Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 45 to 46

[Guest guest]

Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 45 to 46

(Verse Translation by Swami Gambirananda, Gita Bhasya and commentary

by Swami Chinmayanandaji)

 

Adrishtapoorvam hrishito'smi drishtwaa Bhayena cha pravyathitam mano

me;

Tadeva me darshaya deva roopam Praseeda devesha jagannivaasa.

 

45. I am delighted by seeing something not seen heretofore, and my

mind is stricken with fear. O Lord, show me that very form

O supreme God, O Abode of the Universe, be gracious!

 

Asmi, I am

hrsitah, delighted

drstva, by seeing

adrsta-purvam, something not seen heretofore-by seeing this Cosmic

form of Yours which has never been seen before by me or others. And

me, my

manah, mind

is pravyathitam, stricken

bhayena, with fear. Therefore, deva, O Lord

darsaya, show

me, to me

tat eva, that very

rupam, form, which is of my friend. Devesa, O supreme God

jagan-nivasa, Abode of the Universe

prasida, be gracious!

 

Every devotee falls in love with the Lord of his devotion and thus

when, from the FORM he gets transcended to the Infinite and Full

nature of the FORMLESS, that was represented so long by the FORM, he

experiences, no doubt, an Infinite Joy, but at that very moment he is

overtaken by the emotion of " fear. " This is the experience of every

seeker during the days of his early attempts at getting over the evil

of spiritual 'ignorance.' The new realm of joy lived within is, no

doubt, absolutely blissful, but a sudden sense of fear exiles him

back to body-consciousness and the consequent mental agitation.

At the dawn of his experience Divine, the limited ego, escaping all

its limitations, enters into a world unknown to it so far, and it

experiences with all joy the vastness of its own dynamism. Arjuna

expresses his idea when he says, " I AM DELIGHTED, HAVING SEEN WHAT

UNSEEN WAS BEFORE. " But in the earlier attempts, a seeker is not fit

to maintain for long his equilibrium in that Divine Realm, and his

mind seemingly dissolved to enter the STILL-MOMENT-OF-MEDITATION,

revives again to flutter into activity, and we find, almost always,

that it is the emotion of " fear " that the mind first experiences,

when, with a dreadful shudder it crystallizes itself to sink into the

welter of the body and its demands. At this time, a devotee

identifies himself with his own emotions of love and devotion and

implores the " Lord of his heart " to manifest His own sportive form of

smiles and softness, of musical words and loving looks.

 

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE FORM IN WHICH ARJUNA WANTED THE LORD TO APPEAR

BEFORE HIM, IS DESCRIBED IN THE FOLLOWING:

 

Kireetinam gadinam chakrahastam Icchaami twaam drashtumaham tathaiva;

Tenaiva roopena chaturbhujena Sahasrabaaho bhava vishwamoorte.

 

46. I want to see You just as before, wearing a crown, wielding a

mace, and holding a disc in hand. O You with thousand arms, O You of

Cosmic form, appear with that very form with four hands.

 

Aham, I

icchami, want

drastum, to see

tvam, You

kiritinam, wearing a crown

as also gadinam, wielding a mace

and cakra-hastam, holding a disc in hand

i.e., tatha eva, just as before. Since this is so, therefore,

sahasra-baho, O You with a thousand arms-in Your present Cosmic form

visva-murte, O you of Cosmic form

bhava, apeear

tena eva rupena, with that very form-with the form of the son of

Vasudeva

caturbhujena, with four hands. The idea is: withdrawing the Cosmic

form, appear in that very form as the son of Vasudeva.

 

Arjuna makes an open confession here of what he actually wishes. " I

WISH TO SEE YOU AS BEFORE. " He is afraid of the Universal Form into

which the Lord has expanded to express His oneness with the essence

in the entire gross-world of matter.

 

When the Vedantic concept of Truth is thus experienced or expressed

in its universal majesty and grandeur, few have the required

intellectual stamina to conceive of the Totality and adore It. Even

at moments when the intellect can handle such an idea, the heart of

the devotee will often fail to tune up its emotion to live the

Absolute-experience for long. From the mental zone, Truth can be

conceived of and enjoyed only through its symbols and not directly in

Its Total-grandeur.

