11. Chapter 11 — Viśvarūpa-Darśana Yogaḥ · The Yoga of the Vision of the Universal Form

11.1

अर्जुन उवाच | मदनुग्रहाय परमं गुह्यमध्यात्मसञ्ज्ञितम् | यत्वयोक्तं वचस्तेन मोहोऽयं विगतो मम

arjuna uvāca madanugrahāya paramaṁ guhyaṁ adhyātma-saṁjñitam / yat tvayoktaṁ vacas tena moho’yaṁ vigato mama / / 11.1

Arjuna says: ‘O Lord! By listening to Your wisdom on the supreme secret of Existence and your glory, I feel that my delusion has disappeared.’

Arjuna uvāca — Arjuna says · madanugrahāya — out of compassion for me · para- maṁ — supreme · guhyaṁ — confidential · adhyātma — spiritual · saṁjñitam — in the matter of · yat — what · tvayā — by You · uktaṁ — says · vacaḥ — words · tena — by that · mohaḥ — delusion · ayaṁ — this · vigataḥ — removed · mama — my

11.2

भवाप्ययौ हि भूतानां श्रुतौ विस्तरशो मया | त्वत्त: कमलपत्राक्ष माहात्म्यमपि चाव्ययम्

bhavāpyayau hi bhūtānāṁ śrutau vistaraśo mayā / tvattaḥ kamalapatrākṣa māhātmyamapi cāvyayam / / 11.2

O Lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa! I have listened from You in detail about the creation and destruction of all living beings, also Your inexhaustible greatness.

bhava — creation · apyayau — dissolution · hi — certainly · bhūtānāṁ — of all living entities · śrutau — have heard · vistaraśaḥ — detail · mayā — by me · tvattaḥ — from You · kamalapatrākṣa — O lotus-eyed one · māhātmyam — glories · api — also · cā — and · avyayam — inexhaustible

11.3

एवमेतद्यथात्थ त्वमात्मानं परमेश्वर | द्रष्टुमिच्छामि ते रूपमैश्वरं पुरुषोत्तम

evaṁetadyathāttha tvam ātmānaṁ parameśvara / draṣṭumicchāmi te rūpam aiśvaraṁ puruṣottama / / 11.3

O Parameśvara, Lord Supreme, though You are here before Me as You have declared Yourself, I wish to see the Divine Cosmic Form of Yours, Puruṣottama, Supreme Being.

evaṁ — thus · etat — this · yathā — as it is · āttha — have spoken · tvaṁ — You · ātmānaṁ — the soul · parameśvara — the Supreme Lord · draṣṭuṁ — to see · icchāmi — I wish · te — You · rūpaṁ — form · aiśvaraṁ — divine · puruṣottama — best of manifested forms

11.4

मन्यसे यदि तच्छक्यं मया द्रष्टुमिति प्रभो | योगेश्वर ततो मे त्वं दर्शयात्मानमव्ययम्

manyase yadi tacchakyaṁ mayā draṣṭumiti prabho / yogeśvara tato me tvaṁ darśayātmānamavyayam / / 11.4

O Prabhu, my Lord, if You think it is possible for me to see Your Cosmic Form, then please, O Yogeśvara, Lord of Yoga and all mystic power, kindly show me that Imperishable Universal Self.

manyase — You think · yadi — if · tat — that · śakyaṁ — able · mayā — by me · draṣṭum — to see · iti — thus · prabho — O Lord · yogeśvara — O Lord of all mystic power · tataḥ — then · me — unto me · tvaṁ — You · darśaya — show · ātmānaṁ — Yourself · avyayaṁ — imperishable

In the minds of many, Kṛṣṇa is considered an Incarnation. It is in this chapter that Kṛṣṇa reveals Himself as not just an Incarnation but as also the very source from which everything flows. He is the Source of all sources, the Cause of all causes, the source of all the worlds and Universes. Arjuna has already listened from Kṛṣṇa about everything that he needs to do. Arjuna’s questions have all disappeared; his doubts, his incompletions and delusions have dissolved. In the previous chapter, Kṛṣṇa explains to Arjuna who He really is. It is not that Arjuna is not aware of the greatness of Kṛṣṇa and His Divinity. It is based on his deep faith in Kṛṣṇa that Arjuna chose to have the Master assist him unarmed as his charioteer, while Duryodhana chose Kṛṣṇa’s vast Yādava army.

Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 805 ... Despite the faith that Arjuna has in Kṛṣṇa, he has self-doubts too. Doubts and faith are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. At the intellectual level, Arjuna had shed his doubts. At the emotional level he had shed his doubts. But at the being level, at the very core of his being, Arjuna had self-doubts. He was still troubled by what he was about to do. Arjuna has no one else to ask but Kṛṣṇa. Intuitively Arjuna sees his own Self in Kṛṣṇa. Nara, the man, meets Nārāyaṇa, the Divine. Arjuna knows at the depths of his being that Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa alone can provide the answers to the self-doubts that have risen within him.

Can Universal Consciousness Be Experienced? Step by step, Kṛṣṇa clears Arjuna’s self-doubts. First, Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna’s doubts of the intellect. Kṛṣṇa explains to him the misconceptions that Arjuna has from the literal reading of the scriptures and what he has understood to be right and wrong. ‘All the people in front of you are already dead,’ says the Lord, ‘I eliminated them long ago; why are you then worried? Do what you need to do.’ Kṛṣṇa then clears any lingering emotional doubts that Arjuna may have by explaining to him what He, the master of the Universe, is all about. He tells Arjuna who He really is. After detailing all His glories, Kṛṣṇa says that there is no end to His divine manifestations, His vibhūti.

Wherever there is something glorious, powerful and prosperous, Kṛṣṇa is in existence. Kṛṣṇa concludes, saying that there is no need for detailed knowledge, as He supports all of Existence within just a fragment of His divine Self. And now, finally, the time has come for Arjuna to see Kṛṣṇa as He truly is. Arjuna is standing on the last step. He beseeches, ‘My delusion has been dispelled and I am now aware of Your divinity. Please show me now who You really are.’ mad anugrahāya paramaṁ guhyam adhyātma saṁjñitam I yat tvayokaṁ vacas tena moho ‘yam vigato mam II 11.1 And yet, Arjuna still hesitates. He wants to know, but he is not sure if he can bear to experience the truth.

He says one phrase clearly, ‘If you think I can behold Your form,’ which indicates that there is already some fear in him. He also has self-doubts. Yes, Kṛṣṇa said that He had already destroyed all of Arjuna’s enemies. But physically they are in front of Arjuna. He believes what Kṛṣṇa says. But his senses tell him a different story. It is not important what others think; what is important is what we think. We should be ready to take the responsibility and face whatever comes. Even simple truths or experiences cannot be given so easily, since the receiver must have the maturity to hold what he has received. In 2005, during the pilgrimage to the cār dhām (four sacred sites of Hindus) in the Himalayas, a devotee from the USA kept asking me for a darśan of Mahāvatār Bābā.

Mahāvatār Bābā, the Paramaguru of Paramahamsa Yogānanda, lives eternally in these parts of the Himālayas. He blessed me with my name before my Self Realization, so He is, in fact, the Paramaguru of my lineage. I said to her that there was nothing I could do but if she had faith, He would appear. When she was riding a pony on the way from Gaurikund to Kedār, she saw Bābā passing by. When she told me about this, I found that she indeed had an experience. I told her that she would be experiencing the effects of that energy for quite some time. For six months her body was adjusting to that intense energy experience.

Here Arjuna says, ‘If you think I can behold your Cosmic form, My Lord, show me Your unmasked, manifested Universal Self.’ Please understand, before entering into the experience you must have the courage to take whatever comes. There are people I know, who after meditating for about a year, start experiencing the state of boundarilessness. They get frightened and shaken and afraid of losing themselves. I tell them that the meditation itself was to give them the experience of boundarilessness. It is like Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 807 ... taking all the trouble to invite a guest to your house and when he does arrive, you are surprised at his arrival!

Invariably when people have the experience for the first time, they are shaken and try to escape. In many instances, during the darkness meditations in Inner Awakening program, people come to the point of losing their body consciousness. They get scared and refuse to go along with the experience. After the meditation session is over, they tell me what happened. By then it is too late, they have missed the opportunity! This is also the case with people who practice chanting intensely. When the Divine starts giving them the experience, they are shaken by fear and stop. When you are meditating on the Divine, a chant or God, do not try to escape when you get the vision or darśan.

Please understand that the Divine will never disturb you, only your fear disturbs you. When you have the experience, have the courage to go with it. With the Divine, nothing is too much. Therefore, don’t worry about overdoing anything in spirituality. There is nothing called too much in spiritual energy and spiritual experience. There can never be too much of bhakti or devotion, too much of the Divine, too much of bliss. Here, Arjuna says, ‘If you think I can behold your Cosmic form…’ Arjuna wants the experience but puts the responsibility on Kṛṣṇa. He wants the sweet but not diabetes! Of course, the divine sweet can never make you a diabetic.

I had occasion to visit Melkote, the place where Rāmānujacārya, the Indian saint had lived. The prasād (food offered to the Lord and distributed to people) was so tasty and intensely sweet. I wondered if the devotees would have become diabetic , but was surprised when I was told there was no diabetic in the entire village, although everyone consumed the prasād daily! Understand, food offered to God gets energized and becomes amṛta or nectar. What we chant while offering the prasād cleanses and energizes it. When food is put before the deity in a temple where mantras are chanted constantly, the food absorbs the pure, spiritual energy. It starts radiating the energy of the divine positive qualities.

One cannot fall sick by eating prasād. With divine energy, the effect is always positive, never negative. You cannot die in the amṛtasāgara, the ocean of nectar. When it comes to the Divine, all you need to do is jump into It with your whole being. All you need to do is to relax into It for transformation. Arjuna says: manyase yadi tacchakhyaṁ mayā draṣṭum iti prabho I yogeśvara tato me tvaṁ darśayātmānam avyayam II 11.4 ‘If You think I am able to behold, O My Lord, Yogeśvara, Master of all mystic power, please show me Your Cosmic form.’ Many of you are like Arjuna. In fact, all of you are like Arjuna.

You do not wish to take any risks. The Master has to calculate all the risks for you. You want the Master to make the experience risk-free, safe and pleasant. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Yes, the experience is bliss, it is liberating, but that blissful experience destroys your identity, kills the ego and recreates the Divine in you. If you wish to be as you were, do not ask for the experience. The Master’s job is to transform. The Master is a surgeon, the surgeon of egos. Once you come to Him, it is a point of no return. I tell people that once they enter the gates of the ashram, they have made a life-long, no-return commitment.

Even if they go out, they cannot get me out! There is no such thing as partial surrender to a Master. There is no such thing as, ‘Please give me what I can take. Let me take a sip and see if I like it. If I do, I shall ask You for more. If not, I shall not take anymore.’ Of course, the Master knows your readiness far better than you do. That is why I work on you in stages. As long as you are not ready, what I give you is brain and eye candy, that’s all. You can gaze in happiness and go away. The form is all that you can take.

It is only when your seriousness Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 809 ... of purpose is established that I can start working on you without fear that you will run away from the operating table. Till then you only behave under the delusion that you have surrendered. It is one more fantasy, that is all. The brahmacāris who train at the ashram understand the power of the Master’s words. They listen and listen completely, without applying logic and reason. Logic and reason come with ego. To be egoless, you need to be mindless and shed logic. Arjuna is an evolved disciple. What he says only seems to reflect what an ordinary person would have said.

In fact, what Arjuna implies here is far more. ‘Please give me Your Cosmic vision,’ Arjuna pleads, ‘if it may please You. I am keen to have it, but the decision is Yours. Let what happens be decided by You,’ he says to Kṛṣṇa. What he implies is this: ‘I have listened all that You have said. My questions have disappeared and my delusions have evaporated. I truly understand Your greatness. May I see You in Your true form? ‘I have no right to ask all this of You. It is not any penance I may have done that makes me deserve this. It is not that I have reached a level of intellectual understanding of You that makes me deserve this.

It is not that I have reached the peak of devotion that makes me deserve Your vision. I have no right to demand. However, in all humility, as Your devotee, as one who surrenders to You, I ask of You to show me who You really are. Please show me Your entire splendor, Your valor, Your wisdom, Your truth and all that You really are!’ Let Me Give You The Divine Eye

11.5

श्रीभगवानुवाच | पश्य मे पार्थ रूपाणि शतशोऽथ सहस्रश: | नानाविधानि दिव्यानि नानावर्णाकृतीनि च

śrībhagavānuvāca paśya me pārtha rūpāṇi śataśo’tha sahasraśaḥ / nānāvidhāni divyāni nānāvarṇākṛtīni ca / / 11.5

Bhagavān says: O My dear Pārtha, behold now My hundreds and thousands of forms, of infinite divine sorts, of infinite colors and shapes.

śrī bhagavān uvāca — Kṛṣṇa says · paśya — behold · me — Mine · pārtha — arju- na · rūpāṇi — forms · śataśaḥ — hundreds · atha — also · sahasraśaḥ — thousands · nānāvidhāni — of different nature · divyāni — divine · nānā — various · varṇa — colors · ākṛtīni — shapes · ca — also

11.6

पश्यादित्यान्वसून् रुद्रानश्विनौ मरुतस्तथा | बहून्यदृष्टपूर्वाणि पश्याश्चर्याणि भारत

paśyādityān vasūn rudrān aśvinau marutastathā / bahūny adṛṣṭa-pūrvāṇi paśyāścaryāṇi bhārata / / 11.6

O Bhārata, see here the different manifestations of the Ādityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Aśvins, the Māruts and all other gods. Behold the many wonderful forms which noone has ever seen before.

paśya — see · adityān — the twelve sons of Aditi · vasūn — the eight Vasus · rudrān — the eleven forms of Rudra · aśvinau — the two Aśvinis · marutaḥ — the forty-nine Maruts (wind deities) · tathā — also · bahūni — many · adṛṣṭa — that you have never seen · pūrvāṇi — before · paśya — see · āścaryāṇi — wonderful · bhārata — O best of the Bhāratas

11.7

इहैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं पश्याद्य सचराचरम् | मम देहे गुडाकेश यच्चान्यद्द्रष्टुमिच्छसि

ihaikasthaṁ jagat kṛtsnaṁ paśyādya sacarācaram / mama dehe guḍākeśa yac cānyad draṣṭumicchasi / / 11.7

O Arjuna, see at once now in this body of Mine, the whole Universe completely in this one place, all the moving and the unmoving, and see everything else you desire to see also.

iha — in this · ekasthaṁ — situated in one · jagat — the universe · kṛtsnaṁ — whole · paśya — see · adya — now · sa — with · carā — moving · acaram — not moving · mama — My · dehe — in this body · guḍākeśa — O Arjuna · yat — that · ca — also · anyat — other · draṣṭum — to see · icchasi — you like

11.8

न तु मां शक्यसे द्रष्टुमनेनैव स्वचक्षुषा | दिव्यं ददामि ते चक्षु: पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम्

na tu māṁ śakyase draṣṭum anenaiva svacakṣuṣā / divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ paśya me yogamaiśvaram / / 11.8

But you cannot see Me with your own physical eyes. Let Me give you the Divine eye; Behold My Divine power and opulence!

na — never · tu — but · māṁ — Me · śakyase — able · draṣṭum — to see · anena — by this · eva — certainly · svacakṣuṣā — with your own eyes · divyaṁ — divine · dadāmi — I give · te — to you · cakṣuḥ — eyes · paśya — see · me — My · yogam aiśvaram — divine powers

In this verse, Kṛṣṇa summarizes the entire chapter as He explains the whole darśan (Vision). It needs to be read and understood as one verse. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘O Pārtha, behold the hundreds and thousands of my Divine forms. These are infinite Divine forms, of diverse colors, shapes and sizes. O Bhārata, see the different manifestations of Āditya, Vasu, Rudra, Aśvini Kumār, Mārut and many wonderful beings whom no one has ever seen before.’ But before He gives darśan of the Universal form, He makes an important and beautiful statement, ‘O Arjuna! You cannot see my form with ordinary eyes. To behold this form, you would need divya netra, the third eye or the divine eye.

Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 811 ... na tu māṁ śakyase draṣṭum anenaiva sva-cakṣuṣā I divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ paśya me yogam aiśvaram II 11.8 ‘divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ...’ Let me give you the divine eye to enable you to see and experience Me.’ From this verse He starts giving the Viśvarūpa darśan—Vision of His Cosmic Form. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘O Arjuna, may you start seeing whatever exists, the sthāvara and the jaṅgama (immovable and movable), the Universe that no ordinary man can see. Even the great sages have not seen this sight and are not aware of it.’ Arjuna was an intimate friend of Kṛṣṇa and their attachment to each other as friends was deep.

They had known each other from their early years and even though Kṛṣṇa was close to all the Pāṇḍava brothers and also the Kaurava, His bond with Arjuna was special. Over and above their friendship, Arjuna was a very intelligent and learned man in his own right. But neither the deep friendship nor his intelligence or wisdom could give Arjuna any idea of the real nature, the true nature of Kṛṣṇa, and about His many facets. There are so many forms and manifestations of the different energies that humans have not even heard of. Kṛṣṇa, in His infinite compassion and love for Arjuna, shows him all these wonderful forms. Here is a wonderful phenomenon.

Now Kṛṣṇa gives Arjuna the power to see what is happening in the whole Universe, not only in the present, but in the past and the future also! Darśan, Seeing the Divine Form is Possible Here again are the three questions that are the essence of the whole chapter. Can the Divine form be seen? What is the qualification to see the Divine form? What really happens when you see the Divine form? I tell you categorically—it is possible to see the divine form. There are many enlightened Masters who have experienced this consciousness. Let me give you an instance from my life. After nine long years of penance, I was completely frustrated at one point.

I wondered if I was wasting my whole life reading books, following what the earlier Masters said and applying them in my life. I wondered, was there really something called enlightenment or was it a waste of my whole life? At one point I began to fear that I had wasted the very essence of my life, my youth, by pouring all of it into tapas or penance. Was it really worth the sacrifice? All of a sudden at one point in time, I felt myself going into deep depression. Actually, I later realized that this was not depression. It was a desperate situation, a deep personal quest, and an urge to do or die.

Now I know that one needs to reach this stage before one can realize the truth. Whatever had to be done as spiritual penance, I had done and had not left even an inch untried. For example, at one point in time, I created a wall of fire six feet in diameter, sat inside it and chanted continuously so that I would not fall asleep. In this way, I had tried hundreds of techniques to the best of my ability. Since nothing was still happening to me, I concluded that there was either no such thing as enlightenment or it was something I could not achieve. I strongly began to think that Enlightenment was simply something that some people were cheating humanity with, for their own ego-fulfillment.

I began to doubt and lose faith in the whole system. The photo of Rāmakṛṣṇa, who had all along been my inspiration, the photo I used to worship everyday, I threw away in disgust, Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 813 ... depression and anger and with such force that the glass frame broke. At that time I was staying in Omkareshwar, in a forest in Madhya Pradesh, on the banks of the holy river Narmada. I had my rosary, with which I used to say my prayers and do my penance for hours together. It was my constant companion and was something to which I had given utmost respect, almost like my life-line.

In my anger and depression, I threw the rudrākṣa (sacred energy beads) into the river Narmada and cast the mantra out of my mind. I decided, ‘No more meditation, no more spirituality. Enough!’ I had had enough of the game being played by the so-called Enlightened Masters. I simply threw everything away, dropped everything. I then walked into the river Narmada with my eyes closed. The river was at least sixty feet deep at that point. I just kept walking with my eyes closed. Fear gripped me but I continued. When I opened my eyes, I was on the opposite bank of the river! Till date I have no idea what happened.

I have no idea whether there were rocks all along the path I walked on the river, or whether I floated or whether the river parted. But I did not have the resolve to walk back through the river again, that much I know! To return to the point I started from, I had to walk to the nearest bridge, many miles away! The seventh day after this incident, I joined the Masters in their game! The experience of Enlightenment and Cosmic consciousness simply happened to me. It never left me thereafter. So to answer this question, ‘Can this be experienced?’, the definitive answer is Yes. As a person who was just like you—I tell you out of courtesy the simple truth, ‘Yes, honestly, it can be experienced.’

This is the solid truth; a promise that this can be experienced. Please understand, I have no vested interest in convincing you of this ideology. All I have is simple courtesy, like informing a friend of the traffic situation in a particular place and guiding him through a different route. It is definitely possible to experience this truth, this Cosmic form, in our lives. Never think, ‘This is not for me.’ It is for everybody! However, unless you are sure of the possibility of having this beautiful, intense experience, listening to all this is a waste of time. If you think this is one more story, do not waste your time here.

The first thing that you need to know is that it is possible. Only then what Kṛṣṇa says will work on our being. I will be really happy if you go out after experiencing this Cosmic form. At least go out with a glimpse of it. If these words of Kṛṣṇa are to work on you, you must first be convinced of the possibility of it happening to you and know that these are not just words. Let me tell you openly and directly, from my experience, ‘It is possible.’ These words of Kṛṣṇa are not mere words; they are not mere scriptural words. These words are techniques that go deep inside you and work on you with amazing results.

All that you need is complete trust in the Master that what He says will happen. I promise you it will. Who Can See The Divine Form? Next, what is the qualification? Basically, by giving this experience to Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa proves that there is no need for any qualification because Arjuna himself has no qualification. Arjuna neither took the responsibility nor understood fully the teachings of Kṛṣṇa. He was simply fortunate to be in the presence of Kṛṣṇa, that’s all. Likewise, you too are fortunate to be here and not caught in some traffic jam! There were thousands of possibilities for you to be elsewhere; so many options were available to you.

But out of all of them, Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 815 ... you chose to be here. This is the only qualification required. In fact, you are the Arjuna who missed Kṛṣṇa in an earlier form. You are here now, listening or reading, not by any mere accident or Divine coincidence. You are here now for a reason. That is qualification enough. Make sure that you do not miss Kṛṣṇa again this time! By coming here every day, your unconscious mind has already accepted whatever is being said here. If this had not happened, you would not return here the following day. You would not be listening to or reading this chapter.

A person told me that when he woke up every day for these few days, he found himself waiting for 5:30 in the evening so that he could attend the Gītā discourse! If you are waiting, it means that all these words have already entered your being. So have the trust that you are ready for this experience. One of the problems is that even if you are qualified, you do not have the trust or belief that you are qualified! This is because society and religious preachers have blamed you continuously for many things and created a kind of guilt and self-doubt in you. Because of this you have lost faith and confidence in yourself.

Now, after having listened for all these days, your still being here is proof that your unconscious mind has accepted and enriched by these ideas. Your conscious mind may struggle with the question of why you are here, but the fact that you are here shows that unconsciously you have allowed enriching yourself and begun enjoying these ideas. Understand, allowing the Master to enrich you is the best way of enriching yourself. You are fortunate to fall in tune with the great thought of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. After understanding the verse, we will enter into a meditation to have at least a glimpse of what the Cosmic Kṛṣṇa gave Arjuna. Arjuna had no qualification to receive what he got from Kṛṣṇa.

When He could give it to Arjuna, why not to us? First, we acknowledge the possibility of having the experience. We have all understood that it is possible to have it. Next, the qualification: we have all understood that simply by being here we are qualified for the experience. Somebody once asked Bhagavān Rāmaṇa Maharṣi, Enlightened Master from India, what was the qualification for enlightenment. Bhagavān replied that merely being alive, simply existing, was the only qualification required! At the most, the only qualification can be said to be openness. If you did not have it, you would not come here every day. We never allow the belief that we have the qualification to enter into our being.

I tell you, drop everything! You are qualified by your very presence here! The Divine Eye, Divya cakṢu Next, what happens when you have the experience? Kṛṣṇa’s words: na tu māṁ śakyase draṣṭum anenaiva sva-cakṣuṣā I divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ paśya me yogam aiśvaram II 11.8 ‘Arjuna, you cannot see Me with these ordinary eyes. You need the divine eye, the third eye, divyacakṣu. To see My Cosmic form, I give you the divine eye.’ What is this divine eye? Let me tell you my experience that happened when I was twelve years old. During that age, I used to do a particular meditation, or rather I used to play with a technique given to me by a master.

When I was about ten years old the great Master Annāmalai Swamigal, disciple of Rāmaṇa Maharṣi, first taught me the technique of exploring to see where thoughts originated. Once when I visited him with my parents, he was addressing a group of seekers and was saying, ‘We are not the body, we are ātman, the spirit. No pain or suffering touches us.’ Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 817 ... I wondered how this could be, for if my mother beat me, I could feel the pain! (In India, if kids were mischievous, they would be roundly beaten, you could not call 911!) To experiment, I went home and cut my thigh with a knife to see if I had pain or not.

I bled profusely. Naturally, it not only hurt me, but I had to be taken to the hospital for the wound to be stitched, with more scolding from my mother! I had both pain and suffering. I wondered why this Swami had taught us such a thing as ‘no suffering or pain’! Experimenting on others was easy. Arjuna was intelligent. After understanding everything, he started killing others; he never experimented on himself! I approached the Swami and related what had happened to me. First he asked me, ‘Did I ask you to go and cut yourself?’ He then made a profound statement that transformed my life. He said, ‘You may have pain and suffering now, but do not worry.

Your attitude of analyzing and searching for the truth, your courage to experiment with truth, will liberate you from all pains, so go ahead!’ He then advised me to start searching for the source of my thoughts. Of course, at that age I was only irritated by his comments and my attention was on the fruits and sweets that devotees had brought him. I was hoping he would give me some in consolation! Honestly, I neither understood nor was convinced of what he said. However, after a few days I began to playfully and casually try out the technique of trying to see the origin of my thoughts. I did not do this with any expectation or idea.

All I knew was what the Swami had told me—that I would go beyond pain or suffering if I did this technique. I had no concept of God, Brahman, ātman or jñāna. One evening, at the foothills of the sacred Arunachala hill, I was sitting on a rock known locally as pavala kundru, the Coral Rock, trying out the same technique with eyes closed. I had fallen into deep meditation. After some time, suddenly something opened, something seemed to happen inside my being, a feeling of being pulled or sucked inside. The next moment it was as if a door had opened inside me, and I had complete 360-degree vision, both laterally and vertically.

I could see on all four sides – the temple that was behind me, the hill that was in front of me, and the city that was on my left and right. I could see vertically too— the sky, the rock on which I was sitting, again the temple behind me. For normal people who have only a maximum of 120-degree vision, I know this is very difficult to comprehend. All I can do is promise solemnly that it did happen! No other intellectual explanation is possible. Not only was I able to see all around, I was also able to feel that whatever I was seeing was Me. Whether they were plants or rocks or the city or the hill, whatever I could see, I felt they were all just Me.

The experience was so intense and ecstatic that it was more than three or four hours before I opened My eyes. I felt feverish with bliss and this mood continued for three days. But after this I was overtaken by a fear that there was something wrong with me. I thought a ghost had possessed me and I decided never to go to that rock again. I even began to avoid that route, which I normally took. I related my experience to an elderly Sannyāsi, Mata Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 819 ... Vibhudānanda Devi (Kuppammal), who was my mentor. She held my hand and seeing the energy, exclaimed, ‘You are not possessed by any ghost.

You are possessed by God!’ She encouraged me to continue with meditation but I never dared to do so for the next six months and was even afraid to close my eyes! I also related my experience to a close friend of mine. I told him about my 360-degree vision and my not knowing what was happening to me, etc. He did not believe me until I proved it to him by telling him about an ant climbing up the tree behind me, and correctly telling which side of the coin that he hid in his hand was exposed. He ran away from me in terror! He came to the the ashram and said to one of the ashramites, ‘I was the first person to receive energy darśan from him, but I missed it!’

But despite the fear I experienced, the whole body was bubbling with joy and ecstasy. So welcome was the feeling, that I had a small temptation to go to the rock again. I never really understood what had happened. A year later another enlightened person gave me the explanation; the seeking, however, started after this experience. Nine years of penance followed. All this penance was in order to have this experience again. When it did come the next time, both body and mind were ready and the experience stayed within my being. The vision of 360 degrees is what Kṛṣṇa means by divyacakṣu, trinetra, divine eye or third eye, also called ājñā cakra.

When this eye opens you will see 360 degrees not only in the horizontal but in the vertical dimension too. You will see the whole Existence as You and experience it as You. This experience is what Kṛṣṇa calls Cosmic consciousness. I felt that everything I saw around me was living, just as how we feel our living bodies, expanding the body consciousness to the Universal consciousness. When you feel the whole Universe as you would your own body, it can be called a cosmic experience. Unfortunately, we do not feel alive even within our own bodies! Just as I was frightened when I had my first experience, Arjuna too was frightened when he started seeing Kṛṣṇa’s cosmic form.

In such instances, a living Master is required for help and guidance. I am often asked this question, ‘Who was your Master?,’ to which I reply, ‘Arunachala.’ Arunachala, the sacred hill of Tiruvannamalai, my birthplace, is a living Master. For a premature baby to survive, it must be put into the incubator. Similarly, Arunachala is the incubator for the Enlightened person-to-be. The energy of Arunachala takes care just by your being near it. ‘Let me give you the third eye, to enable you to experience the Universal consciousness.’ You need to understand that after this verse, neither Kṛṣṇa nor Arjuna speaks. Suddenly, it is Sañjaya who is speaking. After the first chapter in Bhagavad Gītā until now, there is no word from Sañjaya.

But here it is he who is speaking. This is a symbolic representation. Arjuna is unable to speak because he is in the ecstatic experience. Kṛṣṇa does not speak because his voice is beyond audibility. His voice is in the Cosmic frequency, which is not audible to us. So Sañjaya interprets. A Thousand Blazing Suns

11.9

सञ्जय उवाच | एवमुक्त्वा ततो राजन्महायोगेश्वरो हरि: | दर्शयामास पार्थाय परमं रूपमैश्वरम्

sañjaya uvāca evamuktvā tato rājan mahāyogeśvaro hariḥ / darśayāmāsa pārthāya paramaṁ rūpamaiśvaram / / 11.9

Sañjaya said: O King, having spoken thus, the great Lord of Yoga, Mahā Yogeśvara Hari (Kṛṣṇa), showed to Arjuna His supreme Cosmic form.

