THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 35, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VERSE NUMBER 35

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

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:                                                  

samjaya uvaacha

etach chrutvaa vachanam kesavasya

     krrtaanjalir vepamaanah kireetee

namaskrtvaa bhooya evaa ‘ha krishnam

     sagadgadam bheetabheetah pranamya

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

samjaya uvaacha = Sanjaya said:

etat = that: srutvaa = having heard: vachanam = speech: kesavasya = of Kesava: krrtaanjalih = with joint palms: vepamaanah = trembling: kireetee = the crowned one: namaskrrtva = prostrating (himself): bhooyah = again: eva = even: aaha = addressed: krrshnam = to Krishna: sagadgadam = in a choked voice: bheetabheetah = overwhelmed with fear: pranamaya = prostrated.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Sanjaya said:

Having heard that speech of Kesava, the crowned one (Arjuna) with joined palms, trembling, prostrating himself, again addressed Krishna, in a choked voice, bowing down, overwhelmed with fear.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The crown is the symbol of monarchy. A king with a crown on, should not bow his head to anybody. To be fearless is his dharma. Instead of paying homage to others he is to receive homage from others. To be firm and resolute in his utterances is the way of a crowned one. But such kingly conventions have all taken to their heels. Even kings have to humble themselves before God. The more the Jivatman humbles himself before the Paramatman, the better it is for him.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Rudolf Otto gives this whole scene as an example of the place of the numinous, the mysterium tremendum in religion. It presents to us the transcendent aspect of God.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

When anyone is in a state of extreme terror or joy he sheds tears on account of pain or exhilaration of spirits. Then his throat is choked and he stammers or speaks indistinctly or in a dull, choked voice. Arjuna was extremely frightened when he saw the Cosmic Form and so he spoke in a stammering tone.

There is great significance in Sanjaya’s words. He thought that Dhritarashtra might come to terms or make peace with the Pandavas when he knew that his son would certainly be killed for want of proper support when Drona and Karna would be killed by Arjuna. He hoped that consequently there would be peace and happiness to both the parties. But Dhritarashtra was obstinate; he did not listen to this suggestion on account of the force of destiny.  

Comments by the blogger:

Arjuna gasps and his voice is choked with fear.

We have already seen that since Arjuna was not endowed with yogic meditation and practised for years together any form of meditation as described in Gita he is afraid. For a consummate yogi, the Cosmic Form would be an ultimate experience in ecstasy. But Arjuna was not a yogi and he was given initiation through the benevolence of the Lord of Gita to witness the Cosmic Form.

Since we all are filled with the illusion we are not able to witness The Ultimate Truth.

We will all be wetting the pants and trembling in our shoes if God chose to make us witness His Cosmic Form.

Man cannot see the Truth eye to eye and remain undisturbed.

The truth will scorch us all.

Just for an example take the sight of our loved ones, lover or friends; if we were to be forced to see the x-ray film of the head and face of our loved ones we can’t bear the sight. Beauty is only skin deep. Under the skin and flesh, we are nothing but unbearably ugly skeletal form. If we were to see the complete skeletal appearance close up we would be nauseated and afraid of the Truth of our loved ones’ real appearance. The Saint Manickavasaga of the ninth century in his incomparable work, by name, TIRUVASAGAM, in Tamil often says this body is nothing but the ugly flesh and skeleton covered up by the skin. He also says that we have nine holes in our body and nauseating wastage and grime is expelled by all the nine holes continuously without any stop.

Take for example our loved one’s face; if we were enabled to look at the real and Truthful sight of the skin and the millions of tissues and pores on the face close up the unreal face would be lost to our eyes. Our loved one’s face would be revolting. What a beautiful nose our spouse is having and unfortunately, it is not the real sight. Millions of pores and tissues of the so-called nose would frighten us. This is the case with the private parts of our spouses. None of us would be able to see the real sight of the nose of our spouse. Because Man cannot withstand and remain unruffled by the real sight and appearance of our dear ones. But the actual sight is denied to the naked eyes of Man and Woman. We are cozy and unconcerned with the false appearance of our loved ones’ face and other parts. The real sight would drive us up the wall. We are enveloped by illusion. This illusion is part of our daily life. We are enamoured by the false sights. But we are quite comfortable with this illusory worldly life.

Arjuna is, notwithstanding the benefit of the inner eye bestowed by his Lord Master, not just over-awed and overwhelmed with ordinary fear. His voice is choked and he cries out in acute agony for the Lord’s ordinary vision with four arms and discuss and the conch.