 

Defining the Form of Vaasudeva in his milder-manifestation, Arjuna

explains in this stanza the traditional form of Vishnu, the Lord of

the Bhagavata. The concept of God as represented in the phenomena has

been described in all Puranas, as having four hands. This may look

like a biological freak to students of physiology. We are apt to

forget that they are figurative representations symbolizing the

concept of Truth.

 

The four hands of the God-form represent the four facets of

the " inner-instrument " in man. The Lord Himself, the Self who wields

these four hands is represented everywhere as BLUE in color, and

clothed in YELLOW. The significant hue of BLUE is the color of the

Infinite, and the measureless always appears as BLUE, just as the

summer-sky or the deep-ocean. YELLOW is the color of the earth. Thus

the Infinite, clothed in the finite, playing the game of life through

the four " inner-instruments " is the symbolism behind Lord Vishnu.

It is also interesting to note that the concept of God in every

religion is the same inasmuch as He is the Supreme-most with every

power and all knowledge. Man achieves things by the strength of His

hands, and the Lord, who is all-powerful, can therefore be symbolized

only by showing that He has four hands. The four symbolical

instruments which the Lord is represented to carry in His four hands

are the club, the discus, the conch and the lotus. The call of the

Divine comes to everyone's bosom, when He blows His CONCH, and if man

were not to listen to the call of the Higher dictates in himself, the

CLUB follows to punch him, and in spite of that, if man continues his

own mistakes, the DISCUS chops him down. In case the roar of

the " conch " is obeyed implicitly, then he gains the LOTUS, a flower

that represents, in Hinduism, what the white-dove and the poppy-

flower stand for in Western tradition. Peace and prosperity are the

significance of " lotus " in India. Lotus signifies PERFECTION

SPIRITUAL.

 

Arjuna, in short, wants the Lord to appear in his serener-Form and

quieter-Attitude. For all early seekers and new initiates in Vedanta,

it naturally becomes difficult to keep, in themselves, the same tempo

for their philosophical pursuits. At such moments of dissipation and

drowsiness of the intellect, the aspiring heart must discover some

reposeful resting-place wherein it can revive itself. This bed-of-

peace and tranquility, upon which the inner personality of man can

revive and grow into its fuller stature, is the glorious Form of the

Lord.

 

SEEING ARJUNA AFRAID, THE LORD WITHDREW HIS UNIVERSAL FORM; AND

CONSOLING ARJUNA WITH HIS SWEET WORDS, HE SAID:

[Guest guest]

Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Commentary and Explanations (Verses 45

and 46)

 

Seeing what has not been seen before, I am happy and my mind is

afflicted with fear. Please show me only that (old) form. I}e

pleased, Lord of the gods. Lord of the world. This cosmic form has

not been seen before by anybody.adrsta-purvam. Not only has Arjuna

not seen it, no one else has ever seen it either. Arjuna says, " I

am very happy, hrsitah. " But he has mixed feelings. It is wonderful

seeing the vl svardpa but seeing all the destruction, he is also

frightened. " My mind is afflicted with fear, bhayena ca pravyathitam

manah me. " Like a Gujarati pickle, hot and sweet, this is Arjuna's

condition. He is really excited about seeing something nobody has

seen. That is the-particular feeling he mentions here, a kind of one-

upmanship. This is over and above his joy at the sheer magnificence

of the form. At the same time it is very frightening. Seeing this

his mind is disturbed by fear.

 

Therefore, he says, " Please show me that (old) form, tad eva me

darsaya rupam, " the form which he had looked upon as a great friend.

He addresses Krishna here as deveSa, Lord of all devas and the one in

whom the whole world exists, jagannivasa. " Please bless me with the

old form/' Before that though, he wants to see something

 

This is a popular form in which Lord Visnu is worshipped. It is

described repeatedly in Bhagavata and the puranas as having four

hands; in one is a conch, 3ankham; in another a disc, cakram; in the

third a mace, gada; and the fourth offers protection. Arjuna wants to

see this form which people worship. Arjuna must also have worshipped

that form. He asks Krishna to appear in that particular form before

he returns to the form of Arjuna's friend. " Similarly, I want to see

also the one who has a crown kirltinam, a mace, gadinam, and a disc

in his hand, cakra-hastam. " The cakra is for destroying all kama-

krodha, the enemies. Sankha is the Veda, beckoning people to come to

him. Kama-krodha may stand in between not allowing you to accomplish

it. Therefore the same grace of Isvara will destroy kama and krodha

using hi£ cakra. The gada is for the destruction of the

ahankara. " All these you can accomplish when you surrender to me, "

implies the fourth hand pointing to his feet. This is the form in

which the Lord is invoked and which Arjuna wishes to see. Tathaiva,

so too, means he wants to see the original form, as he has requested,

and he also wants to see this form.

