THE HOLY GITA

Wednesday 21 February 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 14, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF 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 14
Text in Transliteration:
tatah: sa vismayaavishto hrshtaromaa dhanamjayah:
pranamya sirasaa devam krtaajnalir abhaashata
Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:
tatah: = then; sah: = he; vismaya aavishtah: = filled with wonder; hrrshttaromaa = with hair standing on end; dhanamjaya = Arjuna; pranamya = having prostrated; sirasaa = with (his) head; devam = the God; krrtaanjalih: = with joined palms; abhaasata = spoke.
Text in English:

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
When a yogi is blessed with the vision of God, its exuberance reveals itself through the spiritual charge it induces in his body and mind. Being struck with blissful amazement is the effect it brings on his mind. The hair standing on end, the head bowing down in reverence and palms joining in spontaneous adoration are the marks of ecstasy visible on his body. Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
In an agony of awe, his hair uplift, his head on high, his hands clasped in supplication, Arjuna adores.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Tatah: Then, having seen the Cosmic Form.
Arjuna joined his palms in order to do prostration to the Cosmic Form. The great hero had attained true humility which the bowed head and joined palms represented, and which is the essential ingredient of devotion.

Comments by the blogger:
Hair standing on end indicates one of the Maha Bhava as described in Srimat Swami Chidbhavananda’s able commentary on the immortal Tamil Text of Tiruvachagam. There various Maha Bhavas are described. A devotee goes through all these Maha Bhava born of internalized blissfulness. For example, the eyes shedding tears continuously while the body trembles in ecstasy. This is one of the Maha Bhava. Here Arjuna’s hair stands on end. He gets goose pimples. He is going through an ecstatic moment. Hair standing on end is one of the stages a bhakta or devotee goes through by stages. The consonant stage is self-surrender. Arjuna is going to declare that soon. His acts of bowed head and joined palms indicate the same. Complet self-surrender is intrinsic to the stage of being a devotee.    




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