visva ropam prabhordrastum krpaapatrairhi shakyate
yajna disadhanaih kopi drastum’shakto na tat kvacit
The Cosmic-Form which Lord Krishna showed to Arjuna is not the reward of any spiritual practice. The Lord Himself declares, “I can not be seen in this form by the study of the Vedas or by rituals or by gifts, actions or austere penances” (11/48). God by His grace by blessing a person with the divine vision can show this Form. He says to Arjuna, “Being pleased with you I have shown you this Supreme Form by My Yoga power” (11/47). God declares that His four armed form can be seen by exclusive devotion (11/54), but His Cosmic- Form can’t be seen by any other means except His grace. Arjuna prays to God humbly, “0 Lord, if You think it possible for me to see Your Cosmic-Form, show it to me’ (11/4). So God by His grace shows this Form to inquisitive Arjuna because He like a kalpa tree, which yields anything desired, fulfills the desires of His devotees.
The Cosmic-Form which was shown to Kausalya-mother, Yasoda-mother, Uttandka, Bhisma etc. was not very horrific as was the Form shown to Arjuna. Seeing this horrendous Form Arjuna was terrified. Lord Krishna also accepts this fact when He says, “No one has ever seen such Cosmic Form as I have shown you” (11/47). That Cosmic-Form is different from this world which is Kaleidoscopic. That Cosmic-Form is divine, imperishable and infinite while the world is insentient, perishable and finite. The Lord went on showing His Cosmic Form which was very horrific and terrific to Arjuna. Seeing that Arjuna’s mind was confounded with fear, and he prayed to God, “I rejoice having seen Your wondrous Cosmic-Form. But my mind is tormented by fear having seen such a horrific Form. So reveal to me that divine form with four arms” (11/45-46). If Arjuna had not been tormented by fear and had not prayed to the Lord to show him His four armed divine form, He would have revealed Himself in several other limitless more colossal forms.
Sanjaya also extols the Cosmic-Form of the Lord and says, “Recalling that most wondrous form of Lord Krishna, great is my astonishment and I rejoice again and again” (18/77).
The Cosmic Form can not be seen by the vision of knowledge but it can be seen only by divine vision. The enlightened liberated soul by bestowing upon the striver the vision of knowledge can show this world in the form ‘All is God’, can cause him to attain Self-Realization but can’t show the Cosmic-Form. This form can be shown either by God or His representatives by bestowing upon strivers the divine vision. The Lord did not show this Cosmic-Form by blessing Arjuna with the vision of knowledge. But Arjuna saw His Cosmic-Form with the divine eyes bestowed upon him by the Lord. When Arjuna prayed to the Lord to show him His Cosmic-Form, the Lord ordered him to see His Cosmic-Form (11/5-7). But when Arjuna could not see it, the Lord said to him, “You can not see Me with these human eyes of yours. Therefore I vouchsafe to you the divine vision in order to enable you to see it” (11/8). With this divine vision Arjuna sees His Cosmic-Form. He says to the Lord, “0 Lord, I behold within your body all gods and hosts of different beings…… ” (11/15).
Sanjaya also says, “In the body of the God of gods Arjuna saw the whole universe” (11/13). The Lord also orders Arjuna to behold the entire creation within His body (11/7).
Thus we conclude that such divine Cosmic-Form can be seen neither by any spiritual practice nor by one’s own power and talent, nor by the vision of knowledge given to him by enlightened liberated souls, but that can be seen only by God’s grace.
*Arjuna has during other times also talked about seeing the Cosmic-Form with his eyes; like – ‘Pashyami’ (11/16-17, 19), ‘Drshtva’ (11/20, 23-24, 45); ‘drstvaiva’ (11/25); ‘sandrshyante’ (11/27) etc.
Narayana ! Narayana ! Narayana !
From “Gita Darpan” in English by Swami Ramsukhdasji Maharaj.
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