 

" Visvamurte 0 Lord who is in the cosmic form, 0 Lord of a thousand

hands, sahasrabaho, may you be, bhava, in that form which has only

four hands, tenaiva rupena caturbhujena " Arjuna is familiar with two

forms of Krishna. One as a friend and the other, the form he was

invoking for prayer. He wants to see both of these, not the

vitivarupa.

 

Sankara introduces the next verse saying that recognizing that Arjuna

was frightened, Krishna withdrew his cosmic form, consoling him with

loving words.

[Guest guest]

praNAms Shri Ram Chandranji (and Satsanghis),

 

Here is the commentary by Shri Jnaneshwar (the poet-mystic)

on these verses.

 

advaitin , " Ram Chandran " <ramvchandran wrote:

>

> Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 45 to 46

> Adrishtapoorvam hrishito'smi drishtwaa Bhayena cha pravyathitam mano

> me;

> Tadeva me darshaya deva roopam Praseeda devesha jagannivaasa.

>

> 45. I am delighted by seeing something not seen heretofore, and my

> mind is stricken with fear. O Lord, show me that very form

> O supreme God, O Abode of the Universe, be gracious!

 

 

As an intimate friend I pressed you hard to reveal to me your cosmic

form. You fulfilled my prayer with the affection of a parent. You

indulged me with motherly love, as if you had planted the with-yielding

tree in my courtyard or given me the colt of the wish yielding cow to

play with (576-580) or presented me the stars or the moon to play

the game of dice or ball. How hard it is to acquire even one drop of

nectar! But you have indeed drenched me in ambrosial showers for

four months and by preparing beds have sown philosophers' stones.

Because of these many indulgences of yours, I have attained fulfillment

and seen with my own eyes your not even heard of this form, and so

how could they have a vision of it?

 

You have laid bare before me, to my great joy, your inner essence,

of which even the Upanishads did not get a glimpse. If I take stock

of all my birth since the beginning of the epoch until now (581-585),

I do not remember to have heard or seen this form. Reason even

cannot reach its outskirts; how then can it delve into its inner

essence? Then why talk of human eyes gazing on it? Verily none

has set his eyes on it, none has even heard of it. But you revealed

to me that form and filled my mind with ecstatic joy. But now I long

to gossip with you, to enjoy your friendship and embrace you

(586-590).

 

But if I wish to do all this with your cosmic form, which of these

countless faces shall I talk to, and how can I clasp in my arms

your boundless form'? It is not possible to race with the wind

or hold the sky in one's arms. Likewise how can one carry on

water-sport in the sea'? O God, this form fills me with dread.

Please grant me this prayer and wind up your universal form.

As a pilgrim, after traversing the earth with joy, returns home

to enjoy a settled life, so your four-armed figure is a haven of

rest for us. All yogic practices lead to this figure and scriptural

study also culminates in it. (591-595)

 

And all sacrificial acts, pilgrimages and acts of char1ty and

merit come to fructification in this divine figure. I am truly

fond of this divine figure and am impatiently waiting to have

a sight of it. Pray help me out of this difficulty. O you, venerable

God of gods, who knows the secrets in others' minds and

who has founded this universe, pray grant me your grace

and vouchsafe to me a vision of this divine figure.

 

 

 

> Kireetinam gadinam chakrahastam Icchaami twaam drashtumaham tathaiva;

> Tenaiva roopena chaturbhujena Sahasrabaaho bhava vishwamoorte.

>

> 46. I want to see You just as before, wearing a crown, wielding a

> mace, and holding a disc in hand. O You with thousand arms, O You of

> Cosmic form, appear with that very form with four hands.

 

 

The blue luster of that four-armed figure has bestowed colour

to the blue lotus and the azure sky and lent its splendour to the

sapphire (596-600). It is as though emerald's exuding fragrance,

or rapturous joy has sprouted arms and the cupid himself by playing

in the lap of the Lord became a sight for sore eyes. The crown

which adorns the head of the Lord looks more splendid because

of your handsome head; truly the luster of your body adds splendor

to the ornaments with which it is decked. Shri Hari, who is wearing

the Vaijayanti necklace round his neck, looks handsome like a

cloud in the midst of a rainbow. The mace in your hand makes a

gift of salvation to the demons and softly lustrous is the discus

held by you in the other hand. I have become impatient to behold

that figure and would implore you to resume it (60l-605).

