man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaishyasi yuktvaivam
atmanam mat-parayanah

"Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me."

After completing this, we would have finished half of the 18 Chapters of Gita. Out of the total 700 slokas, we are nearing 400 slokas and so sloka-wise we are ahead of 50%. Balance number is smaller. We have studied very important topics so far. Today's [25th July 2008] lecture also is about Bhakti yoga. In the remaining Chapters, the Lord is to reveal very astonishing concepts. He is going to show His Viswaroopam and explain Who He is. We have to, therefore, continue with same interest further study of Gita. By this last sloka of this Chapter, the Lord prescribes Bhakti yoga. In this sloka the Lord tells about Himself as 'I', 'My' and 'Mine' six times. He has so much greatness and so He tells about Himself. Should He boast Himself so much? Swami Ramanuja in his commentary says because He is Purushotthama, He prescribes Bhakti to Him, by such repetitions. Aptly we have also come to this sannidhi of Sri Purushotthama. Thirumangai Alwar has praised the Lord as Sri Rama, Who lived in Ayodhya. Earlier it was told that the Lord in the Eleven Divya desams here had arrived from various other Kshetrams. In this Vanpurushotthamam Kshetram, the Lord had arrived from Ayodhya. Perialwar in one pasuram says that Mathura, Salagram, Vaikuntam, Dwaraka, Ayodhya and Badri are all the living places of Sri Purushotthama. Perhaps, because of this the Lord has arrived here. Sri Rama is considered as the best and so He is Utthama among Purusha and so Sri Purushotthama. Among purusha, there are some very low, some ordinary and some excellent. Swami Periyavacchanpillai has done this categorisation. Lowest category is the person who wants to live himself even at the cost of others. Better category is he, who wants to live and let others live. Highest category is that person who wants others to live even at the cost of himself. Such a person is Purushotthaman. Here Purusha does not denote men but Jeevatman. Our heart is considered as Puram or dwelling place. Since atman resides there, Jeevatman is called Purushotthama. Sri Andal also calls Him as Ongi ulagalanda Utthaman [ஓங்கி உலகளந்த உத்தமன்..]. Thus the father and his Daughter call the Lord as Sri Purushotthama. Sri Rama went to forest relinquishing Kingdom, so that His father's promise was kept up. In North India the Lord Sri Rama is addressed as Maryada Purushottham Ram, because He followed and kept up the conventions and law of the land. So it is necessary that we have to worship Sri Purushotthama here. Alwar worshiped the Lord here and was mesmorised by His beauty. Showing abhayam by his right palm and keeping the left arm on His lap, the Lord graces along with His Two Consorts. Alwar says that lord Shiva was created by lord Brahma, who was created by the Lord in His navel. The Lord is the Cause of all and so Sri Purushotthama. Man mana bhava = have the mind in Me [Sri Krishna], mad bhakta = love, or perform Bhakti in, Me [Sri Krishna], mad yaji = perform aradhana or pooja to Me [Sri Krishna], mam namaskuru = prostrate to Me [Sri Krishna], by doing like this, mam evaishyasi = attain Me [Sri Krishna] alone, evam = thus, atmanam = [Arjuna's] mind, yuktva = is practiced, mat parayana = I [Sri Krishna] am the objective or purushartha or destination. Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that by practicing Arjuna's mind to think of the Lord, by loving the Lord, by performing aradhana and pooja to the Lord, by worshiping and prostrating to the Lord alone, Arjuna will attain Him. Swami Ramanuja says that all these actions could be done only if He deserved; but He is Sri Purushotthama and so we have to do these. If we weigh the qualituies of the Lord on one side and all other things on the other, we find His qualities are incomparable. He is the Commander and we are just servants to execute His orders. There is absolutely no blemish in His qualities, while we can never find anyone with such perfect qualities. He is the Only One capable of granting most superior Vaikuntam. His beauty has no comparables. Thus there is wide gulf between Him and the best among ourselves. Thus in every aspect He is superior and so Sri Purushotthama. Then, Who else we can think of? Once we think of Him and His qualities, we love Him; then worship Him and perform pooja to Him. Four types of pooja services we can do: 1) Aupacharikam [ஔபசாரிகம்] - we honour Him with thiruvandhikkappu [திருவந்திக் காப்பு] with camphor lit flame, etc. 2) Samparthikam [ஸாம்பர்திகம்]- presenting flowers, garlands, sandalwood paste, etc. 3) Sandhrhrushtikam [சாந்த்ருஷ்டிகம்] - showing mirror, lamp,etc., and 4) Aapyavaharikam [ஆப்யஹவகாரிகம்] - presenting food and other eatables.