Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ🔗

11.1 Arjuna says: O Lord! By listening to Your wisdom on the supreme secret of Existence and Your glory, I feel that my delusion has disappeared.

11.2 O Lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa! I have listened from You in detail about the creation and destruction of all living beings, also Your inexhaustible greatness.

11.3 O Parameśvara, Lord Supreme, though You are here before Me as You have declared Yourself, I wish to see the Divine Cosmic Form of Yours, Puruṣottama, Supreme Being.

11.4 O Prabhu, my Lord, if You think it is possible for me to see Your Cosmic Form, then please, O Yogeśvara, Lord of Yoga and all mystic power, kindly show me that Imperishable Universal Self.

Step by step, Kṛṣṇa clears Arjuna's self-doubts. First, Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna's doubts of the intellect. Kṛṣṇa explains to him the misconceptions that Arjuna has from the literal reading of the scriptures and what he has understood to be right and wrong. 'All the people in front of you are already dead,' says the Lord, 'I eliminated them long ago; why are you then worried? Do what you need to do.'

Kṛṣṇa then clears any lingering emotional doubts that Arjuna may have by explaining to him what He, the master of the Universe, is all about. He tells Arjuna who He really is. After detailing all His glories, Kṛṣṇa says that there is no end to His divine manifestations, His vibhūti. Wherever there is something glorious, powerful and prosperous, Kṛṣṇa is in existence. Kṛṣṇa concludes, saying that there is no need for detailed knowledge, as He supports all of Existence within just a fragment of His divine Self.

And now, finally, the time has come for Arjuna to see Kṛṣṇa as He truly is. Arjuna is standing on the last step. He beseeches, 'My delusion has been dispelled and I am now aware of Your divinity. Please show me now who You really are.'

And yet, Arjuna still hesitates. He wants to know, but he is not sure if he can bear to experience the truth. He says one phrase clearly, 'If you think I can behold Your form,' which indicates that there is already some fear in him. He also has self-doubts. Yes, Kṛṣṇa said that He had already destroyed all of Arjuna's enemies. But physically they are in front of Arjuna. He believes what Kṛṣṇa says. But his senses tell him a different story.

It is not important what others think; what is important is what we think. We should be ready to take the responsibility and face whatever comes. Even simple truths or experiences cannot be given so easily, since the receiver must have the maturity to hold what he has received.

Many of you are like Arjuna. In fact, all of you are like Arjuna. You do not wish to take any risks. The Master has to calculate all the risks for you. You want the Master to make the experience risk-free, safe and pleasant. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Yes, the experience is bliss, it is liberating, but that blissful experience destroys your identity, kills the ego and recreates the Divine in you.

There is no such thing as partial surrender to a Master. There is no such thing as, 'Please give me what I can take. Let me take a sip and see if I like it. If I do, I shall ask You for more. If not, I shall not take anymore.'

Of course, the Master knows your readiness far better than you do. That is why I work on you in stages. As

long as you are not ready, what I give you is brain and eye candy, that's all. You can gaze in happiness and go away. The form is all that you can take.

Arjuna is an evolved disciple. What he says only seems to reflect what an ordinary person would have said. In fact, what Arjuna implies here is far more. I have no right to ask all this of You. It is not any penance I may have done that makes me deserve this. It is not that I have reached a level of intellectual understanding of You that makes me deserve this. It is not that I have reached the peak of devotion that makes me deserve Your vision. I have no right to demand. However, in all humility, as Your devotee, as one who surrenders to You, I ask of You to show me who You really are. Please show me Your entire splendor, Your valor, Your wisdom, Your truth and all that You really are!’

11.5 Bhagavān says: O My dear Pārtha, behold now My hundreds and thousands of forms, of infinite divine sorts, of infinite colors and shapes.

11.6 O Bhārata, see here the different manifestations of the Āditya, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Aśvins, the Māruts and all other gods. Behold the many wonderful forms which noone has ever seen before.

11.7 O Arjuna, see at once now in this body of Mine, the whole Universe completely in this one place, all the moving and the unmoving, and see everything else you desire to see also.

11.8 But you cannot see Me with your own physical eyes. Let Me give you the Divine eye;Behold My Divine power and opulence!

