THE HOLY YOGA, CHAPTER NUMBER 11, VERSE NUMBER 47, VISVARUPA DARSANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 11

VERSE NUMBER 47

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

sree bhagavaan uvaacha

mayaa prasannena tavaa ‘rjune ‘dam

     roopam param darsitam aatmayogaat

tefomayam visvam anantam aadyam

     yan me tvad anyena na drrshttapoorvam

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

sree bhagavaan uvaacha = Sri Bhagavan said:

mayaa = by me: prasannena = gracious: tava = to thee: arjuna = O Arjuna: idam = this: roopam = form: param = supreme: darsitam = has been shown: aatma yogaat = by my own yoga power: tejomayam = full of splendour: visvam = universal: anantam = endless: aadyam = primeval: yat = which: me = of me: tvat = from thee: anyena = by another: na = not: drrshtta poorvam = seen before.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

The Blessed Lord said:

Graciously have I shown you, O Arjuna, this Supreme Form, by My yoga power, this resplendent, universal, infinite, primeval, which none but you has ever seen.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Spiritual exuberance and the experience thereof is the common inheritance of all. Exclusiveness and favouritism have no place in it. Arjuna is beset with a worldly problem. The solution for it has to be found on the background of the cosmic functioning of the Lord. Along with it a peep into the beyond also is provided for him by the grace of the Almighty. Each man finds the reflection of his own face in the mirror. Similarly, Arjuna finds problems peculiar to himself solved in the cosmic setting. His peculiar case is no doubt a solitary incident fittingly solved by the Lord.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

This vision is not the final goal of man’s search; in that case Gita would have ended here. The fleeting vision must become a permanent experience of the seeker. Trance or samaadhi is neither the end nor an essential element of religious life. The blinding flashes, the ecstatic flights must be transmuted into permanent faith. Arjuna cannot any more forget the thrilling scene he saw but he has to work it into his life. The vision only opens; it does not enhance. Even as we test and confirm what we see by the eye, by the evidence of other senses, the knowledge acquired by the vision requires to be completed by the other elements of life.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Lord Krishna eulogises the Cosmic Form because Arjuna should be regarded to have achieved all his ends by seeing this Cosmic Form.

It is also an inducement to all spiritual aspirants to strive to attain this sublime vision. What they should do is explained by the Lord in verses 53 to 55.

Comments by the blogger:

The Lord of Gita says categorically, “This Cosmic Form of Mine has never been seen before by anyone other than thyself.”

How foolish of me, my good friends! All along this chapter, I have been maintaining that Arjuna could not withstand the Lord’s Cosmic Form because he was not an accomplished Yogi who would go into raptures and Samadhi or Trance at the Cosmic sight of the Lord! Brothers and Sisters, I apologise for this grave error. So Arjuna is the only person in this world who had the prerogative of seeing the Lord’s Cosmic Form!

Now let us move to other matters.

The grace of the Lord is important for a Yogi to attain emancipation. For a practitioner of Meditation may spend years meditation and observe all the dos and don’ts under an accomplished master or Guru, but at the very last God’s Grace is important to attain Him. In Esavasya Upanishad in 16^th sloka or verse, the accomplished Yogi prays to the sun for the sight of God though he had done everything by way of meditation. The Yogi prays to the sun. He says to the sun that the sun is the protector of all beings. The sun is said to be travelling alone. The sun is the king reigning over everything in this world. The Yogi calls the sun as the son of Prajapati. At last the Yogi puts forth his prayer to the sun. What is the prayer? “Please withdraw your rays. Please shorten your shining and splendour. I must see your form by your own Grace!”