Bhagavatgita a detailed study- chapter 11The Cosmic Form

June 25, 2009

28. yaThaa nadheenaam bahavo ambuvegaaH

samudhram eva abhimukhaa dhravanthi

thaThaa thava amee nara lokaveeraaH

visanthi vakthraaNi abhivijvalanthi

As the various streams of the rivers flow towards the sea only, so do these heroes enter your blazing mouths.

The rivers by their own nature run and enter the sea and become one with it. Similarly here the word naraloka veeraah means the heroes like Bheeshama and Dhrona who, out of their own choice opted to die because they knew pretty well who Krishna was and that the Pandavas are going to win resulting in the total destruction of the kouravas. Hence these great men are going to unite with the Lord as the rivers do with the sea which is the natural course of the men of wisdom. They enter into the mouths fast meaning that they are at the brink of death.

In Mundaka Upanishad there is the following sloka

yaThaa nadhyaH syandhamaanaah samudhre

astham gacChanthi naamaroope vihaaya

thaThaa vidhvaan naamaroopaath vimukthaH

paraathparam purusham upaithi dhivyam (Mund.3.2.8)

Just as the rivers flowing into the sea give up their name and form and merge in it, so too, the wise free from his name and form attains the supreme Lord. Hence for the wise the death is nothing to be afraid of and in fact a welcoming culmination of life.

29. yaThaa pradheeptham jvalanam pathangaaH

viSanthi naaSaaya samrdDhavegaaH

thaThaiva naaSaaya viSanthi lokaaH

thavaapi vakthraaNi samrddhavegaaH

As the moths enter fast the flaming fire for their destruction, likewise the worlds also are entering your mouths fast.

In this sloka the moths falling into the fire refers to other men like Duryodhana and his brothers who started the war out of avarice , jealousy etc. They are rushing into destruction by their own acts like the moths which are drawn towards the fire out of desire mistaking the fire for something to be enjoyed.

All beings wise or ignorant will have to be consumed by time but there is a difference between the attitude of the wise and of the ignorant in facing death. The former accept it as a natural thing and look forward for being united with the divine while the latter are drawn towards it without their knowledge like the moths to the fire and hence go through the cycle of birth and death again and again.

30. lelihyase grasamaanaH samanthaath

lokaan samagraan vadhanaih jyaladhbhiH

thejobhiH aapoorya jagathsamagram

bhaasaH thva ugraaH prathapanthi vishNo

With your blazing mouths you grasp all the worlds and devour them with relish. Oh Vishnu, your fierce rays, filling the universe with their brilliance, are burning.

The Upanishad says, yaThaa oorNanaabhiH srjathe grhNathe cha, as the spider spreads its web and withdraws it into himself the Supreme Being creates and withdraws the universe into Himself. Both acts are relished by the Lord equally. The tongues of Time and death are catching and licking all, devouring them. Since to think of it is fearful for the ordinary mortal because they appear as the all devouring mouths of the fire. When the whole destruction of all times is witnessed as Arjuna does, it looks as though the fire of destruction is filling the whole universe.

31. aakhyaahi me ko bhavaan ugraroopO

namosthu the dhevavara praseedha

vijnaathum icChaami bhavantham aadhyam

na hi prajaanaami thava pravrtthim

Tell me, who are you, the fierce one, be pleased, oh the mighty divine being, I wish to know you, the origin, and I do not know your activities.

Now Arjuna wishes to have the confirmation from the Lord Himself of what he has been expressing so far, that the cosmic form is that of the Supreme Purusha and what he has seen is true and not his fevered imagination. So he asks the Lord to tell him whether the fierce looking form is in reality the transcendent form of the Lord Himself. Krishna has been telling Arjuna that He was in everything and everything is in Him and it was Arjuna who wanted to see the proof and asked Him to show His cosmic form. But now Arjuna is so perplexed that he says that he could not understand the action of the Lord in presenting the cosmic form. That is, Arjuna could not digest the mind-boggling manifestation in front of him.

Now the Lord begins to speak.