Verses 11.15–11.24
अर्जुन उवाच | पश्यामि देवांस्तव देव देहे सर्वांस्तथा भूतविशेषसङ्घान् | ब्रह्माणमीशं कमलासनस्थ- मृषींश्च सर्वानुरगांश्च दिव्यान्
arjuna uvāca paśyāmi devāṁstava deva dehe sarvāṁstathā bhūta-viśeṣa-saṅghān / brahmāṇam īśaṁ kamalāsana-sthaṁ ṛṣīṁś ca sarvān uragāṁśca divyān / / 11.15
Arjuna says; O God, I see all the gods in Your body and many types of beings. Brahma, the Lord of creation seated on the lotus, all the sages and celestial serpents.
अनेकबाहूदरवक्त्रनेत्रं पश्यामि त्वां सर्वतोऽनन्तरूपम् | नान्तं न मध्यं न पुनस्तवादिं पश्यामि विश्वेश्वर विश्वरूप
aneka-bāhūdara-vaktranetraṁ paśyāmi tvām sarvato’nantarūpam / nāntaṁ na madhyaṁ na punastavādiṁ paśyāmi viśveśvara viśvarūpa / / 11.16
I see Your infinite form on every side, with many arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes; Neither the end, nor the middle nor the beginning do I see, O Lord of the Universe, O cosmic form.
किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रिणं च तेजोराशिं सर्वतो दीप्तिमन्तम् | पश्यामि त्वां दुर्निरीक्ष्यं समन्ताद् दीप्तानलार्कद्युतिमप्रमेयम्
kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakriṇaṁ ca tejorāśiṁ sarvato dīptimantam / paśyāmi tvāṁ durnirīkṣyaṁ samantād dīptānalārka-dyutim-aprameyam / / 11 .17
I see You with crown, club and discus; a mass of radi- ance shining everywhere, difficult to look at, blazing all round like the burning fire and sun in infinite brilliance.
त्वमक्षरं परमं वेदितव्यं त्वमस्य विश्वस्य परं निधानम् | त्वमव्यय: शाश्वतधर्मगोप्ता सनातनस्त्वं पुरुषो मतो मे
tvamakṣaraṁ paramaṁ veditavyaṁ tvamasya viśvasya paraṁ nidhānam / tvamavyayaḥ śāśvata-dharma-goptā sanātanastvaṁ puruṣo mato me / / 11.18
You are the imperishable; the supreme being worthy to be known. You are the great treasure house of this Universe. You are the imperishable protector of the eternal order. I believe You are the eternal being.
अनादिमध्यान्तमनन्तवीर्य- मनन्तबाहुं शशिसूर्यनेत्रम् | पश्यामि त्वां दीप्तहुताशवक्त्रं- स्वतेजसा विश्वमिदं तपन्तम्
anādi-madhyāntam ananta-vīryam ananta-bāhuṁ śaśisūrya netram / paśyāmi tvāṁ dīpta-hutāśavaktraṁ svatejasā viśvam idaṁ tapantam / / 11.19
I see you without a beginning, middle or end, infinite in power and many arms, The sun and the moon being Your eyes, the blazing fire your mouth, the whole universe scorched by Your radiance.
द्यावापृथिव्योरिदमन्तरं हि व्याप्तं त्वयैकेन दिशश्च सर्वा: | दृष्ट्वाद्भुतं रूपमुग्रं तवेदं लोकत्रयं प्रव्यथितं महात्मन्
dyāvāpṛthivyor idam antaraṁ hi vyāptaṁ tvayaikena diśaśca sarvāḥ / dṛṣṭvādbhutaṁ rūpamugraṁ tavedaṁ lokatrayaṁ pravyathitaṁ mahātman / / 11.20
This space between earth and the heavens and every- thing is filled by You alone O great Being, having seen Your wonderful and terrible form, the three worlds tremble with fear.
