Gita Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen draws on the conclusions of previous Chapters and points to the attainment of salvation by the paths of karma yoga and Gyana yoga, both of which require one to offer, without any reservation, everything to God.
Verses 18.1 – 18.16
Giving up or tyaga the results of all activities from consideration in the mind is renunciation and the wise in the state of renunciation is in the renounced order of life or sanyass. Some learned persons prescribe giving up of all kinds of activities associated with fruits of action in the state of sanyassa, other sages maintain that acts of sacrifice, charity and penance should never be abandoned. The three kinds of renunciation declared in the scriptures: acts of sacrifice, charity and penance are never to be given up but should be performed as they purify even the great souls. Renunciation actions are to be performed without any expectation of results and as a matter of duty. Illusion generated by the Guna of ignorance leads one to give up prescribed duties, while the influence of the Guna of passion causes one to give up prescribed duties as being troublesome, or give up out of fear. One needs to perform prescribed duty only because it is ought to be done and renunciations of all attachment to the fruits of activities including duties are caused by the Guna of goodness. Those under the complete influence of the Guna of goodness does neither hate inauspicious work nor get attached to auspicious work, and always perform work.
It is impossible for an embodied being to give up all activities and renunciation means renouncing the sense of being the doer of actions and of the attachment to the results of actions performed. The persons in the renounced order of life have no result of action to suffer or enjoy.
The five factors that bring about the accomplishment of all action, according to Sankhya philosophy, are the place of action, the performer, the senses, the endeavor, and ultimately the Supersoul. All action, right or wrong action performed by body, mind or speech is caused by these five factors. No one factor can, therefore, claim to be the sole cause or doer of any action. One who is not motivated by ego and whose intellect is not entangled knows that he can kill no body even if someone is killed by his action and he is not to be affected by such action.
Knowledge, the object of knowledge and the knower are the three factors that motivate an action; the senses, the work effort to act and the doer are the mere instruments of action.
Verses18.17 - 18.40
The knowledge of the existence of one undivided spiritual nature in all divided existences, is the knowledge acquired under the influence of the Goodness Guna. The Guna of passion influences a person to remain in the knowledge that different type of living entities dwell in different bodies. The Guna of ignorance keeps the person ignorant of all the factors that determine action, their inter-relationships and the Self.
Action in pursuance of duty performed without attachment, without love or hate, by one who has renounced fruits of all actions is connected to the Guna of goodness. Action performed with great effort by one seeking to gratify desires and with a sense of ownership as the doer is connected to the Guna of passion. And, the action performed in ignorance and delusion without consideration of future bondage or consequences, is connected to the Guna of ignorance.
The performer of action who is free from all material attachments and the ego of the doer, who is enthusiastic and resolute but indifferent to success or failure, is a performer under the influence of the Guna of goodness. An action by a greedy, envious and impure performer who is attached to the fruits of action effort and desirous of enjoying the fruits of actions and who is anxious to succeed rather than fail, is linked to the influence of the Guna of passion. And that action-performer who is materialistic, obstinate, cheating and expert in insulting others, who is lazy, always morose and procrastinating, is a person under the influence of the Guna of ignorance.
Understanding and determination also vary according to the three Gunas of nature. The understanding of the knowledge about what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, what is to be feared and what is not to be feared, what is binding and what is liberating, is established under the conducive nature of the Goodness Guna. Understanding that does not enable one to distinguish between proper and improper ways of life and between action that should be done and action that should not be done, is imperfect understanding promoted by the Guna of passion. And, understanding that lacks perspective and direction and without any basis or principles or framework is the result of the dominating influence of the Guna of ignorance.
The determination that is unbreakable, sustained, as steadfast as of a yogi, and thus controls the mind, life, and the acts of the senses, is connected to a strong bearing of the Guna of Goodness while determination to hold fast on to the desired result of actions and ensure sensual pleasure is developed under the impact of the Guna of passion.
The impact of the Guna of Ignorance is reflected in the determination based on impractical dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness, and illusion.
