Arjuna Said: 1. By this word of the highest secret concerning the Self, which You have spoken out of compassion towards me, my delusion is gone.

In this opening stanza, Arjuna expresses his complete satisfaction at the details regarding the glories of the Lord which were described in the previous chapter, Arjuna appreciated that so much labour was spent by Krishna only to bless his disciple and bring him out of delusion. To realise the unity in the diversity is to get an inoculation against the sorrows of plurality. The deft pen of Vyasa beautifully registers the effectiveness of the last chapter upon a sincere student when he makes Arjuna confess,

"THIS, MY DELUSION, IS GONE." REMOVAL OF A DELUSION or a misunderstanding IS NOT IN ITSELF THE ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE of the Real. Removal of delusion is one aspect of the process of knowing the Truth. Arjuna must be rightly feeling that his delusion --- his firm faith in the separativeness of names and forms --- can no longer hold its grounds when his intellect has been educated to look forward to, and detect the "presence" of the Divine in the very world of his perceptions. But at the same time, he has not gained any visible experience of the Unity in the diversity; he has no personal experience of the oneness of things and beings, although theoretically at least, his intellect has come to accept this inherent Oneness. The Pandava Prince, Arjuna, realises that Krishna has so elaborately explained the theme in the previous chapter only "out of compassion towards me" (Mad-anugrahaya). This reminds us of Krishna using almost the same term (X-2) when He explains how He, abiding in the hearts of his devotees, destroys all their inner darkness born out of ignorance. OUT OF COMPASSION FOR ARJUNA, WHAT WERE THE SUPREMELY PROFOUND WORDS THAT WERE GIVEN OUT BY THE LORD? LISTEN:

2. The origin and destruction of beings verily, have been heard by me in detail from You, O Lotus-eyed Krishna, and also Your inexhaustible greatness.

It is natural, in a discussion between the teacher and the taught, that at the end of a difficult lesson, on approaching the teacher with his doubts, the student should first of all prove to him that he has sufficiently understood the theme of the discussion. This entitles the student to ask the teacher his doubts and get them cleared. Following this traditional method, Arjuna is trying to show Krishna that he has completely understood the main theme of the last chapter. He has listened to Krishna and understood the

"ORIGIN AND DISSOLUTION OF BEINGS, AND THE GREATNESS AND THE INEXHAUSTIBLE GLORY OF THE LORD." And yet, a doubt remains which can be removed only when his intellect is convinced by a confident knowledge arising out of an actually observed demonstration. The stanza is preparing to meet such a demand. When a student, who has proved to have understood the logic of discussion already carried out, asks a legitimate question, or enquires after the remedy for a possible obstacle, a true teacher must help him out of his troubles by all possible means. We shall observe here in this chapter that the great Yogeshwara (Krishna), out of sheer kindness, even condescends to show Arjuna the form of the Cosmic-Man because the disciple has demanded that he must see it. THE DEMAND OF THE DISCIPLE IS DESCRIBED IN THE FOLLOWING VERSE:

3. (Now) O Supreme Lord! As you have thus described Yourself, I wish to see (actually) Your Form Divine, O PURUSHOTTAMA.

Indicating by a familiar idiom in Sanskrit, "So be it" (evam- etat), Arjuna accepts the technical thesis that has been declared by the Lord. Intellectually, it has been satisfactorily proved that the Lord is immanent in all names and forms. Still the intellect awaits the baptism of a demonstration. Therefore Arjuna says, "I DESIRE TO SEE YOUR ISHWARA-FORM." He is Ishwara who in Himself, expresses omnipotence, infinite wisdom, strength, virtue and splendour; these are the six qualities that are described in our shastras as forming the characteristic features of the God-principle. This was the occasion on which Krishna decided to show to Arjuna that the LORD IS NOT ONLY IMMANENT in all forms, but He is also the vehicle or receptacle in which all names and forms have their existence and play --- HE IS ALSO TRANSCENDENT. Though, with the enthusiasm of a fanatic believer in intellectualism, Arjuna demands a demonstration, he immediately realises that his audacity has, perhaps, crossed the frontiers of decency. HE IS TRYING TO SMOOTHEN HIS WORDS OUT IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA:

4. If you, O Lord, think it possible for me to see It, do You please, then, O Lord of YOGAS, show me Your Imperishable

Self-form.

The demand in the previous stanza has been repeated here, with a dignified humility and pure reverence. In our ordinary life, in all our respectful appeals and humble petitions we use such phrases as: "If I may be permitted to say," "I shall be much obliged if," "I have the honour to submit," "If I may have the leave to say so," etc. The Pandava Prince, as a result of a second thought, as it were, smoothens his solider-like abrupt language used in the previous stanza and says that the Lord's IMMUTABLE Universal Form may be shown to him --- "IF YOU THINK I AM CAPABLE OF SEEING IT." The modesty and reverence shown here are not expressions of a faked emotion for cheap fulfilment of desires. This is evident from the term he is using in addressing the Lord in the verse. In the first line we find Krishna being addressed as "O Lord" (Prabho), and in the following line He is again addressed as "the Lord of Yogas" (Yogeshwara). These clearly indicate that Arjuna has come to feel that Krishna is not a mere mortal teacher, capable of giving only some intellectual ventilations and spiritual discourses, but that "He is Himself Divine and a Master- of-Yoga," and therefore, he is capable of fulfilling the request, if the "teacher" in Krishna is satisfied that the

"student" in Arjuna will be benefited by such a demonstration. THE HUMBLE REQUEST OF AN EARNEST STUDENT NEVER FALLS ON DEAF EARS, IF IT IS MADE TO A TRUE TEACHER:

The Blessed Lord said: 5. Behold, O Partha, forms of Me, by hundreds and thousands, of different sorts Divine, of various colours and shapes.

If gold is the essential stuff in all the ornaments, every ornament in the world must be available in the total gold. To see the gold in the ornaments is relatively easy, it being a PHYSICAL PERCEPTION. But to detect the presence of all ornaments of different shapes and colours in the total gold is comparatively difficult, inasmuch as it is the VISION OF THE INTELLECT. Keeping this idea in mind, when you read the opening lines of the Lord's words, it becomes strikingly significant.

"BEHOLD, BY HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS, MY DIFFERENT FORMS CELESTIAL, VARIED IN COLOURS AND SHAPES." It was not necessary for Krishna to change His form to that of the Cosmic-Man; all that Arjuna had to do was to BEHOLD THE FORM right in front of him. But, unfortunately, the instrument-of- perception was not tuned up for the object of his investigation, and therefore, Arjuna could not perceive that which was already in Krishna. That which is lying beyond the focal length of a telescope, cannot be viewed by the observer even though the object may be present in line with the axis of the instrument. In order to bring the farther object within the span of vision, the observer will have to make the required adjustments in the telescope. Similarly, Krishna did not TRANSFORM Himself into His Cosmic-Form, but He only helped Arjuna to make the necessary inward adjustments so that he could perceive what was there evidently in Krishna. Naturally, the Lord says, "BEHOLD." The total world of perceivable beings of all shapes and colours is indicated in the enumeration made by the Lord in the stanza. WHAT ARE THOSE? 6. Behold the ADITYAS, the VASUS, the RUDRAS, the (two) ASHWINS and also the MARUTS; behold many wonders

never seen before, O Bharata.

In enumerating the items that are to be seen in Krishna's Cosmic-Form, the Lord hints at the most important and striking of them. This is generally done when we try to describe a crowd of people or things by using a short representative term. Mention is made on all such occasions of the most important items or personalities --- the few who represent the whole crowd. With a note of despair ringing through his words, the Lord concludes

"BEHOLD MANY MORE SUCH WONDERS AS NEVER SEEN BEFORE." The various items enumerated have all been already explained in the previous chapter* Of them the only new term used here is the Ashwini Kumaras, the Horsemen-Twins. It is not very clear in literature as to what exactly is the identity of these twins with heads of horses. It is not very easy to decide what they represent. In some places they are described as the Dawn and the Dusk, and in other places there are sufficient evidences to make us suspect that they represent the Morning-Star and the Evening-Star. Anyway, they are Angels that go to serve their devotees in times of utter need and despair. BY GIVING A COMPREHENSIVE SUMMARY OF THE THINGS TO BE EXPECTED IN THE COSMIC-VISION, KRISHNA HAS INCREASED THE INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY OF HIS DISCIPLE. WHERE EXACTLY IS HE TO LOOK FOR THESE THINGS? ... LISTEN:

7. Now behold, O Gudakesha, in this Body, that the whole universe centres in One --- including, the moving and the unmoving --- and whatever else you desire to see.

The enthusiastic seeker's adventurous mind having been sufficiently educated so far to develop an unending wealth of 'eagerness to know,' Krishna further educates, sharpening in the student, the 'anxiety to know' in this mind, with sufficient details on what he may expect in the Divine Vision that is to follow. This secret technique then makes the student ardently converge all this attention towards one given Form Divine. This is achieved by his verse. If we follow the technique, developed through the expressed words, we shall find that Vyasa has here explained the entire Science of Love as adumbrated in the Cult of Bhakti, or 'Devotion to the Supreme.' The entire Universe, constituted both of the moving and the unmoving --- of the sentient and the insentient --- is being shown by Krishna on his own physical structure as described by the effective intimate term,

"Here, concentrated" (Iha-ekastham). And this term has been annotated in the same stanza as "In this, My Body" (mama dehe). The entire Universe of gross forms, both movable and immovable, is to be compressed within the framework of Krishna's girth and height. As we explained earlier* the concept of space has not been completely sponged out of Arjuna's mind but a total space-concept equivalent to Krishna's own mortal dimensions is left in him. With this mind, when Arjuna looks out, he must necessarily see framed in Krishna all at once, the entire Universe compressed and miniatured with all its multiple details intact. Even though "the entire Universe, including both the moving and the unmoving" is a term sufficiently elastic so as not to leave anything outside its implications, Krishna again sharpens the enthusiasm of Arjuna by stating that the Pandava could see anything "ELSE THAT YOU DESIRE TO SEE." As a typical mortal, Arjuna is preoccupied with the particular problem of life and his anxiety naturally grows to peep into the future and discover its solution rather than to realise the underlying oneness that embraces even the forms in the outer world- of-matter.

"THE ONE IN THE MANY" HAS BEEN DESCRIBED IN THE LAST CHAPTER, AND HERE WE ARE ABOUT TO SEE "THE MANY IN THE ONE."

