[Advaita-l] Gita Jayanti

[jaldhar at braincells.com]

Today (or yesterday depending on your location), Margashira shukla 11 is 
known as Mokshada Ekadashi or Gita Jayanti because it is the anniversary 
of the day that Bhagavan in the form of Shri Krishna gave His friend and 
companion Arjuna (and hence all of us) the divine teachings that give 
moksha in the form of the Bhagavadgita.  But even incidental details are 
fascinating.

In the 10th adhyAya, bhagavAn establishes that He pervades all things.
In 10.6 for instance, He says:

महर्षयः सप्त पूर्वे चत्वारो मनवस्तथा ।
मद्भावा मानसा जाता येषां लोक इमाः प्रजाः ॥ ६ ॥


"The Seven maharShis and the four previous Manus, are born from My mind 
and from them, the peoples of these worlds."

I was drawn to the phrase "four Manus" because it is common knowledge that 
there are fourteen manus ruling the 14 manvantaras that make up one 
kalpa i.e one day of Brahma.

Shankaracharyas' bhAShya on  चत्वारः मनवः तथा says:

सावर्णा इति प्रसिद्धाः

"They are known as sAvarNis"

Of the 14 Manus, the seven of the future (we are currently in the 7th or 
Vaivasvata manvantara) all include sAvarNi in their names.  But obviously, 
seven is not four. Furthermore the word pUrva comes before this phrase and 
Shankaracharya glosses it as अतीतकालसंबन्धिन  ""relating to the past" and as
I mentioned the sAvarNi Manus are in the future not the past.

I have been looking into explanations for this conundrum and in my next 
post I will report what I found.


-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>