The nature of happiness enjoyed by different persons is also influenced by the relative composition of the three Gunas inherited by each person’s nature. The happiness from self-realization can be enjoyed only under the influence of the Guna of Goodness. Happiness from contact of the senses with the sensual objects can be enjoyed really by persons with nature under the dominance of the Guna of passion. Persons whose nature is strongly cast in the Guna of Ignorance enjoy happiness from sleep, dream, laziness, envy and illusion.

Verses 18.41 – 18.78 No being and nothing in the Creation except God is free from the impact of the operation of the respective combination of Gunas of material nature each being or thing is imparted with. Brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras are distinguished by their qualities of work in accordance with their respective natural broad grouping of Gunas. Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness are the qualities that influence the work of the brahmanas. Heroism, power, determination, resourcefulness, courage in battle, generosity, and leadership are the quality marks of ksatriya’s work. Farming, cow protection and business are work that naturally comes to Vaisya’s competencies, and while the sudras excel in manual effort, craftsmanship and service to others.
Every person can attain perfection using the qualities naturally imbibed. It is better to engage in one's own occupation, even though one may perform it imperfectly, than to accept another's occupation and perform it perfectly. Duties that suit one's nature have no adverse reactions on the performer. Every endeavor has its own disadvantages and demerits along with merits and advantages.
One can obtain the results of renunciation simply by self-control and by becoming unattached to material things and disregarding material enjoyments. Purified by intelligence and control over mind, body and tongue, giving up the objects of sense gratification, becoming free from attachment, hatred, ego, pride, lust and anger, one who lives in a secluded place, eating little, always in trance and not accept material things, a person is certain to advance to the state of self-realization. In such a transcendental state, one no longer laments, no longer desires, treats every living entity equally and automatically remains absorbed in pure devotional service to God, the only way to understand God and reach the eternal and imperishable abode of God.
The ideal method is to engage in activities all the while remaining dependent on God and His protection with full consciousness in God, getting rid of all ego: all the obstacles imposed by the conditioning of life by the Gunas of material nature are overcome only by the Grace of God.

Gita Chapter Seventeen

In chapter seventeen Lord Krishna classifies the three divisions of faith, revealing that it is these different qualities of faith in the Supreme that determine that character of living entities. These three types of faith determine one's consciousness in this world. Thus this chapter is entitled: The Three Divisions of Material Existence.
Verses 17.1 – 17.28
Each person develops a particular kind of faith depending on the combination of Gunas of material nature inherited and their blossoming as the person responds to the stimuli of surrounding environment. A person who is dominated by the Guna of passion tends to worship imaginary powers in the form of demons. A person who is dominated by ignorance tends to worship imaginary powers in the form of ghosts and spirits. Performing severe austerities or sacrifices, torturing their bodies, out of pride, ego, lust and attachment are driven by strong demonic passion.
The Gunas inherited influences food habits and vice a versa. Foods that seem attractive under the influence of the Guna of Goodness are generally those that are sweet, juicy, palatable and nourishing to help increase longevity purify existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Persons dominated by the Guna of passion like foods that are too bitter, too sour, salty, pungent, dry and hot to cause pain, distress, and disease. Persons who are dominated by the passion of ignorance does not have problem in relishing stale, putrid, decomposed and unclean food, maybe cooked long before being eaten.
Persons under the influence of Guna goodness perform sacrifices as a matter of duty and devotional service without any expectation of reward, while the force of the Guna of passion forces people to sacrifice out of pride or for some beneficial material reward / fruit in return. Persons under the influence of the Guna of ignorance make sacrifices in brutal ways not recommended by any scripture.
The austerity of the body consists of worship of the God, the brahmanas, the spiritual master and superiors like the parents, practice of cleanliness, simplicity, celibacy, serenity, self-control, purity of thought and nonviolence in life, and in speaking truthfully without offending. This threefold austerity is practiced by persons under the influence of Goodness Guna not for any material benefit but as offering in devotional service to God. Persons under the dominance of the passion Guna perform ostentatious penances and austerities only with the objective of gaining respect, honor and reverence. Under the influence of the Guna of ignorance, people perform penances, self-torture and austerities to destroy or injure others.
