishwaanara”). This is the fire that enables your body to digest all the food that you eat. I exist as your “Praanan”, which means, the breath that you take every second. I’m the one who enables your body to digest all types of food that you consume!” Here, we’ve to note one thing clearly – Bhagawan is talking about the fire that burns within our stomach that enables digestion. Bhagawan is not talking about the fire that burns within our stomach out of jealousy for others! 🙂 Sometimes when we see people who are richer than us, or, when we see people who have a better lifestyle than ours, our stomach starts burning and we start fuming, don’t we? 🙂 Bhagawan does not mean this. Rather, Bhagawan is talking about that fire which enables us to digest our food. We would have studied about this in our biology lessons, and doctors may be able to talk more on this – Our food requires sufficient oxygen and heat inside our stomach to get dissolved and converted into various forms of nutrients and energy which is required for the body, isn’t it? This is what Bhagawan Krishna is referring to here, and this is why it is always advisable that we offer whatever food that we prepare at home to Bhagawan before we consume it. Once we offer the food to Bhagawan, it becomes a divine “Prasadham” and this itself enables our body to digest it easily without any problem. Normally, when we perform the “Naivedhyam” (Offering of food to Bhagawan), we chant the above shloka because, it talks about the digestion process and how Bhagawan is the one who enables it within our body.
So for today, let us understand this important point and in the next episode, we shall witness yet another important shloka from this fifteenth “Adhyaaya”, along with its significance, as we move on further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 