8. But You are not able to behold Me with these Your own eyes; I give You the divine-eye; behold My lordly YOGA.

We have already explained how it is relatively easy to see the essential stuff as the core of individual names and forms, but the reverse of it --- to discover the many in the one --- is the work of a subtle intellect functioning through right philosophical understanding. TO READ a poem, only a knowledge of the alphabet is necessary; but to understand its subtler beauties and to classify it in a comparative study with other similar poems, it needs a masterly mind that has been well soaked with the master- pieces in poetry. Similarly, to see "THE ONE IN THE MANY" is the work of a 'heart' soaked with faith; but to PERCEIVE "THE MANY IN THE ONE," we need, besides the 'heart,' an educated 'intellect' that has learnt to see for itself the logic of the philosophers. This peculiar capacity of an educated intellect to see the extraordinary is the vision of the intellect which is gained when we develop the faculty to perceive and to know.

This obvious fact is explained by the Lord in this stanza,

"YOU CANNOT SEE ME WITH THESE EYES OF YOURS; I GIVE THEE THE VISION DIVINE." There are very many critics who try to explain this "Divine-eye" through fantastic suppositions and ridiculous theories. Such commentators are certainly men, not much educated in the style of the Hindu scriptures, the Upanishads. Expressly and tacitly, all through the Upanishads, it is repeatedly explained that the subtler cannot be brought within the scope and compass of the instruments-of- perception given to man. The external sense organs can play freely only in the outer world-of-objects. Even when we ordinarily "see an idea" it is not done with our outer pair of eyes. The intellectual comprehension is meant here by the term "seeing" and the capacity of the intellect to comprehend is the 'Divine-eye.' This "special-vision" is given to the Pandava Prince so that he may see "MY SUPREME YOGA-POWER" by which the whole Universe of multiplicity is being supported by the Lord's own form. Earlier, this particular Yoga-Power of the Lord, has been already described at two different places, (VII-12 and IX-4) almost in identical terms. THE SCENE SHIFTS TO HASTINAPURA, IN THE PALACE OF DHRITARASHTRA:

Sanjaya said: 9. Having thus spoken, O King, the great Lord of YOGA, Hari, showed to Partha His Supreme Form, as the Lord (of the Universe).

The versatile genius of Vyasa has never left anything that he has touched without raising it to the most sublime heights of perfection. With unimaginable capacities for composing incomparable poetry, unique prose-diction, chaste descriptions, artistic, literary designs, original innovations both in thought and form --- a brilliant philosopher, a man of consummate wisdom, a genius in worldly knowledge, at one time in the palace, at another time in the battle-field, at still another time in Badrinath, and again, among the silent snow peaks --- strode the colossus, Sri Vyasa, as an embodiment of what is best in the Hindu tradition and in the Aryan culture. Such an all- round genius has not yet been reported ever to have been born, lived or achieved so much in the history of this globe, at any other time! After Lord Krishna gave Arjuna a hint as to what he should expect and where he would gain the vision of the Cosmic-Man, etc., Vyasa introduces a small section in which Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra, the blind father of the wicked Kauravas. The literary purpose served by this stanza is only to show to the readers that Krishna, according to his promise, had actually revealed his Cosmic-Form to Arjuna. But along with that, the deft mastery of the ancient writer of

Mahabharata tries to paint for us the mental attitude and the inward sympathies of Sanjaya. We have stated earlier that Sanjaya is

"OUR OWN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT." His sympathies are clearly with the Pandavas, the friends of the Lord. This tendency in Sanjaya is unquestionably revealed when he addressed his own master merely as "O King" (Rajan) while he uses the terms, (a) Mahayogeshwara ... "the Great Lord of Yoga" and (b) Harih ... "the one who maintains the champions of Truth by destroying the powers of falsehood," to indicate Lord Krishna. The implied suggestions of these words point at a bloodless murder of the blind old King! With Sanjaya's words, the crowd of listeners and students of Geeta are shifted from the field of the battle to the palace of the battle-monger. This is perhaps necessary to remind the readers that the philosophy of the Geeta has an intimate practical application to life. Sanjaya informs Dhritarashtra that the Great Lord of Yoga showed to Arjuna his Supreme Ishwara-form. Sanjaya entertains a thin hope that, at least on hearing that the Lord of the Universe is on the side of his nephews, the blind King will foresee the sure defeat of his sons and, in his discrimination, will cry a halt to the impending disastrous war. IN A ROUGH OUTLINE SANJAYA DESCRIBES THE LIST OF THINGS THAT WERE VISIBLE WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE DIVINE CHARIOTEER:

10. With numerous mouths and eyes, with numerous wonderful sights, with numerous divine ornaments, with numerous divine weapons uplifted (such a form He showed).

11. Wearing divine garlands (necklaces) and apparel, anointed with divine unguents, the All-wonderful, Resplendent, Endless, facing all sides.

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.

"DIVINE HIS GARLANDS AND ROBES" --- "DIVINE THE PERFUME OF HIS ANOINTMENT" --- "ALL MARVELLOUS, THE LORD, BOUNDLESS AND

FACING EVERY SIDE" --- these represent the remaining strokes which, when added to the previous set of lines, bring out the picture of the Cosmic-Man roughly in its full outline. CONTINUING IN HIS LANGUAGE OF DOTS AND DASHES, SANJAYA DESCRIBES:

12. If the splendour of a thousand Suns was to blaze all at once (simultaneously) in the sky, that would be like the splendour of that Mighty Being (great soul).

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:

13. There, in the body of the God of gods, the Pandava (Son of Pandu) then saw the whole Universe resting in one, with all its infinite parts.

In that Divine Form of the Lord, Arjuna perceived how the entire world of manifold varieties had been brought together and packed to rest at one and the same place. We have already noticed that the concept of the Cosmic-Man is the vision of the Universe through a mind which has ceased to act with the concept of time or space. This vision of "the many in one" is not so much a physical perception as an intellectual comprehension. It is not that the Universe has shrunk into the size of Krishna. It is quite sufficient if Arjuna has the required sense of oneness in the world of matter and if he looks at the Universe through his understanding so that, intellectually, he can come to estimate the oneness of the Universe. To quote a parallel in modern science, we may consider the attempt of Chemistry to classify all the existing substances. When so many things in the world are brought on the laboratory tables, it is found that they are constituted of the elements, in all about one hundred and three in number. This understanding of the elements soon yields place when the atom-contents in them are discovered to be nothing other than the electrons, protons and neutrons. If a scientist, who knows these three were to look through his knowledge, at the manifold substances, it would be very easy for him to see that all things of the world are in the three factors, which are the contents of each atom. If fact now there are only three elements in the world, the triple factors in the Atom. Similarly here, when Arjuna gained his special knowledge through the grace of Krishna, he comes to recognise the whole Universe in the very body of the God-principle, the Total-intellect. ARJUNA'S PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL REACTIONS ON SEEING THIS FORM, ARE BEING VERY CAREFULLY NOTED AND REPORTED BY SANJAYA:

14. Then, Dhananjaya, filled with wonder, with his hair standing on end, bowed down his head to the God and spoke with joined palms.

On seeing this transcendental vision, emotions of wonderment and consequent horripilations are noticed in Arjuna. Though Sanjaya is far away, he not only seems to see minute physical details of each soldier upon the battle- field but also seems to have a power to peep over the body into the mind-and-intellect equipment of each individual. The inner wonder-emotion in Arjuna's mind is as much evident to Sanjaya, as was his hair standing on his body. Arjuna, with folded palms, bending his head low, now opens his mouth for the first time to talk. That Arjuna did not speak so long is in itself a positive indication of the choking emotion that he must have felt at the sight of this sweetly unnerving Divine-Form. WHAT WERE THE ACTUAL WORDS OF WONDER- MENT THAT BURST OUT FROM ARJUNA? ... LISTEN:

Arjuna said: 15. I see all the gods, O God, in Your body, and (also) hosts of various classes of beings. BRAHMA, the Lord of Creation, seated on the Lotus, all the RISHIS and celestial serpents. When the Prince addressed Krishna as the Resplendent (Deva), he is endorsing the comparison of the Lord to the light of thousand-Suns which was used earlier by Sanjaya. Enumerating the features recognised by him on the body of Krishna, Arjuna says, "IN THY BODY I SEE ALL THE DEVAS AND HOSTS OF ALL GRADES OF BEINGS." This was already indicated by Sanjaya when he described the Universal Form as 'WEARING NUMEROUS ROBES,' 'ADORNING ITSELF WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF DIVINE ORNAMENTS,' 'WEARING GARLANDS OF CELESTIAL BEAUTY,' and bearing 'AN ARSENAL OF WEAPONS IN ITS INNUMERABLE HANDS.' These descriptions show that in Krishna one could recognise not only the things of the world, but in the Virata-form of the Lord even the Devas are represented. The same adhidaiva-idea is very directly insisted upon by

Arjuna in this stanza when he describes among the things that he saw in Krishna, the Creator, Brahmaji (Brahmaanam), the Annihilator, Shiva (Isham), and the Sustainer, Vishnu (Kamal-asana-stham); along with a host of ancient Seers! AND CELESTIAL SERPENTS --- In poetry, it is a technique, often very effective, employed by great poets wherein they suddenly step down from the sublime to the ridiculous or the grotesque, only to shock the readers and thereby tap out of them the degree of special attention which the theme demands. It is indicated here that from Brahmaji in the heavens, to the serpents in the holes of the earth, all are represented in the Lord's Cosmic-Form. The microcosm (Vyashti) is the macrocosm (Samashti). And this is explained and realised by all great thinkers of the world. But nobody has ever before tried to express this philosophical idea in the form of a vivid objective representation. Vyasa was the pioneer in this art and none has yet dared to follow him in this arduous task. THE GRIPPING DETAILS THAT CAN UNNERVE EVEN THE MOST COURAGEOUS ARE GIVEN OUT NOW BY ARJUNA:

16. I see Thee of boundless form on every side, with manifold arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes; neither the end, nor the middle, nor also the beginning do I see; O, Lord of the Universe, O, Cosmic-Form.

A limited human intellect is not the instrument with which one can perceive in one sweep the Infinite majesty of the Universal-Form. It must necessarily stand staggered at the vastness of the concept and the significances of Its sheer dimensions. That the Lord is the ONE dynamic Truth behind every organ of activity and in every existent thing is indicated here when Arjuna says "I SEE THEE OF BOUNDLESS FORM ON EVERY SIDE, WITH MANIFOLD ARMS, STOMACHS, MOUTHS AND EYES." This is not to be construed as a caricature of Truth. This warning is necessary for all hasty artists, who, inspired by the theme, generally rush to this field of thought, to represent this Cosmic Form with their brushes and colours. And they all but fail miserably! The Universal Oneness is not an object of perception; it is only a fact to be realised or apprehended. This is endorsed by the the very words of Arjuna that immediately follow in the stanza, "NEITHER THE END, NOR THE BEGINNING, NOR THE MIDDLE OF THEE DO I SEE." The description of the Truth --- from which all names and forms arise, in which they exist, and into which they all merge back at the end of their temporary play --- cannot be better done in any other way and those who, with sympathetic understanding, get at the real import of these stanzas can appreciate their rich beauties and luxurious warmth. The above stanzas express the oneness that threads through the mortal beings and finite things of the world, making a single garland of them all! IT MAY BE DOUBTED WHETHER THE DEIFIED DENIZENS OF THE DIVINE HIERARCHY ARE ALSO REPRESENTED UPON THIS WONDER-FORM. THIS IS ANSWERED IN THE FOLLOWING:

17. I see Thee with Crown, Club, and Discus; a mass of radiance shining everywhere, very hard to look at, all round blazing like burning fire and Sun, and incomprehensible.

