In what sense is Krishna said to be the basis of Brahman?

Shri Anil asked: In Your discourse titled ‘Meaning of Brahman, Ishvara and Atman’ on January 12, 2020, You have mentioned that, in the Gita, when Krishna said “I am the base of Brahman”, the ‘I’ refers to the unimaginable God present in Krishna, while ‘Brahman’ refers to the first Energetic Incarnation called Īśvara (or Datta). So, as per this interpretation, the absolute unimaginable God is said to be the basis of God Datta. Finally, it means that God is the basis of God! Instead, can we take ‘Brahman’ to mean the world created by God? Then, the statement would mean that God is basis of creation (world) and referring to God twice may be avoided. Kindly clarify.

Swami replied: The word Brahman used in that statement from the Gita can mean both the unimaginable God and Īśvara (God Datta). To avoid the confusion, I have already suggested that the unimaginable God is to be called Parabrahman and God Datta is to be called Īśvara. Brahman is a general word meaning any greatest item in a specific category of items. In that statement, Krishna said that He is the basis of Brahman. In one sense, it means that Krishna, the Human Incarnation, is the basis of the unimaginable God as well as of Īśvara. Here, the word ‘basis’ means that Krishna is the basis or the medium for the expression of both. The unimaginable God is not expressed to any soul and Īśvara is not expressed to human beings, unless they do long penance. Hence, here, the word ‘basis’ only means the medium of expression. Krishna, the Human Incarnation of God, is the address of the unimaginable God and the invisible Īśvara. In the second sense, we can say that the unimaginable God is the basis of Īśvara as well as of Krishna. This is said in the real sense of the word ‘basis’. It means that without the unimaginable God, there is nothing, nothing, nothing...!

Keywords: | Shri Dattaswami | Ishvara Eswara Eshwara

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