Sañjaya uvāca — Sañjaya said · evam — thus · uktvā — having says · tataḥ — thereaf- ter · rājan — O King · mahāyogeśvaraḥ — the great Lord of Yoga · hariḥ — Kṛṣṇa · darśayāmāsa — showed · pārthāya — to Arjuna · paramaṁ — divine · rūpam — form · aiśvaram — opulences

11.10

अनेकवक्त्रनयनमनेकाद्भुतदर्शनम् | अनेकदिव्याभरणं दिव्यानेकोद्यतायुधम्

aneka-vaktra-nayanam anekādbhuta darśanam / aneka-divyābharaṇaṁ divyānekodyatāyudham / / 11.10

Infinite mouths and eyes, with infinite wonderful sights, infinite divine ornaments, with numerous divine weapons up- lifted.

aneka — various · vaktra — mouths · nayanam — eyes · aneka — various · adbhuta — won- derful · darśanam — sights · aneka — many · divya — divine · ābharaṇaṁ — ornaments · divya — divine · aneka — various · udyata — uplifted · āyudham — weapons

11.11

दिव्यमाल्याम्बरधरं दिव्यगन्धानुलेपनम् | सर्वाश्चर्यमयं देवमनन्तं विश्वतोमुखम्

divya-mālyāmbara-dharaṁ divya-gandhānulepanam / sarvāścarya-mayaṁ devam anantaṁ viśvatomukham / / 11.11

Arjuna saw this Universal form wearing divine garlands and clothing, anointed with celestial fragrances, wonderful, resplendent, endless, with faces on all sides.

divya — divine · mālya — garlands · ambaradharaṁ — covered with the dresses · divya — divine · gandha — fragrance · anulepanam — smeared · sarva — all · aścaryamayaṁ — wonderful · devaṁ — shining · anantaṁ — endless · viśvatomukham — with faces on all sides

11.12

दिवि सूर्यसहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदुत्थिता | यदि भा: सदृशी सा स्याद्भासस्तस्य महात्मन:

divi sūryasahasrasya bhaved yugapad utthitā / yadi bhāḥ sadṛśī sā syād bhāsastasya mahātmanaḥ / / 11.12

If the splendor of a thousand suns were to blaze all together in the sky, it would be like the splendor of that mighty Being.

divi — in the sky · sūrya — sun · sahasrasya — of many thousands · bhaved — there were · yugapad — simultaneously · utthitā — present · yadi — if · bhāḥ — splendor · sadṛśī — like · sā — that · syād — may be · bhāsaḥ — effulgence · tasya — there is · mahātmanaḥ — of the great Lord

11.13

तत्रैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं प्रविभक्तमनेकधा | अपश्यद्देवदेवस्य शरीरे पाण्डवस्तदा

tatraikasthaṁ jagat kṛtsnaṁ pravibhaktamanekadhā / apaśyad devadevasya śarīre pāṇḍavastadā / / 11.13

There, in the body of the God of gods, the Pāṇḍava then saw the whole universe resting in one, with all its infinite parts.

tatra — there · ekasthaṁ — in one place · jagat — universe · kṛtsnaṁ — completely · pravibhaktam — divided in · anekadhā — many groups · apaśyat — saw · devadevasya — God of gods · śarīre — in the body · pāṇḍavaḥ — Arjuna · tadā — at that time

11.14

तत: स विस्मयाविष्टो हृष्टरोमा धनञ्जय: | प्रणम्य शिरसा देवं कृताञ्जलिरभाषत

tataḥ sa vismayāviṣṭo hṛṣṭaromā dhanañjayaḥ / praṇamya śirasā devaṁ kṛtāñjalirabhāṣata / / 11.14

Dhanañjaya, filled with wonder, his hair standing on end, then bowed his head to the God and spoke with joined palms.

tataḥ — thereafter · saḥ — he · vismayāviṣṭaḥ — being overwhelmed with wonder · hṛṣṭaromā — with his bodily hair standing on end · dhanañjayaḥ — Arjuna · praṇamya — offering obeisances · śirasā — with the head · devaṁ — to God · kṛtāñjaliḥ — with folded palms · abhāṣata — says

These verses show the unlimited, never-ending, wonderful, all-pervading nature of the Lord. Rāmakṛṣṇa says that when he experienced the form, the Cosmic consciousness, he could not pluck a single flower from a plant because he felt that all the plants were garlands offered to God. Anyone who has had this experience is reborn. At one level this experience is one of boundarilessness. The body expands to fill everything. The entire Universe is part of the body. There is no separation of the individual and the whole. The whole is part and the part is whole. At another level the whole Universe exists within you. You are everything that you see around you.

The grass outside the hut, the dog in the distance, the tree beyond, every single entity, animate and inanimate, resonates within you, as a part of you. In that mood, plucking a flower hurts. A wild animal responds peacefully to your presence. There is no violence in Cosmic consciousness. There is only completion and inclusion. This is what Arjuna saw in the Universal form, an unlimited number of mouths, eyes and wonderful visions. The form was decorated with many celestial ornaments and bore many divine upraised weapons. He wore celestial garlands and garments. Many divine scents were smeared all over His body. All was wondrous, brilliant, unlimited, all-expanding. Here he sees an unlimited number of mouths and eyes in Kṛṣṇa.

Now Arjuna sees 360 degrees in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. He sees the whole universe, all the people on the battlefield; all of them inside Kṛṣṇa, as the Universal consciousness. He sees the Whole as his own being. There is no boundary to Kṛṣṇa’s universal form. The word Viṣṇu, which is his real form, means one who expands infinitely. The splendor that Sañjaya talks about is beyond anything the mind can comprehend, because it is the source of all splendor. Notice, it is Sañjaya speaking these words, not Arjuna. Sañjaya is far from the battlefield and has been given the power to see what happens on the battlefield so that he can describe the events to his king Dhṛitarāṣṭra.

Though Kṛṣṇa says that this form is being shown only to Arjuna, by default Sañjaya has the great fortune to witness and participate in this vision. Arjuna is awestruck and is in silence. He is yet to speak. What he Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 823 ... has witnessed is beyond anything that he could have imagined or asked for. But the silence is a very active silence. It is a silence in which he experiences the truth of Kṛṣṇa. It is a silence in which he is actively participating in the process and is being immersed. Those who experience do not talk. Those who talk have not experienced.

Sañjaya then summarizes Arjuna’s reaction to the divine form of Kṛṣṇa in the last few verses. Arjuna is still silent and it is Sañjaya who describes what happens. What Arjuna saw was beyond his understanding. Wherever he looked was Kṛṣṇa; Kṛṣṇa in many forms, many shapes, many non-forms and non-shapes. There are no words to describe what Arjuna saw. How does one describe what is beyond the mind, beyond logic, beyond words, beyond all comprehension? In the body of the supreme Lord, Arjuna saw the whole Universe divided in different ways and at the same time united in one form. The Universe is divided into many parts such as the sun, moon, earth, planets and other bodies in space.

Here he sees all of them as one form. You need to understand this description, which is so beautiful. Later we shall enter into a meditation and pray to the Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa to give us all a glimpse of what Arjuna received. Arjuna is able to see the whole and at the same time all the parts. Even the word hologram that we now so commonly use to describe the totality of something preserved in a fragment does no justice to Arjuna’s vision. In a hologram, one needs to make the effort to see the whole in the fragment. In this divine vision granted to Arjuna, the whole existed with the part, with no separation, no discontinuity.

The whole was part and the part was whole. Of all the people on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, only Arjuna had this great fortune to behold the Cosmic Vision of Kṛṣṇa. Only he was granted the boon of divine vision to see the entire Universe within Kṛṣṇa. The vision that Arjuna beheld enveloped him completely. He was, in fact, part of that Vision. In addition, he was the experience of that vision as well. Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa grew up together from childhood. Kṛṣṇa’s sister Subhadra was Arjuna’s wife. They had a deep relationship as friends. In this one moment, that relationship was redefined. In most cases, the relationships are not absolute in time and space.

They become mixed. In this particular instant, when Arjuna beheld the Cosmic form of Kṛṣṇa, all thoughts of friendship disappeared. He became the typical dāsa, servant. Hands trembling, hair on end, tears in his eyes, unable to comprehend what he was witnessing, Arjuna bowed down deep in front of his erstwhile friend and started speaking in deep ecstasy. Arjuna was not afraid of Kṛṣṇa. What he now felt towards Kṛṣṇa did not arise from his mind. It was involuntary. It was intuitive. You cannot make your hair stand on end even if you try the whole night and day. Ecstasy cannot be willed. Arjuna is in adoration. He is in awe.

He realizes that he is in the presence of an energy that has no equal. Nothing he has ever experienced before comes close to this. His being opens while his mind rests. In fact, Arjuna at this moment is beyond the five defined bhāvas. He is in the state of mahā bhāva—­­ the state beyond the five bhāvas. Worlds Tremble With Fear

11.15

अर्जुन उवाच | पश्यामि देवांस्तव देव देहे सर्वांस्तथा भूतविशेषसङ्घान् | ब्रह्माणमीशं कमलासनस्थ- मृषींश्च सर्वानुरगांश्च दिव्यान्

arjuna uvāca paśyāmi devāṁstava deva dehe sarvāṁstathā bhūta-viśeṣa-saṅghān / brahmāṇam īśaṁ kamalāsana-sthaṁ ṛṣīṁś ca sarvān uragāṁśca divyān / / 11.15

Arjuna says; O God, I see all the gods in Your body and many types of beings. Brahma, the Lord of creation seated on the lotus, all the sages and celestial serpents.

arjuna uvāca — Arjuna says · paśyāmi — I see · devān — all the gods · tava — Your · deva — O Lord · dehe — in the body · sarvān — all · tathā — also · bhūta — living entities · viśeṣa saṅghān — specifically assembled · brahmāṇam — Brahma · īśaṁ — Lord · ka- malāsanastham — sitting on the lotus flower · ṛṣīn — great sages · ca — also · sarvān — all · uragān — serpents · ca — also · divyān — divine

11.16

अनेकबाहूदरवक्त्रनेत्रं पश्यामि त्वां सर्वतोऽनन्तरूपम् | नान्तं न मध्यं न पुनस्तवादिं पश्यामि विश्वेश्वर विश्वरूप

aneka-bāhūdara-vaktranetraṁ paśyāmi tvām sarvato’nantarūpam / nāntaṁ na madhyaṁ na punastavādiṁ paśyāmi viśveśvara viśvarūpa / / 11.16

I see Your infinite form on every side, with many arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes; Neither the end, nor the middle nor the beginning do I see, O Lord of the Universe, O cosmic form.

aneka — many · bāhu — arms · udara — bellies · vaktra — mouths · netraṁ — eyes · paśyāmi — I see · tvām — unto You · sarvataḥ — from all sides · anantarūpam — endless form · nā ‘ntaṁ — there is no end · na madhyaṁ — there is no middle · na punaḥ — nor again · tava — Your · ādiṁ — beginning · paśyāmi — I see · viśveśvara — O Lord of the universe · viśvarūpa — in the form of the universe

11.17

किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रिणं च तेजोराशिं सर्वतो दीप्तिमन्तम् | पश्यामि त्वां दुर्निरीक्ष्यं समन्ताद् दीप्तानलार्कद्युतिमप्रमेयम्

kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakriṇaṁ ca tejorāśiṁ sarvato dīptimantam / paśyāmi tvāṁ durnirīkṣyaṁ samantād dīptānalārka-dyutim-aprameyam / / 11 .17

I see You with crown, club and discus; a mass of radi- ance shining everywhere, difficult to look at, blazing all round like the burning fire and sun in infinite brilliance.

kirīṭinaṁ — with helmets · gadinaṁ — with maces · cakriṇaṁ — with discs · ca — and · tejorāśiṁ — radiance · sarvataḥ — all sides · dīptimantam — glowing · paśyāmi — I see · tvāṁ — You · durnirīkṣyaṁ — difficult to see · samantāt — spreading · dīptānala — blazing fire · arka — sun · dyutiṁ — sunshine · aprameyam — immeasurable

11.18

त्वमक्षरं परमं वेदितव्यं त्वमस्य विश्वस्य परं निधानम् | त्वमव्यय: शाश्वतधर्मगोप्ता सनातनस्त्वं पुरुषो मतो मे

tvamakṣaraṁ paramaṁ veditavyaṁ tvamasya viśvasya paraṁ nidhānam / tvamavyayaḥ śāśvata-dharma-goptā sanātanastvaṁ puruṣo mato me / / 11.18

You are the imperishable; the supreme being worthy to be known. You are the great treasure house of this Universe. You are the imperishable protector of the eternal order. I believe You are the eternal being.

tvaṁ — You · akṣaraṁ — inexhaustible · paramaṁ — supreme · veditavyaṁ — to be understood · tvaṁ — You · asya — of this · viśvasya — of the universe · paraṁ — supreme · nidhānam — basis · tvaṁ — You are · avyayaḥ — inexhaustible · śāśvata dharma goptā — maintainer of the eternal religion · sanātanaḥ — eternal · tvaṁ — You · puruṣaḥ — supreme personality · mato me — is my opinion

11.19

अनादिमध्यान्तमनन्तवीर्य- मनन्तबाहुं शशिसूर्यनेत्रम् | पश्यामि त्वां दीप्तहुताशवक्त्रं- स्वतेजसा विश्वमिदं तपन्तम्

anādi-madhyāntam ananta-vīryam ananta-bāhuṁ śaśisūrya netram / paśyāmi tvāṁ dīpta-hutāśavaktraṁ svatejasā viśvam idaṁ tapantam / / 11.19

I see you without a beginning, middle or end, infinite in power and many arms, The sun and the moon being Your eyes, the blazing fire your mouth, the whole universe scorched by Your radiance.

anādi — without beginning · madhya — middle · antaṁ — end · ananta — unlimited · vīryaṁ — glorious · ananta — unlimited · bāhuṁ — arms · śaśi — moon · sūrya — sun · netram — eyes · paśyāmi — I see · tvāṁ — You · dīpta — blazing · hutāśa vaktraṁ — fire coming out of Your mouth · svatejasā — by Your · viśvam — this universe · idaṁ — this · tapantaṁ — scortching

11.20

द्यावापृथिव्योरिदमन्तरं हि व्याप्तं त्वयैकेन दिशश्च सर्वा: | दृष्ट्वाद्भुतं रूपमुग्रं तवेदं लोकत्रयं प्रव्यथितं महात्मन्

dyāvāpṛthivyor idam antaraṁ hi vyāptaṁ tvayaikena diśaśca sarvāḥ / dṛṣṭvādbhutaṁ rūpamugraṁ tavedaṁ lokatrayaṁ pravyathitaṁ mahātman / / 11.20

This space between earth and the heavens and every- thing is filled by You alone O great Being, having seen Your wonderful and terrible form, the three worlds tremble with fear.

dyāvā — in outer space · pṛthivyoḥ — of the earth · idaṁ — this · antaraṁ — unlimited · hi — certainly · vyāptaṁ — pervaded · tvaya — by You · ekena — by one · diśaḥ — direc- tions · ca — and · sarvāḥ — all · dṛṣṭvā — by seeing · adbhutaṁ — wonderful · rūpaṁ — form · ugraṁ — terrible · tava — Your · idaṁ — this · loka — three world · trayaṁ — three · pravyathitaṁ — perturbed · mahātman — O great one

11.21

अमी हि त्वां सुरसङ्घा विशन्ति केचिद्भीता: प्राञ्जलयो गृणन्ति | स्वस्तीत्युक्त्वा महर्षिसिद्धसङ्घा: स्तुवन्ति त्वां स्तुतिभि: पुष्कलाभि:

amī hi tvāṁ surasaṅghā viśanti kecidbhītāḥ prāñjalayo gṛṇanti / svastī tyuktvā maharṣisiddhasaṅghāḥ stuvanti tvāṁ stutibhiḥ puṣkalābhiḥ / / 11.21

Many celestials enter into You; some praise You in fear with folded hands; many great masters and sages hail and adore you.

amī — all those · hi — certainly · tvāṁ — unto You · surasaṁghā — groups of celestials · viśanti — entering · kecit — some of them · bhītāḥ — out of fear · prāñjalayaḥ — with folded hands · gṛṇanti — offering prayers unto · svastī — all peace · iti — thus · uktvā — speaking like that · maharṣi — great sages · siddhasaṁghāḥ — realized sages · stuvan- ti — singing hymns · tvāṁ — unto You · stutibhiḥ — with hymns · puṣkalābhiḥ — sublime

