Verses 11.45–11.46
अदृष्टपूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे | तदेव मे दर्शय देवरूपं प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास
adṛṣṭa-pūrvaṁ hṛṣito’smi dṛṣṭvā bhayena ca pravyathitaṁ mano me / tadeva me darśaya devarūpaṁ prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa / / 11.45
After seeing this form that I have never seen before, I am filled with gladness but at the same time I am disturbed by fear. Please bestow Your grace upon me and show me Your form as the supreme personality, O Lord of Lords, O refuge of the Universe.
किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रहस्त- मिच्छामि त्वां द्रष्टुमहं तथैव | तेनैव रूपेण चतुर्भुजेन सहस्रबाहो भव विश्वमूर्ते
kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakra-hastam icchāmi tvāṁ draṣṭumahaṁ tathaiva / tenaiva rūpeṇa caturbhujena sahasrabāho bhava viśvamūrte / / 11.46
O thousand armed Universal Form! I wish to see Your form with crown, fourarmed with mace, disc in Your hand. I yearn to see You in that form.
I yearn to see You in that form. Arjuna now makes his final plea in these verses. ‘Show me Your form that I am familiar with,’ he says, ‘the One that I am comfortable with. I am grateful and overwhelmed by the Visions that You have shown me, but what I am comfortable with is Your four-handed form holding the discus and mace, as the Protector of the universe. I am not comfortable, I am indeed fearful of the terrifying form of You as the Destroyer, however real it may be.’ kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakrahastam icchāmi tvāṁ draṣṭumahaṁ tathaiva I tenaiva rūpeṇa caturbhujena sahasrabāho bhava viśvamūrte II 11.46 All of us are in the same situation as Arjuna.
We all have fixed ideas of what divinity is, what motherhood is, what love is and what friendship is. Divinity is benign, comforting, protecting, nurturing, forgiving and all that is sweet and nice. So are motherhood, love and friendship. Existence does not work that way. Existence does not differentiate between good and bad, between beautiful and ugly. It is we who make judgments and create emotions within us to promote those judgments. In the Viṣṇu Sahasṛanāma, which is recited by Bhīṣma as he was awaiting his liberation, he describes Viṣṇu as ‘śāntākāraṁ bhujaga śayanaṁ padmanābhaṁ sureśaṁ’. ‘Peaceful, emanating bliss…’ is how Viṣṇu, whose incarnation Kṛṣṇa is, is described. Just the very words bring to us so much peace and calmness!
If instead, Bhīṣma had used words to describe the fearsome attributes of Viṣṇu such as: ‘Frightful destroyer, with burning mouths…’ and so on, how many would recite the Sahasṛanāma? It is a different matter that most people who go through the motions of reading and reciting the thousand names of Viṣṇu do not understand a word of what they are saying! So they are safe, whatever Bhīṣma may have said. But if you do understand what the words mean, and if you are not in equilibrium, you will be disturbed. These words, understood to be negative by your logical mind, will create severe emotional turbulence within you. A Yogī is one who has passed beyond these turbulences.
He understands that the Divine is without attributes, neither peaceful and comforting, nor fearful and terrifying. These manifestations are also illusions. Beyond and behind these apparent manifestations, Divinity just is. It is beyond the three guṇas. Arjuna at this point in time is yet to reach this stage. He still seeks the safety and comfort of the four-handed divine Protector that he is used to, rather than the terrifying Mahākāla. When we realize that both are masks of the Divine, that neither is His true Self and that both are His true Self, then and only then are we rid of illusions, and are liberated. Only You Have Seen This Form