Continuing his description of the Cosmic-Form, the Pandava Prince gives more and more details of what he comprehends in that incomprehensible Divine extravaganza. He sees therein the Crown, the Club, and the Discus. These are the insignia which Lord Vishnu is said to carry, in all mythological descriptions. Hindu gods are represented as having certain divine symbols, and they all have their own respective special significances --- of Kingship and Lordliness over the world of finite things and happenings. He alone is the Lord who is a Master-of-circumstances and a Ruler-of- impulses. A slave to life and its enchantments is a weakling, on whose head a crown rests only temporarily like the gilted-cardboard-crown of an actor playing on a stage. No authority or effectiveness in life is possible unless the man-in-power has self-control and self-mastery. No man can live a happy and mighty life unless he has conquered his passions and crowned himself with kingship over himself. He is Vishnu and He alone then deserves the crown! The four-armed Vishnu carries in his hands the Conch, the Discus, the Club, and the Lotus. This is extremely symbolical. In India the Lotus represents "peace and joy, auspiciousness and happiness." The Conch blows and calls man to duty; and if there be a generation of men who listen not to the Higher-call in themselves, restlessness, war, pestilence, famine, storms, and chaotic social and communal disturbances visit them --- the Club descends to hammer the generation to shape and discipline. Even after this punishment, if there be a generation so totally dissipated that it cannot improve, then comes the Discus -- - the sharp-toothed wheel, ever revolving, the Whirling of Time

(Kaala-chakra) to annihilate the irredeemable generation. When we find these in Arjuna's description as part of the Universal Form, it becomes evident that the same Truth is the Substratum, not only of the lowest of low worms, but even of the Divine Trinity. The Eternal Truth is one and the same, everywhere, at all times; only Its manifestations are varied, and the degree of Divinity sparkling from each differs according to the grossness or subtlety of the equipment through which the same Infinite Reality expresses Itself. AS A MASS OF RADIANCE SHINING EVERYWHERE, ALL ROUND GLOWING LIKE THE BLAZING SUN AND FIRE, HARD TO GAZE ON --- One of the most expressive lines in this description, this brings home to us the glory of Pure Awareness. This is not 'light' in the physical sense of the term; but all the same we have to use the word, borrowed from ordinary language, though it is applied here with a special significance. Consciousness is the 'Light' in which we so clearly 'SEE' our own thoughts and emotions. It is the same light which, beaming out through the eyes, throws 'light' upon the world and illumines for us the FORMS AND SHAPES. The same Consciousness, beaming out through the ears, with its special 'light,' illumines SOUND, and so on. Naturally, therefore, the Universal-Form of Krishna, representing in Himself the Infinite Awareness, had to be described, in the faltering language of Arjuna, as a mass of resplendent light, blinding all faculties of perception, feeling and understanding. INCOMPREHENSIBLE (Aprameya) --- So far, though Arjuna described, as best as he could, the Form, and the feelings It had engendered in him, there is a streak of despair running in these stanzas. Arjuna feels that he has not captured the theme fully in the web of his language. Language expresses that which is perceived, or felt, or understood. Here is a form which Arjuna experiences. He beholds. He feels. And he comprehends it in himself. Yet, strangely enough, here is an experience that volatilises and eludes all attempts at being bottled in language! He seems to be not satisfied by the objective description which he gave in the language of his eyes, ears, etc., and he feels equally unhappy with the language of his emotion, as felt by his mind. True to himself, the wonder-struck mortal is trying to sing the glory of what he lives, in the language of his intellect. But even here he can only cry in despair, "OH LORD THOU ART EVER INCOMPREHENSIBLE." Though the universal Form is painted here by the author, in the language of an "objective experience," he makes us understand that the Truth is the SUBJECT and not an object of even the intellect. The Self is the KNOWER, THE FEELER, the PERCEIVER; It is not the perceived, the felt, or the known. FROM THIS VISION OF THE POWER OF YOGA, I INFER:

18. You are the Imperishable, the Supreme Being worthy to be known. You are the great treasure-house of this Universe. You are the imperishable Protector of the Eternal DHARMA. In my opinion, You are the Ancient PURUSHA.

From every experience, all intelligent men try to gather their own conclusions, which alone, in fact, constitute true knowledge. Arjuna had a great experience, too subtle for words to express, or for his intellect to comprehend, in all its entirety. But from what he saw, he tries to draw certain conclusions. Crystallised into his understanding, the conclusions are that the Power behind this Cosmic Form is that which is the Imperishable Supreme Truth. When we see all the waves playing on the surface of the ocean, manifesting and disappearing after a temporary existence into the very waters from which they rose, we generally conclude that the ocean is the source of all waves. It becomes at once the rest-house for the waves, or the treasure-house for all the disturbances. Similarly, Arjuna comes to the intelligent conclusion that Krishna, as the Cosmic-Form, is the very Substratum from which the pluralistic world of phenomena arises, exists in, and merges into. The Universe (Vishwa) mentioned here, is not merely the astronomers' universe of physical things, but, in Vedanta, Vishwa is the sum-total experience of everyone, gained through the individual instruments of perception, feeling and understanding. The Lord is the foundation (Nidhaanam) for the entire universe of disturbances, experienced by us at our physical, mental and intellectual levels. Things that change can continue to do so only on a changeless substratum. The world-of-change plays ever to the tune of Time and Space. But, in order that we may feel a continuity of the happenings and thereby gain a comprehensive experience of the total, there must be one constant and changeless

"Knowing-principle" that registers the happenings, without itself in the least being involved in the change. That truth is the Self, and the Self alone is that which could take upon itself the stupendous Universal-Form (Vishwaroopa). Keeping these ideas in mind, Arjuna declares that He who has transformed Himself into this Wonder-Form is the One Changeless Truth, that permeates the entire realm of changes and modifications. In India, to the Hindus, the protector of his Dharma is not a mortal king, or a priest class. The Supreme alone is its guardian, for the Hindus are not the followers of any accidental prophet, who has a fleeting historical reality and a limited mission of serving his immediate generation with the best he had. To the Hindu, THE ETERNAL TRUTH IS HIS GOAL, HIS MASTER AND HIS WAY. We demand no mortal power with its poison-gas and atom-bomb to protect our Dharma. THAT YOU ARE THE ANCIENT PURUSHA, IS MY OPINION --- In Vedanta, the very physical structure is considered as a Capital-city with nine gates, each controlled and guarded by its presiding deity. That which dwells in the city, here meaning the body, is in Sanskrit

'Purusha.' In the context of the stanza, it only means that the solution for the riddle of life, which is the source, or substratum of the whole universe, is to be sought, not among the world-of-objects but within the very layers of personalities in us, until we discover it as the Purusha, the Eternal. The Conscious Principle, which is the Spark-of- life in everyone, is here indicated to be the very Eternal Truth which alone can take up the Form-Universal, as it stands now in front of Arjuna's bewildered gaze. MOREOVER:

19. I see You without beginning, middle, or end, infinite in power, of endless arms, the sun and moon being Your eyes, the burning fire Your mouth, heating the whole universe with Your radiance. Continuing the description of the Infinite as comprehended by the subtle perception of Arjuna and interpreted by his intellect in terms of the Universe of things and names, it is explained, "I SEE THEE WITHOUT BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END, INFINITE IN POWER, OF INFINITE ARMS." This pen-picture, drawn by Vyasa with his eloquent poetry, gives a false impression that the theme is an object, and many are the artists who have tried to capture this form on the canvas. The folly is clear to every intelligent student of Vedanta. That which is Infinite, without beginning or end, cannot be brought within the area of a limited canvas-piece. But, at the same time, the phrase "OF INFINITE ARMS" tickles the painter to express it through his own art. In fact, the Universal-Form, standing out so clearly in relief work in this transcendental apprehension of the author, can be comprehended only by students of deep understanding and developed intuition. Here, by the term "OF INFINITE ARMS" it only means that the Supreme Self, as the dynamic life, is the one essential strength behind every hand that acts and achieves. The "principle of light" is the very "principle" in the eye. If the eyes were not there, light itself would have no meaning. At the same time, if the "principle of light" were not blessing the objects of form, the instruments of cognition --- the eyes --- could not have functioned at all. We have here the description of the totality. The "principle of vision," i.e., all the eyes in the whole universe, is described as the pair-of-eyes, in the Universal-Form of the Lord. Therefore, in the technical language of Vedanta, it has been aptly described here that "THE SUN AND THE MOON ARE YOUR EYES." BURNING FIRE OF YOUR MOUTH --- Here fire has been considered as the principle behind speech and the principle governing taste. Warm food tastes better; frozen- food has no taste. The presiding deity of speech can FIRE the generation. HEATED discussions always take place; cold discussion is a painful monotony. Speeches that freeze the audience are only lullabies. And the mouth being the seat for both the instruments of speech and taste, the mouth of the Vishwaroopa is explained here as "Fire." HEATING THE WHOLE UNIVERSE WITH YOUR RADIANCE --- The Self cannot but be luminous, because Consciousness illumines all experiences, at all times, in all living organisms. This light of Consciousness not only illumines, but also imparts the Warmth of life to the entire Universe. From the very statement it is evident that the ancient Hindu had turned his gaze inward only when he had exhausted his observations and study of the world outside. It seems that he knew well that at a certain degree of temperature alone life could continue on this globe; below the required minimum and above the maximum temperature, life would be extinct. The light that is emanating from Truth is Its own light, and not something which It has derived from any other source. It is by "Your own Radiance" (Swa-Tejasa) that the life is sustained in the world of names and forms.

20. This space between earth and the heavens and all the quarters is filled by You alone; having seen this, Your wonderful and terrible form, the three worlds are trembling with fear, O great-souled Being.