11.22

रुद्रादित्या वसवो ये च साध्या विश्वेऽश्विनौ मरुतश्चोष्मपाश्च | गन्धर्वयक्षासुरसिद्धसङ्घा वीक्षन्ते त्वां विस्मिताश्चैव सर्वे

rudrādityā vasavo ye ca sādhyā viśve’śvinau marutaś coṣmapāśca / gandha-rvayakṣāsura siddhasaṅghā vīkṣante tvaṁ vismitāś caiva sarve / / 11.22

The Rudra, Āditya, Vasu, Sādhyā, Viśvedeva, aśvin, Marut, Ūṣmapa and a host of Gandharva, yakṣa, Asura and Sidhha are all looking at You in amazement.

rudra — manifestations of Lord Śiva · ādityāḥ — the Āditya · vasavaḥ — the Vasu · ye — all those · ca — and · sādhyāḥ — the Sādhyā · viśve — the Visvedeva · aśvinau — the aśvini-kumāra · marutaḥ — the Marut · ca — and · ūṣmapāḥ — the forefathers · ca — and · gandharva — of the Gandharva · yakṣa — the Yakṣa · asura siddha — the demons and the perfected demigods · saṅghāḥ — assemblies · vīkṣante — are seeing · tvāṁ — You · vismitāḥ — in wonder · ca — also · eva — certainly · sarve — all

11.23

रूपं महत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रं महाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादम् | बहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालं दृष्ट्वा लोका: प्रव्यथितास्तथाहम्

rūpaṁ mahatte bahuvaktranetraṁ mahābāho bahubāhūrupādam / bahūdaraṁ bahu-daṁṣṭrā-karālaṁ dṛṣṭvā lokāḥ pravyathitās tathāham / / 11.23

Having seen Your immeasurable form with many mouths and eyes, with many arms, thighs and feet, with many stom- achs and frightening tusks, O mighty-armed, the worlds are terrified and so am I.

rūpaṁ — form · mahat — very great · te — of You · bahu — many · vaktra — faces · netraṁ — eyes · mahābāho — O mighty-armed one · bahu — many · bāhu — arms · ūru — thighs · pādam — legs · bahūdaraṁ — many bellies · bahu daṁṣṭrā — many teeth · karālaṁ — horrible · dṛṣṭvā — seeing · lokāḥ — all the world · pravyathitāḥ — perturbed · tathā — similarly · aham — I

11.24

नभ:स्पृशं दीप्तमनेकवर्णं व्यात्ताननं दीप्तविशालनेत्रम् | दृष्ट्वा हि त्वां प्रव्यथितान्तरात्मा धृतिं न विन्दामि शमं च विष्णो

nabhaḥspṛśaṁ dīptamanekavarṇaṁ vyāttānanaṁ dīptaviśāla netram / dṛṣṭvā hi tvāṁ pravyathitāntarātmā dhṛtiṁ na vindāmi śamaṁ ca viṣṇo / / 11.24

Seeing You, Your form touching the sky, flaming in many colors, mouths wide open, large fiery eyes, O Viṣṇu, I find neither courage nor peace; I am frightened.

nabhaḥ spṛśaṁ — touching the sky · dīptaṁ — glowing · aneka — many · varṇaṁ — color · vyāttā — open · ānanaṁ — mouth · dīpta — shining · viśāla — very great · netraṁ — eyes · dṛṣṭvā — by seeing · hi — certainly · tvāṁ — You · pravyathita — perturbed · an- tarātmā — soul · dhṛtiṁ — steadiness · na — no · vindāmi — find · śamaṁ — peace · ca — also · viṣṇo — O Lord Viṣṇu

As Arjuna is in the same consciousness as the Lord, this verse should actually start with ‘Bhagavān uvāca’ meaning ‘the Lord says!’ These statements are said to come from Him for us to record. These are such beautiful ways that he describes the form. You may wonder why he does so. Please understand, he does so to inspire us to work to achieve this form and this experience, to move in this path. Arjuna is showing us the way. He says, ‘O Lord! I can see all the gods and deities in Your body. I can see the special union of living entities. I can see Brahma seated on the lotus flower.

I can see all the sages and divine serpents. O Viśveśvara, Lord of the Universe, I see many arms, stomachs, faces, eyes and your limitless form. O Viśvarūpa, Universal form, I cannot see your beginning, middle or end.’ aneka-bahūdara vaktra netraṁ paśyāmi tvāṁ sarvato ‘nanta-rūpaṁ I nāntaṁ na madhyam na punas tavādiṁ paśyāṃi visveśvara viśvarūpa II 11.16 As a matter of fact, when you begin to see 360 degrees in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, there really is no beginning, middle Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 827 ... or end to see. It is a continuum. It is like seeing one of these special movies on a circular screen.

It is an infinite circle. The Divine is an infinite circle, with no beginning, no end and therefore no middle. Without a beginning and an end, to talk about the middle makes no sense. The form is difficult to see in its sheer glowing radiance, spreading on all sides like blazing fire or the immeasurable brightness of the sun. Yet Arjuna sees this glowing form everywhere adorned with various crowns and discs. He sees Kṛṣṇa wearing the diadem, holding the mace and discus. Arjuna says, ‘Your magnificence is shining everywhere, from all sides, difficult to see. You are blazing from all sides with the luster of the sun, limitless.’ Part of what Arjuna sees here is the traditional representation of Lord Viṣṇu.

Viṣṇu is always depicted with His weapons of mace and discus, the gada and cakra, and wearing the jewel-studded crown. Viṣṇu is also depicted resting on the ocean of milk upon the giant serpent Adiseśa, with Brahma rising from Viṣṇu’s navel upon a lotus flower. Some of what he sees is formless energy. He perceives radiance more powerful than a thousand suns, blazing and dazzling, impossible to look at even with his newly endowed divine eye. What Arjuna sees is beyond any sensory perception, something that could be experienced in that moment in time, impossible to express. Suddenly the scene changes in these verses. Arjuna is terrified. What he is seeing now is quite different from what he expected when he asked to see Kṛṣṇa’s divine form.

Arjuna is now incoherent. What he keeps saying is neither logical nor well thought out. What he sees he reproduces to the best of his mental abilities. Arjuna is convinced, seeing the Universal form of Kṛṣṇa, that what he sees is the supreme being, the puruṣa, the imperishable, the very origin of all, the Eternal. He says, ‘You are without origin, middle or end with unlimited power. You spread throughout the heavens and through all other directions. O supreme soul, Paramātman, after having seen your wonderful form, all the worlds and the whole universe is trembling with fear. All the celestial beings are shuddering before this form and entering into this formless form, some of them afraid, offering prayers with folded hands, along with hosts of realized sages praising this form in silent acceptance and wonderment.’

There is no other record so clear about the Cosmic frequency of the Universal form as in the Gītā. What Arjuna perceives is what is always present, but which he normally has no capability to see. Now he sees Kṛṣṇa in all His manifestations, from the highest to the lowest frequency levels of energy with nothing filtered. But suddenly the form seems to change from the magnificent, comforting and expanded form, to one that is now disturbing. It is still not clear to Arjuna what is happening, but he can anticipate that something he is about to see is not going to be as pleasant as what he had seen so far.

What Arjuna sees disturbs him. ‘O All pervading Viṣṇu! I see You with your many radiating colors, burning fire in your gaping mouth, heating up the entire Universe with radiance, touching the sky, and Your form unnerves me. My heart trembles in fear and I have no courage or peace to behold You.’ Until now Arjuna was saying there was no beginning, middle or end. Now he says the form is touching the sky; an indication that he is settling, coming down from the experience. ‘Seeing your gaping mouth, your great glowing eyes, overcome by fear, I can no longer maintain my mental steadiness or equilibrium.’ Please understand, as long as you want to maintain the equilibrium of your mind, you will be in this mad world.

There is no such thing as equilibrium. What we think of as equilibrium is not so. Arjuna says he wants equilibrium, meaning that he wants his mind to be under his intellectual control. He wants to know the cause and effect and feel that they are in his control. As long as these are under your control, you feel as if you are a leader; your ego is strong. But the moment Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 829 ... these are taken away from you, you feel at a loss and no more a leader. You are just a drop in the ocean. He is afraid of that and is not able to stay in that same state.

The wave in the ocean is part of the ocean. As long as it feels itself to be part of the ocean, there is no separation. However, when the wave experiences its own identity, creates its own identity, it no longer feels itself a part of the ocean. It feels itself to be a separate entity. When it is time to merge back into that ocean, it is afraid. When it looks back at the ocean with a feeling of separation, it feels afraid. When Arjuna had his first glimpse of the Cosmic Vision of Kṛṣṇa, he identified with the Vision. There was no separation. Now, suddenly there is separation. Along with separation there is fear! Tell Me Who You Are

11.25

दंष्ट्राकरालानि च ते मुखानि दृष्ट्वैव कालानलसन्निभानि | दिशो न जाने न लभे च शर्म प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास

daṁṣṭrākarālāni ca te mukhāni dṛṣṭvaiva kālānalasannibhāni / diśo na jāne na labhe ca śarma prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa / / 11.25

Having seen your fearsome mouths with blazing tusks like the fire of the end of the universe, I know not the four directions nor do I find peace. O Lord of the Deva, O refuge of the Universe, be gracious.

daṁṣṭrā — teeth · karālāni — ferocious · ca — also · te — Your · mukhāni — faces · dṛṣṭvā — seeing · eva — thus · kālānala — the fire of death · sannibhāni — as if blazing · diśaḥ — directions · na jāne — do not know · na labhe — nor obtain · ca śarma — and grace · prasīda — be pleased · deveśa — O Lord of all lords · jagannivāsa — refuge of the worlds

11.26

अमी च त्वां धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्रा: सर्वे सहैवावनिपालसङ्घै: | भीष्मो द्रोण: सूतपुत्रस्तथासौ सहास्मदीयैरपि योधमुख्यै:

amī ca tvāṁ dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putrāḥ sarve sahaivāvanipālasaṅghaiḥ / bhīṣmo droṇaḥ sūtaputrastathāsau sahāsmadīyairapi yodhamukhyaiḥ / / 11.26

All the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra with many kings of the earth, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, the son of the charioteer, Karṇa, with our warrior chieftains.

amī — all those · ca — also · tvāṁ — You · dhṛtarāṣṭrasya — of Dhṛtarāṣṭra · putrāḥ — sons · sarve — all · sahaiva — along with · avanipāla — warrior kings · saṁghaiḥ — the groups · bhīṣm — Bhīṣma · droṇaḥ — Droṇācārya · sūtaputraḥ — Karṇa · tathā — also · asau — that · saha — with · asmadīyaiḥ — our · api — also · yodhamukhyaiḥ — chief among the warriors

11.27

वक्त्राणि ते त्वरमाणा विशन्ति दंष्ट्राकरालानि भयानकानि | केचिद्विलग्ना दशनान्तरेषु सन्दृश्यन्ते चूर्णितैरुत्तमाङ्गै:

vaktrāṇi te tvaramāṇā viśanti daṁṣṭrā-karālāni bhayānakāni / kecidvilagnā daśanāntareṣu sandṛśyante cūrṇitair uttamāñgaiḥ / / 11.27

Into Your mouths with terrible tusks, fearful to behold, they enter. Some are seen caught in the gaps between the tusks and their heads crushed.

vaktrāṇi — mouths · te — Your · tvaramāṇḥ — hurrying · viśanti — entering · daṁṣṭrā — teeth · karālāni — terrible · bhayānakāni — very fearful · kecit — some of them · vila- gnā — being attacked · daśanāntareṣu — between the teeth · saṁdṛśyante — found · cūrṇitaiḥ — crushed · uttamāñgaiḥ — by the head

11.28

यथा नदीनां बहवोऽम्बुवेगा: समुद्रमेवाभिमुखा द्रवन्ति | तथा तवामी नरलोकवीरा विशन्ति वक्त्राण्यभिविज्वलन्ति

yathā nadīnāṁ bahavo’mbuvegāḥ samudram evābhimukhā dravanti / tathā tavāmī naralokavīrā viśanti vaktrāṇy abhivijvalanti / / 11.28

Even as many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean, so too these warriors in the world of men enter Your flaming mouths.

yathā — as · nadīnāṁ — of the rivers · bahavaḥ — many · ambuvegāḥ — waves of the waters · samudram — ocean · eva — certainly · abhimukhāḥ — towards · dravanti — gliding · tathā — similarly · tava — Your · amī — all those · naralokavīrāḥ — the human kings · viśanti — entering · vaktrāṇi — into the mouths · abhivijvalanti — blazing

11.29

यथा प्रदीप्तं ज्वलनं पतङ्गा विशन्ति नाशाय समृद्धवेगा: | तथैव नाशाय विशन्ति लोका- स्तवापि वक्त्राणि समृद्धवेगा:

yathā pradīptaṁ jvalanaṁ pataṅgā viśanti nāśāya samṛddhavegāḥ / tathaiva nāśāya viśanti lokās tavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛddhavegāḥ / / 11.29

Just as moths hurriedly rush into the fire for their own destruction, So too these creatures rush hastily into Your mouths of destruction.

yathā — as · pradīptaṁ — blazing · jvalanaṁ — fire · pataṅgāḥ — moths · viśanti — enters · nāśāya — destruction · samṛddha — full · vegāḥ — speed · tathai ‘va — similarly · nāśāya — for destruction · viśanti — entering · lokāḥ — all people · tava — unto You · api — also · vaktrāṇi — in the mouths · samṛddhavegāḥ — with full speed

11.30

लेलिह्यसे ग्रसमान: समन्ता- ल्लोकान्समग्रान्वदनैर्ज्वलद्भि: | तेजोभिरापूर्य जगत्समग्रं भासस्तवोग्रा: प्रतपन्ति विष्णो

lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantāl lokān samagrān vadanair jvaladbhiḥ / tejobhir āpūrya jagatsamagraṁ bhāsastavo’grāḥ pratapanti viṣṇo / / 11.30

Swallowing all worlds on every side with your flaming mouths You lick in enjoyment. O Viṣṇu, Your fierce rays are burning, filling the whole world with radiance.

lelihyase — licking · grasamānaḥ — devouring · samantāt — from all directions · lokān — people · samagrān — completely · vadanaiḥ — by the mouth · jvaladbhiḥ — with blaz- ing · tejobhiḥ — by effulgence · āpūrya — covering · jagat — the universe · samagraṁ — all · bhāsas — illuminating · tava — Your · ugrāḥ — terrible · paratapanti — scorching · viṣṇo — O all pervading Lord

11.31

आख्याहि मे को भवानुग्ररूपो नमोऽस्तु ते देववर प्रसीद | विज्ञातुमिच्छामि भवन्तमाद्यं न हि प्रजानामि तव प्रवृत्तिम्

ākhyāhi me ko bhavānugrarūpo namo’stu te devavara prasīda / vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṁ na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim / / 11.31

Tell me who You are, so fierce in form; salutations to You, O Supreme; have mercy. Indeed I know not Your purpose but I desire to know You, the Original Being.

ākhyāhi — please explain · me — unto me · kaḥ — who · bhavān — You · ugrarūpaḥ — fierce form · namaḥ astu — obeisances · te — unto You · devavara — the great one amongst the gods · prasīda — be gracious · vijñātum — just to know · icchāmi — I wish · bhavantaṁ — You · ādyaṁ — the original · na — never · hi — certainly · prajānāmi — do I know · tava — Your · pravṛttim — purpose

In these verses Arjuna expresses his discomfort. Arjuna says earlier: ‘I see O Lord! All the manifestations of Śiva, Āditya, Vāsu and Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 831 ... Viśvadeva, Aśvin, Mārut, Gandharva, the forefathers, Yakṣa, Asura and all the celestial beings and demi-gods, all rolled in You in wonder, all part of Your Cosmic consciousness. Whatever You are is divine energy. O Mighty Armed One, all the planets with all the demi-gods are disturbed, shaken by Your form with many faces, eyes, arms, legs, thighs and bellies and Your many terrible teeth. As they are disturbed, so am I.’ Now he slowly comes down. From this verse we should say, ‘Arjuna uvāca!’ meaning Arjuna says...