The Guna of goodness prompts people to gift to worthy persons in need as a matter of duty and without expectation of return, while charity influenced by the Guna of passion is motivated by expectation of some return or with a desire for results from actions, or as a matter of imposed duty most reluctantly performed. Charity given to unworthy people without consideration of appropriateness of time and place and with disrespect or contempt for the beneficiary of the receiver is the result of the Guna of ignorance.
The three syllables Om, Tat and Sat that for respectively the Supreme, the Absolute and the Truth (Brahman) are uttered recited while chanting Vedic hymns and during sacrifices, for the satisfaction of the Supreme. The transcendentalists perform sacrifices, charities, and penances always in the spirit of Om tat sat, to attain the Supreme. But sacrifices, austerities and charities performed without faith in the Supreme are nonpermanent and useless regardless of whatever rites are performed.

Gita Chapters Fifteen And Sixteen

Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen describe the virtues, the glories and transcendental characteristics of God as the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. They highlight the purpose and value of knowing about God and the method to realize God by overcoming the overwhelming influence of the Gunas.
Verses 15.1 – 15.15
The person with the knowledge of the banyan tree with its roots upward and its branches down and leaves as the Vedic hymns, is the knower of the Vedas. The branches of this tree extend downward and upward, nourished by the three Gunas/ properties of material nature. The twigs are the objects of the senses. This tree also has roots going down bound to the actions of human society undertaken to achieve some fruits or results. The real form of this tree cannot be comprehended as none can identify its ends, its beginning or its foundation is. With determination one could cut down this tree with the weapon of detachment and never seek to restore the already cut parts of the tree, and then surrender to God from whom everything has been sourced and in whom everything is contained since time immemorial. When the person free from illusion, prestige, and association, in full knowledge of the eternal, free of material lust and duality of happiness and distress, surrenders to God reaches and remains in God abode that does not require sun and moon to provide illumination. The living entities in this conditioned material world are God’s eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the senses and the mind. A living entity carries its own conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas. Each living entity obtains a specific set of senses aligned to its specific nature of mind. The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit one body and the particular combination of the Gunas of material nature inherent in a particular body. He enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But the endeavoring transcendentalist established in self-realization, can understand all this clearly. The splendor of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, the splendor of the moon and the splendor of fire, the energy of the planets in orbit, the juice in vegetables, the fire of digestion in every living body, the air of life, memory, memory recall, knowledge and forgetfulness – all are sourced in God. God is seated in everyone's heart. God is to be known and the methods to know God described in the Vedas and Vedanta are sourced from God.
Verses 15. 16 – 15.20
There are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material world every entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every entity is infallible. Besides these two, there is the greatest living personality, God Himself, who has created, entered into these worlds and is maintaining them... But God is transcendental, beyond both the fallible and the infallible. Whoever knows God as the Supreme Personality without doubt, is the knower of everything, and therefore is engaged in full devotional service. Whoever understands this will become wise, and his endeavors will know perfection.
Verses 16.1 –16. 16
The transcendent characteristics of godly persons are absence of fear, purification of existence, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, charity, self-control, performance of sacrifice, study of the Vedas, austerity, simplicity; nonviolence, truthfulness, freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquility, aversion to faultfinding, compassion, freedom from covetousness, gentleness, modesty, steady determination, vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy and freedom from the ego of honor. In contrast, arrogance, pride, anger, conceit, harshness and ignorance are the characteristics of qualities of demoniac natured persons. The transcendental qualities are conducive to liberation, whereas the demoniac qualities result in bondage. The demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done: there is little or no cleanliness, improper behavior and absence of truth is in them. According to them, this world is unreal; there is no foundation and no God in control: the world is for satisfying sex desire and lust. The demoniac are lost to their dominant Guna and have no intelligence: they engage in unbeneficial, horrible activities that are essentially destructive. The demoniac shows insatiable lust, pride and false prestige. They believe that to gratify the senses unto the end of life is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus there is no end to their anxiety. Being bound by hundreds and thousands of desires, by lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for sense gratification. The demoniac person is continuously pursue wealth accumulation and engages in destruction of enemies to lord over as many things, places ad people as possible. Demonic person is focused on a self -image of the sole enjoyer, the perfect, powerful and happy as also the richest, surrounded by aristocratic relatives and with great pride in making sacrifices and giving away in charity. Perplexed by various anxieties and bound by a network of illusions, the demonic suffers strong attachment to sensual enjoyment and activities aimed at fulfilling desires and wishes. A demonic person is self-complacent and impudent, deluded by wealth and strong sense of prestige. Afflicted by ego, strength, pride, lust and anger, the demonic person may even become envious of God. The demonic characteristics snowball and force a person to get more deeply bonded to such materialistic existence further and further away from ultimate peace and happiness. Lust, anger and greed freely operate to progressively degrade the living entity from the peace of the eternal soul. The person free of lust, greed and anger is capable of performing actions conducive to self-realization and make progress to reach the supreme destination of God.
