Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 9 to 10 - Swami Dayananda's commentary

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Namaste:

 

Vedavyasa provides the Visvarupadarshana seen by Arjuna through

Sanjaya. Both Arjuna and Sanjaya were able to witness the Divine

Vision. Arjuna momentarily became speechless and Sanjaya assumed the

role of the interpreter and provided eyewitness narration of the

Visvarupam to the blind king through verses 9 to 14. The next

paragraph comes from commentary by Swami Dayananda from his Gita

Homestudy notes for verses 9 and 10.

 

" When Arjuna said this, 0 king, then the Lord showed Arjuna his

form. " Sanjaya refers to Krishna here as the Lord of all yogins,

yogesvarah, who is also limitless, mahan, and whose grace destroys

all papa, harih. The form he showed to Arjuna was one that includes

all forms. That is paramam. Any given form generally excludes

every other form. But here it is one form containing all forms, each

of which still enjoys its own form. That is the beauty. If all wax

forms are rolled into one form, the individual forms are lost. But

here, in one sweep of vision you can see one form consisting of all

forms. This cosmic form Bhagavan showed to Arjuna consists of: aneka-

vaktra-nayanam - countless mouths and eyes; aneka-adbhuta-darsanam -

countless wondorous objects; aneka-divya-abharanam - countless

splendid celestial ornaments; and divya-aneka-udhyata-ayudham -

countless extraordinary weapons raised for use

 

Swami Dayananda points out that the the form that Bhagavan showed to

Arjuna and which Sanjaya also saw was the maya-Sakti of Isvara, a

highly elaborate form with not one but millions of mouths, aneka-

vaktras, and eyes, aneka-nayana. It is all dramatically presented

here. And countless wondorous objects that, Sankara says, are awe-

inspiring, aneka-adbhuta-darsanam. Forms never seen before, each as

striking as the next. And it is full of thousands of splendid

ornaments that- you could never think of. anekadivyabharanam. And it

has special instruments of destruction, ail ready for use, divya-

aneka-udhyata-ayudham. Not just weapons that are commonly known but

those that are divya, not of this world. Destruction is constantly

going on in this cosmic form so there are appropriate weapons for all

forms of destruction, all being brandished or poised for use. All

this Arjuna saw.

 

Additional comments: By using the words 'Mahayogesvarah' and 'Harih'

about Sri Krishna, Sanjaya brings home to Dhrtaristra the wonderful

potency and power of the Lord, and thereby cautions him. The

intention is to convey that Sri Krishna was no ordinary human being,

but God Himself. The greatest of Yogis cannot reveal the divine

Cosmic Body which Sri Krishna showed to Arjuna, and which Sanjaya was

now going to describe. God alone can reveal such a form.

That which is pure, superb and transcendent is called 'Parama', and

anything exhibiting the virtues, glory and effulgence of God and

clothed with His divine power of Yoga is called 'Aisvara' of divine.

The Cosmic Body revealed by the Lord to Arjuna was transcendent and

divine in character, superb and all-effulgent, and not something

mundane or material. It was out of kindness to His most beloved

devotee Arjuna, and with a view to awakening him to a sense of His

wonderful glory, that the Lord evolved and manifested this form by

His own wonderful power of Yoga.

 

Harih Om!

 

Ram Chandran