Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 23 to 24

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Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 23 to 24

(Verse Translation by Swami Gambirananda, Gita Bhasya and commentary

by Swami Chinmayanandaji)

 

Roopam mahat te bahuvaktranetram Mahaabaaho bahubaahoorupaadam;

Bahoodaram bahudamshtraakaraalam Drishtwaa lokaah

pravyathitaastathaa'ham. Verse 23

 

23. O mighty-armed One, seeing Your immense form with many mouths and

eyes, having numerous arms, thighs and feet, with many bellies, and

fearful with many teeth, the creatures are struck with terror, and so

am I.

 

Mahabaho, O mighty-armed One

drstva, seeing

te, Your

mahat, immence, very vast

upam, form of this kind

bahu-vaktra-netram, with many mouths and eyes

bahu-bahu-uru-padam, having many arms, thighs and feet

and further, bahu-udaram, with many bellies

and bahu-damstra-karalam, fearful with many teeth

lokah, the creatures in the world

are pravya-thitah, struck with terror

tatha, and so also

am even aham, I.

 

Swami Chainmayanandaji's commentary is provided after verse 24

(combined for 23 & 24)

 

Nabhahsprisham deeptamanekavarnam Vyaattaananam deeptavishaalanetram;

Drishtwaa hi twaam pravyathitaantaraatmaa Dhritim na vindaami shamam

cha vishno. Verse 24

 

24. O Visnu, verily, seeing Your form touching heaven, blazing, with

many colours, open-mouthed, with fiery large eyes, I , becoming

terrified in my mind, do not find steadiness and peace.

 

O Visnu, hi, verily

drstva, seeing

tvam, You

nabhah-sprsam, touching heaven

diptam, blazing

aneka-varnam, with many colours, (i.e.) possessed of many frightening

forms

vyatta-ananam, open-mouthed

dipta-visala-netram, with firey large eyes

I, pravyathita-antara-atma, becoming terrified in my mind

na vindami, do not find

dhrtim, steadiness

ca, and

samam, peace, calmness of mind.

 

The uncommon vision, " MARVELLOUS AND AWFUL, " experienced by Arjuna,

was not a localized form on a six-footed Lord Krishna. It was, in

fact, a manifestation, wide and varied, extending almost to the

frontiers of the All-pervading. And yet, the Pandava Prince realized

it all in his inward vision as a limited form, having a definite

shape. In the intellectual understanding of all shapeless qualities

(like freedom, love, nationality, etc.), one gives them each a

substantiality, a form, well-defined and precisely outlined for one's

own intellect, although never for one's own sense-organs. Similarly,

Arjuna too feels that, the experience of the Universal-Form, though

All-pervading, has for him a definite shape. But when he tries to

define the Form-Universal, so well realized by him, his very

expressions belie his own feelings and defeat his own purpose.

Arjuna finds that the entire world is terrified by the Great Grand

Form representing in itself " MANY MOUTHS AND EYES, MANY ARMS AND

THIGHS, WITH MANY STOMACHS, AND FEARSOME WITH MANY TUSKS. " He also

adds, " SO AM I. " Psychologically, when an individual is in a crowd of

excited people or in the company of good men of peaceful

contemplation, he vicariously gathers unto himself the mental

qualities of the crowd in which he finds himself. " THE WORLD IS

TERRIFIED, " and, Arjuna confesses, " I TOO AM. "

 

At the same time, the Pandava Prince feels it insulting and cowardly

for his royal heart to feel any fear. Therefore, justifying his own

fear, he describes the Terrible-Form to be in fact formless, and says

that it absorbs into itself everything. The Universal-Form touches

the very skies above. It glows with a variety of colors. Its fiery-

eyes glow. Its open mouths consume everything. Altogether, the vision

is capable of unnerving even the gods. Seeing that 'Vision' Arjuna

confesses, " MY HEART QUAKES, AND I LOSE MY COURAGE AND MY PEACE. " It

is very significant that it is in this condition of benumbing fear

that the great hero addresses the cosmic-vision, " O, Vishnu. " *

As I said in the beginning, the conception-form so clearly defined in

the intuitive understanding of Arjuna, is in fact the Infinite

described in terms of Its own endless manifestations as the names and

forms in the Universe. We, the students of the Geeta, should never

forget these subtle under-currents of thought that Vyasa has so

secretly kept for the profit of all diligent and sincere seekers of

Truth.

 

ELABORATING HIS OWN SELF-EXPLANATIONS ON WHY HEROIC HEARTS SHOULD

TREMBLE IN FEAR, THE PANDAVA PRINCE CONTINUES:

[Guest guest]

Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Commentary and Explanations:

(With permission, taken from his Notes for Bhagavad Gita for Home

Study)

 

Seeing your immeasurable form of many mouths and eyes, O mighty

armed, of many hands, thighs and feet, of many stomachs and many

projecting teeth, people are afraid and so am I.

 

Your form, O Lord, is mahat. " It is inconceivable, immeasurable.

That is wonderful.The problem is, Arjuna is frightened. He makes it

very clear here. He does not know how to deal with such a form.

Suppose you see a creature from another planet. How will you

respond? Even though it may be harmless, you will be frightened

because our minds move in a categorical fashion. If we come across a

new creature, we must categorize it. Then we feel safe. But

anything we cannot categorize is a problem because it is seen as a

potential threat.

