Verses 11.25–11.31
दंष्ट्राकरालानि च ते मुखानि दृष्ट्वैव कालानलसन्निभानि | दिशो न जाने न लभे च शर्म प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास
daṁṣṭrākarālāni ca te mukhāni dṛṣṭvaiva kālānalasannibhāni / diśo na jāne na labhe ca śarma prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa / / 11.25
Having seen your fearsome mouths with blazing tusks like the fire of the end of the universe, I know not the four directions nor do I find peace. O Lord of the Deva, O refuge of the Universe, be gracious.
अमी च त्वां धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्रा: सर्वे सहैवावनिपालसङ्घै: | भीष्मो द्रोण: सूतपुत्रस्तथासौ सहास्मदीयैरपि योधमुख्यै:
amī ca tvāṁ dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putrāḥ sarve sahaivāvanipālasaṅghaiḥ / bhīṣmo droṇaḥ sūtaputrastathāsau sahāsmadīyairapi yodhamukhyaiḥ / / 11.26
All the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra with many kings of the earth, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, the son of the charioteer, Karṇa, with our warrior chieftains.
वक्त्राणि ते त्वरमाणा विशन्ति दंष्ट्राकरालानि भयानकानि | केचिद्विलग्ना दशनान्तरेषु सन्दृश्यन्ते चूर्णितैरुत्तमाङ्गै:
vaktrāṇi te tvaramāṇā viśanti daṁṣṭrā-karālāni bhayānakāni / kecidvilagnā daśanāntareṣu sandṛśyante cūrṇitair uttamāñgaiḥ / / 11.27
Into Your mouths with terrible tusks, fearful to behold, they enter. Some are seen caught in the gaps between the tusks and their heads crushed.
यथा नदीनां बहवोऽम्बुवेगा: समुद्रमेवाभिमुखा द्रवन्ति | तथा तवामी नरलोकवीरा विशन्ति वक्त्राण्यभिविज्वलन्ति
yathā nadīnāṁ bahavo’mbuvegāḥ samudram evābhimukhā dravanti / tathā tavāmī naralokavīrā viśanti vaktrāṇy abhivijvalanti / / 11.28
Even as many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean, so too these warriors in the world of men enter Your flaming mouths.
यथा प्रदीप्तं ज्वलनं पतङ्गा विशन्ति नाशाय समृद्धवेगा: | तथैव नाशाय विशन्ति लोका- स्तवापि वक्त्राणि समृद्धवेगा:
yathā pradīptaṁ jvalanaṁ pataṅgā viśanti nāśāya samṛddhavegāḥ / tathaiva nāśāya viśanti lokās tavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛddhavegāḥ / / 11.29
Just as moths hurriedly rush into the fire for their own destruction, So too these creatures rush hastily into Your mouths of destruction.
लेलिह्यसे ग्रसमान: समन्ता- ल्लोकान्समग्रान्वदनैर्ज्वलद्भि: | तेजोभिरापूर्य जगत्समग्रं भासस्तवोग्रा: प्रतपन्ति विष्णो
lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantāl lokān samagrān vadanair jvaladbhiḥ / tejobhir āpūrya jagatsamagraṁ bhāsastavo’grāḥ pratapanti viṣṇo / / 11.30
Swallowing all worlds on every side with your flaming mouths You lick in enjoyment. O Viṣṇu, Your fierce rays are burning, filling the whole world with radiance.
आख्याहि मे को भवानुग्ररूपो नमोऽस्तु ते देववर प्रसीद | विज्ञातुमिच्छामि भवन्तमाद्यं न हि प्रजानामि तव प्रवृत्तिम्
ākhyāhi me ko bhavānugrarūpo namo’stu te devavara prasīda / vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṁ na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim / / 11.31
Tell me who You are, so fierce in form; salutations to You, O Supreme; have mercy. Indeed I know not Your purpose but I desire to know You, the Original Being.
In these verses Arjuna expresses his discomfort. Arjuna says earlier: ‘I see O Lord! All the manifestations of Śiva, Āditya, Vāsu and Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 831 ... Viśvadeva, Aśvin, Mārut, Gandharva, the forefathers, Yakṣa, Asura and all the celestial beings and demi-gods, all rolled in You in wonder, all part of Your Cosmic consciousness. Whatever You are is divine energy. O Mighty Armed One, all the planets with all the demi-gods are disturbed, shaken by Your form with many faces, eyes, arms, legs, thighs and bellies and Your many terrible teeth. As they are disturbed, so am I.’ Now he slowly comes down. From this verse we should say, ‘Arjuna uvāca!’ meaning Arjuna says...
It is no longer the divine state that Arjuna talks from. The moment he started feeling fear, he descended to his normal state. You should understand that it is only your fear that separates you from Cosmic consciousness. When Arjuna says, ‘So am I, pravyathitās tathāham (11.23)’, that he is frightened, he becomes Arjuna, the man. Fear, The Destroyer Of Ecstasy There are two things that make you a human—the instinct to possess and the instinct to survive. The instinct to survive arises out of fear, from the svādiṣṭhāna cakra (fear energy center in your body), and the instinct to possess comes out of greed, from the mūlādhāra cakra (greed energy center in your body).