It is no longer the divine state that Arjuna talks from. The moment he started feeling fear, he descended to his normal state. You should understand that it is only your fear that separates you from Cosmic consciousness. When Arjuna says, ‘So am I, pravyathitās tathāham (11.23)’, that he is frightened, he becomes Arjuna, the man. Fear, The Destroyer Of Ecstasy There are two things that make you a human—the instinct to possess and the instinct to survive. The instinct to survive arises out of fear, from the svādiṣṭhāna cakra (fear energy center in your body), and the instinct to possess comes out of greed, from the mūlādhāra cakra (greed energy center in your body).

This sums it up. Here the instinct to survive has appeared and he has become Arjuna, the man. We do not understand that when we drop the instinct to survive, we become Kṛṣṇa; we exist forever. We become Bhagavān, the Universal consciousness. But most often, we hold onto the instinct to survive. Now Arjuna slowly comes down and becomes Arjuna, the man. Arjuna exclaims, ‘I see all the sons of Dhṛitarāṣṭra, along with their allied kings, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Karṇa and other chief soldiers rushing into Your fearful mouths. I see some trapped with their heads smashed between Your teeth, ground into nothing.’ He describes the whole scene. He sees the heavy losses on both sides; his own side, his warriors and generals, but even heavier losses on the other side, including Bhīṣma who is invincible, Droṇa and Karṇa who are unconquerable.

By inference he sees his own victory in the end. In the beginning Arjuna sees what he wished to see. He sees what he believes to be the Cosmic form of the great Viṣṇu in His traditional attire and weapons, surrounded by Gods and sages. The form changed suddenly into a terrifying one of death, all-consuming and terror-inspiring, to which the entire Universe bowed down in fear. From this macro perspective, Arjuna comes down to see the same destruction being played out at the level of the battlefield at Kurukṣetra. His enemies, the great warriors arrayed against him in battle, fly into the gaping mouth of destruction like moths into fire.

Arjuna sees with convincing reality, the destruction of all the great warriors who would have been expected to give him trouble. However, this scene does not fill him with peace and comfort. Arjuna is terrified at this vision of destruction. The destruction of those whom he perceives as his mortal enemies leaves him with no comfort. The truth is that Arjuna is not in control. He has no clue about what is happening to him and around him. He is in the presence of a primal force before which all that is obvious is his own insignificance. Victory and defeat seem to make no difference. The vision of destruction implies that he too is mortal.

Arjuna is terrified. ‘Who are You?’, asks Arjuna plaintively. ‘What are You here for? What are You doing? You are so fierce. You are not the form I asked for. There seems to be some mistake!’ ‘I see men disappearing into You as rivers rush into the mighty oceans. Like moths rushing into fire, I see creatures speed into destruction within You.’ ‘You are not the compassionate Lord whose glories I heard from You. You are not who I thought You were. I needed You to comfort me. Instead, You terrify me.’ ‘Have mercy upon me.’ ākhyāhi me ko bhāvan ugra-rūpo namo ‘stu te deva-vara prasādi I Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 833 ... vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṁ na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim II 11.31 Death is the ultimate fear.

Even the great warrior Arjuna trembles when faced with death. It is not that Arjuna is not aware of the inevitability of death or the nature of death. For a long time now Kṛṣṇa has been educating Arjuna on the perishability of the body-mind and the imperishability of the spirit. Arjuna has fully understood. Yet, Arjuna is petrified. What is Arjuna so afraid of? One thing, Arjuna does not expect the Cosmic form of Kṛṣṇa to be anything but loving and compassionate. Kṛṣṇa can be the friend, the master, the beloved, the child, the mother and all combined. In every one of these moods, in each bhāva, Kṛṣṇa is still lovable, still reachable.

However, in the form that Kṛṣṇa has presented now, the all-devouring monster as it were, Arjuna is unable to comprehend any aspect of Kṛṣṇa that he has known. For the first time, Arjuna realizes that the Master cannot be predicted! He now knows that the Master cannot be put in a frame. The primal energy that the Master is has to be experienced in whatever manner it is presented, without expectations and fears. Nature and Existence are neither cruel nor kind. The very term ‘compassion’hasadifferentmeaningintheCosmicdictionary.Itisnotthesympathy offered by each of us to another with or without any real feeling. It is notkindness.Itisnotthedesiretobedoing‘good,’whateverthatlookslike tous.Truecompassionistheresultofexperiencingthatweareonewithallof Existence. There is no ‘other’. It is so easy to fall in love with a handsome Master.

Kṛṣṇa is the most beautiful of all the gods. He is so easy to fall in love with! To fall in love with a terrifying Kāli or an impassive Śiva is far more difficult. When you do, you expect the form to be different too. You need to be a Rāmakṛṣṇa to accept and love Mother Kāli who dances on dead bodies. You need to be a Śaṅkara to fall in tune with Śiva who is forever in silent contemplation. But anyone can love Kṛṣṇa, and everyone does. No one expects Kṛṣṇa to be terrifying. So when Kṛṣṇa presents another form to Arjuna, the ground literally slips from under Arjuna’s feet.

He has no support. He does not know where to turn for help. So Arjuna pleads, ‘Please have mercy upon me. Tell me who You are­—vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṁ. Tell me why You are here. I would like to know. I bow down to You—namo ‘stu te deva-vara prasādi.’ Get Up And Gain Glory, Be Not Afraid

11.32

श्रीभगवानुवाच | कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्त: | ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे येऽवस्थिता: प्रत्यनीकेषु योधा:

śrī bhagavānuvāca kālo’smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt pravṛddho lokān samāhartumiha pravṛttaḥ / ṛte’pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣyanti sarve ye’vasthitāḥ pratyanīkeṣu yodhāḥ / / 11.32

Śrī Bhagavān says: I am the mighty world-destroying Time, I am now destroying the worlds. Even without you, none of the warriors standing in the hostile armies shall live.

śrī bhagavān uvāca — Kṛṣṇa says · kālaḥ — time · asmi — I am · loka — the worlds · kṣayakṛt — destroyer · pravṛddhaḥ — to engage · lokān — all people · samāhartuṁ — to destroy · iha — in this world · pravṛttaḥ — to engage · ṛte ‘pi — without even · tvāṁ — you · na — never · bhaviṣyanti — will be · sarve — all · ye — who · avasthitāḥ — situated · pratyanīkeṣu — on the opposite side · yodhāh — the soldiers

11.33

तस्मात्वमुत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व जित्वा शत्रून्भुङ् क्ष्व राज्यं समृद्धम् | मयैवैते निहता: पूर्वमेव निमित्तमात्रं भव सव्यसाचिन्

tasmāt tvamuttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṁ samṛddham / mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvameva nimittamātraṁ bhava savyasācin / / 11.33

Get up and gain glory. Conquer the enemies and enjoy the prosperous kingdom. I have slain all these warriors; you are a mere instrument, Arjuna.

tasmāt — therefore · tvaṁ — you · uttiṣṭha — get up · yaśaḥ — fame · labhasva — gain · jitvā — conquering · satrūn — enemies · bhuṅkṣva — enjoy · rājyaṁ — kingdom · samṛddham — flourishing · maya — by Me · eva — certainly · ete — all these · nihatāḥ — already killed · pūrvameva — by previous arrangement · nimittamātraṁ — just an instrument · bhava — become · savyasācin — O Arjuna (one who can use both the hands equally)

11.34

द्रोणं च भीष्मं च जयद्रथं च कर्णं तथान्यानपि योधवीरान् | मया हतांस्त्वं जहि मा व्यथिष्ठा युध्यस्व जेतासि रणे सपत्नान्

droṇaṁ ca bhīṣmaṁ ca jayadrathaṁ ca karṇaṁ tathānyānapi yodhavīrān / mayā hatāṁstvaṁ jahi mā vyathiṣṭā yudhyasva jetāsi raṇe sapatnān / / 11.34

Droṇa, Bhīṣma, Jayadratha, Karṇa and other brave war- riors have already been slain by Me; destroy them. Do not be be afraid; fight and you shall conquer your enemies in battle.

droṇaṁ ca — also Droṇa · bhīṣmaṁ ca — also Bhisma · jayadrathaṁ ca — also Jayadratha · karṇaṁ — also Karṇa · tathā — also · anyān — others · api — certainly · yodhavīrān — great warriors · mayā — by Me · hatān — already killed · tvaṁ — you · jahi — becomes victorious · mā — never · vyathiṣṭā — be disturbed · yudhyasva — just fight · jetāsi — just conquer · raṇe — in the fight · sapatnān — enemies

Kṛṣṇa explains in these verses what He really is. ‘I am time, kālo asmi’ says Kṛṣṇa. ‘I devour and destroy the world, loka-kṣaya-kṛt.’ kālo ‘smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt pravṛddho lokān samāhartum iha pravṛttaḥ I ṛte ‘pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣyanti sarve ye’ vasthitaḥ pratyanīkeṣu yodhāḥ II 11.32 This is one of the most potent truths uttered by Kṛṣṇa in Gītā. He has earlier talked to Arjuna about Ātman, about rebirth, about the nature of karma, about doing work without getting attached to the result of work and about His glories. For the first time, He takes off His mask and says matter-of-factly, ‘I am the Destroyer.’ He pulls no punches in responding to Arjuna’s query, ‘Who are you, and what is your purpose?’

‘I am kāla, time,’ says the Lord, ‘and I destroy.’ Time never stands still. It moves on. Nothing can stop the flow of time. Nothing can bring back time. Nothing can move time forward. Time destroys. The future constantly moves into the present, and then into the past. At the frequency of our life, we can only see the present, and remember what we can of the past. The sad part is that though we can only experience the present, we constantly try to escape the present. We are forever caught in the fantasies of a future we know nothing about and the regrets of a past we never really lived when it was our present.

Our entire story is one of missed time. We destroy time. We allow time to destroy us. We miss and kill the present, which is the only facet of time that is available to us. Instead of being where the present is and shaping our future, we fantasize and let the present as well as the future be destroyed. The only certainty in our life is that when time moves on, it is forever lost. However much we may regret and repent, nothing will change what has happened. But we do have the power at the moment of the present to rewrite our future. Every human being has the freedom and free-will to choose his action at the present moment.

He can let go by default and claim that whatever happened was predestined. Predestination is simply the choice that we did not exercise. Only when we are aware and complete in the present moment, can we rewrite our future. Not when it is still the future and not when it slips into the past. The first is impossible and the latter is too late. By being grounded in the present state of completion, one can become aware of the future and one can shape one’s future. We need to use all our intelligence, energy and creativity to live blissfully in this moment, not in the incomplete thoughts about the future or regrets about the past.

Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 837 ... Kṛṣṇa is stating a simple fact here. ‘With or without you,’ He says, ‘all these warriors will be dead. As Time, I shall devour them. It is not you who are the cause. You can be the superficial reason. By being the instrument of their destruction, be the gainer of fame, wealth and power.’ tasmāt tvam uttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṁ samṛddham I mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvam eva nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin II 11.33 It is easy to interpret these words of Kṛṣṇa to mean that the future is predestined, since He says all these enemies of Arjuna will be destroyed.

From this we can even interpret that His role is to protect the good and destroy the evil. As Mahākāla, time personified, Kṛṣṇa destroys all, the good and the bad. Time does not differentiate. Time does not keep accounts of whether you did good deeds or bad. Time moves on and destroys the present into past, future into present and past. As time, Kṛṣṇa is neutral. He just is. He knows what will happen in the future and yet He does not influence it. As time, He lets happen what happens. He is the supreme energy that just flows. When one is in completion with Kṛṣṇa, when one surrenders to Him, to His Will, things happen as they should.

There is no interference on our part. We do what we ought to, what we need to, without worrying about what ought to happen and how. We then are in the flow of time; we are in the flow of Kṛṣṇa’s energy. When we resist and try to have things the way we wish them to be, rather than the way they would be, we get in the way. Like the rock that gets pounded by the river and eventually gets reduced to fine dust, we too get reduced to nothing by time. By imitating the reed in the river that bends offering no resistance, we can flow with time.

Struggling to choose is not freedom. It is the bondage of the mind. There is no need to make a choice. Choice happens at the level of the mind, not at the level of the being. When we relax into our being, we are in bliss, choiceless awareness. We can let the choice happen by itself. Choicelessness can be the choice. When Kṛṣṇa speaks of destroying and wiping out the world, He is talking about the destruction of the illusory physical and material world. He is the destroyer of fantasies, He is the destroyer of identities, He is the destroyer of egos and He is the destroyer of all that is unreal.

As He has said earlier on, what gets destroyed is the shell, the perishable body-mind, not the imperishable ātman. What the Mahākāla, time, destroys, is the psychodrama that is being played out on the battlefield. It is important to understand what Kṛṣṇa means in these words. As the supreme consciousness, He too is the energy of Śiva, the Rejuvenator.ŚivaisnottheDestroyerasHeismadeouttobe.Herecreatesby destroying. There can be no creation if there is no destruction. There can be no life without death. Śiva’s aspect of Kālabhairava is the time that Kṛṣṇa refers to. He is the controller of past, present and future and all that happens in these time zones. When one surrenders to this supreme consciousness, one loses all fear of time.

One completes with time. One flows with time. Whatever one does is the right thing at the right time. When one loses fear of time, one also loses fear of death. All that dies is recreated. Arjuna expressed his dilemma earlier as one of having to destroy his elders, his teachers and his relatives. He wondered whether he was causing the destruction of his entire lineage by doing this. In truth, Arjuna was fighting against the destruction of his own root thought patterns, his saṁskāras, past memories of parental, teacher related and other conditionings that were difficult to destroy. This great war is really the fight between Arjuna and his root thought patterns, saṁskāras.