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘O Pārtha, behold the hundreds and thousands of my Divine forms. These are infinite Divine forms, of diverse colors, shapes and sizes. O Bhārata, see the different manifestations of Āditya, Vasu, Rudra, Aśvini Kumār, Mārut and many wonderful beings whom no one has ever seen before.’

But before He gives darśan of the Universal form, He makes an important and beautiful statement, ‘O Arjuna! You cannot see my form with ordinary eyes. To behold this form, you would need divya netra, the third eye or the divine eye.

Here again are the three questions that are the essence of the whole chapter.

Can the Divine form be seen?

What is the qualification to see the Divine form?

What really happens when you see the Divine form?

I tell you categorically—it is possible to see the divine form. There are many enlightened Masters who have experienced this consciousness.

Let me give you an instance from my life.

After nine long years of penance, I was completely frustrated at one point. I wondered if I was wasting my whole life reading books, following what the earlier Masters said and applying them in my life. I wondered, was there really something called enlightenment or was it a waste of my whole life?

At one point I began to fear that I had wasted the very essence of my life, my youth, by pouring all of it into tapas or penance. Was it really worth the sacrifice?

All of a sudden at one point in time, I felt myself going into deep depression. Actually, I later realized that this was not depression. It was a desperate situation, a deep personal quest, and an urge to do or die. Now I know that one needs to reach this stage before one can realize the truth.

Whatever had to be done as spiritual penance, I had done and had not left even an inch untried. For example, at one point in time, I created a wall of fire six feet in diameter, sat inside it and chanted continuously so that I would not fall asleep. In this way, I had tried hundreds of techniques to the best of my ability. Since nothing was still happening to me, I concluded that there was either no such thing as enlightenment or it was something I could not achieve.

I strongly began to think that Enlightenment was simply something that some people were cheating humanity with, for their own ego-fulfillment. I began to doubt and lose faith in the whole system. The photo of Rāmakṛṣṇa, who had all along been my inspiration, the photo I used to worship everyday, I threw away in disgust, depression and anger and with such force that the glass frame broke.

At that time I was staying in Omkareshwar, in a forest in Madhya Pradesh, on the banks of the holy river Narmada. I had my rosary, with which I used to say my prayers and do my penance for hours together. It was my constant companion and was something to which I had given utmost respect, almost like my life-line.

In my anger and depression, I threw the rudrākṣa (sacred energy beads) into the river Narmada and cast the mantra out of my mind.

I decided, ‘No more meditation, no more spirituality. Enough!’ I had had enough of the game being played by the so-called Enlightened Masters. I simply threw everything away, dropped everything.

I then walked into the river Narmada with my eyes closed. The river was at least sixty feet deep at that point. I just kept walking with my eyes closed. Fear gripped me but I continued. When I opened my eyes, I was on the opposite bank of the river! Till date I have no idea what happened. I have no idea whether there were rocks all along the path I walked on the river, or whether I floated or whether the river parted. But I did not have the resolve to walk back through the river again, that much I know! To return to the point I started from, I had to walk to the nearest bridge, many miles away!

The seventh day after this incident, I joined the Masters in their game! The experience of Enlightenment and Cosmic consciousness simply happened to me. It never left me thereafter.

Next, what is the qualification?

Basically, by giving this experience to Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa proves that there is no need for any qualification because Arjuna himself has no qualification. Arjuna neither took the responsibility nor understood fully the teachings of Kṛṣṇa. He was simply fortunate to be in the presence of Kṛṣṇa, that’s all.

In fact, you are the Arjuna who missed Kṛṣṇa in an earlier form. You are here now, listening or reading, not by any mere accident or Divine coincidence. You are here now for a reason. That is qualification enough. Make sure that you do not miss Kṛṣṇa again this time!

One of the problems is that even if you are qualified, you do not have the trust or belief that you are qualified! This is because society and religious preachers have blamed you continuously for many things and created a kind of guilt and self-doubt in you.

Because of this you have lost faith and confidence in yourself. Now, after having listened for all these days, your still being here is proof that your unconscious mind has accepted and enriched by these ideas. Your conscious mind may struggle with the question of why you are here, but the fact that you are here shows that unconsciously you have allowed enriching yourself and begun enjoying these ideas. Understand, allowing the Master to enrich you is the best way of enriching yourself.

