THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 11, VERSE 20, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF 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 20

Text in Transliteration:

dyaavaaprithivyor idam antaram hi

   vyaaptam tvayai ‘kena disas cha sarvaah:

drrshttvaa ‘dbhutam rupam ugram tave ‘dam

   iokatrayam pravyathitam mahaatman

Sanskrit words and phrases and their meaning:

Dyaavaa prthivyoh: = of heaven and earth; idam = this; antaram = interpace; hi = indeed; vyaaptam = are filled; tvayaa = by thee; ekena = alone; disah: = quarters; cha = and; sarvaah: = all; drshtvaa = having seen; adbhtam = wonderful; roopam = form; ugram = terrible; tava = thy; idam = this; loka trayam = the three worlds; pravyathitam = are trembling with fear; mahaatman = O Mahatman.

Text in English:

This space between heaven and earth and all the quarters are filled with You alone. Having seen this, Your marvellous and terrible form, the three worlds are trembling with fear, O Mahatman.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Arjuna now realizes that the Lord is all-pervading. The Lord is not only all charm and sweetness, He is also all fierceness and terror. Of these opposites the experience of the one or the other comes to the beholder only to reflect his own frame of mind. Arjuna sees the terrible form of the Lord quite in tune with his disposition. He who did not want to create a ghastly war scene now realizes that with or without his instrumentality, the Lord has assumed this terrific form to purge the world of evils.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Thee: In Thy Cosmic Form.

The space and the quarters: This denotes that the Lord has filled the whole universe of animate and inanimate objects.

In order to remove the doubt entertained by Arjuna as to his success (Cf. II. 6) Lord Krishna makes him feel now that victory for the Pandavas is certain.