 

My eyes are now satiated after feeding upon the feast of

your cosmic form and are now longing to see your darkish figure

I like no other form better than this form of yours with attributes.

Even the vision of your universal form looks less attractive to me

than the sight of your human form. This handsome figure alone

gives both sensual pleasure as well as salvation, which no other

form does. Therefore, O Lord, wind up this universal form and

resume your form with attributes.

 

==

 

The above translation has been taken from

http://www.saibaba.us/texts/jnaneshwari/chpt11.html

 

 

praNAms to all Advaitins,

Ramakrishna

[Guest guest]

praNAms Advaitins,

 

Here are a couple of puranic references to this section of the Gita.

 

1. Arjuna asking the Lord to show the " usual " four-handed

form should be contrasted with Devaki devi, the birth mother

of Lord Krishna, asking the Lord, to assume his " usual " child-like

form. Lord Krishna according to Srimad-Bhagavatham was

born, not like an ordinary child, but with four-hands etc.

 

[References for Devaki's request:

http://vedabase.net/sb/10/3/29/en1

http://vedabase.net/sb/10/3/30/en1

]

 

These both are few of the cases when the devotees

asked the Lord to re-appear in another form. The

reasons for both Arjuna and Devaki are -- as

Shri Sastriji pointed out in an earlier Satsangh

post -- Fear!

 

I would like to know what scholars think of the

origin of such fear in each of the above cases. If

we attribute that fear to vaasanas (I could be wrong

in pointing out in such way), it remains to be seen

how strong the vaasanas (conditioning) are,

to not accept the divine form as it appeared?

 

2. The words in the above prayer 11.35-11.46 of Arjuna

should be compared for their strong similarity with the

ones that the Devas (demi-gods) use to pray to the divine

mother in Devi Bhagavatham in Book 7, Chapter 33.

Scholars would notice that the words used are *exceedingly

similar*. There, the Devas as devotees were uncomfortable

in the divine vision that the Divine mother gave them,

and asked her to assume her " usual " form.

 

[One reference to a translation is

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/db/bk07ch33.htm

A reference to a original PDF, from Maharshi

University is

http://is1.mum.edu/vedicreserve/upapurana/devibhagavata_purana.pdf

Note: at 47MB, this PDF file is *huge*!!!

]

 

I would like the scholars to explain whether the

divine-vision (or divine-eyes) of Arjuna has been

taken back or not. Remember, they were specifically

given by Lord to watch his Cosmic form.

 

praNAms to All Advaitins,

Ramakrishna

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Ramakrishna:

 

Janeshwar's bhakti rasam (devotional poetry) is always nice to read

and thanks for posting them. I hope that others follow you and

provide other contrasting commentaries from others.

 

The links that you provided from Bhagavatham further illustrate the

mastermind of Vedavyasa in the portrayal of the divine mystic

personality of baby Krishna and inevitable destruction of Kamsa, the

evil. Devaki (mother of Krishna)'s immediate concern was the welfare

of the newborn, who was threatened by Kamsa.. Two reasons are

attributable for her fear: (1) The child with four-hands and other

divine features including a magical weapon in the form of a disk in

one of the hands will become an easy target for Kamsa. (2) Since

Devaki knows that the child is a divine incarnation to destroy the

evil Kamsa, her dear brother, she was very much worried.

Consequently, she pleads Krishna to become a normal child so that she

can hide Him from Kamsa and possibly save Kamsa from death.

Bhagavatham provides why and how Kamsa was killed by Lord Krishna.

Often we get into the discussion - whether Kamsa was killed due

to `destiny' or he paved the path for his own destruction. The

entire episode of the death of Kamsa pretty serves as an illustrative

example for the `destruction ladder' outlined in Gita through verses

62 and 63 of chapter 2:

Dhyaayato vishayaan pumsah sangas teshupajaayate;

Sangaat sanjaayate kaamah kaamaat krodho'bhijaayate.

Krodhaad bhavati sammohah sammohaat smriti vibhramah;

Smritibhramshaad buddhinaasho buddhinaashaat pranashyati.

