Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 11 to 12

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Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 11 to 12

 

(Verse Translation by Swami Gambirananda, Gita Bhasya and commentary

by Swami Chinmayanandaji)

 

Divyamaalyaambaradharam divyagandhaanulepanam;

Sarvaashcharyamayam devam anantam vishwatomukham. Verse 11

 

11. Wearing heavenly garlands and apparel, anointed with heavenly

scents, abounding in all kinds of wonder, resplendent, infinite, and

with faces everywhere.

 

Divya-malya-ambara-dharam, wearing heavenly garlands and apparel-the

God wearing celestial flowers and clothings

divya-gandha-anulepanam, anointed with heavenly scents

sarva-ascaryamayam, abounding in all kinds of wonder

devam, resplendent

anantam, infinite, boundless

and visvato-mukham, with faces everywhere-He being the Self of all

beings. 'He showed (to Arjuna)', or 'Arjuna saw', is to be supplied.

 

When a painter at his easel tries to express his artistic ideas

through the medium of colour he invariably begins by outlining his

theme roughly on the canvas. Later on, inch by inch, he adds more and

more details to make the canvas sing the song of his message.

Similarly in the word-picture of the literary artist, Vyasa, this

stanza containing Sanjaya's words, represents the rough outline of

the Universal Form of the Lord.

 

The Vision appearing before Sanjaya is no vision for a mortal

intellect to live comfortably by. An ordinary man must feel dazed

with wonderment and fear at this august and mighty Vision. The total

Cosmos is no easy subject-matter for the mind to conceive of or for

the intellect to comprehend, and therefore, when it comes as it does

in the Geeta, in the stark realism of the Vision, Sanjaya stammers

these phrases.

 

An illustration is once more being given of the effulgence of the

Cosmic form of the Lord:

 

Divi sooryasahasrasya bhavedyugapadutthitaa;

Yadi bhaah sadrishee saa syaadbhaasastasya mahaatmanah. Verse 12

 

12. Should the effulgence of a thousand suns blaze forth

simultaneously in the sky, that might be similar to the radiance of

that exalted One.

 

Should the bhah, effulgence

surya-sahasrasya, of a thousand suns

utthita bhavet, blaze forth

yugapat, simultaneously

divi, in the sky, or in heaven which is the third as counted (from

this earth);sa, that

yadi syat, might be-or it might not be-

sadrsi, similar

to the bhasah, radiance

tasya, of that

mahat-manah, exalted One, the Cosmic Person Himself. The idea is

that the brillinace of the Cosmic Person surely excels even this!

 

After giving this hasty sketch of the Total-Form to the blind King,

Dhritarashtra, Sanjaya explains to him the glory of the Mighty One.

The Lord, in His Universal-aspect, was dazzling in His own brilliance

and the divine glory of it was almost blinding; and this may be

another reason why more intimate details are not given by Sanjaya in

the previous two verses. In order to convey this idea, Sanjaya is

using this strange, but powerful, simile.

 

The glorious shine of that Mighty Being is almost, it is said, as

luminous as that of a thousand Suns if they were to rise up all at

once in the sky. In the Upanishadic lore also, we have the

description of the Atman almost in the same language. But somehow or

other, it must be admitted that in the mouth of Sanjaya, especially

when he is describing the Divine-Form of Krishna, it gathers a new

glamour and glory.

 

BEAUTIFYING THE PICTURE WITH SOME MORE DETAILS, SANJAYA ADDS

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

These two verses further emphasize that only with " Divine Grace, " a

jiva will be able to go beyond the limited human perception of

sights, sound and smell beyond human perception. Our limitations are

indicated by our experiences such as the sight of one SUN, sounds and

fragrances that we observe in nature. These experiences are stored in

the form of " Vasanas " which limit our sensual perceptions. With

the `Divined Sense' sanctioned by the Lord, Arjuna was able to

withstand the light comparable to the illumination of thousands of

SUNS and fragrances that go beyond human imagination. Any fragrant

substance which is far superior to other fragrant substances like the

sandal-paste and possess a supernatural odor which can be perceived

only by a divined sense and not by the material senses, is called

a 'Divya Gandha.' A form that is besmeared all over with fragrant

substances of such a superb and divine character is known

as 'Divyagandhinulepanam.' Everything forming part of that Cosmic

Body, viz., the countless mouths, eyes, ornaments weapons, wreaths,

garments and fragrant substances, was wonderful. Hence the verse

describes it as Sarvacaryamayam' (full of all wonders). We had a

discussion recently on the impossibility of describing the `Divine'

using words of any language including Sanskrit.