The person unable to follow the codes of behavior and conduct prescribed in the scriptures and unhesitatingly fall prey to temptations arising from the strong force of Gunas of material nature is also unable to acquire knowledge of the transcendental Self or permanent happiness as contrasted to transient sensual enjoyment and disappointment, or the eternal peace of being in God. The task is to understand the activities that are recommended as duty and not recommended as duties duty by the scriptures and practice them to achieve progress on the path of real freedom and Truth

Gita Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen deal with the basic properties of humans, namely the three Gunas reflected by goodness, passion and nescience or ignorance. These influence the behavior of everything in the material existence. The Chapter illustrates the characteristics of the operation of the Gunas, their cause, the level of their potency, how they influence a living entity affected by them as well as the signs of one who has risen above them. The advise is to relinquish oneself from ignorance and passion and adopt the path of pure goodness until acquiring the ability to transcend all the Gunas.
Verses 14.1 - 14.20 This supreme wisdom outlined earlier, the best of all knowledge, is what enables the sages to attain perfection. Fixed in this knowledge, one is able to understand the transcendental nature of God and become unaffected by the appearance and disappearance of the body. Brahman the spirit that is beyond the material world however is the source of material substance that is impregnated by God to usher in the birth of all living beings. God provides the seed to father all species of life. The material nature of the three Gunas of goodness, passion and ignorance condition each living entity. The Guna of goodness being purer than the others is illuminating, and it frees one from all adverse reactions and helps develop knowledge conditioned by the concept of happiness. The Guna of passion is characterized by unlimited desires and longings and hence conditions one to activities in search of material benefits. The Guna of ignorance causes delusion in all living entities and conditions them to madness, indolence and sleep. The Guna of goodness conditions one to happiness, passion conditions one to the fruits of action, and ignorance to madness. Sometimes passion becomes prominent, overcoming the goodness, while sometimes goodness dominates passion, and at other times ignorance dominates goodness and passion. There is always competition for supremacy among the Gunas.
The manifestations of the Guna of goodness can be experienced when the body is illuminated by knowledge. An increase in the intensity of Guna of passion is reflected in greater attachment, uncontrollable desire, and intense endeavor to satisfy desire and lust. Higher impulse of the Guna of ignorance is identified with manifestation of laziness, madness, illusion, inertia and darkness. A person who dies in the mode of pure goodness Guna, the dweller leaves the body with an environment congenial to knowledge. Death in the state of the dominance of passion Guna, the self leaves the body in an environment congenial to strong desire to enjoy happiness, while death in the period of the dominance of ignorance Guna provides an environment of illusion faced by animals. Activities done under the influence of goodness Guna helps purification of mind and intellect. Activity under in the influence of passion Guna leads to disappointment and distress, while actions performed under the influence of the ignorance Guna shows up in foolishness and inefficiency. Goodness help develop real knowledge develops, passion leads to greed develops while ignorance fosters foolishness, madness and illusion.
When a person is able to understand that all activities are shaped only by one or more of influence of the three gunas imparted by nature, and God is independent and beyond the reach of these Gunas, the person acquires the knowledge of the spiritual nature of God. When the embodied being is able to transcend these three Gunas, it approaches the Godly state.