Truth, as apprehended by Arjuna, pervades the entire world-of-objects and even the concepts of time and space are not independent of this Truth. The theme that has been described here, we should not forget, is the Infinite, the Eternal. Naturally, it is said here, "BY YOU ALONE, THE SPACE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH AND ALL THE QUARTERS OF THE SKY, IS PERVADED." The concept of universal oneness cannot be easily grasped. The more one realises it, the more one gets staggered at the immensity of it all. A limited intellect cannot but shudder at the manifestation of such a vast and majestic Truth. SEEING THE MARVELLOUS AND THE AWFUL FORM, ARJUNA SAYS, "THE WORLDS ARE TREMBLING." It is psychologically true that each man sees the world as he himself is. We look at the world through the windows of our mind; as our mind is, so is the world to us. Arjuna felt staggered and trembling in himself when he looked at the world in that mental condition, and he could not but see that the whole world was equally wonder-struck and trembling as he himself was. Even while he is preoccupied with the great theme in hand, Vyasa does not forget the fundamental behaviour in man. These fine touches add a glow of realism to this mystic picture of imcomparable beauty and immeasurable depth. ARJUNA HAD A DOUBT REGARDING THE POSSIBILITIES OF SUCCESS IN THE WAR.* IN ORDER

TO REMOVE THIS, LORD KRISHNA NOW GIVES ARJUNA A PEEP INTO THE FUTURE THAT IS IN STORE FOR THE WORLD:

21. Verily, into You enter these hosts of DEVAS; some extol You in fear with joined palms; "May it be well" thus saying, bands of great RISHIS and SIDDHAS praise You with hymns sublime. The running commentary given out so long by Arjuna was the description of a stagnant Cosmic-Form, at once

"marvellous and awful." Here we find Arjuna describing the movements and actions that he observes in that Cosmic-Form of the Lord. "THESE HOSTS OF DEITIES" enter into and disappear in the Universal-Form. Shankara, commenting upon the expression "HOSTS OF DEITIES," interprets it to mean the Duryodhana-fold. Though this interpretation is not inconsistent with what is yet to follow, it is true that this meaning is not the natural interpretation of the terms used in the text. If some, who are thus irredeemably drawn towards the Lord's Form, disappear therein, others who are waiting and watching the process are necessarily getting panicky with fear. When man is threatened with a sure mishap, and when he knows of no remedy or defence against it, he, in his despair, always turns to prayer. This psychological truth is beautifully brought out here, when it explains how "SOME IN FEAR EXTOL THEE WITH JOINED PALMS." And this is not all. Bands of great Rishis and perfected- men (Siddhas) who are not at all perturbed by the Vision of the Totality, because of their super-human tranquillity and inward peace arising from their own "wisdom," merely sing sublime hymns of glory to the mighty appearance of the total phenomenal world of multiplicity. They do so wishing "MAY PEACE BE" to all, always. They realise in their "wisdom" that the face of the cosmos assumes such a terrible ferocity only when it has launched a wholesale reconstruction scheme. The mean of wisdom also know that nothing is lost in such a programme of "construction through destruction." Therefore, they hail this process and wish the world a brilliant golden era, which is sure to follow immediately after such a total upheaval. In this stanza, the entire world of phenomena has been beautifully brought under three heads: the "Sub-normal," the "Normal," and the "Super-normal." The "Sub-normal" unconsciously die away. They are the victims of the process of death and they are so miserably unaware of the very process, that they do not at all revolt against it. The

"Normal" dread when they intelligently observe and become aware of the process of decay and death. They become apprehensive of their own fate; and failing to realise that nothing is lost by death, they, in their ignorance, shudder at the inescapable lot of all living names and forms.

There is yet another set constituted of "Super-normal" men, who have sufficient apprehension of the Totality and Its behaviour, and who are not at all perturbed even if what is happening in the Universe everyday, were to visit them also one day. When bubbles are broken, there is no occasion to regret for those who know what they are and how they are born. Similarly, when these Siddhas see the upheaval that precedes a dying culture's reorientation, they recognise therein the mighty Power of Truth and wish only good luck and peace to the world so reconstructed by the very hands of the Lord. In whichever light we may observe this work, we must come to realise how great a psychologist Vyasa himself must have been and also how beautifully the knowledge of the mental behaviour has been harnessed for quickening the evolution of man to reach the fulfilment of all his struggles. HOW THEN DID THE GODS OF THE HEAVENS REACT TO THIS SPECTACULAR VISION OF THE COSMIC-MAN IN ACTION? 22. THE RUDRAS, ADITYAS, VASUS, SADHYAS, VISHWE-DEVAS, THE TWO ASHWINS, MARUTS, USHMAPAS AND HOSTS OF GANDHARVAS, YAKSHAS, ASURAS AND SIDDHAS --- they are all looking

at you, all quite astonished.

Continuing the description, Arjuna says that among the hosts of being who gaze on at the Mysterious Form, there are Deities who are all the Lords of the phenomena, worshipped and revered by the generations of the Vedic period. Even they, looking at the Universal Form, stand struck with wonder and astonishment. The terms used here have all been described during our discourses on the previous chapters. The Spirits of Destruction (Rudras), the Sun (Adityas), the Lord of the seasons (Vasus), the Spirits of the Sky (Sadhyas), the Lesser Lords (Vishwe-devas), the Horsemen Twins (Ashwins), the Storm-Lords (Maruts), the Heat-drinkers (Ushmapas), the hosts of Heavenly Musicians (Gandharvas), Yakshas, Asuras and Siddhas --- these constitute the crowd that gaze at the terrible form of the Lord, "ALL QUITE ASTOUNDED." This stanza may not be quite appealing to us who are today strangers to the conceptions which these terms represent. But Arjuna was a student of the Vedas, and was the child of the age; he was naturally well versed in these Vedic thoughts and therefore the vocabulary of Arjuna could not have been otherwise. We have only to watch for, and understand, the general effect produced upon the Pandava warrior by the Vision of the Totality and the different reactions created in different types of minds. Each, according to its own intrinsic capacity, comprehended and appreciated the Vision of the entire Universe, so crystallised into the definite shapeless shape.

GIVING MORE AND MORE SURE STROKES, ARJUNA IS BRINGING OUT HIS EXPERIENCES TO A PRECISE CONCEPTION UPON THE CANVAS OF HIS LISTENER'S MIND:

23. Having seen Your immeasurable Form, with many mouths and eyes, O Mighty-armed, with many arms, thighs, and feet, with many stomachs and fearsome with many tusks, the worlds are terrified and so too am I.

24. On seeing you, with Your Form touching the sky, flaming in many colours, with mouths wide open, with large fiery eyes, I am terrified at heart, and I find neither courage, nor peace, O

Vishnu! The uncommon vision, "MARVELLOUS AND AWFUL," experienced by Arjuna, was not a localised 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 realised 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 realised 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 colours. 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:

25. Having seen your mouths fearsome with tusks (blazing) like PRALAYA fires, I know not the four quarters, nor do I find peace; be gracious, O Lord of the DEVAS, O Abode of the

Universe.

"SEEING THE UNIVERSAL-MOUTH TERRIBLE WITH TUSKS, THREATENING AS THE FIRE-OF-DELUGE," CONFESSES ARJUNA, "I HAVE LOST MY SENSE OF DIRECTION AND I FEEL NO PEACE." This is the picture of Time --- Time, the leveller of everything, the consumer of all forms. When the intellect comes to comprehend such a vast field, and that too all of a sudden, the very magnitude of it smothers all powers of discrimination and benumbs the individual for a moment. This chaotic condition of confusion is expressed here, "I KNOW NOT THE FOUR QUARTERS." And this is not all. "I FIND NO PEACE" either.

In such a condition of extreme wonderment, the astounded mortal comes to realise that his physical might, his mental capacities and his intellectual subtleties are all, both individually and in their aggregate, unimportant vehicles indeed. The little ego drops down its veil of vanity and its armour of false strength, and stands naked meekly surrendering itself to the influence of the Cosmic- Power. Prayer is the only resort of the individual, who has thus fully realised the emptiness of his own hollow vanities, in the presence of the Mighty-Total and the Supreme-Divine. In concluding the stanza with the humble prayer, "BE GRACIOUS, O LORD, THOU ART THE HOME OF THE UNIVERSE," Vyasa has rightly indicated that true prayers can never rise up from a heart that is swollen with pride and entertains an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Only when man understands his own individual insignificance, in the context of the total Universe, then true prayer can rise up from him almost involuntarily. THIS PARTICULAR SECTION (Starting from XI-21) IS MAINLY FOR REASSURING ARJUNA OF THE SUCCESS THAT IS YET TO COME IN THE FUTURE FOR HIMSELF AND HIS ARMY. THEREFORE, THE LORD DIRECTLY SHOWS THE FORCES ENTER THE INESCAPABLE "MOUTH OF TIME" AND DISAPPEAR:

26. All the sons of Dhritarashtra with hosts of kings of the earth, Bhishma, Drona and the son of a charioteer, Karna, with the warrior chieftains of ours;

27. Into Your mouths, with terrible teeth, and fearful to behold, they precipitately enter. Some are found sticking in the gaps between the teeth with their heads crushed into pulp.

A philosophy that comprehends the totality without fear or favour and is even true to its mission of seeking Truth, cannot afford to ignore the DESTRUCTIVE-aspect in nature. No creation is possible without being preceded by the process of destruction of its own existence as the raw material from which the created is produced. On the face of the Universe also, wherever there is "existence" it is nothing but a repetition of constant change, and change can be interpreted either in terms of constant-creation with regard to the MADE-PRODUCTS, or as a process of constant-destruction with regard to the RAW-MATERIAL that changed. Thus, we see that in Hinduism, the daring Masters of the Aryan fold, while extolling the beauty of the Reality, indulged themselves in viewing It not only as the Omniscient-Creator, or as the Omnipotent-Sustainer, but also as the All-powerful-Devourer of all names and forms. This may look dreadful to those creeds that have not yet come to watch and analyse Life in its totality.

Arjuna's words are significant. He does not see the Universal-Form itself devouring the names and forms. On the other hand, he observed that all names and forms

"ENTER IN HASTE INTO THY MOUTH." When we watch an ocean, we do not find the ocean ever rising up to absorb the waves, but the waves which have risen from the ocean, after a momentary play upon the surface, rush back to disappear into the very ocean. The multiplicity that has risen from the Totality, after its play upon the surface of Truth, must necessarily rush back in all hurry into the very Whole from which they had arisen. Arjuna watches "ALL THE SONS OF DHRITARASHTRA, THE HOSTS OF KINGS, BHISHMA, DRONA, KARNA, THE SON OF A CHARIOTEER, ALONG WITH THE WARRIOR CHIEFTAINS OF OURS" entering precipitately into the yawning mouth of the Principle of Destruction in nature. This not only frightens Arjuna and unnerves him, but also gives him a confidence to look ahead --- in spite of the fact that in numerical strength, in supplies, and in technicians, his own army was much inferior to the mighty forces of the Kurus. The Vision which he saw, was in fact a peep into the future. In the Vishwaroopa, when the Lord expresses Himself as the entire world of phenomena, a conception of oneness arises in which not only space shrinks, but even Time becomes an object-of-observation. It is no wonder, therefore, that Arjuna saw in that picture THE PAST MERGING WITH THE PRESENT AND

MOVING FORWARD TO MINGLE WITH THE ENTIRE FUTURE. When I have the entire Geeta-book before me, I can read either the preceding two pages or can skip over them and read the third page ahead or, according to my will and desire, continue reading this very same page. Similarly, when the whole Universe is brought at once within the compass of Arjuna's vision, he could see herein at one gaze "ALL THE HERE AND THE THERE, AND THE EVERYWHERE" --- so too THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE. The modern scientists also have now come to realise and accept that Time and Space are one and the same, and they are each expressed in terms of the other.* The seekers of Truth, themselves truthful, were not all all afraid if their enquiry took them to the aspect of the terrible in the Truth. The world is a combination of the beautiful and the ugly, the good and the bad, the soft and the hard, the sweet and the bitter. God, the Lord, has Himself become all these, and therefore, no adoration of the Lord, or estimate of the Reality, will be complete, if, according to our taste, we recognise only the beautiful, the good, the soft, and the sweet aspects of Him. An unprejudiced and detached mind will have to recognise Him as the ugly and the bad, the hard and the bitter also. That philosophy alone is complete which points out that the Supreme is, in fact, in Its Absolute Nature, beyond all these qualities.