 

Here Arjuna sees countless mouths and millions of varieties of eyes

of all kinds of color, one blue, one green, another yellow or red -

all in one form. Krishna, who is addressed here as Mahabaho and was

previously seen as mahabahu, mighty armed, now has become bahu-bahu-

uru-padam. He has not two but many hands or arms, bahu-bahu, as well

as many thighs, bahu-uru, and feet, bahu-padam. And more than that,

Arjuna sees many canine teeth projecting from the gaping mouth of the

cosmic form, bahu-damstra-karalam. That is what makes him so

frightened. The raksasas typically have two canines protruding which

gives them a frightening appearance. With many canines, what fear

would this cosmic form strike in Arjuna's heart? Besides this, there

are many stomachs bahu-udaram. Like a shark, half the body is teeth,

the other half is a stomach.

 

" Seeing this, people are frightened, and so am I. " Not many people

have seen this form, but whoever has, Sankara adds, would be shaken

by fear. Whether they would or not, Arjuna says here, " I am afraid. "

 

Later he says, " Your mouth seems to always be open and I see all the

dhartarastras entering into it like moths falling into the fire. They

are all caught between your teeth and munched by the jaws of death

called time. I see you devouring the whole lot of them and therefore

it is frightening. " Then he asks, Tell me, who are you?' Again Arjuna

wants to know this from Bhagavan, because he is frightened again.

When he asked Krishna to assume this form he did not know what he was

in for. Now he finds that what he has asked for is too much for him

to handle. So he asks Krishna to return to his original form and give

him further knowledge.

 

At any time the creation is non-separate from the Lord. The Lord can

be independent of creation, but never the creation from the Lord.

Though the creation is nothing but Isvara, you don't see Isvara

because you are limited by your perceptive powers. The sense organs

have limited capacity for perception and the further limitation of

not seeing things accurately. Sometimes they even see things which

are not there. Even if your sense organs are not defective, what you

see is always a part of what is there, so you cannot appreciate the

whole. Here Arjuna has a chance to see almost the whole (minus

himself) because of the grace of Krishna. Seeing the cosmic form he

is even able to make a clear inference that Krishna is the cause of

the creation, the one who is to be understood. Therefore Arjuna had

the advantage of seeing something more than, what his sense organs,

especially the eyes, can. see.

 

Because he separated himself from this vision, he was afraid. That is

what is pointed out here. If he had included himself, it would be not

divya-caksus but jnana-caJcsus. Once his vision is non-dual, he gains

fearlessness, abhayam pratistham vindate. There cannot be a source of

fear because you can only be afraid of something other than yourself.

If there is only one thing, however small, that division is enough to

cause fear - fear of everything else. What is not you is so vast; it

is infinite and you are so very small and insignificant. If you see

something as big as the whole cosmos, minus yourself, as Arjuna did,

you will be even more frightened. Even what is in the range of our

limited perceptive powers is too much to deal with. Everything seems

to be so big. If you look at the stars and think about the distances

involved it is staggering. If you are able to see much more than the

eyes can see, you will definitely be frightened. That is what

happened to Arjuna. Even though he wanted to see this cosmic form, he

didn't know what he was in for and now all he wants is some peace.

 

Indeed, seeing you touching the heavens, effulgent, of numerous

forms, open mouthed and with large brilliant eyes, my mind is deeply

disturbed. O Visnu, I do not find courage or composure.

 

Arjuna saw Krsna everywhere so he now addresses him as visnuh, the

one who is all-pervasive, an appropriate word. Here he is literally

being seen as visnuh. Arjuna sees Krishna here as one who touches

the heavens, nabhah-spesam. It means he sees no end to him;

everything is pervaded by him. And this form is so effulgent, diptam,

and anekavarnam. Varna means that by which something is understood,

varnyate anena iti varnam. It can mean either form or color. Here

it is form. Sankara adds, numerous frightening forms. We know a few

things that invoke fear, like the reptiles and even the cockroach.

And some of the sea creatures are really frightening. Many forms

that we never see Arjuna is seeing right now - beings of different

forms and colors, some with horns, others with damstra, canine teeth.

Definitely it is frightening. Sankara says they are of various

configurations, nana-samsthanah. Their limbs are assembled in a

variety of different ways. When they are put together so differently

we get varieties of reptiles, flying animals, walking animals,

crawling animals and besides that all these diverse human " beings and

celestial beings. Some of them are very beautiful, of course, but

some of them are frightening. The one who consists of these

variously assembled forms is anekavarnam. Though it is one form,

Arjuna sees all these multifarious forms severally. And he is

frightened.

 

Arjuna says, " I see you as one whose mouth is open, " vyatta-ananam,

meaning he is swallowing everything, who is, in other words, kala,

time. And he sees this form with numerous eyes that are huge and

brilliant, dipta-visala-netram. Seeing Krishna in this form Arjuna

says, " My mind is deeply disturbed, pravyat/1/ta-antara-atnia. " He is

really alarmed now. Sankara says exceedingly frightened, pra-bhitah.

Being so, " I have no courage, " dhrtim na vindams. He cannot bear to

see this form any longer. There are both good and frightening aspects

to the cosmic form but the frightening ones have overshadowed all the

good. In the beginning he was awestruck by the magnificence of the

cosmic form but once his attention was drawn to the frightening

aspect of the creation, he became fixated upon it and saw only that.

This is how the mind works. Once you begin seeing things that are

wrong, it will not be long before you find that everything is wrong.

The mind develops a fixation. And so Arjuna says, " I don't have the

fortitude, dhrti, to continue to look at you. " Besides that, " I have

no composure, sama. " In the tenth chapter and when he first saw the

cosmic form, his composure was replaced by wonder.