THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, 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 16

Text in Transliteration:

aneka baahoodara vaktra netram

   pasyaami tvaam sarvato ‘nantararoopam

naa ‘ntam na madhyam na punas tavaa ‘dim

   pasyaami visvesavara visvaroopa

Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:

Aneka baahu udara vaktra netram = with manifold arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes on every side; pasyaami = (I) see; tvaam = thee; sarvatah = on every side; ananta roopam = of boundless form; na = not; antam = end; na = not; madhyam = middle; na = not; punah: = again; tava = thy; aadim = origin; pasyaami = (I) see; visvesvara = O Lord of the universe; visva roopa = O cosmic form.

Text in English:

I behold You, infinite in forms on all sides, with countless arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes; neither Your end nor the middle nor the beginning do I see, O Lord of the universe, O Universal Form.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

All the varieties of manifestations are His forms and He also transcends them all.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

vaktra: faces or mouths.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

A thing that is limited by space and time has a beginning, a middle and an end, but the Lord is omnipresent and eternal. He exists in the three periods of time—past, present and future, but is not limited by time and space. Therefore He has neither a beginning nor middle nor end.

Arjuna could have this divine vision only with the help of the divine eye bestowed upon him by the Lord. He who has supreme devotion to the Lord and on whom the Lord showers His grace can enjoy this wondrous vision.

Comments by the blogger:

Many arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes stand for the entire humanity of the three times, past, present and future. Human beings are none but the individual expression of the Lord. So all are equal before the Lord! He does not differentiate between the rich and the poor, black or white and so forth.

On every side, the Lord has boundless form without a beginning, middle and an end.

Even on the earthly plane, when we stand on the seashore and gaze at the sea, we see not the beginning, middle and an end of the waters. Water is just one of the five elements. The sky also looks to be stretching into the infinity. Our Earth looks like an endless flat extant expanse. But we all know the sea is a limited expression of salty water. We all know the sky has limits and is not infinite. And we all know that the earth is round or elliptical in size. While we cannot see the limits of the finite elements, what could be said of the Lord’s Universal Form which is really infinite and limitless in the right and real sense of the term?