In a purely scientific approach, therefore, Arjuna is made to express all the details, even if they be blood-curdling and gruesome. No doubt, the Geeta has its own sense of realism. The mouth of death is described here with all faithfulness as "TERRIBLE WITH TUSKS," "FEARFUL TO BEHOLD." HOW DO THEY ENTER THY MOUTH? ARJUNA SAYS:

28. Verily, as many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean, so these heroes in the world of men enter Your flaming mouths.

In this stanza, the analogy of the torrential rivers, gushing ahead to reach the ocean and become one with it, is used. Each river has, no doubt, its own distinct personality, gathered from the nature and condition of the very terrain through which it has flowed. At no point does any river pause or hesitate to gush forward. An observer of limited powers of understanding may say that each drop of water in its flow in the river is moving towards a known point down on its way; but, to a true observer, all rivers flow towards the ocean and they cannot, and will not, stop until they reach the ocean, having reached which, all distinctions end. Each drop of water in the river came from the ocean --- in the form of a cloud it reached the mountains, and there in the form of rain it manifested; watering the lands on the banks and supplying life and nourishment to the fields, they gushed down in their torrential haste to the very basin from which they took off on this "MERCY FLIGHT." Similarly, from the Totality, the individuals have come to serve the race, to nourish the culture, to contribute to the beauty of the world...and yet, on their pilgrimage none of them can pause even for a moment en route. All must rush towards the Source from which they arose. The river loses nothing by reaching the ocean. Even though it gathers enroute certain special qualities, and therefore, a special name, and has, for itself, a separate tangible form, it is all a temporary phase, a convenience taken up by "the waters of the ocean" to make the dry land smile in plenty. The more thought is given to it, the more can this stanza yield its secret joys and expose its innate beauty. WHY AND HOW DO THEY ENTER?

Arjuna says: 29. As moths rush hurriedly into a blazing fire for their own destruction, so also these creatures hastily rush into Your mouths of destruction.

The essential oneness between the MANIFEST that has come out of the UNMANIFEST, and the very UNMANIFEST which is the womb-of-manifestation, has been beautifully brought out by the picture of the river, which has risen from the ocean and is, in all haste, rushing down only to lose its very name and form, and become one with the ocean. No analogy can be complete in itself. The picture of the river does not show any intrinsic conscious effort on the part of the river to reach the ocean. The living kingdom, with its own free discrimination, it may be doubted, may not act as the inert waters of the river. To show that even the sentient beings are irresistibly drawn towards the mouth of their own destruction, by the whipping hand of instinct, the example of "THE MOTHS PRECIPITATELY RUSHING INTO THE BLAZING FIRE TO PERISH" is given. To Vyasa, the entire nature seems to be an open book-of-scripture, explaining everywhere in all its happenings, the fundamental facts that "the projection of the unmanifest to the manifest-condition is the PROCESS OF CREATION" and that "the manifest merging back to its own heaven of the unmanifest is DESTRUCTION OR DEATH." That terrible looking monstrous happening called 'death,' when approached in a correct perspective and with true understanding, unmasks itself to reveal a gladdening face, ever cheerful and gay. Arjuna's mental tension was mainly created by his hasty evaluation of the enormous destruction he would be causing in the battle-field of Kurukshetra. Krishna has to cure him, by lifting him to heights from which he could witness and realise, in one sweeping gaze, the unavoidable phenomenon of death. A close and full understanding of any happening removes the fangs from its threatening hood! It is only when the discriminating intellect of man becomes doped with "ignorance," that the happenings around him can threaten to smother him down. As the river hastens to the ocean, and the moths into the fire, so too all names and forms must, and most irresistibly do, rush towards the unmanifest. With this realisation, anyone can thereafter face life, fearless of death, since life itself becomes to him a process of continuous change. THEREFORE DEATH, AS A PLAY-OF-TIME, BECOMES A STINGLESS PHENOMENON. THIS IS GLORIFIED IN ALL ITS FEROCIOUS BEAUTY IN THE FOLLOWING VERSES:

30. Devouring all worlds on every side with Your flaming mouths, You are licking (in enjoyment). Your fierce rays, filling the whole world with radiance, are burning, O Vishnu.

After composing some surging poetry, Vyasa faithfully comes back to the line of thought he was developing earlier. Hosts of men and things of the world reach the Mouth to perish therein. The hungry Mouth is never tired, for, the principle of destruction has a never-ending appetite, and after "SWALLOWING ALL THE WORLD ALL AROUND, YOU ARE LICKING YOUR LIPS," exclaims Arjuna.

In fact, the stanza clearly brings forth the implication underlying the concept of the Trinity. The Creator, the Sustainer, and the Destroyer are three distinct entities in concept, but in their actual workings, they constitute a simultaneous process. Creation is continued in a chain of destruction, and the process of destruction is not a total annihilation but only a change from one form to another thereby ending in a new Creation. "Constructive destruction" is the secret philosophy behind the continuity of existence observed everywhere. In a cinema show, the various poses on the film are made to run on in front of the arc-light, and each picture that has passed away from the arc-light may be considered as dead, and those reaching the arc-light as those that are born. The continuity in these two series of happenings of births and deaths, or constructions and destructions, gives us the hallucination of a logical sequence in the theme revealed on the screen. Conditioned by 'place and time,' things and beings, happenings and circumstances, come and go in the plane of our experiences and their continuity is what we experience as "existence." The above idea can be repeated in the language of our traditional belief in the Trinity. Brahmaji, the Creator, cannot create unless Shiva, the Destroyer, is functioning simultaneously on the same anvil. And Vishnu, the Sustainer, will never come to play unless the Creator and the Destroyer work feverishly and consistently. The whole world of multiplicity is thus an expression of Vishnu, the

Sustainer, which is nothing other than the product of the game played by both the Creator and the Destroyer! When, with such depth of understanding, Arjuna looks at the mighty resplendence of the Totality-Form, he feels almost blindfolded by "THE FIERY RADIANCE OF ITS FIERCE RAYS." YOU ARE FEARSOME; THEREFORE:

31. Tell me, who You are, so fierce in form? Salutations to You, O God Supreme; have mercy. I desire to know You, the Original Being, I know not indeed Your purpose.

Arjuna realises suddenly the sanctity and the divinity of the Lord's Power, and so, in a inspired rush of veneration, he bows down to Him whom till now he took to be but a cowherd boy of Vrindavana. Intellectual though he may be, here is an experience too big for him to observe fully, analyse carefully, and digest completely. The only thing he can do is to surrender himself at the very feet of the Lord, requesting Him, "TELL ME WHO YOU ARE." To reinforce the solidity of the query, Arjuna indicates that his question deserves an answer, for, "I DESIRE TO KNOW THEE, O PRIMEVAL ONE." It is very well known in the textbooks of spirituality, that "a burning aspiration to know" is the motive force behind every seeker's mind and intellect. But here Arjuna is preoccupied with the problem of challenge that is facing him, and therefore, he is not, in fact, directly seeking the Divine Truth behind the Vision. His enquiry is highly coloured by the emotion of fear in him and his anxiety to know what would be the outcome of the war. This is clear from the last line wherein he himself explains: Indeed I know not "YOUR PURPOSE." The enquiry made here is "What is the mission of the Lord in taking such a terrible form, and in presenting Himself in front of Arjuna, exhibiting how the Kaurava forces are marching in all hurry towards the burning Mouth-of-Death?" When he intensely longs for a thing to happen and when sure signs, forecasting his success, present themselves, he needs a confirmation from others. Here Arjuna is witnessing what he exactly wishes should happen. But the Prince wants to get a confirmation of the same from Krishna Himself. Hence this question. INTRODUCING HIMSELF AS THE MANIFESTATION OF TRUTH IN ITS ASPECT OF DESTRUCTION, THE LORD IN THE UNIVERSAL FROM DECLARES:

The Blessed Lord said: 32. I am the mighty world-destroying Time, now engaged in destroying the worlds. Even without You, none of the warriors arrayed in hostile armies shall live.

No construction of a thing is possible without a corresponding destruction of its own previous condition. The world is created by a continuous process of destruction. Today has arisen from the graves of yesterday. Childhood dies before youth appears. And when youth passes away, old age takes its birth. The power visibly playing behind constructive destruction is the fundamental Power that rules over and governs the life of beings. Krishna introduces Himself here as "I AM MIGHTY WORLD-DESTROYING TIME," who has manifested to wipe out the generation that has suffered decay in its own false sense-of-values and wrong assumptions about life and its purpose. The world-destroying attitude of the Lord is not at all against His all-merciful concept. Sometimes there is mercy in destruction. A broken bridge, a dilapidated dam, and an ancient building are instances in point. To pull them down is the most merciful act of charity that any considerate government can do to the community; so too here. By declaring that the very purpose behind this manifestation is to destroy totally the negative forces that strangle the cultural life of the country, Krishna is confirming Arjuna's vague hope that there is yet a chance of victory for his army. Reassuring the very same idea, the Universal-Form here declares that in the great mission of reconstruction, the Lord is not depending upon any individual or individuals. It is Time that is going to bring the renaissance and achieve the revival. In such a colossal movement of universal rehabilitation, individuals are but mere creatures of destiny. In spite of them, and with or without their co-operation, Time's plans will be worked out. The country needs the revival; the world demands man's rehabilitation. Krishna clearly says,

"EVEN WITHOUT YOU" none of the warriors manning the secular folly of sheer materialism shall survive the war of the imminent cultural upheaval. In the context of the Mahabharata story, it almost amounts to saying that the Kaurava forces have all been killed already by Time, and that Arjuna, by co-operating and servicing the Army of Renaissance, is only backing the sure success. THEREFORE, AS A REPRESENTATIVE MAN OF ALL TIMES, ARJUNA IS ADVISED TO PERFORM FEARLESS ACTION IN LIFE:

33. Therefore, stand up, and obtain fame. Conquer the enemies and enjoy the flourishing kingdom. Verily by Myself they have already been slain; be you a mere instrument, O left-handed archer.