This sums it up. Here the instinct to survive has appeared and he has become Arjuna, the man. We do not understand that when we drop the instinct to survive, we become Kṛṣṇa; we exist forever. We become Bhagavān, the Universal consciousness. But most often, we hold onto the instinct to survive. Now Arjuna slowly comes down and becomes Arjuna, the man. Arjuna exclaims, ‘I see all the sons of Dhṛitarāṣṭra, along with their allied kings, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Karṇa and other chief soldiers rushing into Your fearful mouths. I see some trapped with their heads smashed between Your teeth, ground into nothing.’ He describes the whole scene. He sees the heavy losses on both sides; his own side, his warriors and generals, but even heavier losses on the other side, including Bhīṣma who is invincible, Droṇa and Karṇa who are unconquerable.
By inference he sees his own victory in the end. In the beginning Arjuna sees what he wished to see. He sees what he believes to be the Cosmic form of the great Viṣṇu in His traditional attire and weapons, surrounded by Gods and sages. The form changed suddenly into a terrifying one of death, all-consuming and terror-inspiring, to which the entire Universe bowed down in fear. From this macro perspective, Arjuna comes down to see the same destruction being played out at the level of the battlefield at Kurukṣetra. His enemies, the great warriors arrayed against him in battle, fly into the gaping mouth of destruction like moths into fire.
Arjuna sees with convincing reality, the destruction of all the great warriors who would have been expected to give him trouble. However, this scene does not fill him with peace and comfort. Arjuna is terrified at this vision of destruction. The destruction of those whom he perceives as his mortal enemies leaves him with no comfort. The truth is that Arjuna is not in control. He has no clue about what is happening to him and around him. He is in the presence of a primal force before which all that is obvious is his own insignificance. Victory and defeat seem to make no difference. The vision of destruction implies that he too is mortal.
Arjuna is terrified. ‘Who are You?’, asks Arjuna plaintively. ‘What are You here for? What are You doing? You are so fierce. You are not the form I asked for. There seems to be some mistake!’ ‘I see men disappearing into You as rivers rush into the mighty oceans. Like moths rushing into fire, I see creatures speed into destruction within You.’ ‘You are not the compassionate Lord whose glories I heard from You. You are not who I thought You were. I needed You to comfort me. Instead, You terrify me.’ ‘Have mercy upon me.’ ākhyāhi me ko bhāvan ugra-rūpo namo ‘stu te deva-vara prasādi I Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ Krsna: The Cosmic Window 833 ... vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṁ na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim II 11.31 Death is the ultimate fear.
Even the great warrior Arjuna trembles when faced with death. It is not that Arjuna is not aware of the inevitability of death or the nature of death. For a long time now Kṛṣṇa has been educating Arjuna on the perishability of the body-mind and the imperishability of the spirit. Arjuna has fully understood. Yet, Arjuna is petrified. What is Arjuna so afraid of? One thing, Arjuna does not expect the Cosmic form of Kṛṣṇa to be anything but loving and compassionate. Kṛṣṇa can be the friend, the master, the beloved, the child, the mother and all combined. In every one of these moods, in each bhāva, Kṛṣṇa is still lovable, still reachable.
However, in the form that Kṛṣṇa has presented now, the all-devouring monster as it were, Arjuna is unable to comprehend any aspect of Kṛṣṇa that he has known. For the first time, Arjuna realizes that the Master cannot be predicted! He now knows that the Master cannot be put in a frame. The primal energy that the Master is has to be experienced in whatever manner it is presented, without expectations and fears. Nature and Existence are neither cruel nor kind. The very term ‘compassion’hasadifferentmeaningintheCosmicdictionary.Itisnotthesympathy offered by each of us to another with or without any real feeling. It is notkindness.Itisnotthedesiretobedoing‘good,’whateverthatlookslike tous.Truecompassionistheresultofexperiencingthatweareonewithallof Existence. There is no ‘other’. It is so easy to fall in love with a handsome Master.
Kṛṣṇa is the most beautiful of all the gods. He is so easy to fall in love with! To fall in love with a terrifying Kāli or an impassive Śiva is far more difficult. When you do, you expect the form to be different too. You need to be a Rāmakṛṣṇa to accept and love Mother Kāli who dances on dead bodies. You need to be a Śaṅkara to fall in tune with Śiva who is forever in silent contemplation. But anyone can love Kṛṣṇa, and everyone does. No one expects Kṛṣṇa to be terrifying. So when Kṛṣṇa presents another form to Arjuna, the ground literally slips from under Arjuna’s feet.
He has no support. He does not know where to turn for help. So Arjuna pleads, ‘Please have mercy upon me. Tell me who You are—vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṁ. Tell me why You are here. I would like to know. I bow down to You—namo ‘stu te deva-vara prasādi.’ Get Up And Gain Glory, Be Not Afraid