You are fortunate to fall in tune with the great thought of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. After understanding the verse, we will enter into a meditation to have at least a glimpse of what the Cosmic Kṛṣṇa gave Arjuna. Arjuna had no qualification to receive what he got from Kṛṣṇa. When He could give it to Arjuna, why not to us?

Somebody once asked Bhagavān Rāmaṇa Maharṣi, Enlightened Master from India, what was the qualification for enlightenment. Bhagavān replied that merely being alive, simply existing, was the only qualification required!

Next, what happens when you have the experience?

Kṛṣṇa’s words:

‘Arjuna, you cannot see Me with these ordinary eyes. You need the divine eye, the third eye, divyacakṣu.

To see My Cosmic form, I give you the divine eye.’

What is this divine eye?

Let me tell you my experience that happened when I was twelve years old. During that age, I used to do a particular meditation, or rather I used to play with a technique given to me by a master. When I was about ten years old the great Master Annāmalai Swamigal, disciple of Rāmaṇa Maharṣi, first taught me the technique of exploring to see where thoughts originated.

Once when I visited him with my parents, he was addressing a group of seekers and was saying, ‘We are not the body, we are ātman, the spirit. No pain or suffering touches us.’

I wondered how this could be, for if my mother beat me, I could feel the pain! (In India, if kids were mischievous, they would be roundly beaten, you could not call 911!) To experiment, I went home and cut my thigh with a knife to see if I had pain or not. I bled profusely.

Naturally, it not only hurt me, but I had to be taken to the hospital for the wound to be stitched, with more scolding from my mother! I had both pain and suffering. I wondered why this Swami had taught us such a thing as ‘no suffering or pain’!

Experimenting on others was easy. Arjuna was intelligent. After understanding everything, he started killing others; he never experimented on himself!

I approached the Swami and related what had happened to me.

First he asked me, ‘Did I ask you to go and cut yourself?’

He then made a profound statement that transformed my life.

He said, ‘You may have pain and suffering now, but do not worry. Your attitude of analyzing and searching for the truth, your courage to experiment with truth, will liberate you from all pains, so go ahead!’

He then advised me to start searching for the source of my thoughts. Of course, at that age I was only irritated by his comments and my attention was on the fruits and sweets that devotees had brought him. I was hoping he would give me some in consolation! Honestly, I neither understood nor was convinced of what he said.

However, after a few days I began to playfully and casually try out the technique of trying to see the origin of my thoughts. I did not do this with any expectation or idea. All I knew was what the Swami had told me—that I would go beyond pain or suffering if I did this technique. I had no concept of God, Brahman, ātman or jñāna.

One evening, at the foothills of the sacred Arunachala hill, I was sitting on a rock known locally as pavala kundru, the Coral Rock, trying out the same technique with eyes closed. I had fallen into deep meditation.

After some time, suddenly something opened, something seemed to happen inside my being, a feeling of being pulled or sucked inside.

The next moment it was as if a door had opened inside me, and I had complete 360-degree vision, both laterally and vertically. I could see on all four sides – the temple that was behind me, the hill that was in front of me, and the city that was on my left and right. I could see vertically too— the sky, the rock on which I was sitting, again the temple behind me.

For normal people who have only a maximum of 120-DEgree vision, I know this is very difficult to comprehend. All I can do is promise solemnly that it did happen! No other intellectual explanation is possible. Not only was I able to see all around, I was also able to feel that whatever I was seeing was Me. Whether they were plants or rocks or the city or the hill, whatever I could see, I felt they were all just Me. The experience was so intense and ecstatic that it was more than three or four hours before I opened My eyes. I felt feverish with bliss and this mood continued for three days.

But after this I was overtaken by a fear that there was something wrong with me. I thought a ghost had possessed me and I decided never to go to that rock again. I even began to avoid that route, which I normally took.

I related my experience to an elderly Sannyāsi, Mata Vibhudānanda Devi (Kuppammal), who was my mentor. She held my hand and seeing the energy, exclaimed, ‘You are not possessed by any ghost. You are possessed by God!’ She encouraged me to continue with meditation but I never dared to do so for the next six months and was even afraid to close my eyes!

