Verses 11.1–11.4🔗

In the minds of many, Kṛṣṇa is considered an Incarnation. It is in this chapter that Kṛṣṇa reveals Himself as not just an Incarnation but as also the very source from which everything flows. He is the Source of all sources, the Cause of all causes, the source of all the worlds and Universes. Arjuna has already listened from Kṛṣṇa about everything that he needs to do. Arjuna’s questions have all disappeared; his doubts, his incompletions and delusions have dissolved. In the previous chapter, Kṛṣṇa explains to Arjuna who He really is. It is not that Arjuna is not aware of the greatness of Kṛṣṇa and His Divinity. It is based on his deep faith in Kṛṣṇa that Arjuna chose to have the Master assist him unarmed as his charioteer, while Duryodhana chose Kṛṣṇa’s vast Yādava army.

Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 805 ... Despite the faith that Arjuna has in Kṛṣṇa, he has self-doubts too. Doubts and faith are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. At the intellectual level, Arjuna had shed his doubts. At the emotional level he had shed his doubts. But at the being level, at the very core of his being, Arjuna had self-doubts. He was still troubled by what he was about to do. Arjuna has no one else to ask but Kṛṣṇa. Intuitively Arjuna sees his own Self in Kṛṣṇa. Nara, the man, meets Nārāyaṇa, the Divine. Arjuna knows at the depths of his being that Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa alone can provide the answers to the self-doubts that have risen within him.

Can Universal Consciousness Be Experienced? Step by step, Kṛṣṇa clears Arjuna’s self-doubts. First, Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna’s doubts of the intellect. Kṛṣṇa explains to him the misconceptions that Arjuna has from the literal reading of the scriptures and what he has understood to be right and wrong. ‘All the people in front of you are already dead,’ says the Lord, ‘I eliminated them long ago; why are you then worried? Do what you need to do.’ Kṛṣṇa then clears any lingering emotional doubts that Arjuna may have by explaining to him what He, the master of the Universe, is all about. He tells Arjuna who He really is. After detailing all His glories, Kṛṣṇa says that there is no end to His divine manifestations, His vibhūti.

Wherever there is something glorious, powerful and prosperous, Kṛṣṇa is in existence. Kṛṣṇa concludes, saying that there is no need for detailed knowledge, as He supports all of Existence within just a fragment of His divine Self. And now, finally, the time has come for Arjuna to see Kṛṣṇa as He truly is. Arjuna is standing on the last step. He beseeches, ‘My delusion has been dispelled and I am now aware of Your divinity. Please show me now who You really are.’ mad anugrahāya paramaṁ guhyam adhyātma saṁjñitam I yat tvayokaṁ vacas tena moho ‘yam vigato mam II 11.1 And yet, Arjuna still hesitates. He wants to know, but he is not sure if he can bear to experience the truth.

He says one phrase clearly, ‘If you think I can behold Your form,’ which indicates that there is already some fear in him. He also has self-doubts. Yes, Kṛṣṇa said that He had already destroyed all of Arjuna’s enemies. But physically they are in front of Arjuna. He believes what Kṛṣṇa says. But his senses tell him a different story. It is not important what others think; what is important is what we think. We should be ready to take the responsibility and face whatever comes. Even simple truths or experiences cannot be given so easily, since the receiver must have the maturity to hold what he has received. In 2005, during the pilgrimage to the cār dhām (four sacred sites of Hindus) in the Himalayas, a devotee from the USA kept asking me for a darśan of Mahāvatār Bābā.

Mahāvatār Bābā, the Paramaguru of Paramahamsa Yogānanda, lives eternally in these parts of the Himālayas. He blessed me with my name before my Self Realization, so He is, in fact, the Paramaguru of my lineage. I said to her that there was nothing I could do but if she had faith, He would appear. When she was riding a pony on the way from Gaurikund to Kedār, she saw Bābā passing by. When she told me about this, I found that she indeed had an experience. I told her that she would be experiencing the effects of that energy for quite some time. For six months her body was adjusting to that intense energy experience.

Here Arjuna says, ‘If you think I can behold your Cosmic form, My Lord, show me Your unmasked, manifested Universal Self.’ Please understand, before entering into the experience you must have the courage to take whatever comes. There are people I know, who after meditating for about a year, start experiencing the state of boundarilessness. They get frightened and shaken and afraid of losing themselves. I tell them that the meditation itself was to give them the experience of boundarilessness. It is like Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 807 ... taking all the trouble to invite a guest to your house and when he does arrive, you are surprised at his arrival!