अमी हि त्वां सुरसङ्घा विशन्ति केचिद्भीता: प्राञ्जलयो गृणन्ति | स्वस्तीत्युक्त्वा महर्षिसिद्धसङ्घा: स्तुवन्ति त्वां स्तुतिभि: पुष्कलाभि:
amī hi tvāṁ surasaṅghā viśanti kecidbhītāḥ prāñjalayo gṛṇanti / svastī tyuktvā maharṣisiddhasaṅghāḥ stuvanti tvāṁ stutibhiḥ puṣkalābhiḥ / / 11.21
Many celestials enter into You; some praise You in fear with folded hands; many great masters and sages hail and adore you.
रुद्रादित्या वसवो ये च साध्या विश्वेऽश्विनौ मरुतश्चोष्मपाश्च | गन्धर्वयक्षासुरसिद्धसङ्घा वीक्षन्ते त्वां विस्मिताश्चैव सर्वे
rudrādityā vasavo ye ca sādhyā viśve’śvinau marutaś coṣmapāśca / gandha-rvayakṣāsura siddhasaṅghā vīkṣante tvaṁ vismitāś caiva sarve / / 11.22
The Rudra, Āditya, Vasu, Sādhyā, Viśvedeva, aśvin, Marut, Ūṣmapa and a host of Gandharva, yakṣa, Asura and Sidhha are all looking at You in amazement.
रूपं महत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रं महाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादम् | बहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालं दृष्ट्वा लोका: प्रव्यथितास्तथाहम्
rūpaṁ mahatte bahuvaktranetraṁ mahābāho bahubāhūrupādam / bahūdaraṁ bahu-daṁṣṭrā-karālaṁ dṛṣṭvā lokāḥ pravyathitās tathāham / / 11.23
Having seen Your immeasurable form with many mouths and eyes, with many arms, thighs and feet, with many stom- achs and frightening tusks, O mighty-armed, the worlds are terrified and so am I.
नभ:स्पृशं दीप्तमनेकवर्णं व्यात्ताननं दीप्तविशालनेत्रम् | दृष्ट्वा हि त्वां प्रव्यथितान्तरात्मा धृतिं न विन्दामि शमं च विष्णो
nabhaḥspṛśaṁ dīptamanekavarṇaṁ vyāttānanaṁ dīptaviśāla netram / dṛṣṭvā hi tvāṁ pravyathitāntarātmā dhṛtiṁ na vindāmi śamaṁ ca viṣṇo / / 11.24
Seeing You, Your form touching the sky, flaming in many colors, mouths wide open, large fiery eyes, O Viṣṇu, I find neither courage nor peace; I am frightened.
As Arjuna is in the same consciousness as the Lord, this verse should actually start with ‘Bhagavān uvāca’ meaning ‘the Lord says!’ These statements are said to come from Him for us to record. These are such beautiful ways that he describes the form. You may wonder why he does so. Please understand, he does so to inspire us to work to achieve this form and this experience, to move in this path. Arjuna is showing us the way. He says, ‘O Lord! I can see all the gods and deities in Your body. I can see the special union of living entities. I can see Brahma seated on the lotus flower.
I can see all the sages and divine serpents. O Viśveśvara, Lord of the Universe, I see many arms, stomachs, faces, eyes and your limitless form. O Viśvarūpa, Universal form, I cannot see your beginning, middle or end.’ aneka-bahūdara vaktra netraṁ paśyāmi tvāṁ sarvato ‘nanta-rūpaṁ I nāntaṁ na madhyam na punas tavādiṁ paśyāṃi visveśvara viśvarūpa II 11.16 As a matter of fact, when you begin to see 360 degrees in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, there really is no beginning, middle Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 827 ... or end to see. It is a continuum. It is like seeing one of these special movies on a circular screen.
