Chapter Eleven:
Yog Through Beholding The Cosmic Form of
God (Viśhwarūp Darśhan Yog)
God has thousands of arms, but no internet security.
Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts
(Bhagavad Gita).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the
Bhagavad Gita, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as
literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post https://bit.ly/2XAch2A
For the online Bhagavad Gita that I use, see here https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/
And now:
Viśhwarūp
Darśhan Yog
“Behold
now, Arjun, the entire universe, with everything moving and non-moving,
assembled together in my universal form. Whatever else you wish to see, observe
it all within this universal form.”
Arjun asks Krishna to show him His true form, his viśhwarūp, and so Krishna grants Arjun a
glimpse of the infinite form of God. Which, oddly, still comprises body parts –
“I see your infinite form in every
direction, with countless arms, stomachs, faces, and eyes. O Lord of the
universe, whose form is the universe itself, I do not see in you any beginning,
middle, or end” despite also shining with a divine light – “If a thousand suns were to blaze forth
together in the sky, they would not match the splendor of that great form”.
Arjun sees that this mighty form of Krishna comprises all the
other gods that he knows, including Brahma, the original creator. Which is
interesting; Brahma is the creative power but not the ultimate power in this particular
mythology – “You are Vāyu (the god of wind), Yamraj (the god of death), Agni (the god of fire), Varuṇ (the god of water), and Chandra (the moon-God). You are the creator Brahma, and the great-grandfather
of all beings”.
Arjun sees Krishna’s many mouths and tongues of fire devouring the
enemy army (and here it sounds a lot more metaphorical than the many stomachs),
and Krishna explains that since He is Time, this has, in a sense, already
happened and that the army of that army of Dhritarashtra is already dead, so it
makes no difference ultimately if Arjun fights or not, only that he will win
renown if he does.
Talking of Dhritarashtra, we are reminded that this whole episode
is being narrated to him by his scribe Sanjay, which raises a question. Krishna
tells Arjun that he alone is granted a vision of the God’s true form, due to
his personal devotion – “Not by study of
the Vedas, nor by the performance of sacrifice, rituals, or charity, nor even
by practicing severe austerities, has any mortal ever seen what you have seen”.
And yet, here Sanjay somehow manages to describe what’s going on through
magical eavesdropping. Oops. Krishna should have used jamming.
Anyway, much like Moses seeing Yahweh, this vision of the divine
is too overpowering for Arjun, and he begs Krishna to return to his human,
two-armed form (the god has a four-armed form as well). Having been granted
this vision, Arjun realises not only that Krishna is the one true Divine
Source, but also that, having known the god in His human form, he’s been
perhaps a bit too informal with Him at times, and begs forgiveness. Which
Krishna, naturally, grants – “Be neither
afraid nor bewildered on seeing this terrible form of mine. Be free from fear
and with a cheerful heart, behold me once again in my personal form.”
Oh, and Arjun also sees when Krishna is in His Infinite Divine
form, that “The Rudras, Adityas, Vasus, Sadhyas, Vishvadevas, Ashwini Kumars,
Maruts, ancestors, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Asuras, and Siddhas are all beholding
you in wonder”. Who are all these people, you may ask? Asuras are demons and
Siddhas are “perfected beings”, Rudra is a form of Shiva. And there the notes
stop being helpful, so off to Wikipedia. Adityas are a group of deities linked
to the sun, the Vasus are attendants of the storm god Indra with a kind of
elemental theme (earth, fire, moon stars etc.). Sadhya was harder to track
down, and the best I can come up with is … that they’re another group of
deities, but one that seems to have become obscure. The Vishvadevas again are a
group of gods, those found in the Vedas. The Ashwini Kumars (aka Asvins) are
divine twins with the portfolio of dawn, horses and medicine. Maruts are sky
deities associated with Indra again, and there’s some overlap with the Rudras; Gandharvas
sound a little bit like Pan or satyrs – they’re male nature spirits with
musical skill, often portrayed as part animal or bird. Yakshas are pretty cool
– nature spirits of wild places, of fertility; sometimes guardians, sometimes
tricksters.
Phew! That opened up a huge door of Hindu mythology and folklore
that I’m now revved up to go and explore. But meanwhile, on with the Bhagavad
Gita.
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