Bhagavatgita a detailed study- chapter 11The Cosmic Form

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26. amee cha thvaam dhrthraashtrasya puthraaH

 

sarve saha eva avanipaalsanghaiH

 

bheeshmo dhroNaH soothaputhraH thaThaa asou

 

saha asmadheeyaiH api yoDhamukhyaiH

These sons of Dhrtharashtra along with all the hosts of kings, Bheeshma, Dhrona, an also this son of charioteer, Karna, along with the warriors on our side,

 

 

 

27. vakthraaNi the thvaramaaNaa viSanthi

 

dhamshtraakaraaLaani cha bhyaanakaani

kechith lagnaa dhaSanaanthareshu

 

sandhrSyanthe choorNithaiH utthamaangaiH

 

enter into your mouth with fearful canine teeth, with haste and some are seen clinging to your teeth with their heads cut to pieces.

 

The sight presented here is fearful indeed! Arjuna starts seeing the result of the war which was foremost in his thought that made him refuse to fight and throw down his bow. He thought that he would be able to kill kouravas including Bheeshma and Dhrona which filled his heart with remorse. As Krishna said to him that he will see what ever he wanted to see , now he is witnessing the result of the war and sees all the kouravas, including Bheeshma, Dhrona and the valiant Karna entering the mouth of the cosmic form representing time and space and the power of the Lord as Kalapurusha. He could now understand that the death of all these and also the warrior kings on his side and theirs, is a writing on the wall.

 

These people seem to enter in to the mouth of their own accord and not being destroyed by the Lord , meaning that it is their own karma which brings their destruction and the Lord is only the dispenser of the result of karma. The comprehension of this destruction worked out by time and death as a mental picture could be unnerving indeed. The present past and the future is illustrated as some entering into the mouth of destruction fast while some cling to the teeth being pulverized slowly as though by a giant wheel of a machine, since death is not the same experience for all.

 

The proof that the vision of the Lord in His entirety which is nothing but the brahmasakshaathkara , has not been brought out by the acquiring of brahmajnana by Arjuna, but was only a momentous flash out of the mercy of the Lord, can be seen in his words. He says soothaputhraH thaThaa asou, also this son of charioteer, meaning Karna. Arjuna was a bit jealous of Karna who alone was his equal in valour. He tried to assuage his pride by calling him a soothaputhra . Even now when he sees that everything is but a part of the Lord , and equal in the face of Time the great leveler, he could not get free from his prejudice.

 

The ego of Arjuna which has shrunk even now receives a shattering blow later when the Lord begins to speak, showing that Arjuna is only a pretext, nimitthamaathram, by which the Lord is working out the destruction.

 

In Gita we always find a contrast of the terrible truth set along with a more benign utterance. Here also in the next two slokas we find an aesthetic description of the same scene in which Vyasa the poet comes to the uppermost.