Invariably when people have the experience for the first time, they are shaken and try to escape. In many instances, during the darkness meditations in Inner Awakening program, people come to the point of losing their body consciousness. They get scared and refuse to go along with the experience. After the meditation session is over, they tell me what happened. By then it is too late, they have missed the opportunity! This is also the case with people who practice chanting intensely. When the Divine starts giving them the experience, they are shaken by fear and stop. When you are meditating on the Divine, a chant or God, do not try to escape when you get the vision or darśan.

Please understand that the Divine will never disturb you, only your fear disturbs you. When you have the experience, have the courage to go with it. With the Divine, nothing is too much. Therefore, don’t worry about overdoing anything in spirituality. There is nothing called too much in spiritual energy and spiritual experience. There can never be too much of bhakti or devotion, too much of the Divine, too much of bliss. Here, Arjuna says, ‘If you think I can behold your Cosmic form…’ Arjuna wants the experience but puts the responsibility on Kṛṣṇa. He wants the sweet but not diabetes! Of course, the divine sweet can never make you a diabetic.

I had occasion to visit Melkote, the place where Rāmānujacārya, the Indian saint had lived. The prasād (food offered to the Lord and distributed to people) was so tasty and intensely sweet. I wondered if the devotees would have become diabetic , but was surprised when I was told there was no diabetic in the entire village, although everyone consumed the prasād daily! Understand, food offered to God gets energized and becomes amṛta or nectar. What we chant while offering the prasād cleanses and energizes it. When food is put before the deity in a temple where mantras are chanted constantly, the food absorbs the pure, spiritual energy. It starts radiating the energy of the divine positive qualities.

One cannot fall sick by eating prasād. With divine energy, the effect is always positive, never negative. You cannot die in the amṛtasāgara, the ocean of nectar. When it comes to the Divine, all you need to do is jump into It with your whole being. All you need to do is to relax into It for transformation. Arjuna says: manyase yadi tacchakhyaṁ mayā draṣṭum iti prabho I yogeśvara tato me tvaṁ darśayātmānam avyayam II 11.4 ‘If You think I am able to behold, O My Lord, Yogeśvara, Master of all mystic power, please show me Your Cosmic form.’ Many of you are like Arjuna. In fact, all of you are like Arjuna.

You do not wish to take any risks. The Master has to calculate all the risks for you. You want the Master to make the experience risk-free, safe and pleasant. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Yes, the experience is bliss, it is liberating, but that blissful experience destroys your identity, kills the ego and recreates the Divine in you. If you wish to be as you were, do not ask for the experience. The Master’s job is to transform. The Master is a surgeon, the surgeon of egos. Once you come to Him, it is a point of no return. I tell people that once they enter the gates of the ashram, they have made a life-long, no-return commitment.

Even if they go out, they cannot get me out! There is no such thing as partial surrender to a Master. There is no such thing as, ‘Please give me what I can take. Let me take a sip and see if I like it. If I do, I shall ask You for more. If not, I shall not take anymore.’ Of course, the Master knows your readiness far better than you do. That is why I work on you in stages. As long as you are not ready, what I give you is brain and eye candy, that’s all. You can gaze in happiness and go away. The form is all that you can take.

It is only when your seriousness Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 809 ... of purpose is established that I can start working on you without fear that you will run away from the operating table. Till then you only behave under the delusion that you have surrendered. It is one more fantasy, that is all. The brahmacāris who train at the ashram understand the power of the Master’s words. They listen and listen completely, without applying logic and reason. Logic and reason come with ego. To be egoless, you need to be mindless and shed logic. Arjuna is an evolved disciple. What he says only seems to reflect what an ordinary person would have said.

In fact, what Arjuna implies here is far more. ‘Please give me Your Cosmic vision,’ Arjuna pleads, ‘if it may please You. I am keen to have it, but the decision is Yours. Let what happens be decided by You,’ he says to Kṛṣṇa. What he implies is this: ‘I have listened all that You have said. My questions have disappeared and my delusions have evaporated. I truly understand Your greatness. May I see You in Your true form? ‘I have no right to ask all this of You. It is not any penance I may have done that makes me deserve this. It is not that I have reached a level of intellectual understanding of You that makes me deserve this.

It is not that I have reached the peak of devotion that makes me deserve Your vision. I have no right to demand. However, in all humility, as Your devotee, as one who surrenders to You, I ask of You to show me who You really are. Please show me Your entire splendor, Your valor, Your wisdom, Your truth and all that You really are!’ Let Me Give You The Divine Eye