I also related my experience to a close friend of mine. I told him about my 360-degree vision and my not knowing what was happening to me, etc. He did not believe me until I proved it to him by telling him about

an ant climbing up the tree behind me, and correctly telling which side of the coin that he hid in his hand was exposed. He ran away from me in terror!

He came to the ashram and said to one of the ashramites, 'I was the first person to receive energy darśan from him, but I missed it!'

But despite the fear I experienced, the whole body was bubbling with joy and ecstasy.

So welcome was the feeling that I had a small temptation to go to the rock again. I never really understood what had happened. A year later another enlightened person gave me the explanation; the seeking, however, started after this experience. Nine years of penance followed. All this penance was in order to have this experience again. When it did come the next time, both body and mind were ready and the experience stayed within my being.

The vision of 360 degrees is what Kṛṣṇa means by divyacakṣu, trinetra, divine eye or third eye, also called ājñā cakra. When this eye opens you will see 360 degrees not only in the horizontal but in the vertical dimension too. You will see the whole Existence as You and experience it as You. This experience is what Kṛṣṇa calls Cosmic consciousness.

In the body of the supreme Lord, Arjuna saw the whole Universe divided in different ways and at the same time united in one form. The Universe is divided into many parts such as the sun, moon, earth, planets and other bodies in space. Here he sees all of them as one form. You need to understand this description, which is so beautiful. Later we shall enter into a meditation and pray to the Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa to give us all a glimpse of what Arjuna received.

Arjuna is able to see the whole and at the same time all the parts. Even the word hologram that we now so commonly use to describe the totality of something preserved in a fragment does no justice to Arjuna's vision. In a hologram, one needs to make the effort to see the whole in the fragment. In this divine vision granted to Arjuna, the whole existed with the part, with no separation, no discontinuity. The whole was part and the part was whole.

As a matter of fact, when you begin to see 360 degrees in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, there really is no beginning, middle or end to see. It is a continuum. It is like seeing one of these special movies on a circular screen. It is an infinite circle. The Divine is an infinite circle, with no beginning, no end and therefore no middle. Without a beginning and an end, to talk about the middle makes no sense.

The form is difficult to see in its sheer glowing radiance, spreading on all sides like blazing fire or the immeasurable brightness of the sun. Yet Arjuna sees this glowing form everywhere adorned with various crowns and discs. He sees Kṛṣṇa wearing the diadem, holding the mace and discus.

Arjuna says, ‘Your magnificence is shining everywhere, from all sides, difficult to see. You are blazing from all sides with the luster of the sun, limitless.’

Part of what Arjuna sees here is the traditional representation of Lord Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is always depicted with His weapons of mace and discus, the gada and cakra, and wearing the jewel-studded crown. Viṣṇu is also depicted resting on the ocean of milk upon the giant serpent Adiseśa, with Brahma rising from Viṣṇu’s navel upon a lotus flower.

Some of what he sees is formless energy. He perceives radiance more powerful than a thousand suns, blazing and dazzling, impossible to look at even with his newly endowed divine eye. What Arjuna sees is beyond any sensory perception, something that could be experienced in that moment in time, impossible to express.

Suddenly the scene changes in these verses. Arjuna is terrified. What he is seeing now is quite different from what he expected when he asked to see Kṛṣṇa’s divine form.

Arjuna is now incoherent. What he keeps saying is neither logical nor well thought out. What he sees he reproduces to the best of his mental abilities. Arjuna is convinced, seeing the Universal form of Kṛṣṇa, that what he sees is the supreme being, the puruṣa, the imperishable, the very origin of all, the Eternal. O supreme soul, Paramātman, after having seen your wonderful form, all the worlds and the whole universe is trembling with fear. All the celestial beings are shuddering before this form and entering into this formless form, some of them afraid, offering prayers with folded hands, along with hosts of realized sages praising this form in silent acceptance and wonderment.’

There are two things that make you a human—the instinct to possess and the instinct to survive. The instinct to survive arises out of fear, from the svādiṣṭhāna cakra (fear energy center in your body), and the instinct to possess comes out of greed, from the mūlādhāra cakra (greed energy center in your body). This sums it up. Here the instinct to survive has appeared and he has become Arjuna, the man. We do not understand that when we drop the instinct to survive, we become Kṛṣṇa; we exist forever. We become Bhagavān, the Universal consciousness. But most often, we hold onto the instinct to survive. Now Arjuna slowly comes down and becomes Arjuna, the man.

