THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 49, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VERSE NUMBER 49

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

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

maa te vyathaa maa cha vimoodhabhaavo

     drrshtvaa roopam ghoram eedrrn mame ‘dam

vyapetabheeh preetamanaah punas tvam

     tad eva me roopam idam prapasya

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN TAMIL:

maa = not: te = thee: vyathaa = fear: maa = not: cha = and: vimooddha bhaavah = bewildered state: drrshttvaa = having seen: roopam = form: ghoram = terrible: eedrrk = such: mama = my: idam = this: vyapetabheeh = with (thy) fear dispelled: preetamanaah = with gladdened heart: punah = again: tvam = thou: tat = that: eva = even: me = my: roopam = form: idam = this: prapasya = behold.

                                                

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Be not afraid nor bewildered on seeing this terrific form of Mine; free from fear and delighted at heart, do you again see this My former form.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The seafarer is delighted when the boisterous waters become pacified. The child is pleased when mother’s anger changes into affection. The Jivatman is transported with joy when he beholds his terror-striking God resume His benediction-showering form.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Former form is the form with four hands with conch, discus, club or mace and lotus.

The Lord saw Arjuna in a state of terror. Therefore, He withdrew the Cosmic Form and assumed His usual gentle form. He consoled Arjuna and spoke sweet, loving words.

Comments by the blogger:

The Lord dismantles his terrific form and welcomes Arjuna to see His former form.

When the true devotee who has surrendered himself to the Lord and owns up his limitations the Lord becomes like a mother and hastens to assuage the anguish of His cheela or devotee. But there must be an unflinching surrender. Prayer comes easily to all human beings. Anyhow surrendering our personal will to the Will of the Lord and act as His vessel is to be learned. Our ego is a great impediment in surrendering our will to the Will of the Lord. Of course, without ego or the sensation of I do this and I do that, nothing by way of action is possible in this world. There is a story about Lord Siva and His nine Seers. In the beginning, Lord Siva created these Nine Rishis and asked them to procreate and beget children and thus start in this world the advent of human beings. Having imparted this message, the Lord went into His usual Self which is one of resting ecstatically in His own Self. After some time, Lord Siva wanted to see how the world was doing and how human beings are living. But to his surprise apart from the Nine Rishis, there was no human being. For the moment He had left the Sapta Rishis or the Nine Saints went into a trance and they came out of it only when the Lord came to see them! Lord Siva realized that the nine Rishis could not create human beings by procreation and He created human beings in pairs, man and woman.

Unquestioning surrender to the Lord is not very easy. Since action and I am the doer of action sense is important for the world to continue with a teeming number of human beings. Nothing is possible without the ego sense. But the trick is to adopt Karma Yoga. A Karma Yogi like the Mahatma Gandhi is indulged in ceaseless action every day. But he does not desire for the fruits of his actions. Indeed when India won Freedom from the White Men and there were much rush and bustle to usher in and announce that India was an independent and sovereign Country at the stroke of the midnight the real author of Freedom was not to be seen in Delhi much less attending the ceremony! For Gandhi was out of the capital city and had gone to an ordinary and remote village to bring in freedom from the Hindus to Muslims and from Muslims to Hindus! That kind of self-effacing action in which the doer has no stakes in the way of personal enjoyment of the fruits of his action came readily to the Mahatma Gandhi and all cannot subjugate one’s weal to the cause of the Nation. For me also it does not come easily. Before I was set up with the Google AdSense I was strenuously praying to the Lord to facilitate that. And after writing 800 pages or 383,411 words I was set up gloriously by the People of AdSense. I, time and again, thanked Lord Siva and gazed at various Ads with a heart full of thankfulness and bliss as though all my prayers were answered by the Lord and I need not any more worry about the constricting financial condition of my family. But all the page viewers had resolved that a person writing about Gita should not seek the fruit thereof! And in the last one or so week since the advent of various and changing and panoramic Ads to my site I have been praying deeply to the Lord and I actually seek the fruits of my actions! I am an ordinary mortal. For the last twenty-five years, I have been reading a list of wants in the pooja room! Bhakti is there. In our house, the lamp will never be extinguished and it will be burning 24 hours a day! I am a good and unflinching devotee. But my devotion toward the Lord is not for the sake of itself. I own up my limitations.

In the epic Mahabharata during the disrobing of Panjali in the court of Dhuriyodhana before the eyes of all Panjali cringe-begs for the Lord’s grace and intervention. But she is tightly catching the upper part of her sari with both hands while her mouth cries out for the intervention of the Lord. Duchadhana, who was asked by Dhuriyodhana to disrobe Panjali, was doing just that fast. But the Lord Krishna’s intervention did not happen. But at the last minute, Panjali raised both the arms upward in an unconditional act of surrender and salutation Lord Krishna intervenes and saves the modesty of Panjali. Later when Dhroupati or Panjali askes the Lord as to why He had not intervened immediately to save her the Lord smiles and replies that till the time when Panjali had been clutching her sari tightly to her trunk and bosom and by that act trying to save her modesty by herself He did not intervene. But the moment Panjali raised in unconditional salutation both her arms the Lord hastened to her help!

If one can subjugate his personal will and agrees to become an instrument in the Lord’s hands one need not afraid of the Maya or Illusion of this world.