34. Drona, Bhishma, Jayadratha, Karna, and other brave warriors --- those have already been slain by Me; you do kill; be not distressed with fear; fight and you shall conquer your enemies in battle.

Here Lord Krishna is very directly consoling Arjuna that he should stand up and catch the Time and claim success and glory. Whatever be the might and strength of the negative forces, the all-consuming Might-of-Change has already destroyed them all, and Arjuna has only to come forward, act the part of a hero and claim the crown of victory all to himself: "I HAVE ALREADY SLAIN THEM, BE MERELY AN APPARENT CAUSE, YOU, O LEFT- HANDED ARCHER." In fact, to every thinking man, the truth is obvious that in life, he is at best only an instrument in His hands. We are not generally ready to accept this proposition, because, the self-arrogating ego-sense in us will not easily retire so as to allow the Divine in us to play out in all its omnipotence. Everywhere, in all our activities, when we analyse each one of our actions, we find that our actual contribution in them all is a meagre share, compared to what nature has applied, and what the unseen hand has achieved for us. At best, we can only combine things that already exist, and coax out of their own natural qualities and properties, a certain result, and then claim vainly that we have created something new. The radio, the aeroplane, the roaring engines, the subtle machinery, the wonder-drugs, in short, the entire "Brave New World," and all its achievements in progress --- are all nothing but the play of children in the lap of the Lord who, in fact, is the One who has ordered and allowed us to have electricity, iron, ether, air, etc., with their special properties. Without these, no achievement is ever possible; and achievements are nothing but intelligent acts of the assembling and reassembling of these very God- given things. The concept of self-surrender and the theory of serving the world in constant awareness of the Lord, are not idle dreams prescribed for escaping the gross realities of the world. It is essential for man to raise his calibre and temper so as to work efficiently and achieve success in the world. It is the technique of keeping oneself constantly in a mood of tireless enthusiasm and joyous inspiration. The world is too much with the ego. To the extent the ego is surrendered in the awareness of the greater and the nobler, to that extent, the entire world and achievements therein become a game of simple and sure success everywhere. Earlier in the Geeta, it was, at many points, strictly pointed out that through the technique of self- surrender, the greater possibilities can be milked out of us. The same idea is again repeated here. The entire army has been invited here only to play the part of the hero --- serve as His Instruments and let them claim for themselves the crown and the glory as their wages. Arjuna had certain reasons why he should be particularly afraid of some of the top men in the Kaurava forces. They are taken up one by one and the Lord indicates how even they have already been killed by the All-consuming Time- Spirit.

Drona was Arjuna's teacher who taught him the art of archery. The Acharya had with him some special weapons and he was particularly revered and respected by Arjuna. The grandsire Bhishma had his death at his command, and he too had very powerful celestial weapons. Once in the past Bhishma had made Parashurama lick the ground. Jayadratha was invincible; for, his father who was engaged in tapas, had firmly resolved that "whoever causes my son's head to drop down on earth, his head too shall fall." Karna also had a powerful missile given to him by Indra. It becomes clear now why these four names are particularly enumerated by the Lord in the list of personalities that Time had already devastated. Even these great warriors have been eliminated by the Principle-of-Destruction, and thereby, it has been brought home to Arjuna that the field is clear for him to play his part and advance towards the throne and crown, and claim the entire glory is his own. IT IS NATURAL THAT, WHEN A BURNING DESIRE IN AN INDIVIDUAL IS FULFILLED, HE SUDDENLY BURSTS INTO AN IRRESISTIBLE GLORIFICATION OF HIS KINDLY PATRON:

Sanjaya said: 35. Having heard that speech of Keshava (Krishna), the crowned-one (Arjuna), with joined palms, trembling and prostrating himself, again addressed Krishna, in a choked voice, bowing down, overwhelmed with fear.

The dramatist in Vyasa, with his innate craftsmanship, lifts the scene from the battle front to the quiet and silent chambers of the palace, where the blind Dhritarashtra is listening to 'the running commentary' given by Sanjaya. In thus lifting the reader more than once* away from the awe-inspiring atmosphere of Kurukshetra, Vyasa is not only adding dynamic movement to the picture but also giving a necesary psychological rest for the reader's mind from such a subtle theme of awful beauty. It is not to be forgotten at all that Sanjaya in the Geeta is

"OUR OWN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT," who is fully sympathetic with the righteous cause of the Pandavas. Naturally, therefore, as soon as he reports the Lord's own words --- that all the mighty men of the times, who are the top-ranking men in position in the Kaurava forces, have already been annihilated --- he wants to bring to the blind old man's awareness, the magnitude of the impending disaster. As we have noticed earlier, the only one who could call the war off, even at this moment, is Dhritarashtra himself. And Sanjaya is very anxious to see that the war is not fought. Thus, we see here, in the stanza, in the very language used, the motive of the reporter. HAVING HEARD THE WORDS OF KESHAVA, ARJUNA, THE CROWNED-ONE, WITH FOLDED PALMS AND TREMBLING WITH FEAR, ADDRESSED AGAIN --- The very language used and the picture drawn, reflect the mind of the reporter. Suddenly, Arjuna is called here as "the crowned-one," perhaps, as a bold forecast, by which Sanjaya expects Dhritarashtra to see the folly of the disastrous war. But a blind man can never SEE things, and much less if he is intellectually blind with delusion. If the good sense of the blind king cannot be invoked because of his extremely deluded love for his children, Sanjaya expects to give a psychological treatment to the royal father. A lengthy description of how others are getting frightened is a sure method of spreading panic even among moderately courageous listeners. If Arjuna, the warrior, the bosom friend of Krishna is "TREMBLING AND ADDRESSING THE LORD IN A CHOCKED VOICE, OVER-WHELMED WITH FEAR," Sanjaya expects every sensible man to realise the horrors of the war that is imminent, and the dire consequences that are in store for the vanquished. Even these words of Sanjaya have no effect upon Dhritarashtra who is blind to everything except his mad affection for his own children. ARJUNA APOSTROPHIZES THE UNIVERSAL-FORM:

Arjuna said: 36. It is but meet, O Hrishikesha (Krishna), that the world delights and rejoices in Thy praise; RAKSHASAS fly in fear to all quarters, and all hosts of SIDDHAS bow to Thee.

Again from the luxurious chambers of riches and splendour, the students of the Geeta are lifted, on the lyrical charm of the poem, to the humming ground of the battle-field and to the Wonder-Form of the Lord. The picture of Arjuna addressing the Lord with his hands folded, trembling with fear, singing songs of adoration, with a throat chocked with fear and wonderment is effectively drawn. This passage, containing the following ELEVEN stanzas, represents one of the most beautiful prayers that we have in Hinduism. In fact, the words and the ideas expressed hereunder are so general in their import and significance that we can almost say that no better Universal Prayer can ever be conceived of, either in its concept, beauty, or cadence, or in the depth of the message in its words. In these passages, the cognising power in Arjuna is steadily realising the diviner Truth behind the details of that Total-Form. When one watches and sees one's own reflection in a mirror, it is rarely that the observer sees the mirror-surface. When one watches the surface of the mirror, the reflection is either not at all available or, at best is only dimly recognised. So long as Arjuna is preoccupied with the details of the Universal-Form, he does not realise, or recognise, the Infinite which is the very core of the Vishwaroopa. In these passages, it is evident that Arjuna has started sensing the deeper meaning that lies behind the cosmic wonder represented to him in his vision Divine.

37. And why should they not, O Great-souled One, bow to Thee, greater (than all else), the Primal Cause even of Brahma, O Infinite Being, O Lord of Lords, O Abode of the Universe, You are the Imperishable, that which is beyond both the Manifest and the Unmanifest.

WHY SHOULD THEY NOT BOW DOWN TO THE GREAT ONE --- Because the Lord as the Primal Cause of even the Creator, who creates the entire universe of multiplicity, is like the mud in all mud-pots, or the gold in all gold ornaments. The ornaments or the pots have no existence at all apart from the gold-essence or the mud- essence in them. Thus, the Primal Cause is that which pervades everything and is that which holds together all names and forms. Infinite in nature, the Lord is not only the Universe, but he is the Lord of all Lords, inasmuch as even the denizens of the heavens and the great phenomenal powers --- all derive their individual might from the Source of all Powers, this Infinite Truth. The entire world of things-and-beings that exist, can fall under two categories: the Manifest (sat) and the Unmanifest (asat). The manifest is that which can become objects of experience for the organs-of-perception, for the instrument-of-feeling and the equipment-of-thought. The Unmanifest is that which causes the perceptions, feelings, and thoughts. These subtle causes that order the individuals to live in the world outside, are called vasanas and these constitute the Unmanifest. Arjuna's beautiful definition of the Lord accepts that the Lord is not only the Manifest (sat), but the Unmanifest (asat) as well. And He is also that which transcends them both.

AND THAT WHICH IS BEYOND THEM --- In the theatre we can enjoy both tragedy and comedy, but the light that illumines the stage is that which transcends them both. The wedding-ring is, no doubt, made of gold; the wedding-necklace is also, no doubt, made of gold. But gold cannot be defined as the necklace or the ring. We will have to say that gold is not only the ring or the necklace but also that which transcend them both. In this sense, the Lord, being the essential Truth in all names and forms, is both the Manifest and the Unmanifest, and He also has a status that transcends both these conditions. In fact, that which makes both the Manifest and the Unmanifest possible is the Light of Awareness, the Pure Consciousness, the Universal Lord, whom Arjuna is invoking here. THESE FEW STANZAS* REPRESENT THE MOST UNIVERSAL PRAYER THAT WE HAVE IN ALL THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE OF THE WORLD. THERE CANNOT BE ANY CREED OR CASTE WHICH HAS ANY OBJECTION TO THESE, INASMUCH AS THEY SUMMARISE THE ENTIRE GALAXY OF PHILOSOPHIC THOUGHTS REGARDING THE ETERNAL, AND EXPAND WITH THEM THE DEVOTEE'S HEART WHICH CAN REACH DIMENSIONS ALMOST UNKNOWABLE, YET WITHIN A DEVOTEE'S EXPERIENCE. ARJUNA EXTOLS THE LORD THUS:

38. You are the Primal God, the Ancient PURUSHA; You are the Supreme Refuge of this universe. You are the knower, the knowable, and the Abode-Supreme. By Thee is the universe pervaded, O Being of Infinite forms.