Verses 14.21- 14.28
Arjuna desired to know the symptoms and behavior of a person who has transcended beyond the three Gunas to those modes and how the person achieves this transcendence? Krishna replied that the transcendental person (a) does not hate or love illumination of knowledge or attachment to desire or delusion, (b) is indifferent to the existence or disappearance of these Gunas, (c) remains firmly unconcerned with and independent of the operation of the Gunas of nature, (d) perceives with equanimity and remains indifferent to different situations/ phenomenon or entities, whether pleasure or pain, a stone or a piece of gold, praise and criticism, honor or dishonor, friend or foe, (e) does not undertake any activity in search of the fruits of action, (f) engages in full devotional service, and (g) does not deviate from all the above under any circumstance. This is the exact state of the impersonal, immortal, imperishable and eternal Brahman.

Gita Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen explained the distinction between the transitory, perishable physical body and the immortal, eternal and immutable soul. It also deals with the relationship between the individual soul and the ultimate soul.
Verses 13.1 - 13.19 Arjuna wanted to know from Krishna the meanings of prakrti (nature), purusha (the enjoyer]), the field and the knower of the field and of knowledge and the end of knowledge. Krishna explained that the body is the field, One who knows this body is called the knower of the field. God is the knower of all bodies. Knowledge is the understanding of the body and its owner. Krishna then gave the description of this field of activity, how it is constituted changed and produced, who is knower of the field and the influences of the knower.
Knowledge of the field of activities and of the knower of activities is described by various sages in the Vedas, particularly in the Vedanta-sutra’. In brief the field of activities includes the five great elements of air, water, earth, space and sky, false ego, intellect / intelligence, the non-manifest, the senses, the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions. Knowledge consists of humility, modesty, non-violence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; non-attachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to God, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth. Anything contrary to knowledge is ignorance.
Brahman, the spirit, is the knowable, knowing which one tastes the eternal. Brahman is the creation of God, is beginning less, and lies beyond the cause and effect of this material world.
The Supersoul exists everywhere. It is the original sense-free source of all senses. It is unattached maintainer of all living beings and beyond the influence of but the master of the three Gunas of material nature. The Supreme Truth is beyond the power of the material senses to see or to know. The Supersoul appears to be divided, but actually not divisible. He is situated as one. The Supersoul creates, develops, maintains and destroys the created manifestations and the creation. He is the source of light in all luminous objects, beyond the darkness of matter, beyond all that is manifest, both knowledge and the object of knowledge as also the goal of knowledge, seated in the heart of everyone.
Verses 13.20 – 35 Material nature and the living entities are beginning less. Their transformations and the modes of matter are products of material nature. Nature is the cause of all material activities and effects, whereas the living being is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world. The living being in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three Gunas/ properties/ modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil amongst various species.
In the human body, Self is the transcendental enjoyer, God as the supreme proprietor, the overseer and the approving authority, exists as the Supersoul. The person who understands this philosophy concerning material nature, the living being and the interaction of the modes of nature is certain to attain liberation. Supersoul is perceived by some through meditation perceives, some others through the cultivation of knowledge, and still others through practicing desire-free actions. Again, those not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship God upon hearing about God from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death.
Whatever one finds in existence, both moving and unmoving, is only the combination of the field of activities and the knower of the field. One who sees the Supersoul accompanying the individual soul in all bodies, and who understands that neither the soul nor the Supersoul is ever destroyed, actually sees. One who sees the Supersoul in every living being and equal everywhere does not degrade himself by his mind. Thus he approaches the transcendental destination. When a person observes that it is the material natured body that performs all activities and that the self does nothing, he / she perceive the Truth. When a person ceases to see different material bodies as having different identities, understands the concept of Brahman. Thus he sees that beings are expanded everywhere. The vision of eternity find enables one to see the soul is transcendental, eternal, and beyond the modes of nature. Despite contact with the material body, the soul does nothing and gets entangled with nothing. Just as the all pervading sky does not get tied to anything that we see in the sky due to its subtle nature, the soul, situated in Brahman vision, does not mix with the body in which it dwells. Just as the sun illuminates the universe, so does soul dwelling in the body illuminate the entire body with consciousness? The person, whose knowledge recognizes the difference between the body and the owner of the body and can understand the process of liberation from this bondage, also attains to the supreme goal.

