vedaanaam saamavedosmi devaanaamasmi vaasavaha |
indriyaanaam manaschaasmi bhootaanaamasmi chetanaa || 22 ||
Among the Vedaas I am the Saama Veda, among the deities I am Vaasava, among the senses I am the mind and among the beings, I am the intellect.
vedaanaam : among the Vedas
saamavedaha : Saama Veda
asmi : I am
devaanaam : among the deities
asmi : I am
vaasavaha : Vaasava
indriyaanaam : among the senses
manaha : mind
cha : and
asmi : I am
bhootaanaam : among the beings
asmi : I am
chetanaa : intellect
Shri Krishna, elaborating on Ishvara’s expressions, says that Ishvara is the Saama Veda among all the Vedas. Each Veda has a unique characteristic. The Yajur Veda contains prose, the Rig Veda contains metric hymns, the Saama Veda contains songs and the Atharva Veda contains incantations. Of these, the Saama Veda is Ishvara’s expression, indicating his preference for music.
Among all the deities, Ishvara is the king of all deities known as Vaasava, also known as Indra. While our attention usually falls on the excesses of wealth and power that kings demonstrate, this was not the case traditionally. A king is supposed to spend every minute of his life serving his subjects, sacrificing everything. Such a rules of deities is a true expressions of Ishvara.
As we have seen earlier, we transact or interact with the world with our body, our senses, our organs of action, our mind and our intellect. The five senses and the five organs of action would be useless if not for the mind, that collects information from the senses and pulls together a complete picture of the world for us. It also instructs our organs to move, based on the inputs it receives. Shri Krishna says that this mind is an expression of Ishvara.
If we were to be born as a plant, animal or human, we would undoubtedly prefer to be born as a human. The key difference between a human and a plant or animal is the capacity of intelligence that lets us think logically, display compassion towards others, plan for the future and most importantly, pursue the path of the higher self. This wonderful intelligence in is is also Ishvara’s expression.
So therefore, if our mind generates thoughts of compassion or service, if our intellect makes us acts upon these thoughts so that we can serve others, we should remember that it is not the “I” in us that is causing everything to happen. It is all happening through Ishvara and his expressions.
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