YOU ARE THE PRIMAL GOD --- The Self is the Supreme Creator. The Pure Consciousness is the womb from which even the Creator has risen. The Self, conditioned by Its own creative urge, plays the part of the Creator. YOU ARE THE SUPREME ABODE OF THE UNIVERSE -- - The entire Vishwa is housed in the Lord, and therefore, it is said that the Lord is the Abode for the Universe. Here, the term Vishwa is to be correctly understood. When this is translated as the "Universe," we are apt to confuse it with the astronomers' universe or the scientists' universe. The Sanskrit term Vishwa includes these and even more. It includes the entire world of perceptions and the whole field of emotions and the total realms of thought that we, as intelligent individuals, experience in all our lives. This totality of the world of experience through the body, mind and intellect together is indicated by the term Vishwa. With this understanding of the term Vishwa, it should not be very difficult for the students of Vedanta to understand the full meaning of this life. We are all now experiencing our world through the matter equipments of our body, mind and intellect. These, being products of inert matter, have no Consciousness of their own except that which they borrow from the Infinite, the Self.

These matter envelopments, we have already indicated, are not produced from the Self, as the Self is changeless. The world of matter cannot be said to arise from any other independent source, since the Self is All-pervading and is the One-without-a-second. Therefore, it is explained that the Vishwa is but a superimposition upon the Truth, as the ghost-vision gained on a post. In all such hallucinations, the post is the abode of the ghost, of the emotions which it creates, and of the thoughts it generates. There is no truth in the ghost apart from the post from which it borrows its ghost-form. Thus, it is the Self that is indicated here by Arjuna when he so beautifully sings that the Lord is the

"Supreme Abode" of the entire Vishwa. THOU ART THE KNOWER AND THE KNOWABLE --- The Awareness in us is the Factor that completes all our experiences as realities. If the Light of Awareness were not to illumine the inert world-of-matter, no knowledge would have been possible, and therefore, the Principle of Consciousness, represented here as Lord Krishna, the Charioteer --- is described here as the Knower. All the techniques of Self-realisation are methods of gathering our Consciousness from all its channels of dissipation, so that, in the still moments of thoughtless Awareness, the Self is automatically RECOGNISED. It is thus said 'the Knowable,' or the realisable. YOU PERVADE THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE OF FORMS --- Just as sweetness pervades all chocolates, as the ocean pervades all waves, the Lord, being the essence, pervades everything. It was said just a little before, that the super- impositions cannot exist apart from the Substratum upon which they are being perceived. The Self is the Substratum on which the multitude of the world-of-plurality is visualised, and therefore, it is rightly said that "HE PERVADES ALL." This is only a repetition of the great Upanishadic Truth that "the Infinite pervades all, and nothing pervades It." 39. You are VAYU, YAMA, AGNI, VARUNA, the Moon,

PRAJAPATI, and the great-grandfather of all. Salutations! Salutations unto You a thousand times, and again salutations unto You! So far Arjuna was chanting the glories of the God in His transcendental form. A devotee (Upasaka) may wonder what exactly the relationship of the Supreme with his particular Lord-of-the-heart (Upasya) is. The forms and names of Deities conceived of, and fervently prayed to in ancient times, are generally representations of the manifested phenomenal powers. In the Vedic period, Vayu (the Wind), Yama (the Destroyer), Agni (the Fire), Varuna (the Sea-god), Shashanka (the Moon)* and Prajapati (The Creator) were considered as Deities for reverence and devotion, concentration and growth of the seeker's inner personality. These gods were involved in those days through chantings and worship, through rituals and sacrifices, and therefore, they were the only popular concepts of God even in the minds of the educated. Oftentimes and everywhere, "means" have a tendency to get misunderstood as the very "goal." Arjuna, here in his true understanding, indicates the Infinite, the Source of all potentialities, the Lord, as nothing other than Krishna, the Infinite. That the Supreme Lord, in fact, expressing through various functions, Himself plays the part of these Deities, is an acceptable view from the standpoint of Vedanta. In our own times it is usual for the devotees to invoke the Lord and assert that 'the Lord of their heart' is the Lord of all Lords. To this Lord of all Lords, Arjuna prostrates.

40. Salutations to You, before and behind! Salutations to You on every side! O All! You, Infinite in Power, and Infinite in Prowess, pervade all; wherefore You are the All.

The Supreme dwells everywhere within, without, above, below and around, and there is no place where He is not. This is not an original idea at all. This has been the constant state of actual experience of all the great Rishis of

the Upanishads.

The Lord, to whom Arjuna thus mentally prostrates from all sides, is not only the All-pervading Essence like space in the Universe, but is also the "womb" from which all power and daring flow out. Wherever there is an incentive to act, or a capacity to achieve, it is all a ray of His infinite potentiality. The Supreme as Pure Existence dwells everywhere, in everything and in all beings. Since nothing can exist without Existence, He, as Pure Existence, penetrates all, and in fact He alone is the All. Ocean alone is all the waves; mud alone is all the mud-pots. I HAVE BEEN A SINNER DUE TO LACK OF 'RIGHT KNOWLEDGE' OF THY GREATNESS, AND SO VERY MUCH LIVED FOOLISHLY IN THE PAST. THEREFORE:

41. Whatever I have rashly said from carelessness or love, addressing You as "O Krishna, O Yadava, O friend," and regarding You merely as a friend, unknowing of this greatness of Yours ... ,

42. In whatever way I may have insulted You for the sake of fun, while at play, reposing or sitting, or at meals, when alone (with You), O Achyuta, or in company --- that, O Immeasurable One, I implore You to forgive.

Here are two beautiful stanzas that bring to the forefront with dramatic precision, the exact type of emotions that will naturally be generated in any ordinary man, when he suddenly realises the Glory of the Divine. Till now, Arjuna had thought Lord Krishna to be nothing more than an intelligent cowherd boy, whom he had graciously patronised so long with his royal friendship. And with the realisation and recognition of Krishna the Infinite, the mortal in Arjuna prostrates in all loyalty and adoration and pleads for His Divine mercy and forgiveness. There is a very intimate personal touch in these two stanzas wherein the philosophical discussions are tempered with the emotional touch of deep intimacy. The very effect of the Geeta is to bring the sonorous truths of the Vedas and the Upanishads to the happy tune of the work-a-day world. Great and thought-provoking Vedantic truths have been suddenly brought down to the easy familiarity of a drawing-room-chat by such frequent psychological touches given by Vyasa's masterly pen. As an intimate friend, Arjuna must have, in rashness, not knowing Krishna's real Divine Nature, called Him familiarly by His pet names. FOR:

43. You are the Father of this world, moving and unmoving. You are to be adored by this world. You are the greatest GURU, (for) there exists none who is equal to You; how can there be then another, superior to You in the three worlds, O Being of unequalled power?

Here we find that Arjuna, bursting under the pressure of his voiceless emotion and his great regard for the Lord, addresses him: "THOU ART THE FATHER OF THE WHOLE WORLD CONSTITUTED OF THE MOVING AND THE UNMOVING." No doubt, the three worlds --- consisting of our experiences in waking, dream, and deep- sleep states --- are the interpretations of the same Eternal from the levels of the gross, the subtle and the causal bodies, and the Truth that illumines those experiences is everywhere one and the same. NATURALLY, THE LORD IS, AS ARJUNA SAYS, "OF UNEQUALLED GREATNESS," AND THERE IS NONE

"SUPERIOR TO THEE IN THE THREE WORLDS." BECAUSE IT IS SO:

44. Therefore, bowing down, prostrating my body, I crave your forgiveness, adorable Lord. As a father forgiveth his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved, even so should You forgive me, O

DEVA. Arjuna seems to discover in himself a greater eloquence and a subtler ability to argue logically, with the realisation that he is in the presence of the Almighty, the Blessed. Prostration, in Hinduism, though generally practised as a physical act of touching-the-feet of the revered, is a significant act that is to be actually accomplished in our heart as a special inward attitude. Surrendering ourselves, so that we may rise above ourselves into the spiritual fields, is true prostration. The ego and ego-centric vagaries arising out of our false identifications with matter vestures have robbed us of our experience of the Divinity which is already in us. To the extent the misconceptions are annihilated, we, without these over-growths, are sure to realise the serener beauty of the Divine, which in reality, we are. In surrendering the ego unto the Lord, in fact, we have to bring to His feet nothing but a dirty bundle of animal vasanas, putrified in our own stupidity and lust! Naturally, a devotee, reaching the feet of the Lord in a spirit of surrender and love, has to apologise for the filth that has been offered, as the only tribute of his love, at His Divine feet. Arjuna is pleading here with the Lord to bear with him as

"a father would with his son," as "a friend with his friend," as "a lover with his beloved." These three examples bring within their embrace all the types of immodest crimes that man, in his ignorance, can perpetrate against his Lord, the Creator. ARJUNA NOW PRAYS TO THE LORD TO RESUME HIS USUAL FORM AND GIVE UP THE TERRIFYING ASPECTS OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL AND THE UNIVERSAL:

45. I am delighted, having seen what was never seen before; and (yet) my mind is distressed with fear. Show me your previous form only, O God; have mercy, O God of gods, O Abode of the

Universe. 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 WAS UNSEEN 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:

46. I desire to see You as before, crowned, bearing a mace, with a discus in hand, in Your Former Form only, having four arms, O Thousand-armed, O Universal Form.

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 symbolising 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 colour, and clothed in YELLOW. The significant hue of BLUE is the colour of the Infinite, and the measureless always appears as BLUE, just as the summer-sky or the deep-ocean. YELLOW is the colour 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 symbolised 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:

The Blessed Lord said: 47. Graciously by Me, O Arjuna, this Supreme-Form has been shown to you by My own YOGA- power --- Full of splendour, Primeval, Infinite, this Universal- Form of Mine has never been seen by any other than yourself .

Here we have the confession that it is not the privilege of all devotees to come to perceive this "Form-tremendous" and that Arjuna is enjoying It as a special favour due to His Infinite Grace. He also asserts that, "THIS SPLENDID, PRIMEVAL, INFINITE, UNIVERSAL-FORM OF MINE" has not been seen by anyone else.

It does not mean that Vyasa, the author of the Geeta, is propounding a new theory, and is making the Lord of his own creation testify to the veracity of it. It only means that this intellectual realisation of the Universal-Oneness has not been gained by anyone placed in the same circumstances as those of Arjuna in the war-front. Mentally shattered, physically worn-out, emotionally upset --- the miserable condition of Arjuna and this Arjuna-state of utter despondency are, in fact, far removed from the favourable conditions for a single-pointed intellectual quest, without which the underlying Principle of Oneness in the multiplicity of the gross world, cannot easily be comprehended. But Krishna had, due to his tremendous powers, given the required 'eye-of-wisdom' to Arjuna and made him realise, in a chance moment of mental pause, the vision of the Cosmic Form. WHAT WAS AT THE BACK OF THE MIND OF THE LORD, WHEN HE EXPRESSED THIS STANZA, IS CLEAR FROM THE FOLLOWING:

48. Neither by the study of the VEDAS and sacrifices, nor by rituals, nor by severe austerities, can I be seen in this form in the world of men by any other than yourself, O great hero among the Kurus.