Kṛṣṇa once again takes responsibility for this destruction. Earlier there were only words. Now Arjuna had seen the destruction for himself. He had seen the Kaurava warriors being consumed by the Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 839 ... destructive destination that Kṛṣṇa had bcome. It was impossible for Arjuna to disbelieve what he had seen­ —Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Karṇa and others disappearing into the vast form of Kṛṣṇa. Now Kṛṣṇa consoles Arjuna. ‘You have seen the truth of what happens. They have been destroyed already. Do not lose heart. Do what you have to do. Fight and destroy what remains, which is just the illusion of your fears.’ You Are Everything And Everywhere

11.35

सञ्जय उवाच | एतच्छ्रुत्वा वचनं केशवस्य कृताञ्जलिर्वेपमान: किरीटी | नमस्कृत्वा भूय एवाह कृष्णं सगद्गदं भीतभीत: प्रणम्य

sañjaya uvāca etacchrutvā vacanaṁ keśavasya kṛtāñjalirvepamānaḥ kirīṭī / namaskṛtvā bhūya evāha kṛṣṇaṁ sagadgadaṁ bhītabhītah praṇamya / / 11.35

Sañjaya said: Having heard this speech of Keśava, the crowned Arjuna with joined palms, trembling, prostrating himself, again addressed Kṛṣṇa, voice choking, bowing down, overwhelmed with fear.

sañjaya uvāca — Sañjaya said · etat — thus · śrutvā — hearing · vacanaṁ — speech · keśavasya — of Kṛṣṇa · kṛtāñjaliḥ — with folded hands · vepamānaḥ — trembling · kirīṭī — Arjuna · namaskṛtvā — offering obeisances · bhūya — again · eva — also · āha kṛṣṇaṁ — says unto Kṛṣṇa · sagadgadaṁ — faltering · bhītabhītaḥ — fearful · praṇamya — offering obeisances

11.36

अर्जुन उवाच | स्थाने हृषीकेश तव प्रकीर्त्या जगत्प्रहृष्यत्यनुरज्यते च | रक्षांसि भीतानि दिशो द्रवन्ति सर्वे नमस्यन्ति च सिद्धसङ्घा:

arjuna uvāca sthāne hṛṣīkeśa tava prakīrtyā jagat prahṛṣy atyanurajyate ca / rakṣāṁsi bhītāni diśo dravanti sarve namasyanti ca siddhasaṅghāḥ / / 11.36

Arjuna says: O Hṛṣīkeśā, it is but right that the world delights and rejoices in Your praise. Rākṣasas fly in fear in all directions and all hosts of sages bow to You.

arjuna uvāca — Arjuna says · sthāne — rightly · hṛṣīkeśa — O master of all senses · tava — Your · prakīrtyā — glories · jagat — the entire world · prahṛṣyati — rejoicing · anurajyate — becoming attached · ca — and · rakṣāṁsi — the demons · bhītāni — out of fear · diśaḥ — directions · dravanti — fleeing · sarve — all · namasyanti — offering respect · ca — also · siddhasaṅghāḥ — the perfect human beings

11.37

कस्माच्च ते न नमेरन्महात्मन् गरीयसे ब्रह्मणोऽप्यादिकर्त्रे | अनन्त देवेश जगन्निवास त्वमक्षरं सदसतत्परं यत्

kasmācca te na nameran mahātman garīyase brahmaṇo’pyādikartre / ananta deveśa jagan-nivāsa tvam akṣaraṁ sad-asat tat paraṁ yat / / 11.37

And why should they not bow to Thee, O great soul, greater than all else, the Creator of even Brahma the Creator. O Lord of Lords, O infinite Being, O Abode of the Universe, You are the imperishable, that which is beyond both seen and the unseen.

kasmāt — why · ca — also · te — unto You · na — not · nameran — offer proper obeisances · mahātman — O great one · garīyase — You are better than · brahmaṇaḥ — Brahma · api — although · ādikartre — the supreme creator · ananta — unlimited · deveśa — God of the gods · jagannivāsa — O refuge of the universe · tvaṁ — You are · akṣaraṁ — imperishable · sadasat — cause and effect · tat paraṁ — transcendental · yat — because

11.38

त्वमादिदेव: पुरुष: पुराण- स्त्वमस्य विश्वस्य परं निधानम् | वेत्तासि वेद्यं च परं च धाम त्वया ततं विश्वमनन्तरूप

tvamādidevaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇas tvamasya viśvasya paraṁ nidhānam / vettāsi vedyaṁ ca paraṁ ca dhāma tvayā tataṁ viśvam ananta rūpa / / 11.38

You are the primal God, the ancient Being, the supreme refuge of the universe. You are the knower and the One to be known. You are the supreme abode. O Being of infinite forms, by You alone is the universe pervaded.

tvaṁ — You · ādidevaḥ — the original supreme God · puruṣaḥ — the supreme being · purāṇaḥ — old · tvaṁ — You · asya — this · viśvasya — universe · paraṁ — transcendental · nidhānam — refuge · vettā — knower · asi — You are · vedyaṁ ca — and the knowable · paraṁ ca — and transcendental · dhāma — refuge · tvayā — by You · tataṁ — pervaded · viśvaṁ — universe · anantarūpa — unlimited form

11.39

वायुर्यमोऽग्निर्वरुण: शशाङ्क: प्रजापतिस्त्वं प्रपितामहश्च | नमो नमस्तेऽस्तु सहस्रकृत्व: पुनश्च भूयोऽपि नमो नमस्ते

vāyur yamo’gnir varuṇaḥ śaśāṅkaḥ prajāpatis tvaṁ prapitāmahaś ca / namo namaste’stu sahasrakṛtvaḥ punaśca bhūyo’pi namo namaste / / 11.39

You are Vāyu, Yama, Agni, Varuṇa, the moon, Prājapati and the greatgrandfather of all. Salutations unto You a thousand times and again, salutations unto You!

vāyuḥ — air · yamaḥ — controller · agniḥ — fire · varuṇaḥ — water · śaśāṅkaḥ — moon · prajāpatiḥ — Brahma · tvaṁ — You · prapitāmahaḥ — grandfather · ca — also · namaḥ — offering respects · namas te — again my respects unto You · astu — be · sahasrakṛt- vaḥ — a thousand times · punaḥ ca — and again · bhūyaḥ — again · api — also · namaḥ — offer my respects · namas te — offering my respects unto You

11.40

नम: पुरस्तादथ पृष्ठतस्ते नमोऽस्तु ते सर्वत एव सर्व | अनन्तवीर्यामितविक्रमस्त्वं सर्वं समाप्नोषि ततोऽसि सर्व:

namaḥ purastādatha pṛṣṭataste namo’stu te sarvata eva sarva / ananta-vīryāmita-vikramas tvaṁ sarvaṁ samāpnoṣi tato’si sarvaḥ / / 11.40

Salutations to You, before and behind! Salutations to You on every side! O All! Infinite in power and Infinite in prowess, You are everything and everywhere.

namaḥ — offering obeisances · purastāt — from the front · atha — also · pṛṣṭhataḥ — from behind · te — You · namo ‘stu — offer my respects · te — unto You · sarvata — from all sides · eva sarva — because You are everything · ananta vīrya — unlimited potency · amita vikramaḥ — unlimited force · tvaṁ — You · sarvaṁ — everything · samāpnoṣi — cover · tato ‘si — therefore You are · sarvaḥ — everything

Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 841 ... Arjuna now reaches the third stage of his perception of Kṛṣṇa’s Cosmic form. In the first stage, Arjuna’s expectations of the glorious Universal form of Kṛṣṇa were fulfilled. He saw Kṛṣṇa the way He expected: with His crown, discus and mace, with Brahma rising on a lotus flower from Viṣṇu’s navel. Even as he was getting used to the enormity of the vision that he beheld, Arjuna found this form replaced by a terrible, all-devouring form of Kṛṣṇa that filled Arjuna with fear. Arjuna cries out: ‘Who are you? Why are you here?’ Kṛṣṇa explains who He is; that He is the all-devouring time.

Still overcome with fear, but recovering from the primal fear that had overcome him a few moments ago, Arjuna now surrenders himself to Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna is so overwhelmed by the fearsome sight of Kṛṣṇa as Mahākāla, devouring everything around Him, and is so relieved to still be alive and coherent, that all Arjuna can do is to sing Kṛṣṇa’s praises. He no longer has any self-doubt in his mind about the Universal consciousness of Kṛṣṇa, who till a while ago was his friend and charioteer. Whatever names and descriptions he is aware of to address this Supreme being, he uses now. namaḥ purustād atha pṛṣṭḥastas te namo’stu te sarvata eva sarva I ananta-vīryāmita-vikramas tvaṁ sarvaṁ samāpnoṣi tato ‘si sarvaḥ II 11.40 At this stage, Arjuna understands who Kṛṣṇa is.

He understands what Kṛṣṇa’s purpose is. Arjuna’s devotion is at its peak. He salutes Kṛṣṇa as the source of all beings, the creator of Brahma, who in turn created Prajāpati from whom all beings originated. He salutes Kṛṣṇa as the elements of Nature. Since Kṛṣṇa extends everywhere and there is no place where He is not present, Arjuna salutes Him in all directions. Arjuna now truly appreciates the unfathomable magnitude of Kṛṣṇa. Krsna, Yadava, My Friend

11.41

सखेति मत्वा प्रसभं यदुक्तं हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेति | अजानता महिमानं तवेदं मया प्रमादात्प्रणयेन वापि

sakheti matvā prasabhaṁ yaduktaṁ he kṛṣṇa he yādava he sakheti / ajānatā mahimānaṁ tavedaṁ mayā pramādāt praṇayena vāpi / / 11.41

Whatever I have rashly says from carelessness or love, addressing You as Kṛṣṇa, Yādava, my friend regarding You merely as a friend, unaware of this greatness of Yours.

sakha — friend · iti — thus · matvā — thinking · prasabhaṁ — easy familiarity · yat — whatever · uktaṁ — says · he Kṛṣṇa — O Kṛṣṇa · he yādava — O Yadava · he sakhe ‘ti — O my dear friend · ajānatā — without knowing · mahimānaṁ — glories · tava — Your · idaṁ — this · mayā — by me · pramādāt — out of foolishness · praṇayena — out of love · vā ‘pi — either

11.42

यच्चावहासार्थमसत्कृतोऽसि विहारशय्यासनभोजनेषु | एकोऽथवाप्यच्युत तत्समक्षं तत्क्षामये त्वामहमप्रमेयम्

yac cāvahāsārtham asatkṛto’si vihāraśayyāsana bhojaneṣu / eko’tha va’py acyuta tat samakṣaṁ tat kṣāmaye tvām aham aprameyam / / 11.42

In whatever way I may have insulted You in fun, while at play, resting, sitting or at meals, when alone with You or in company, O Acyuta, O immeasurable One, I implore You to forgive me.

yat — whatever · ca — also · avahāsārthum — for joking · asatkṛtaḥ — dishonor · asi — have been done · vihāra — in relaxation · śayyā — while lying on the bed · āsana — in a sitting place · bhojaneṣu — or while eating together · ekaḥ — alone · athava — or · api — others · acyuta — O infallible one · tatsamakṣaṁ — in their presence · tat — all those · kṣāmaye — excuse · tvām — from You · aham — I · aprameyam — immeasurable

11.43

पितासि लोकस्य चराचरस्य त्वमस्य पूज्यश्च गुरुर्गरीयान् | न त्वत्समोऽस्त्यभ्यधिक: कुतोऽन्यो लोकत्रयेऽप्यप्रतिमप्रभाव

pitāsi lokasya carācarasya tvamasya pūjyaśca gururgarīyān / na tvatsamo’sty abhyadhikaḥ kuto’nyo lokatraye’py apratima-prabhāva / / 11.43

You are the father of this world, moving and unmoving. You are to be adored by this world. You are the greatest guru; there is none who exists equal to You. O Being of unequalled power, how then can there be another, superior to You in the three worlds?

Pitā — father · asi — You are · lokasya — of all the world · cara — moving · acarasya — nonmoving · tvaṁ — You are · asya — of this · pūjyaḥ — worshipable · ca — also · guruḥ — master · garīyan — glorious · na — never · tvatsamaḥ — equal to You · asti — there is · abhyadhikaḥ — greater · kutaḥ — how is it possible · anyo — other · lokatraye — in three planetary systems · api — also · apratima — immeasurable · prabhāva — power

11.44

तस्मात्प्रणम्य प्रणिधाय कायं प्रसादये त्वामहमीशमीड्यम् | पितेव पुत्रस्य सखेव सख्यु: प्रिय: प्रियायार्हसि देव सोढुम्

tasmātpraṇamya praṇidhāya kāyaṁ prasādaye tvāṁaham īśam īḍyam / pite’va putrasya sakhe’va sakhyuḥ priyaḥ priyāyārhasi deva soḍhum / / 11.44

Therefore, bowing down, I prostrate my body before You and crave Your forgiveness, adorable Lord. Even as a father forgives his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved, You should, O Deva, forgive me.

tasmāt — therefore · praṇamya — after offering obeisances · praṇidhāya — laying down · kāyaṁ — body · prasādaye — to beg mercy · tvāṁ — unto You · ahaṁ — I · īśaṁ — unto the Supreme Lord · īḍyam — who is worshipable · pite ‘va — like a father · putrasya — of a son · sakhe ‘va — like a friend · sakhyuḥ — of a friend · priyaḥ — lover · priyāya — of the dearmost · arhasi — You should · deva — my Lord · soḍhum — tolerate

Arjuna is afraid again. Having seen what he has seen and understanding the unlimitedness of Kṛṣṇa’s form, he remembers that all this while he had treated Kṛṣṇa like a friend, so casually. Remorse fills his being. Arjuna’s worry is not fear of any reprisal, now that he knows who Kṛṣṇa is. It is guilt that bothers him. ‘I called You by Your caste name, Yādava,’ Arjuna cries out, ‘I called You, ‘Hey friend, Hey Kṛṣṇa’. I knew not Whom I was addressing, Whom I was dealing with. Please forgive me.’ - . . . Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 843 ... ‘How could I have done this? Please forgive me for the love I had for You that made me careless in addressing You.

Bear with me; forgive me as a father would a son, a lover his beloved and a friend, his mate. A small story: With great sincerity and seriousness a devotee of Śiva offered prayers to Śiva’s idol at his home altar every day for many years. He had no thought other than Śiva, and all he desired was to have Śiva’s vision, His darśan one day or the other. Since nothing happened year after year and he was getting old, the devotee gave Śiva an ultimatum, ‘Either you appear before me or I will seek an alternative. Before I die I need to have the Lord’s darśan so that I may be liberated.’

Śiva still made no appearance. After a few days the devotee bought and installed an idol of Viṣṇu at his altar, replacing Śiva. But he did not have the heart to throw Śiva away, and merely moved Him to one corner, telling Him, ‘See, I waited all this while patiently; all this is Your fault.’ The next morning, he lit incense as usual and placed it before the altar, this time in front of the idol of Viṣṇu. To his irritation he found that the incense smoke was drifting towards the corner where he had cast out Śiva. ‘You need no incense!’ he cried out, and covered the nose of the idol to prevent it from smelling the incense.

The next moment he felt Śiva standing in front of him, smiling. The devotee was overcome with deep guilt and overwhelming emotion. ‘Lord!’ he cried, ‘All these years I prayed to You without fail and You never appeared to me. Today, when I cast You out and covered Your nose You gave me darśan. Why?’ Śiva said: ‘It is only today that I became real to you, when you covered My nose. That is why I came to you now.’ Completion with Master is Enlightenment As his friend, Kṛṣṇa was the reality to Arjuna. He took liberties with his friend because He was so real to him. But his updated intelligence of Kṛṣṇa’s Cosmic form shook him up so badly that he was now consumed by guilt.

It was because of the intense devotion that Arjuna had for Kṛṣṇa, that Kṛṣṇa gave him the invaluable gift of His divine form. Had Kṛṣṇa not considered him worthy, Arjuna would not have seen his Cosmic form. All our life, guilt rules us from our past. Whatever we do, we do with the intelligence available to us at that point in time. Often, what we did before seems wrong to us and we feel guilty. We start doubting our self and doubting others. There is no greater sin than carrying such guilt and self-doubt. What we did was not sinful; to carry the guilt with us is sinful. When complete with the guilt pattern, we drop the guilt and self-doubt.

With the power of completion, a deep imprint is made within our self which is far more powerful than carrying the guilt and doubt. Arjuna is demonstrating to the rest of us the power of completion with the Master, the ultimate relationship; in this case his incompletion is the guilt that seems to arise from the deepest of love. Please listen. One of the important complications you carry in your life is doubt about yourself and doubt about your Master. You will project that self-doubt on your Master. Listen! Complete with that self-doubt. Only then you will have complete relation with the Master. In one sense, Arjuna does not wish to carry that self-doubt and guilt with Kṛṣṇa.

With integrity and authenticity, he completes with his guilt, his self-doubt and drops it in front of his friend, Lord and Master saying, ‘Forgive me.’ Fear concerns the future. We can never be afraid of the past; it is dead and gone. Guilt and remorse plague us from the past. We need not have done it or we could have done it differently are the incompletions that we carry in the present. One by one these negativities pour out of Arjuna and Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 845 ... he is getting cleansed and complete in the presence of the Master. I tell you, completion with Master is enlightenment!