In the beginning Arjuna sees what he wished to see. He sees what he believes to be the Cosmic form of the great Viṣṇu in His traditional attire and weapons, surrounded by Gods and sages. The form changed suddenly into a terrifying one of death, all-consuming and terror-inspiring, to which the entire Universe bowed down in fear.

From this macro perspective, Arjuna comes down to see the same destruction being played out at the level of the battlefield at Kurukṣetra. His enemies, the great warriors arrayed against him in battle, fly into the gaping mouth of destruction like moths into fire. Arjuna sees with convincing reality, the destruction of all the great warriors who would have been expected to give him trouble.

One thing, Arjuna does not expect the Cosmic form of Kṛṣṇa to be anything but loving and compassionate. Kṛṣṇa can be the friend, the master, the beloved, the child, the mother and all combined. In every one of these moods, in each bhāva, Kṛṣṇa is still lovable, still reachable. However, in the form that Kṛṣṇa has presented now, the all-devouring monster as it were, Arjuna is unable to comprehend any aspect of Kṛṣṇa that he has known.

For the first time, Arjuna realizes that the Master cannot be predicted! He now knows that the Master cannot be put in a frame. The primal energy that the Master is has to be experienced in whatever manner it is presented, without expectations and fears.

Nature and Existence are neither cruel nor kind. The very term ‘compassion’ has a different meaning in the Cosmic dictionary. It is not the sympathy offered by each of us to another with or without any real feeling. It is not kindness. It is not the desire to be doing ‘good,’ whatever that looks like to us. True compassionistheresult of experiencing that we are one with all of Existence. There is no ‘other’.

For the first time, He takes off His mask and says matter-of-factly, ‘I am the Destroyer.’ He pulls no punches in responding to Arjuna's query, ‘Who are you, and what is your purpose?’

‘I am kāla, time,’ says the Lord, ‘and I destroy.’

Time never stands still. It moves on. Nothing can stop the flow of time. Nothing can bring back time. Nothing can move time forward. Time destroys.

The future constantly moves into the present, and then into the past. At the frequency of our life, we can only see the present, and remember what we can of the past.

Kṛṣṇa is stating a simple fact here. ‘With or without you,’ He says, ‘all these warriors will be dead. As Time, I shall devour them. It is not you who are the cause. You can be the superficial reason. By being the instrument of their destruction, be the gainer of fame, wealth and power.’

When Kṛṣṇa speaks of destroying and wiping out the world, He is talking about the destruction of the illusory physical and material world. He is the destroyer of fantasies, He is the destroyer of identities, He is the destroyer of egos and He is the destroyer of all that is unreal.

As He has said earlier on, what gets destroyed is the shell, the perishable body-mind, not the imperishable ātman. What the Mahākāla, time, destroys, is the psychodrama that is being played out on the battlefield.

11.35 Sañjaya said: Having heard this speech of Keśava, the crowned Arjuna with joined palms, trembling, prostrating himself,

Again addressed Kṛṣṇa, voice choking, bowing down, overwhelmed with fear.

11.36 Arjuna says: O Hṛṣīkeśa (Kṛṣṇa), it is but right that the world delights and rejoices in Your praise. Rākṣasas fly in fear in all directions and all hosts of sages bow to You.

11.37 And why should they not bow to Thee, O Great Soul, greater than all else, the Creator of even Brahma the Creator? O Lord of Lords, O Infinite being, O Abode of the Universe,

You are the imperishable, that which is beyond both the seen and the unseen.

11.38 You are the primal God, the ancient being, the Supreme Refuge of the Universe.

You are the Knower and the One to be known. You are the Supreme Abode, O being of Infinite forms, by You alone is the Universe pervaded.

11.39 You are Vāyu, Yama, Agni, Varuṇa, the Moon, Prajāpati and the great- grandfather of all. Salutations unto You a thousand times, and again salutations unto You!

11.40 Salutations to You, before and behind! Salutations to You on every side! O All! Infinite in power and Infinite in prowess, You are everything and everywhere.

In the first stage, Arjuna’s expectations of the glorious Universal form of Kṛṣṇa were fulfilled. He saw Kṛṣṇa the way He expected: with His crown, discus and mace, with Brahma rising on a lotus flower from Viṣṇu’s navel.

