THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 11
VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM:
VERSE NUMBER 07
Text in Transliteration:
thai ‘kastham jagat kritsnam pasyaa ‘dya sacharaacharam
mama dehe gudaakesha yach chaa ‘nyad drashttum icchasi
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
Tha = in this; ekastham = centred in one; jagat = the universe; krtsnam = whole; pasya = behold; adya = now; sacaracharam = with the moving and unmoving ; mama = my; dehe = in the body; gudaakesa = O Gudakesa; yat = that; cha = and; anyat = other; drashtum = to see; icchasi = (thou) desirest.
Text in English:
Behold here today, O Dudakesa, the whole universe of the moving and the unmoving, and whatever else you desire to see, all integral of My body.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
In chapter 2 stanza 6, Arjnuna raised a doubt whether Pandavas should vanquish Kauravas or Kauravas should vanquish Pandavas. The answer to this question can now be found self-revealed in the working of the Cosmos. The plan and purpose of the universe ever stand self-revealed. It is open to the enquirer to get at them whenever he wants.
Are the physical eyes and the ordinary intellect sufficient to cognize the whole of the truth pertaining to the Lord. The answer is given in the next stanza.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
It is the vision of all in the one. When we develop our full capacity of apprehension, we see that all (past, present and future) is present.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAI SIVANANDA:
Anyat: other; whatever else. Your success or defeat in the war, about which you have entertained a doubt. (Cf. II. 6)
Comments by the blogger:
Veada means to know. The Vedas do not comprise just the four books as we generally understand, namely, the Rig, Yajur, Sama and othervana.
The whole Universe is the Veda in the broader sense. The whole universe is the body of the Lord. And to understand the world is to understand the Lord. But it is not so easy. That was why our ancient Rishis and Yogis sat cross legged at a clean place with their backbone erect and breathing controlled; with closed eyes and the other four senses also in full control, they sent their gaze inward.
They had formed an excellently correct idea that what is there in the andam or Universe is in the pindam or human body. The Universe and the human body are made up of the same five elements. So to know one’s body and mind is to know the Universe and the Being that is the mainstay of the Universe.
By sending their inquiry inside of themselves by shutting out the outer world fully, they could raise the kundalini or the serpent power that reveals all which is dormant behind the testicles up to the head by stages. They came to know who they were; a little expression of the Lord of the Universe! Their Self-knowledge was able to converse with the Universal Mind or Intelligence.
In this verse, by saying Anyat or other, or behold in my body, the whole universe centred in one—including the moving and the unmoving—(anyat) AND WHATEVER ELSE THOU DESIREST TO SEE!
SO ARJUNA COULD NOT ONLY SEE THE PAST AND PRESENT BUT THE FUTURE TOO! THIS FUTURE DOES NOT NECESSARILY RELATE TO THE OUTCOME OF THE WAR AT KURUKSHETRA BUT ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE, INCLUDING THE FATE OF THE WORLD, THE FATE OF ONE’S SELF. ARJUNA COULD SEE, IF HE WANTS, HOW MANY MORE REINCARNATIONS HE SHOULD TAKE OR IF THIS WOULD BE HIS LAST ONE.
SO THE FUTURE POSSIBILITIES ARE THERE IN THE FORM OF KNOWLEDGE. THIS IS HOW IN THE STANZAS TO COME THE LORD SHOWS ARJUNA HOW ALL THE WORLD IS BEING SIMPLY SLURPED UP AND ALL GOES INEXORABLY INTO HIS MOUTH!
One may ask that if the future of one person is predetermined then what is the use of our spiritual exertion in this incarnation and why should not we spend our life here in indulging our senses in the sense objects freely. The answer is very simple. The future would be in a state of flux according as the actions in the past and present births as also the sachinta karma which is a stock of past karma yet to be acted out and expended. But a person, while he comes up to the stage of getting to know the whole universe as the body of the Lord, that is, when he has developed up to that level, then telling his future becomes simple, for he would have no more rebirth to transact and prosecute. By getting to see the Lord’s Cosmic Form, Arjuna has attained that stage of a perfected Yogi in his last spiritual leg toward understanding the Lord. But he has some more distance to traverse spiritually.
(Blogger’s note: Dear visitors and readers, after the end of the 18th chapter, I would traverse the great prefaces given by the three commentators. With that, Holy Gita would not come to an end. With the knowledge we have gained by a prayerful perusal of Gita we shall delve in deep into the principal Upanishads one by one. And then we shall look into Ramayana and Mahabharata and at last, we shall see the Brahma Sutra. We shall see all this under the heading of “Hinduism”. So it would take four or five years of solid writing for me to end this blog. I am 58 and do not contribute to my family’s finances. Money is one great hurdle for me. But I have read more than thirty voluminous books which are still with me and I shall freely and exhaustively quote from them. I am a spendthrift when it comes to buying books. The habit has stood me in good stead and I am able to write about all the questions relating to Hinduism. But at present, for the past three years, I am going through a lean patch. The Google Authorities insist on my having a sizable following. But, despite my many requests, you stoutly refuse to follow me. Please change your mind and FOLLOW ME, PLEASE. IF I AM NOT GOING THROUGH A LEAN PATCH—WE ARE PLANNING TO SELL THE HOUSE—I WOULD NOT HAVE SIGNED UP WITH THE AdSense. SO PLEASE FOLLOW ME AND ENABLE ME TO WRITE WITH ABANDON WITHOUT ANY THOUGHT ABOUT FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS.
AS YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTED, I AM WRITING, AT THE SAME TIME, MORE THAN FOUR BLOGS WHICH TAKE UP MY FULL TIME DURING THE DAY. SO PLEASE FOLLOW ME AND I STRENGTHEN MY HANDS.THIS IS MY HUMBLE REQUEST.)
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