It is an infinite circle. The Divine is an infinite circle, with no beginning, no end and therefore no middle. Without a beginning and an end, to talk about the middle makes no sense. The form is difficult to see in its sheer glowing radiance, spreading on all sides like blazing fire or the immeasurable brightness of the sun. Yet Arjuna sees this glowing form everywhere adorned with various crowns and discs. He sees Kṛṣṇa wearing the diadem, holding the mace and discus. Arjuna says, ‘Your magnificence is shining everywhere, from all sides, difficult to see. You are blazing from all sides with the luster of the sun, limitless.’ Part of what Arjuna sees here is the traditional representation of Lord Viṣṇu.
Viṣṇu is always depicted with His weapons of mace and discus, the gada and cakra, and wearing the jewel-studded crown. Viṣṇu is also depicted resting on the ocean of milk upon the giant serpent Adiseśa, with Brahma rising from Viṣṇu’s navel upon a lotus flower. Some of what he sees is formless energy. He perceives radiance more powerful than a thousand suns, blazing and dazzling, impossible to look at even with his newly endowed divine eye. What Arjuna sees is beyond any sensory perception, something that could be experienced in that moment in time, impossible to express. Suddenly the scene changes in these verses. Arjuna is terrified. What he is seeing now is quite different from what he expected when he asked to see Kṛṣṇa’s divine form.
Arjuna is now incoherent. What he keeps saying is neither logical nor well thought out. What he sees he reproduces to the best of his mental abilities. Arjuna is convinced, seeing the Universal form of Kṛṣṇa, that what he sees is the supreme being, the puruṣa, the imperishable, the very origin of all, the Eternal. He says, ‘You are without origin, middle or end with unlimited power. You spread throughout the heavens and through all other directions. O supreme soul, Paramātman, after having seen your wonderful form, all the worlds and the whole universe is trembling with fear. All the celestial beings are shuddering before this form and entering into this formless form, some of them afraid, offering prayers with folded hands, along with hosts of realized sages praising this form in silent acceptance and wonderment.’
There is no other record so clear about the Cosmic frequency of the Universal form as in the Gītā. What Arjuna perceives is what is always present, but which he normally has no capability to see. Now he sees Kṛṣṇa in all His manifestations, from the highest to the lowest frequency levels of energy with nothing filtered. But suddenly the form seems to change from the magnificent, comforting and expanded form, to one that is now disturbing. It is still not clear to Arjuna what is happening, but he can anticipate that something he is about to see is not going to be as pleasant as what he had seen so far.
What Arjuna sees disturbs him. ‘O All pervading Viṣṇu! I see You with your many radiating colors, burning fire in your gaping mouth, heating up the entire Universe with radiance, touching the sky, and Your form unnerves me. My heart trembles in fear and I have no courage or peace to behold You.’ Until now Arjuna was saying there was no beginning, middle or end. Now he says the form is touching the sky; an indication that he is settling, coming down from the experience. ‘Seeing your gaping mouth, your great glowing eyes, overcome by fear, I can no longer maintain my mental steadiness or equilibrium.’ Please understand, as long as you want to maintain the equilibrium of your mind, you will be in this mad world.
There is no such thing as equilibrium. What we think of as equilibrium is not so. Arjuna says he wants equilibrium, meaning that he wants his mind to be under his intellectual control. He wants to know the cause and effect and feel that they are in his control. As long as these are under your control, you feel as if you are a leader; your ego is strong. But the moment Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 829 ... these are taken away from you, you feel at a loss and no more a leader. You are just a drop in the ocean. He is afraid of that and is not able to stay in that same state.
The wave in the ocean is part of the ocean. As long as it feels itself to be part of the ocean, there is no separation. However, when the wave experiences its own identity, creates its own identity, it no longer feels itself a part of the ocean. It feels itself to be a separate entity. When it is time to merge back into that ocean, it is afraid. When it looks back at the ocean with a feeling of separation, it feels afraid. When Arjuna had his first glimpse of the Cosmic Vision of Kṛṣṇa, he identified with the Vision. There was no separation. Now, suddenly there is separation. Along with separation there is fear! Tell Me Who You Are