Even as he was getting used to the enormity of the vision that he beheld, Arjuna found this form replaced by a terrible, all-devouring form of Kṛṣṇa that filled Arjuna with fear. Arjuna cries out: ‘Who are you? Why are you here?’

Kṛṣṇa explains who He is; that He is the all-devouring time. Still overcome with fear, but recovering from the primal fear that had overcome him a few moments ago, Arjuna now surrenders himself to Kṛṣṇa.

At this stage, Arjuna understands who Kṛṣṇa is. He understands what Kṛṣṇa’s purpose is. Arjuna’s devotion is at its peak. He salutes Kṛṣṇa as the source of all beings, the creator of Brahma, who in turn created Prajāpati from whom all beings originated. He salutes Kṛṣṇa as the elements of Nature. Since Kṛṣṇa extends everywhere and there is no place where He is not present, Arjuna salutes Him in all directions. Arjuna now truly appreciates the unfathomable magnitude of Kṛṣṇa.

11.41 Arjuna says: Whatever I have rashly said from carelessness or love, addressing You as Kṛṣṇa, Yādava, my friend

regarding You merely as a friend, unaware of this greatness of Yours.

11.42 In whatever way I may have insulted You in fun, while at play, resting, sitting, or at meals, when alone with You or in company, O Achuta, O Immeasurable One, I implore You to forgive me.

11.43 You are the Father of this world, moving and unmoving. You are to be adored by this world.

You are the greatest Guru; there is none who exists equal to You. O Being of unequalled power, how then can there be another, superior to You in the three worlds?

11.44 Therefore, bowing down, I prostrate my body before You and crave Your forgiveness, adorable Lord. Even as a father forgives his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved, You should, O Deva, forgive me.

Arjuna’s worry is not fear of any reprisal, now that he knows who Kṛṣṇa is. It is guilt that bothers him.

‘I called You by Your caste name, Yādava,’ Arjuna cries out, ‘I called You, ‘Hey friend, Hey Kṛṣṇa’. I knew not Whom I was addressing, Whom I was dealing with. Please forgive me.’

‘How could I have done this? Please forgive me for the love I had for You that made me careless in addressing You. Bear with me; forgive me as a father would a son, a lover, his beloved and a friend, his mate.

As his friend, Kṛṣṇa was the reality to Arjuna. He took liberties with his friend because He was so real to him. But his updated intelligence of Kṛṣṇa’s Cosmic form shook him up so badly that he was now consumed by guilt. It was because of the intense devotion that Arjuna had for Kṛṣṇa, that Kṛṣṇa gave him the invaluable gift of His divine form. Had Kṛṣṇa not considered him worthy, Arjuna would not have seen his Cosmic form.

All our life, guilt rules us from our past. Whatever we do, we do with the intelligence available to us at that point in time. Often, what we did before seems wrong to us and we feel guilty. We start doubting our self and doubting others. There is no greater sin than carrying such guilt and self-doubt. What we did was not sinful; to carry the guilt with us is sinful. When complete with the guilt pattern, we drop the guilt and self-doubt. With the power of completion, a deep imprint is made within our self which is far more powerful than carrying the guilt and doubt.

Arjuna is demonstrating to the rest of us the power of completion with the Master, the ultimate relationship; in this case his incompletion is the guilt that seems to arise from the deepest of love.

Please listen. One of the important complications you carry in your life is doubt about yourself and doubt about your Master. You will project that self-doubt on your Master. Listen! Complete with that self-doubt. Only then you will have complete relation with the Master.

In one sense, Arjuna does not wish to carry that self-doubt and guilt with Kṛṣṇa. With integrity and authenticity, he completes with his guilt, his self-doubt and drops it in front of his friend, Lord and Master saying, ‘Forgive me.’

Fear concerns the future. We can never be afraid of the past; it is dead and gone. Guilt and remorse plague us from the past. We need not have done it or we could have done it differently are the incompletions that we carry in the present.

I tell you, completion with Master is enlightenment! If you just have completion with the Master, nothing else is required! His space will just gush into you. His space will just raise your inner space.

