Divine Powers in the Gita
sadhaka
adya gunamayi daivi tathanya divya cinmayi
yoga mayeti ca prokta gitayam panca saktayah
In the Gita there is description of five divine powers:-
(1) Mula prakrti (Primordial Nature):- At the time of Final Dissolution all beings enter this Primordial Nature i.e. merge in it (9/7) and at the beginning of creation God wielding this Primordial Nature brings them forth again according to their nature (9/8); With God as supervisor, Nature brings forth the whole creation (9/10). The Lord also declares, "My Primordial Nature is the womb of all creatures and in that womb I place the seed of all life" (14/3), and "Nature is the conceiving mother, while I am the seed giving Father" (14/4). .
(2) Divya chinmaya shakti (spiritual power):- When God manifests Himself in human form etc., He keeps this spiritual power under control. It is by this spiritual power that He stages the drama of conjugal love in order to provide bliss to his devotees. It is because of this power that God's body even when He incarnates is spiritual. The Lord declares, "I manifest Myself keeping the spiritual power under control" (4/6).
(3) Yogamaya shakti (divine potency):- Ordinary ignorant folk deluded by this divine potency slight God by regarding Him as an ordinary man. It is this potency which deludes even Brahma the creator. The Lord has mentioned this potency in - 'I manifest Myself through My divine potency' (4/6) and 'veiled by My divine potency 1 am not manifest to all' (7/25).
(4) Daivi Prakrti (Divine traits or nature):- The term daiva stands for God. Those who possess this divine nature possess divine traits such as compassion, forgiveness and non-violence etc. 'The great souls embracing this divine nature worship God constantly knowing Him as the imperishable' (9/13). It has been described in the sixteenth chapter as 'divine nature' (16/3,5), A man being a fragment of God automatically possesses divine traits. But so long as he has a disinclination for God, these divine traits remain veiled. But when he has an inclination for God, these divine traits are revealed in him.
(5) Gunamayi maya (veil or divine illusion of the modes of Nature):- This veil or divine illusion is mundane consisting of the three modes of Nature - goodness, passion and ignorance. The more a man is connected with it, regards himself as its master and wants to derive pleasure out of it, the more he is deluded, becomes a slave to it and gets entangled in it. The Lord has called it by different names - Prakrti (Nature) (3/27, 29; 13/19-21, 23,29, 34; 14/5); lower Nature (7/4-5); divine illusion consisting of the three modes (7/14-15); illusive power (18/61) and unmanifested (13/5). For those who identify themselves with this divine illusion and are attached to it, it becomes fiendish, demoniacal and delusive (9/12)
In fact Divine Power is one which is nothing but the manifestation of God. It is through this power that God performs several duties as that of creation etc. and enacts different plays. The same power according to its duty or play has been given five different names as mentioned above.
Narayana ! Narayana ! Narayana !
From "Gita Darpan" in English by Swami Ramsukhdasji Maharaj.