THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 02, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OR THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:

VERSE NUMBER 02

Text in Transliteration:

bhavaapyayau hi bhootaanaam srutau vistaraso mayaa

tvattah kamalapatraaksha maahaatmyam api chaa ‘vyayam

Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:

bhavaapyayau = the origin and dissolution; hi = indeed; bhootaanaam = of beings; srutau = have been heard; vistarasah = in detail; mayaa = by me; tvattah = from thee; kamala patra aksha = O Lotus eyed; maahaatmyam = greatness; api = also; cha = and; avyayam = inexhaustible.

Text in English:

From You, O Lotus-eyed, have been heard by me in detail of the origin and dissolution of beings and also of Your inexhaustible greatness.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The dilation made by the Lord is brief from His own standpoint and it is elaborate from the standpoint of Arjuna. Each of them is in this respect a standard for himself.

Iswara is the source of the universe. But on this ground He is not entangled. The working of the universe derives its design and process from the Lord. He suffers no mutation on this account. It is all His glory.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Kamalapatraksha: Lotus-eyed or having eyes like lotus-petals. Kamalapatra also means knowledge of the Self. He who can be obtained by knowledge of the Self is Kamalapatraksha.

Comments by the blogger:

(Alternative days be damned. You will get to read this blog every day)

The Lord’s greatness is heard firsthand from the Lord Himself. The origin and destruction of beings get Arjuna a new vista into things. He comes to understand that the beings are, time and time again, sent forth and withdrawn by the Lord at the end of the Kalpa. All these things go to strengthen the Lord’s argument that Arjuna should fight his war and eating beggar’s bread or taking to the life of renouncement is not for him.

And the tenth chapter opened yet more vistas about the glories of the Lord. When our Lord’s greatness is thus proved beyond any trace of doubt, what He says goes. He says for Arjuna merely to be an instrument in His hands and these kings and others arrayed in the opposite army have already scripted their death. The wicked must be weeded out. It is one of the reasons why the war has to take place. And the good that are Pandavas and those standing behind them must prosper so that the people and the subjects at large may prosper under the righteous yoke.

The child has great and instinctive confidence in the potentialities of its father and mother. Likewise, the devotee has all the faith in the Lord and having laid all his future in the able hands of his Ultimate Master, he goes to sleep and gets up fully rested and rejuvenated to face the new day and to continue his fight.