BG4.45

We are now in Madurai in Tamilnadu. This place is also known as Koodal nagar, from where Perialwar, unmistakably established that the supreme God was Sriman Narayana and came in procession in this city singing pallandu, pallandu for the Lord. We have come all the way from Mathura in the North to South. Whenever Nalayira Divya Prabhandam is recited, Thiruppallandu is the first to be chanted and it was born here. The Pandyan Kings who ruled Madurai have contributed a lot to the temple here. Today's [ 15th November, 2007] lecture is from the Ekadasi Mandapam, near the Dwajasthambam. Utsavar is called Sri Vyuha Sundararajan arrives at this mandapam on every Ekadasi. Moolavar is Sri Koodalazhagar. In Vaikuntam, the Lord is seated on the Serpent throne with one leg folded and the other stretched. Here also similar posture. Right hand is in a protecting abhaya mudra and left hand welcomes the devotee. We will see the last 42nd sloka of Chapter Four:

tasmad ajnana-sambhutam
hrt-stham jnanasinatmanah
chittvainam samsayam yogam
atisthottistha bharata

"Therefore the doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge. Armed with yoga, O Bharata, stand and fight."

Tasmad = therefore, ajnana sambhutam = not understanding atman, samsayam = doubts, hrt-stham = in the mind, chitva = cut off, jnanasin = by the sword of intellect, yogam athishta = do the Karma yoga [ what I, Sri Krishna, preached], Uthishta = get up, bharata = Bharatha dynasty person [Arjuna]. Now in conclusion Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to get ready for Karma yoga, by which he would remove his ignorance and doubts about atman with the Gyana used as a sword. Therefore implies Sri Krishna's reiteration on practicing Karma yoga. How to get the Gyana? By approaching a good Acharya and following his directions. We can visualise these in steps:

• First to get directions from an Acharya
• This will give a proper and correct understanding of atman
• We have to practice this Gyana, that is Karma yoga
  
• Anushtanam [ daily and occasional rites] will dissolve our ages old sins
• This will pave way for the maturity of Gyana
• Ultimately we will get atman sakshatkaram

Parvati Devi asks Shiva to tell her the greatness of this Fourth Chapter. Shiva replies what he heard when Sri Lakshmi was told by Sri Vishnu. There was one Bharathan who was in the habit of chanting the Fourth Chapter always. Once in a forest, chanting this he stretched himself between two trees with head on one and feet on the other. After that he went away and returned by the same route some days later. He was surprised to see while all the other tees were all green, these two trees had whithered and were dry. After some seven years when Bharathan was passing by a village, two girls aged seven years prostrated and said they were those trees. They were once the apsara [ heavenly damsels] girls and were asked to spoil a meditation of a sage, by Indra. The sage was infuriated and cursed the apsara to become trees. But fortunately, by listening to Bharathan's recitation of the Fourth Chapter, their curse ended and are now born as human girls. They requested once more the recital of the Fourth Chapter, so that they will get their original apsara appearance redeemed.