If you just have completion with the Master, nothing else is required! His space will just gush into you. His space will just raise your inner space. From Friendship to Enlightened Relationship Arjuna is one of the greatest examples of sakha bhāva, friendship relationship between master and disciple. It is the immediate effect of realizing the true nature of Kṛṣṇa, especially in His destructive form, that terrifies Arjuna, that makes him afraid. Sakha bhāva is not a relationship of equals. A disciple cannot be equal to the Master. Even when a disciple becomes enlightened and in that sense at the same level as the Master, the mood of the disciple would be one of sheer gratitude.

It is after Enlightenment that a disciple realizes the true nature of the Master and the real master-disciple relationship flowers. The disciple imbibes the nature of his Master, he communes with the Master and this is how the lineage of great Masters is sustained. In true sakha bhāva, everyone is a friend, not just the Master. One turns non-judgmental and respects everyone around as an expression of divinity. In one sense this is the problem that Arjuna has in waging war with his clansmen, who are his enemies. As an extension of his sakha bhāva relationship with Kṛṣṇa, he finds it difficult to hate his clansmen enough to fight and kill them.

He gives many reasons but these reasons are only excuses. Arjuna is no coward. He is the greatest warrior. Killing is second nature to him. But destroying a friend is not. His innate devotion to Kṛṣṇa extends to the Kauravas and he finds it difficult to keep this friendship feeling aside on the battlefield. In these verses, Arjuna also expresses the fear that his space of friendship may have been tinged with dislike or enmity or anger at some time. Though he seeks forgiveness for having called Kṛṣṇa his friend or a Yādava, etc., these are not really good reasons for a good friend to apologize, even if the friend turns out to be God.

Arjuna doesn’t know yet where he stands. Kṛṣṇa has revealed Himself as the Supreme God to him. Arjuna knows that he had not always had noble thoughts about Kṛṣṇa. This is how we all treat God as well. As long as God provides us with what we want, we worship him. The moment our requests don’t get fulfilled, the Divine becomes a stone idol. It is the same with a Master. Arjunaisintransition.Herepresentsthepersonwhoisabouttomove from the intellectual seeker level to the devotee and disciple stage. In fact, he has already moved after the Vision. There is no longer any self-doubt in him about Kṛṣṇa’s identity. Until Kṛṣṇa showed him His divine form, it was theory to Arjuna. Now after the Vision, it is completely real. He has moved from sakha bhāva, friendship, to mahā bhāva, an enlightened relationship. It is this transition that brings out the residual guilt in him. Your Familiar Form

11.45

अदृष्टपूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे | तदेव मे दर्शय देवरूपं प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास

adṛṣṭa-pūrvaṁ hṛṣito’smi dṛṣṭvā bhayena ca pravyathitaṁ mano me / tadeva me darśaya devarūpaṁ prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa / / 11.45

After seeing this form that I have never seen before, I am filled with gladness but at the same time I am disturbed by fear. Please bestow Your grace upon me and show me Your form as the supreme personality, O Lord of Lords, O refuge of the Universe.

adṛṣṭapūrvaṁ — never seen before · hṛṣito — gladdened · asmi — I am · dṛṣṭvā — by seeing · bhayena — out of fear · ca — also · pravyathitaṁ — perturbed · mano — mind · me — my · tad — therefore · eva — certainly · me — unto me · darśaya — show · deva — O Lord · rūpaṁ — the form · prasīda — just be gracious · deveśa — O Lord of lords · jagannivāsa — the refuge of the universe

11.46

किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रहस्त- मिच्छामि त्वां द्रष्टुमहं तथैव | तेनैव रूपेण चतुर्भुजेन सहस्रबाहो भव विश्वमूर्ते

kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakra-hastam icchāmi tvāṁ draṣṭumahaṁ tathaiva / tenaiva rūpeṇa caturbhujena sahasrabāho bhava viśvamūrte / / 11.46

O thousand armed Universal Form! I wish to see Your form with crown, fourarmed with mace, disc in Your hand. I yearn to see You in that form.

kirīṭinaṁ — crowned · gadinaṁ — with club · cakrahastam — disc in hand · icchāmi — I wish · tvāṁ — You · draṣṭum — to see · ahaṁ — I · tathai’va — in that form · tenai ‘va — by that · rūpeṇa — with form · caturbhujena — four-handed · sahasrabāho — O thou- sand-handed one · bhava — just become · viśvamūrte — O universal form

I yearn to see You in that form. Arjuna now makes his final plea in these verses. ‘Show me Your form that I am familiar with,’ he says, ‘the One that I am comfortable with. I am grateful and overwhelmed by the Visions that You have shown me, but what I am comfortable with is Your four-handed form holding the discus and mace, as the Protector of the universe. I am not comfortable, I am indeed fearful of the terrifying form of You as the Destroyer, however real it may be.’ kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakrahastam icchāmi tvāṁ draṣṭumahaṁ tathaiva I tenaiva rūpeṇa caturbhujena sahasrabāho bhava viśvamūrte II 11.46 All of us are in the same situation as Arjuna.

We all have fixed ideas of what divinity is, what motherhood is, what love is and what friendship is. Divinity is benign, comforting, protecting, nurturing, forgiving and all that is sweet and nice. So are motherhood, love and friendship. Existence does not work that way. Existence does not differentiate between good and bad, between beautiful and ugly. It is we who make judgments and create emotions within us to promote those judgments. In the Viṣṇu Sahasṛanāma, which is recited by Bhīṣma as he was awaiting his liberation, he describes Viṣṇu as ‘śāntākāraṁ bhujaga śayanaṁ padmanābhaṁ sureśaṁ’. ‘Peaceful, emanating bliss…’ is how Viṣṇu, whose incarnation Kṛṣṇa is, is described. Just the very words bring to us so much peace and calmness!

If instead, Bhīṣma had used words to describe the fearsome attributes of Viṣṇu such as: ‘Frightful destroyer, with burning mouths…’ and so on, how many would recite the Sahasṛanāma? It is a different matter that most people who go through the motions of reading and reciting the thousand names of Viṣṇu do not understand a word of what they are saying! So they are safe, whatever Bhīṣma may have said. But if you do understand what the words mean, and if you are not in equilibrium, you will be disturbed. These words, understood to be negative by your logical mind, will create severe emotional turbulence within you. A Yogī is one who has passed beyond these turbulences.

He understands that the Divine is without attributes, neither peaceful and comforting, nor fearful and terrifying. These manifestations are also illusions. Beyond and behind these apparent manifestations, Divinity just is. It is beyond the three guṇas. Arjuna at this point in time is yet to reach this stage. He still seeks the safety and comfort of the four-handed divine Protector that he is used to, rather than the terrifying Mahākāla. When we realize that both are masks of the Divine, that neither is His true Self and that both are His true Self, then and only then are we rid of illusions, and are liberated. Only You Have Seen This Form

11.47

श्रीभगवानुवाच | मया प्रसन्नेन तवार्जुनेदं रूपं परं दर्शितमात्मयोगात् | तेजोमयं विश्वमनन्तमाद्यं यन्मे त्वदन्येन न दृष्टपूर्वम्

śrī bhagavānuvāca mayā prasannena tavārjunedaṁ rūpaṁ paraṁ darśitam ātma-yogāt / tejo-mayaṁ viśvamam anantamādyaṁ yanme tvad anyena na dṛṣṭa-pūrvam / / 11.47

Bhagavān says: Dear Arjuna, I happily show you this transcendental form within the material world of My internal power. No one before you has seen this unlimited, brilliant form.

śrī bhagavān uvāca — Śrī bhagavan says · mayā — by Me · prasannena — happily · tava — unto you · arjuna — O Arjuna · idam — this · rūpaṁ — form · paraṁ — transcen- dental · darśitaṁ — shown · ātmayogāt — by My internal power · tejomayaṁ — full of effulgence · viśvaṁ — the entire universe · anantaṁ — unlimited · ādyaṁ — original · yan me — that which is Mine · tvad anyena — besides you · na dṛṣṭapūrvam — no one has previously seen

11.48

न वेदयज्ञाध्ययनैर्न दानै- र्न च क्रियाभिर्न तपोभिरुग्रै: | एवंरूप: शक्य अहं नृलोके द्रष्टुं त्वदन्येन कुरुप्रवीर

na veda-yajñādhyayanairna dānaiḥ na ca kriyābhir na tapobhir ugraiḥ / evaṁ-rūpaḥ śakya ahaṁ nṛ-loke draṣṭuṁ tvadanyena kuru-pravīra / / 11.48

O best among Kuru warriors, no one had ever before seen this Universal form of mine, for neither by studying the Vedas nor by performing sacrifices or charities, can this form be seen. Only you have seen this form.

na — never · veda — by Vedic study · yajña — sacrifice · ādhyayanaiḥ — study · na dānaiḥ — not by charity · na — never · ca — also · kriyābhiḥ — by pious activities · na tapobhiḥ — by serious penances · ugraiḥ — severe · evaṁ — thus · rūpaḥ — form · śakyaḥ — can be seen · ahaṁ — I · nṛloke — in this material world · draṣṭuṁ — to see · tvad — you · anyena — by another · kurupravīra — O best among the Kuru warriors

11.49

मा ते व्यथा मा च विमूढभावो दृष्ट्वा रूपं घोरमीदृङ्ममेदम् | व्यपेतभी: प्रीतमना: पुनस्त्वं तदेव मे रूपमिदं प्रपश्य

mā te vyathā mā ca vimūḍhabhāvo dṛṣṭvā rūpaṁ ghoramīdṛṅmamedam / vyapetabhīḥ prītamanāḥ punastvaṁ tadeva me rūpamidaṁ prapaśya / / 11.49

Do not be disturbed any longer by seeing this terrible form of Mine. Dear devotee, be free from all disturbances. With a peaceful mind, you can now see the form you wish to see.

mā — let it not be · te — unto you · vyathā — trouble · mā — let it not be · ca — also · vi- mūḍhabhāvaḥ — bewilderment · dṛṣṭvā — by seeing · rūpaṁ — form · ghoraṁ — terrible · īdṛk — like this · mama — My · idaṁ — as it is · vyapetabhīḥ — just become free from all fear · prītamanāḥ — be pleased in mind · punaḥ — again · tvaṁ — you · tat — that · eva — thus · me — My · rūpam — form · idaṁ — this · prapaśya — just see

11.50

सञ्जय उवाच | इत्यर्जुनं वासुदेवस्तथोक्त्वा स्वकं रूपं दर्शयामास भूय: | आश्वासयामास च भीतमेनं भूत्वा पुन: सौम्यवपुर्महात्मा

sañjaya uvāca ityarjunaṁ vāsudevastatho’ktvā svakaṁ rūpaṁ darśayāmāsa bhūyaḥ / āśvasayām āsa ca bhītam enaṁ bhūtvā punaḥ saumya-vapur-mahātmā / / 11.50

Sañjaya said: Kṛṣṇa, while speaking to Arjuna, revealed His form with four arms, Then assuming His human form He consoled the terrified Arjuna.

saṅjaya uvāca — Sañjaya said · iti — thus · arjunaṁ — unto Arjuna · vāsudevaḥ — Kṛṣṇa · tathā — that way · uktvā — saying · svakaṁ — His own · rūpaṁ — form · darśayāmāsa — showed · bhūyaḥ — again · āśvāsayāmāsa — also convinced him · ca — also · bhītam — fearful · enaṁ — him · bhūtvā punaḥ — becoming again · saumyavapuḥ — beautiful form · mahātmā — the great one

Kṛṣṇa consoles Arjuna in these verses. He is again His compassionate Self to His disturbed disciple. He tells Arjuna that no one, but no one, has had this great privilege of seeing His Cosmic form that He had just displayed to Arjuna. No penances, no rituals, no amount of scriptural reading and no other charities would gain this Vision for any one. ‘However, you are terrified. That is OK. See Me now in My normal form that you are used to worshipping.’ Kṛṣṇa is clear on this point. It is He who decides how He reveals Himself to His devotees and disciples. It is a gift from the Master, from the Divine.

It is not earned through effort. Of course, effort prepares one for the receipt of this great gift, but it is not the only necessary condition for the gift to be showered. Of course, in this chapter Arjuna seeks Kṛṣṇa’s Vision and it happens. It could have also happened without his seeking. The favor is for the Divine to give, not because we ask. It does not matter to Kṛṣṇa that Arjuna seemingly spurns this gift and would like to see Him as He normally does. What Kṛṣṇa offered was an unconditional gift that required neither acceptance nor appreciation. A Mother’s love for her child does not happen as a result of any effort on the child’s part.

The presence of the child spontaneously evokes the deep unconditional love of the Mother for the child. It is ultimately the surrender of the devotee to the Master, like the surrender of the infant to the mother that evokes this unconditional love. In the case of an infant, it is a reflex action. The nature of an infant is to be defenseless and in absolute surrender to the caregiver. In the case of a devotee, the root thought patterns of mental behavior need to be given up. This is far more difficult. The devotee has to return to his original and natural state of surrender to experience unconditional love. To achieve this he has to drop his mind.

He has to give up all the root thoughts patterns, both conscious and unconscious. When the mind is wiped clean of its templates of comparison, it makes no difference if the Divine appears to be loving or terrifying. In both aspects one accepts Divinity. Kṛṣṇa leads His disciple in stages through this path of Self- Realization, which is no different from the realization of the Divine. Only In This Way Can You Reach Me

11.51

अर्जुन उवाच | दृष्ट्वेदं मानुषं रूपं तव सौम्यं जनार्दन | इदानीमस्मि संवृत्त: सचेता: प्रकृतिं गत:

arjuna uvāca dṛṣṭvedaṁ mānuṣaṁ rūpaṁ tava saumyaṁ janārdana / idānīmasmi saṁvṛttaḥ sacetāh prakṛtiṁ gataḥ / / / 11.51

Arjuna says: Seeing this wonderful human form, My mind is now calm and I am restored to my original nature.

arjuna uvāca — Arjuna says · dṛṣṭvā — seeing · idaṁ — this · mānuṣaṁ — human being · rūpam — form · tava — Your · saumyaṁ — very beautiful · janārdana — O chastiser of the enemies · idānīm — just now · asmi — I am · saṁvṛttaḥ — settled · sacetāh — in my consciousness · prakṛtiṁ — my own · gataḥ — I

11.52

श्रीभगवानुवाच | सुदुर्दर्शमिदं रूपं दृष्टवानसि यन्मम | देवा अप्यस्य रूपस्य नित्यं दर्शनकाङ्क्षिण:

śrībhagavānuvāca sudurdarśamidaṁ rūpaṁ dṛṣṭavānasi yanmama / devā apyasya rūpasya nityaṁ darśanakāṅkṣiṇaḥ / / 11.52

Bhagavān says: The four-armed form that you have seen is rare to behold. Even the celestials are forever aspiring to see this form.

śrī bhagavān uvāca — Kṛṣṇa says · sudurdarśaṁ — very difficult to be seen · idaṁ — this · rūpaṁ — form · dṛṣṭavān asi — you have seen · yat — which · mama — of Mine · devāḥ — the celestials · apyasya — also this · rūpasya — form · nityaṁ — eternally · darśana kāṅkṣiṇaḥ — always aspire to see

11.53

नाहं वेदैर्न तपसा न दानेन न चेज्यया | शक्य एवंविधो द्रष्टुं दृष्टवानसि मां यथा

nāhaṁ vedairna tapasā na dānena na cejyayā / śakya evaṁvidho draṣṭuṁ dṛṣṭavānasi māṁ yathā / / 11.53

The four armed form which you have seen with your transcendental eyes cannot be understood simply by study of the Vedas, nor by undergoing penances or charity or worship; one cannot see Me as I am by these means.

nā — never · ahaṁ — I · vedaiḥ — by study of the Vedas · na — never · tapasā — by serious penances · na — never · dānena — by charity · na — never · ca — also · ijyayā — by worship · śakyaḥ — it is possible · evaṁvidhaḥ — like this · draṣṭuṁ — to see · dṛṣṭavān — seeing · asi — you are · māṁ — Me · yathā — as.

