Bhagavagd Gita - Session 14- Track 1404

vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ |
bahavo jñāna-tapasā pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ ||10|| (IV)

It may seem as if this particular verse has nothing to do with the divine birth, and divine work. It refers to human beings, and what is the connection between the previous verse and this verse is not very easy to see. But let us try to understand that although in this verse, there is a reference no more to Himself, why He comes on the earth, and what is the process of His coming, suddenly there is a kind of a jump and He speaks of the other individuals, of the Sadhakas, not of Himself but of those who are doing Sadhana:

Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ |
baḥavo jñāna-tapasā pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ ||

They all get free, vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā, they all get rid of the rāga and bhaya and krodhā: attachment and fear and anger; man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ: they become Mine as it were, they centre on Me; mām upāśritāḥ: they become fully surrendered to Me; baḥavo jñāna-tapasā pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ: they become My minded, they become fully surrendered to Me because they have given up all the attachment and fear and anger; and not only that, but the most important word is mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ: they have arrived at My nature.

You can do divine action only when you have divine nature. As long as you are approaching the Divine, you are still human and trying to approach the Divine. But once the Divine begins to act, then your own nature begins to assume the divine nature. This assumption of the divine nature is one of the very important purposes for which the Divine comes on the earth.

Therefore, when we say that, in the previous verse, (IV, 8), the purpose of the coming of the Divine is already expounded: it is expounded partly or essentially but not fully. The purpose for which the Divine comes on the earth is not only to manifest Himself, and to protect the good people, and to destroy the wicked people, and to establish Dharma, but for a much greater task: to lead individuals to arrive at the divine nature. If this does not happen, then the purpose of the divine birth is lost. Merely protection of the good people, and merely destruction of the wicked people can be done in many ways: the Divine Himself does not need to come only for that purpose, even the heroes can do it, great men can do it, great leaders can do it, but if the Divine comes on the earth, it is: mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ, it is to make individuals arrive at the divine nature. It is not only to protect but to lift them up so that they become filled with the divine nature; they become free from human nature completely and they become transformed into the divine nature. This transformation into the divine nature… this verse is often not understood and not taken into account while speaking of the verse n°7. But this one is extremely important, and it continues the argument, it is not as if the argument is completed in n°7. This argument continues.

We shall stop at this point and read these verses once again, since they are extremely important. And first of all, let us ask ourselves two or three important questions, which arise out of this. It concerns with the central question: can the Divine Himself take the human birth? This is the central question. As you know in this world there are many views on this very important subject. Even many religions, which believe in the existence of God, they deny the possibility of the divine birth in human body. They believe that Divine cannot and does not take human body: ‘cannot, and does not’. Some religions, which believe in this kind of divine birth, they believe that He takes birth only once. And once He has revealed, and given the message, there is no further need for another birth.

Whereas here Sri Krishna says: “sambhavāmi yuge yuge, I come again and again.” This sentence also jars on those who believe that Divine comes only once. There are some who believe that it is a kind of blasphemy to say that the Divine, the supreme Lord, He can come in this dirt of this human birth: it’s a kind of an insult to God. God is God, and world is world, the gulf between the two is so great. He can rule; He can command; He can be above; He is master ever pure, perfect. How can He enter into this imperfection? This question is also raised.

Even in Hinduism there are those who believe that this whole theory of God coming as a human being is impossible: the Divine being infinite, how can He become finite? In Arya Samaj for example, there is a belief that the Divine does not take birth; it’s not a possibility that Sri Krishna, Sri Rama, all those who are regarded as Avatars, they are great men, but so great, so superhuman that you can say they are gods. But God himself coming in the human body is not possible. Even in Hinduism, where the doctrine of Avatar and repeated Avatar is a generally accepted doctrine, even there they are those who believe that this is not possible.