When a man thinks of the objects, attachment to them arises; from

attachment desire is born; from desire anger arises. From anger

comes delusion; from delusion the loss of memory; from loss of memory

the destruction of discrimination; from the destruction of

discrimination he perishes.

In all the Puranic stories, the evil person creates the `death

ladder' and death became inevitable with the dominance of `adharma'

and the inevitable incarnation of the divine to reestablish dharma

(Gita explains the reason for Avatar- divine incarnation through

verses 7 and 8 of chapter 4).

Now coming back to the verses under discussion, Arjuna's fear is for

a different reason. For him, Lord Krishna with four arms and the disk

will be the protection that he needed to establish the righteousness.

He became fully aware that only the Divine presence will ensure the

destruction of adharma and the reestablishment of Dharma.

Let me try to provide (not necessarily scholarly) my understanding of

your question below:.

> I would like the scholars to explain whether the

> divine-vision (or divine-eyes) of Arjuna has been

> taken back or not. Remember, they were specifically

> given by Lord to watch his Cosmic form.

 

Lord Krishna says that it is because of His Grace, that Arjuna was

able to witness the Viswarupam. God's grace is always present and the

question of taken back does not arise – Lord Krishna definitely did

not provide any special eye wear for temporary use. What Arjuna

witnessed was almost like a `dream scene' and he couldn't sustain

the dream for a long time and wanted to wake from the dream.

With my warmest regards,

 

Ram chandran

 

advaitin , " Ramakrishna Upadrasta "

<ramakrsn wrote:

>

>

> 1. Arjuna asking the Lord to show the " usual " four-handed

> form should be contrasted with Devaki devi, the birth mother

> of Lord Krishna, asking the Lord, to assume his " usual " child-like

> form.

[Guest guest]

There is only one source of ALL fear - dvaita or duality - dvitIyAdvai bhayaM

bhavati (B.Up.)

When I look upon myself as a limited entity, as separate from the Whole, there

is always going to fear.

 

This chapter dramatically demonstrates that even if the vision be of the

Supreme, for a mind unprepared to reject its notion of separation, it causes

immense fear.

Arjuna's vision in this chapter is drawn to the wonderful glories of the Lord's

Cosmic vision at first and he is thrilled no doubt, but no sooner does he see

the " dark " side, of destruction, of death, he is appalled - his mind is prepared

not to accept this aspect of Ishwara, the Order. His mind is still steeped in

ragadvesha and is hence a nonaccepting mind.

 

Only a Wise One's mind is accepting of the totality that is the Order. It sees

Death being as much the Order as Birth, UNion is as much the Order as

Separation, happiness as much as sorrow.

Why is this so? Because most importantly such a Seer does not regard himSelf as

being separate from the Totality. There is no Ego or i-sense which classifies

the world into good, and bad, acceptable and non-acceptable. Everything is

Ishwara alone. Then where can there be fear? from what? and for whom?

 

Humble pranams.

Hari OM

Shri Gurubhyoh namah

Shyam

 

 

Ramakrishna Upadrasta <ramakrsn

advaitin

Monday, February 4, 2008 6:12:53 PM

Re: Gita Satsangh Chapter 11 Verses 45 to 46

 

I would like to know what scholars think of the

origin of such fear in each of the above cases. If

we attribute that fear to vaasanas (I could be wrong

in pointing out in such way), it remains to be seen

how strong the vaasanas (conditioning) are,

to not accept the divine form as it appeared?

 

 

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[Guest guest]

advaitin , " Ram Chandran " <ramvchandran wrote:

> Lord Krishna says that it is because of His Grace, that Arjuna was

> able to witness the Viswarupam. God's grace is always present and the

> question of taken back does not arise – Lord Krishna definitely did

> not provide any special eye wear for temporary use. What Arjuna

> witnessed was almost like a `dream scene' and he couldn't sustain

> the dream for a long time and wanted to wake from the dream.

> With my warmest regards,

 

praNAms Shri Ram Chandranji,

 

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

 

Your explanations has given some new insights into

my question of origin of fear even among devotees of the

Lord.

 

praNAms Shri Shyamji,

Your explanation echoes the answer Shri Sastriji gave

(in post #38988). Thanks for the explanation.

 

praNAms to both of you and all the Advaitins of this list!

Ramakrishna