 

That which is infinite and is unbounded by space is called `Ananta'.

The Cosmic Body of the Lord beheld by Arjuna was limitless in

dimension; hence the term `Ananta' has been applied with reference to

it. The numberless faces forming part of that Cosmic Body of the Lord

were spread all over the universe; hence He has been styled

`Visvatomukha'. A being possessed of luster and worthy of adoration

is called a `Deva.' The Cosmic Body of Sri Krishna was supremely

effulgent; hence He is referred to as `Deva' in this verse. By

comparing the splendor of the Lord with the effulgence of a thousand

suns appearing all at once in the sky the verse practically declares

it as incomparable. In other words, just as a thousand stars

twinkling together in the sky cannot compare with the sun, even so

the effulgence of a thousand suns shining all at once in the sky

could not approach the splendor of the Cosmic Body of the Lord. The

reason for this is that while the effulgence of the sun is transient,

material and finite, the splendor of the Cosmic Body of the Lord was

eternal, divine, transcendent and infinite.

 

Vedic prayers are quite symbolic their purpose is to invoke God to

present Himself. For example, when we recite the " Gayatri Mantra, "

we in fact request Him to Grant us the Divine vision to see Him!

 

Om Bhur Bhuvah Swaha

Tat Savitur Verenyam

Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi

Dhiyo yo na – Prachodayat

 

(I meditate on that Great Effulgent Light Which enlightens all the

three worlds. May It enlighten me too.)

 

Swami Sachidananda Swami from Yogaville, Virginia used to recite the

following prayer to Invoke the Presence of the Divine Light.

 

O Lord, the Light of Lights,

You are the Indweller of the entire Universe.

You are the One who makes the sun shine,

the moon shine, who makes the stars shine,

who makes the fire burn.

Kindly lead us to that Light of Wisdom and

remove the darkness of ignorance; enlighten our hearts.

Help us experience that Light within and without.

Help us see the same Light, the same spirit

dwelling everywhere in everything or, to be

more accurate, as everything.

Let us behold Your spirit running through all.

Give us the strength and courage and capacity to

experience that peace and Joy within and share

the same with everyone.

Help us to get away from these selfish temptations

with which we are creating all the differences,

all the fights, and all the wars.

Please guide us to know our brothers and sisters

and to know we are all parts of Your family.

Enlighten our paths, O Light of Lights, Lord of

Lords. Help us, guide us.

(Sri Swami Satchidananda)

[Guest guest]

Swami Dayananda Saraswati's commentary for verses 11 and 12

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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.

It was a form decked with garlands of celestial flowers beyond

imagination and wearing clestial garments, divya-malya-ambara-dharam.

And it was annointed with especially fragrant sandal paste, divya-

gandha-anulepanam. It was all one great endless wonder sarva-

ascaryamayam anantam and effulgent, devam. In whichever way he looked

there was no end to this form at all. No top, no bottom, no width in

any direction, visvatomukham. Arjuna saw the one whose form includes

all forms and who is atma, the truth of all forms.

 

Then Sanjaya gives an illustration for the effulgence of the cosmic

form. If one thousand effulgent suns should simultaneously appear in

the sky, that (effulgence) would Just think of the brightness of a

blazing summer sun. Now suppose one thousand suns rise simultaneously

in the sky. How effulgent would it be? Equivalent to that, Sanjaya

says, was the effulgence of Isvara's cosmic form. Sankara says it is

not really equivalent of course, because the effulgence of Isvara's

form would be much greater. No example will be adequate because he

transcends all comparisons. It is impossible even to imagine. That is

why he said it is like one thousand suns simultaneously rising. It

does not happen and it is difficult even to imagine it. If you could

imagine a thousand suns rising in the sky, that would be the

effulgence of Isvara in this cosmic form. Here the upama,

illustration, is not drawn from any known experience because there is

none. So you are asked to imagine. This is known in Sanskrit

literature as sambhavita-upama.

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Some additional Notes:Robert Oppenheimer the famour nuclear physicist

supervised the Manhatten Project (a secret project to invent and

explode the first nuclear bomb). Robert Oppenheimer while witnessing

the detonation of the first nuclear Bomb quotes this verse from

Bhagavad Gita: " If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at

once into the sky that would be like the splendour of the Mighty

One... " (Robert Oppenheimer, 1904 - 1967, quoting the Bhagavad Gita).

See Wikipedia for more details about Oppenheimer and his interest in

Sanskrit and Bhagavad Gita.