11.54

भक्त्या त्वनन्यया शक्य अहमेवंविधोऽर्जुन | ज्ञातुं द्रष्टुं च तत्वेन प्रवेष्टुं च परन्तप

bhaktyā tvananyayā śakya aham evaṁ vidho’rjuna / jñātuṁ draṣṭuṁ ca tattvena praveṣṭuṁ ca parantapa / / 11.54

My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can you understand Me as I am, standing before you, be seen directly. Only in this way can you reach Me, O Parantapa.

bhaktyā — by devotional service · tu — but · ananyayā — without being mixed with fruitive activities or speculative knowledge · śakyaḥ — possible · aham — I · evaṁvidhaḥ — like this · arjuna — O Arjuna · jñātuṁ — to know · draṣṭuṁ — to see · ca — and · tattvena — in fact · praveṣṭuṁ — and to enter into · ca — also · paraṁtapa — O mighty-armed one

11.55

मत्कर्मकृन्मत्परमो मद्भक्त: सङ्गवर्जित: | निर्वैर: सर्वभूतेषु य: स मामेति पाण्डव

mat-karma-kṛn mat-paramo mad-bhaktaḥ saṅgavarjitaḥ / nirvairaḥ sarvabhūteṣu yaḥ sa māmeti pāṇḍava / / 11.55

My dear Arjuna, one who is engaged entirely in My devotional service, who surrenders to Me as the Supreme, free from attachment, full of love for every entity, surely comes to Me.

matkarmakṛt — engaged in doing My work · matparamaḥ — considering Me the Supreme · madbhaktaḥ — engaged in My devotional service · saṅgavarjitaḥ — freed from the contamination of previous activities and mental speculation · nirvairaḥ — without an enemy · sarvabhūteṣu — to every living entity · yaḥ — one who · sa — he · mām — unto Me · eti — comes · pāṇḍava — O son of Pāṇḍu

This statement coming from the mouth of Kṛṣṇa may be taken as the simple, direct truth. Kṛṣṇa now appears in front of Arjuna first in His four-handed beautiful divine form that Arjuna is comfortable with, and finally as Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa, in His gentle human form that Arjuna is so familiar with. But the familiarity ends there. Having seen what Kṛṣṇa really is through His divine form of Nārāyaṇa, with four arms bearing the discus and mace, and also in His terrifying Cosmic form as Mahākāla, Arjuna now has an understanding of the unlimited magnitude of the personality in front of him. In whatever form Kṛṣṇa now appears, this understanding would remain with Arjuna.

It is said that when Kṛṣṇa was born to Devaki, He presented to her and Vāsudeva, His father, His form with four hands to comfort them in their captivity, and later changed it to the human form. Arjuna has now seen Kṛṣṇa in all His forms. The true Universal form of Virāṭa rūpa or Viśvarūpa, that Arjuna found fearsome; the beautiful, much gentler, adorable form with four hands (bearing mace and discus in two hands, and the other two hands signifying protection and the giving of boons), and finally back to the human form that Arjuna has always known. Kṛṣṇa says even the great sages, the enlightened Masters have not seen the sights that Arjuna has seen.

That is very true. Enlightened Masters cannot see visions. When an enlightened being sees another Enlightened being, it is in the energy form. To be able to see the gross physical form, both need to readjust their frequencies. For other people, no amount of spiritual practices and knowledge can make this happen. This is the space of bhakti, pure devotion. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says about one’s relationship to a Master: ‘The love of a chaste wife for her husband, the attachment of a miser to his hoarded wealth, the craving of a pleasure seeker for sensual pleasures, all these rolled into one and directed towards the master is true bhakti, devotion.’

Experience You As Universe and Universe As You Kṛṣṇa concludes this chapter with a clear direction of what a devotee should do to reach Him. It is as simple as 1, 2, 3. ‘Work for Me,’ He says, ‘work for My mission, mat karma kṛn. Surrender to Me as the supreme with no reservations, mat paramo mad bhaktaḥ. Have no attachment to whatever you do, leave the results to Me, surrender the fruits of your action to Me, sanga varjitaḥ. Look upon everyone as your own Self, without dislike and hatred, nirvairaḥ sarva bhūteṣu.’ Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 853 ... mat karma kṛn mat paramo mad bhaktaḥ sanga varjitaḥ I nirvairaḥ sarva bhūteṣu yah sa mām eti pāṇḍava II 11.55 What Kṛṣṇa says here is very significant.

‘Work for Me. Enrich for Me—mat karma kṛn,’ He says. ‘He who works for Me comes to Me—yah sa mām eti pāṇḍavaḥ’ All disciples and devotees must understand this. Devotion is not about keeping a statue or a photo and praying to it. You can be a gazer all your life and nothing will come out of it. What is really needed is authenticity in action and your effort to enrich others and yourself, which is in tune with what the Master teaches. Please listen. Rūpa means the parts of you which you remember and associate yourself with, and make others experience as you, is rūpa. For example, when you associate yourself with this skin, bone and flesh, and you cognize this as you and make everyone experience this as you; then, when someone worships this, you are happy, and when they abuse this, you are unhappy.

Usually, whatever you associate yourself with and show as you to others is rūpa. A normal man associates himself, cognizes himself as his body and makes everyone cognize that he is his body. Viśvarūpa means cognizing the whole viśva (universe) as you and making the the whole viśva cognize you as viśva. Listen! Enriching is the direct process to cognize you as viśva or viśva (universe) as you. Enriching is directly successful in life because with more and more enriching, you will less and less cognize yourself as this six-feet body and you will more and more cognize yourself with the people who carry the completion space you are living.

See, when you enrich others with the space you are living, whoever starts carrying the same space, you will feel connected with all of them. You will feel the strength of all of them. They will feel your strength, you will feel their strength. This is the way enriching becomes of practical use. Listen! I tell my disciples: ‘If you sit and gaze at me and feel joyful seeing my form, you are chasing me. At best you get eye candy and brain candy, sweet words and a sweet form that makes you feel happy. Then you think I will be leaving soon and feel unhappy. You miss the present moment of my being with you and speculate with regret on my absence that may follow.’

‘If instead, you work for my mission, enriching others with my words and teachings, I shall chase you. I shall always be with you, wherever you are! You do not even need to come to me. I shall come to you.’ Understand, my cognition about my success or failure has nothing to do with my body, it is to do with my ideology, which I already established in many bodies through which I’ll continue to live forever. Whoever has cognized inside their heart, in the space of completion— integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching, I live in all of them. I am radiating me through all of them. Whoever I initiated already into the truths that I am living, whoever has caught the fire, I am living, I am continuing to live, and I’ll continue to live through all of them.

Please understand, bring enriching as your strength. You will win in any war! Hinduism has always survived in all wars by using enriching as the weapon. Śāstra is our śastra; the knowledge was our weapon. It is by śāstra, the right cognition and the strength of enriching that we won all the wars, all over the world. I tell you, take up enriching yourself and others again and again as your cognition. Suddenly you will realize, not only you are rūpa, the center of your life, you are Viśvarūpa, the center of the Cosmic life. Please listen, I am not giving you theories and stories. I am giving you the practical tips from my personal life.

You are not just center of your life, you are centre of the whole Cosmic life. If you associate yourself with the six-feet body you are rūpa, just form. If you associate yourself with the ideology and cognize yourself as sacred truths, whoever practices that, you expand; and you cognize all of them as part of you, so you become Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 855 ... Viśvarūpa. Enriching is the direct process to transform you from rūpa to Viśvarūpa. May the blessings of Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord be upon you all! MEDITATION I think it is now time for us to meditate to experience what Arjuna is seeing.

Once again the two points: Is it possible to experience Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Yes, it is possible. What is the qualification? Our being present here is enough. Now all we need to do is put our whole consciousness intensely into the meditation. The meditation will take at least 20 minutes. If you feel you cannot or do not want to sit for 20 minutes, you are free to leave. If you can do so, we shall enter into the meditation. Please don’t leave in between. Please sit straight and close your eyes. I shall guide you step by step. Pray intensely to the Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, Universal consciousness, in whatever name you know, in whatever form you know.

Pray to that energy to give a glimpse of His being to you, a glimpse of the experience that Arjuna received and which all the enlightened masters experienced. Pray to the Universal energy. It responds to your thoughts. Don’t think your prayers are dead words. They are living communication. Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible and as deeply as possible. Concentrate and bring your attention between your eyebrows, on your ājña cakra. Slowly, but very deeply concentrate on your ājña cakra. Without forcing yourself, put your awareness naturally on your ājña cakra. Slowly start visualizing the whole Universe moving inside your head. Feel this clearly inside your head. The space that is in front of you, in your inner space, the whole Universe is moving.

See the sun, moon and all the planets. Visualize this clearly, intensely. Slowly relax the body, be one with the Universal consciousness. Feel the experience of being one with the Universe. You are seeing clearly the sun, moon, stars and planets. Just disappear into the Universal consciousness. Forget your name, your form, all the conditionings, your profession, your gender and your country, everything about yourself. Forget your identity and see the whole Universe intensely. Just see the moving Universe intensely, all the planets, the stars, all the suns, moons. Disappear into the Universal consciousness. Lose the identity, the root cause of all the thoughts; let it disappear into the Universal consciousness.

Experience the bliss, the fulfilling bliss of the whole Universe. Expand and disappear into that Universe. Dissolve into the Universal consciousness. Be in Nityānanda, eternal bliss! Thus ends the eleventh chapter named Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Cosmic Vision,’ of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṃvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Love Is Your Very Life In love, life comes to its ultimate peak. It is only in love that we will find God. Krsna declares the experience and expression of His devotee, who is very dear to Him and reaches Him without a doubt. c h a p t e r Bhakti Yogaḥ ...

In the previous chapter, Arjuna asks for and receives the viśvarūpa darśan, the vision of the Universal form of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa very patiently resolves Arjuna’s doubts and answers all his questions. Arjuna then wishes to see the true reality of Kṛṣṇa, the form behind the formless, the Imperishable, the Eternal. Kṛṣṇa obliges his friend and disciple, Arjuna, the true representative of the human being, Nara. Seeing this cosmic form of Kṛṣṇa, and unable to withstand the energy, Arjuna begs Kṛṣṇa to show him the benevolent four-armed form of Viṣṇu that he is used to worshipping with devotion. Finally, Kṛṣṇa reverts to His normal human form as Arjuna’s charioteer, and the King of Yadāvas.

After showing His cosmic form and having given the experience of Cosmic consciousness to Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa now speaks about bhakti, devotional love. Kṛṣṇa’s Universal form, as displayed to Arjuna, is His Cosmic consciousness, which is our collective consciousness. Arjuna understands from Kṛṣṇa that he too is a part of this Cosmic consciousness, and at the same time he is aware that what he could see of Kṛṣṇa is a mere fraction of His eternal cosmic Self. Arjuna’s experience of the Divine form of Kṛṣṇa raises further questions in his mind. Is this form that he just witnessed the glorious reality of the Cosmos? Is this the true reality that he should focus on?

Or is the formless Self that Kṛṣṇa had talked to him about earlier more important? Understanding Bhakti and Love Usually people think a spiritual experience happens only after bhakti, devotional love. However, bhakti happens only after a spiritual Love Is Your Very Life Bhakti Yogaḥ Love Is Your Very Life 859 experience. Real bhakti cannot happen to you before a spiritual experience. Only when a person experiences every being as part of the Cosmic consciousness can he radiate love. Only such a person knows what love is. Nobody else knows what love is. Others think that they love, or act as if they love. Be very clear, so many people act as if they love.

Sometimes by acting, they think that they love. Never can we love by acting! Love must flow from our being. Love happens when we experience cosmic consciousness, when we have a spiritual experience, when our ego disappears. Kṛṣṇa lays out the whole technique for us, step-by-step. After a spiritual experience so much gratitude flows from our being, so much love overflows from our being that we start radiating it. We need not make an effort, it just flows. We cannot stop it. No one can show or experience love unless they have had a spiritual experience. People ask me, ‘Swamiji, you tell your devotees to meditate, meditate, and meditate. What is the use?

Isn’t it a selfish practice? Why don’t you tell them to do service? That will benefit a lot of people.’ There are many so-called spiritual organizations and organized charities that are caught in social service, just for name, fame and social prestige. The people running and involved in these organizations, are always preoccupied and busy being photographed for newspapers and magazines. Organized charity is a beautiful way of cheating yourself and others. Your ego is fed well when you do charity this way. Charity can never be organized. It just has to flow. It is not an external expression. Understand, in the Vedic tradition, the concept of dāna is not charity.

Charity is an ugly word. Our concept of dāna is totally different. Dhana, wealth becomes dāna, enriching with wealth. When we are filled with dhana, which means the wealth of completion, the overflowing dhana becomes dāna, the overflowing enriching expression of Love. Listen. Dhana overflows as dāna when completion overflows as love. The greatest wealth is completion and the greatest enriching is love! The moment we try to organize charity, the whole thing takes on a different quality, a different color, and a different purpose. Only when it flows after an experience of completion is it a solid expression of love. Our inner transformation, our completion must happen before we enrich others to transform.

Unless we feel that we are part of the Whole, unless we feel that every other person is irretrievably linked to us, it is impossible for us to contribute and enrich with true love. We will only be hypocrites. We are part of the cosmic ocean. Each of us is a mere drop. As long as we remain droplets and do not understand the reality of being part of the same ocean, we remain separate; our feelings will be driven by ‘I’ and ‘mine’. As long as this separation remains, there can be no true love. There can be no expression of complete love. Whatever an enlightened being does, even if he kills someone, it will only do that person good.

This is because an enlightened being is established in the space of completion driven by cosmic consciousness. Therefore it will always be good for everyone. However, whatever an unenlightened man does, even if he does great service, it may or may not do good to him and society. Good or bad is not decided by doing. It is decided by the being! When an enlightened man acts, even small things lead to great results in the world. When an unenlightened person acts, even great truths may lead to misery and destruction at times. Think about the simple words uttered by Buddha, ‘Watch your breath, witness your inhaling and exhaling.’ Buddha discovered this simple truth through which thousands of people became enlightened.

Yet, when an unenlightened person discovers a great truth, it leads to destruction. For example, the atomic theory is a great truth. Yet, when it comes from an unenlightened mind, it leads to destruction. A statistical report in a magazine claims that the governments of all the countries in the world have enough atomic weapons to destroy the planet Earth over a thousand times. They have piled up enough atomic weapons to destroy the earth not once or twice but over a 1000 times! This Bhakti Yogaḥ Love Is Your Very Life 861 is the result of one unenlightened mind. Listen. Deeds or words by themselves don’t do good or bad.

They do good or bad based upon the consciousness from which they are expressed. This consciousness, this awareness is related to the feeling one has for others. The quality of our awareness decides whether the end result benefits or destroys humanity. Only after a spiritual experience do we feel gratitude at the being level. If it is our solid experience that every living being is God, we radiate love and our being becomes love. Bhakti and love are expressions that flow from that spiritual experience. Kṛṣṇa’s discourse on Bhakti Yogaḥ starts after Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ. After the experience of completion, He talks about the expression of enriching, Bhakti Yogaḥ. He talks about the expression of devotional love. Who Is Perfect?

iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsūpaniṣatsu brahmavidyāyāṁ yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasaṁvāde viśvarūpa-darśanayogo nāma ekādaśo’dhyāyaḥ