Chapter 11
Arjuna wants to see Lord's divine form. Since he has been hearing about it from Lord, now he wants to see it. Lord is everything and everywhere so anything and everything is Him alone. But he wants to see it. so gracefully Lord offers him the vision of His divine form. Until now Arjuna is primarily using his senses, mind and intellect to listen and understand what Lord is saying. These being physical intsruments, Lord tells Arjuna, that these physical instruments are incapable of beholding Lord's Divine form. so Lord bestows upon Arjuna, Divine Eyes ( Divya Chakshu ). No one but Lord can grant these divine eyes. Here the point being no matter how much effort one makes on the spiritual path, the realization happens when Lord is pleased with the seeker and grants him the boon of Divine eyes. A Brahmnishtha Sadguru can also fulfill this role. with the help of divine eyes now Arjuna was shown Lord's limitless, timeless, all encompassing cosmic view ( Vishwarupa).
Because everything is Lord only, when Lord reveals His form to Arjuna, everything in creation appears placed within His Form. Arjuna was able to see that the entire creation which appears to be in varied forms, was all situated within Lords form. This form had no end in sight, had countless arms, faces, as bright as thousands of solar systems. He could not see where this Form began adn where it ended. He could see all the devtas, rishis, everything that people behold as divine was contained within this form of the Lord. all those devtas etc that people worship asking for worldly gains were seen disappearing and being devoured in Lord's mouth. Bhishm, Drona and everyone else that Arjuna knew was seen rapidly being devoured by this.
Arjuna could not handle this sight. He implored the Lord to tell him who this was. Lord than told him that " I am the ultimate destroyer of all these galiant warriors. You think you are doing this, you think you are killing them. No, you are just an instrument to carry out what I am doing. these people are going to die any way."
Lord also emphasizes the value of Bhakti. A special form of Bhakti called "Ananya Bhakti" Lord says: " It is not possible to realize My Form by engaging in the studies of scriptures, doing intense Tapas, Giving Dana or charity or engaging in any type of Karma or action, but only through the practice ananya Bhakti."
नाहं वेदैर्न तपसा न दानेन न चेज्यया।
शक्य एवंविधो द्रष्टुं दृष्टवानसि मां यथा।।11.53।।
na aham vedaih na tapasaa na daanena na ca ijyayaa
sakya evam vidhe drastum drustuvaan asi maam yathaa.
Not through the four Vedas, not by tapas (austerity like chandrayana etc.,) not by giving gifts like land, gold etc., not even by sacrifices and worship I can be seen in the form that has been seen by you.
भक्त्या त्वनन्यया शक्यमहमेवंविधोऽर्जुन।
ज्ञातुं दृष्टुं च तत्त्वेन प्रवेष्टुं च परंतप।।11.54।।
But only through "bhaktyaa ananyayaa" (bhakti based on "no second thought") it is possible.
Ananyayaa bhakti is where thought of the Lord is always there, even when we are engaged in any worldly task. Where we depend on the Lord only for everything, Where there is no other. Lord has emphaiszed the importance os this exclusivity in other places in Gita. Chapter 18, verse 66
सर्वधर्सान् परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज।
अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः
The key message from Chapter 11:
Everything is pervaded by Lord, He is in everything. To be able to Him in everything you need divine vision, Divine vision can be granted only by Him, He will grant that Divine vision only to those who engage in Ananyayaa Bhakti, that is one pointed devotion to God while we go about doing things in this world,.
No comments:
Post a Comment