Arjuna is one of the greatest examples of sakha bhāva, friendship relationship between master and disciple. It is the immediate effect of realizing the true nature of Kṛṣṇa, especially in His destructive form, that terrifies Arjuna, that makes him afraid.

Sakha bhāva is not a relationship of equals. A disciple cannot be equal to the Master. Even when a disciple becomes enlightened and in that sense at the same level as the Master, the mood of the disciple would be one of sheer gratitude. It is after Enlightenment that a disciple realizes the true nature of the Master and the real

master-disciple relationship flowers. The disciple imbibes the nature of his Master, he communes with the Master and this is how the lineage of great Masters is sustained.

In true sakha bhāva, everyone is a friend, not just the Master. One turns non-judgmental and respects everyone around as an expression of divinity. In one sense this is the problem that Arjuna has in waging war with his clansmen, who are his enemies. As an extension of his sakha bhāva relationship with Kṛṣṇa, he finds it difficult to hate his clansmen enough to fight and kill them. He gives many reasons but these reasons are only excuses.

Arjuna is no coward. He is the greatest warrior. Killing is second nature to him. But destroying a friend is not. His innate devotion to Kṛṣṇa extends to the Kauravas and he finds it difficult to keep this friendship feeling aside on the battlefield. In these verses, Arjuna also expresses the fear that his space of friendship may have been tinged with dislike or enmity or anger at some time. Though he seeks forgiveness for having called Kṛṣṇa his friend or a Yādava, etc., these are not really good reasons for a good friend to apologize, even if the friend turns out to be God.

Kṛṣṇa is clear on this point. It is He who decides how He reveals Himself to His devotees and disciples. It is a gift from the Master, from the Divine. It is not earned through effort. Of course, effort prepares one for the receipt of this great gift, but it is not the only necessary condition for the gift to be showered.

Kṛṣṇa now appears in front of Arjuna first in His four-handed beautiful divine form that Arjuna is comfortable with, and finally as Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa, in His gentle human form that Arjuna is so familiar with. But the familiarity ends there. Having seen what Kṛṣṇa really is through His divine form of

Nārāyaṇa, with four arms bearing the discus and mace, and also in His terrifying Cosmic form as Mahākāla, Arjuna now has an understanding of the unlimited magnitude of the personality in front of him.

Kṛṣṇa concludes this chapter with a clear direction of what a devotee should do to reach Him. It is as simple as 1, 2, 3.

‘Work for Me,’ He says, ‘work for My mission, mat karma kṛn. Surrender to Me as the supreme with no reservations, mat paramo mad bhaktah. Have no attachment to whatever you do, leave the results to Me, surrender the fruits of your action to Me, sanga varjitaḥ. Look upon everyone as your own Self, without dislike and hatred, nirvairah sarva bhūteṣu.’

Pray intensely to the Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, Universal consciousness, in whatever name you know, in whatever form you know. Pray to that energy to give a glimpse of His being to you, a glimpse of the experience that Arjuna received and which all the enlightened masters experienced.

Pray to the Universal energy. It responds to your thoughts. Don’t think your prayers are dead words. They are living communication.

Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible and as deeply as possible. Concentrate and bring your attention between your eyebrows, on your ājña cakra. Slowly, but very deeply concentrate on your ājña cakra. Without forcing yourself, put your awareness naturally on your ājña cakra.

Slowly start visualizing the whole Universe moving inside your head.

Feel this clearly inside your head.

The space that is in front of you, in your inner space, the whole Universe is moving. See the sun, moon and all the planets. Visualize this clearly, intensely. Slowly relax the body, be one with the Universal consciousness. Feel the experience of being one with the Universe.

You are seeing clearly the sun, moon, stars and planets. Just disappear into the Universal consciousness. Forget your name, your form, all the conditionings, your profession, your gender and your country, everything about yourself. Forget your identity and see the whole Universe intensely. Just see the moving Universe intensely, all the planets, the stars, all the suns, moons.

Disappear into the Universal consciousness. Lose the identity, the root cause of all the thoughts; let it disappear into the Universal consciousness. Experience the bliss, the fulfilling bliss of the whole Universe. Expand and disappear into that Universe.

Dissolve into the Universal consciousness. Be in Nityānanda, eternal bliss!

Thus ends the eleventh chapter named Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Cosmic Vision,’ of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṃvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.