Explaining why Arjuna deserves a special congratulation for having gained this extraordinary experience, the Lord says that none can 'SEE' this Universal-Form merely because of one's study of the Vedas, or on the strength of one's sacrifices. Nor can one gain it by the merits gained through the distribution of gifts, or through performing rituals, or even through constant practice of severe austerities. These are, no doubt, necessary and always helpful in preparing the seeker to realise the essential unity beneath the perceived plurality, but neither a mere book-study, nor empty ritualism, nor physical tapas in themselves will, as an effect of them, bring about this understanding and the Final Experience. It can come only when the mind is steady. This "Vision" can be illumined only in the clear light of an integrated 'in-turned intellect.' In thus making light of the study of the Vedas, performance of sacrifices, distribution of gifts, practice of rituals and a life of grim penance, Lord Krishna should not be misunderstood as ridiculing these great prescriptions of the Vedas. He merely means to say that although these are means, preparatory to the final end, they are not to be confused with the goal. Cooking, in itself, cannot appease hunger, but that does not mean that cooking is unnecessary; after cooking there is, and must be, the eating. It is in this sense that we must understand the stanza, criticising ponderous study and futile efforts of misguided enthusiasts. FOR, NONE OF THE KNOWN METHODS OF SELF- DEVELOPMENT IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING THIS GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT. IT IS SAID:

49. Be not afraid, nor bewildered on seeing such a terrible-Form of Mine as this; with your fear dispelled and with gladdened heart, now behold again this Form of Mine.

Vyasa's dramatic genius will not fail to seek its fulfilment whenever an occasion arises. Here is an artistic example of such fine brush-work, accomplished by Vyasa with words, on the canvas of the Geeta. Arjuna's emotional agitations are dramatically indicated here when the Lord says, "BE NOT AFRAID, NOR BEWILDERED, HAVING SEEN THIS FORM OF MINE, SO TERRIBLE." Krishna consoles his friend Arjuna by words and actions and helps him to be in a state of reassuring joys. The Lord comes back to His original form and announces His entry into it with the words: "NOW SEE AGAIN THIS, MY FORMER-FORM." This passage, which announces the return of the Lord into His "gentler attitude" and "loving form," should remind all Vedantic students of at least one of the great Mahavakyas. The identity between the Universal-Form, the Terrible- Totality and the gentle Form-of-Krishna, the Divine- individual, is beautifully brought about by the term

"THIS MY FORMER-FORM." In fact, the microcosmic representation of Truth smiling temporarily from an assumed mortal-form of Krishna, is Itself the macrocosmic Universal-Form, wherein He expresses Himself as the

Essence in all forms and names. The wave is in essence, the ocean; and if the ocean is mighty and fierce, terrible and gigantic, the wave itself is tame and bashful, lovable and attractive. THE SCENE AGAIN SHIFTS FROM KURUKSHETRA AND THE WAR-FRONT TO THE QUIET CHAMBERS OF THE LUXURIOUS PALACE IN HASTINAPURA, WHERE THE BLIND OLD DHRITARASHTRA IS LISTENING TO THE RUNNING COMMENTARY GIVEN BY HIS MINISTER, SANJAYA:

Sanjaya said: 50. Having thus spoken to Arjuna, Vaasudeva again showed His own Form, and, the Great-souled One, assuming His gentle Form, consoled him who was so terrified.

Sanjaya confirms here to the blind old king that the terrible Universal-Form, after announcing Its intentions of coming back again to its original sweet form had actually accomplished that promise. What form Krishna re-entered is evident: "THE VERY FORM IN WHICH HE WAS BORN IN THE HOUSE OF VASUDEVA."* He assumed the pleasant shape of Lord Krishna, the familiar friend of Arjuna, the Blue-Boy of the Gopikas, and thus consoled the mighty warrior, who was aghast with wonder, and trembling with "fear." In these words of Sanjaya, we also can notice the minister's anxiety that Emperor Dhritarashtra should see the suggestion that the Lord of the Universe is Krishna, and that Krishna is on the side of the Pandavas. But how ... how will a blind man ever see? THE SCENE AGAIN SHIFTS TO THE WAR-FRONT WHEN SANJAYA REPORTS THE WORDS OF ARJUNA IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA:

Arjuna said: 51. Having seen this, Thy gentle human-Form, O Janardana, I am now composed and restored to my own nature.

Arjuna admits here that, when he sees the normal and the gentle-Form of Lord Krishna, he feels relieved from his inner tensions and agitations. When an unprepared student like Arjuna is suddenly pushed forward on the spiritual ladder and made to experience truths that are transcendental, and too vast for his intellectual comprehension, it is natural that even in that Realm-of- Bliss, he feels giddy confusions and heaving sobs. Arjuna admits: "I have now become collected in mind and am restored to my normal nature, having seen the milder aspect of Krishna's gracious human form." TRUE DEVOTION TO THE UNIVERSAL FORM IS EXPLAINED HEREUNDER:

The Blessed Lord said: 52. Very hard, indeed, it is to see this Form of Mine which you have seen. Even the gods are ever longing to behold this Form.

53. Neither by the VEDAS, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifices can I be seen in this Form as you have seen Me (in your present mental condition).

The Universal-Form of the Lord is no easy experience for anyone, and it can be gained neither by study of the Vedas, nor by austerities, nor by gifts, nor by a sacrifice. Even the gods, the denizens of heaven, with their ampler intellects, longer lives, and harder endeavours, are unable to behold this Universal-Form, and they keep on longing for this experience. And yet, Krishna has shown this Form, mighty and wondrous, to His friend through His Grace, as He Himself admitted earlier.* We may wonder what makes the Lord shower His grace upon one, and not upon another. It CANNOT be a haphazard distribution of an Omnipotent, who does things as He likes, arbitrarily, without any rhyme or reason! For, in that case the Lord will be accused of partiality and arbitrariness. HERE, IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA, WE GET THE SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OF WHAT COMPELS THE LORD TO SHOWER HIS SPECIAL FAVOURS UPON

SOMEONE SOMETIMES, AND NOT UPON ALL AT ALL TIMES:

54. But, by single-minded devotion, can I, of this Form, be 'known' and 'seen' in reality, and also 'entered' into, O Parantapa (O scorcher of your foes)!

Regarding devotion Shankara says: "No doubt, of the means available for liberating ourselves, the most substantial hardware is Bhakti; and identifying ourselves with the Self is called Bhakti." Identification is the truest measure of Love. The devotee, forgetting his own individual existence and, in his love, identifying to become one with his beloved Lord, is the culmination of Divine Love. The Vedantic student who is the seeker of the Self, is spiritually obliged to renounced all his abject identification with his matter vestures and to discover his true nature to be the Self. Only those who are thus capable of identifying themselves with the One unifying Truth that holds together, in its web-of-love, the plurality, can experience, "ME IN THIS FASHION" --- in my Cosmic Form. The three stages in which realisation of Truth comes to man are indicated here when the Lord says, "TO KNOW, TO SEE, AND TO ENTER." A definite intellectual knowledge of the goal and the path is the beginning of a seeker's pilgrimage --- TO KNOW. Next comes the seeker's attempt to masticate the ideas intellectually understood through his own personal reflections upon the information which he has already gathered --- TO SEE. Having thus 'known' and 'seen' the goal, thereafter, the seeker, through a process of detachment from the false and attachment to the Real, comes to experience the Truth as no object other than himself --- TO ENTER. By the term 'entering,' it is also indicated that the fulfilled seeker becomes the very essence of the sought. The dreamer, suffering from the sorrows of the dream, ends it all, when he no more sees, but "enters" the waking-state, himself to become the waker. HOW? ... I SHALL EXPLAIN, SAYS THE LORD AND ADDS:

55. He who does actions for Me, who looks upon Me as the Supreme, who is devoted to Me, who is free from attachment, who bears enmity towards none, he comes to Me, O Pandava.

When he heard that anyone can, through undivided devotion, not only recognise the cosmic might of the Lord but also experience that glory in himself, the Pandava Prince's face must have reflected an anxiety to acquire this status. As an answer to this unasked question from Arjuna, Krishna explains here how one can grow towards this great fulfilment in life.

The Krishna-plan, for finite man to gain the stature and strength of the Cosmic, seems to consist of five distinct schemes. This is clear from the conditions required of a seeker as given in this verse. They are: (1) whose work is all dedicated to the Lord, (2) whose goal is the Lord, (3) who is a devotee of the Lord, (4) who is free from all attachments, and (5) who is devoid of all sense of enmity towards everyone. In these five schemes, we find the entire line of self- discipline summarised. Detachment from all activities, whether physical or mental or intellectual can take place only when one is constantly thinking of the Self. Enmity is possible only when one considers the other as separate from oneself. There cannot be enmity between my own right hand and my left hand. The awareness of the Oneness should be experienced through the vision of the same Self everywhere and then alone can the total avoidance of enmity with any creature be fully accomplished. Total detachment is an impossibility at the mind-and- intellect level. The mind and intellect cannot live without attaching themselves to some thing or being. Therefore, the seeker, through God-dedicated activity, learns first to withdraw all his attachments from other things, and then to turn his mind with the fervour of devoted attachment to the Lord. In accomplishing this, all the schemes explained earlier are, indeed, very helpful.

Thus, when the whole scheme is re-evaluated, we can find in it a logic quite acceptable and perfectly psychological. Each subsequent item in the scheme is beautifully supported and nourished by the previous one. From the stanza, it is evident that the spiritual seeker's great pilgrimage starts with God-dedicated activities. Soon, that God-principle Itself becomes his very goal in life. He will develop, in himself, a consummate liking for this glorious goal. Naturally, all his other finite attachments with the world-of-objects will end, and at last, he will come to contact the Self. Having become the Self, he recognises himself everywhere, in everything, and so, in him there cannot be any sense of enmity at all. LOVE FOR ALL AND HATRED FOR NONE can be considered the Geeta 'touch-stone' to know the quality of realisation and intensity of experience a seeker has gained through his Sadhana.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the eleventh discourse ends titled: THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM The Chapter is rightly named as the vision of the Universal-Form. In Sanskrit scriptural terminology, it is pointed out that the term Vishwa Roopa used here is actually the Virata Roopa. The Self, identifying itself with an 'individual physical body,' experiences the waking- state happenings, and in this condition the Self is called in Vedanta as Vishwa. When the same Self identifies Itself with the total-physical-gross-bodies of the Universe, in that condition the Self is called the Cosmic-Virata. Here the Lord showed His Cosmic-Form but the Chapter is titled as Vishwa-Roopa.