Gita Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve pointed to the super glory of devotion to God and also explained the different forms of spiritual disciplines and the qualities of the devotees. chapter is entitled: The Path of Devotion.
Verses 12. 1 – 12.20
Arjuna inquired about the relative perfection of the two types of Yogis: those engaged in devotional service and those in worship of the impersonal Brahman, the non-manifest. Krishna replied the person whose mind is fixed on God’s human form and always engaged in worshiping God with great and transcendental faith, was the most perfect. But the one who finally achieve me is the person worshiping the all-pervading, inconceivable, fixed, immovable and impersonal concept of the Absolute Truth of God in the non-manifest form that lies beyond sense perception of the senses, by controlling the various senses and being equally disposed to everyone and engaged in the welfare of all. Those with minds attached to the non-manifest form, progress is very difficult to achieve. God delivers liberation more quickly to the unfailing devotee who worships, submits all activities to God and engages in devotional service, always meditating on God. One just needs to fix the mind on God and engage the intellect in God to live in God.
If one is unable to fix the mind on God without deviation, then one can practice the regulated principles of bhakti-yoga and develop a desire to attain to God. If one cannot practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga, then one can just try to work for God to start with.
If one is unable to work for me, then one can try to perform activities giving up all results of work and remain focused on the self. If one cannot even practice giving up the results of actions to God, then one can engage in the cultivation of knowledge.
Better than the pursuit of knowledge is meditation, and better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of action as renunciation brings peace of mind.
Persons very dear to God have the following characteristics’ (a) the person who is not envious but kind to all living beings, who does not think himself a proprietor of his actions, who is free from ego and equally unperturbed by both happiness and distress, who is always satisfied and engaged in devotional service with determination and whose mind and intellect are aligned in attachment to God, (b) the person for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress, (c) A devotee who is not dependent on the ordinary course of activities, who is pure, free from all pains, and who does not strive for some result, (d) the one who neither grasps pleasure or grief, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things, (e) the one who is equal to friends and enemies, who accepts honor and dishonor equally, remains indifferent to heat and cold, and find no difference between happiness and distress or fame and infamy, who is always free from contamination, always silent and satisfied with anything, who does not care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and engaged in devotional service, and (f) the person who follows the path of devotional service and who completely engages with full faith to strive to reach God.

Gita Chapter Eleven

In Chapter Eleven, one could get the thrill of visualizing through divine sensors God’s Infinite Universe –engulfing Form enveloping all of existence.
Verses 11.1 – 11.34
Arjuna expressed his satisfaction over the details of spiritual knowledge imparted by Krishna to behold the cosmic form of God or the Universal Self. Then Krishna let Arjuna visualize the opulence of God that contained hundreds of thousands of varied divine multicolored forms and manifestations including the Adityas, Rudras, and all the demigods as also many things many things which no one has ever seen or heard before. He pointed out that Arjuna is able to see these in the same body form not through his worldly eye sensors but through the divine sensors imparted temporarily to Arjuna for the purpose of viewing God’s opulence. Arjuna could see in the universal form, unlimited and wonderful faces, mouths and unlimited eyes, dazzling ornaments arrayed in many garbs and with garlands spreading fragrances all over. All was magnificent, continuously expanding, unlimited and magnificent as if illuminated by hundreds of thousands of suns at the same time. Seeing this Universal form of the God Self, Arjuna’s hairs stood up in astonishment and with folding hands he began to pray with folded hands, offering obeisance to God. He said he could see simultaneously in God’s Self all the demigods, living beings, the Brahma sitting on the lotus flower, Lord Siva many sages, divine serpents, many bellies, mouths, eyes expanded without limit with no beginning, no middle or end, form adorned with various crowns, clubs and discs, is difficult to see because of its glaring effulgence, which is fiery and immeasurable like the sun. He then started saying that God Self is the supreme primal object, the inexhaustible, the oldest, the maintainer of principles that govern the Creation, the origin without beginning, middle or end, with uncountable, infinite number of arms, eyes radiating lights as powerful as suns and moons and heating the entire universe and spread throughout the skies and the planets and all space between. Arjuna could see that all the planetary systems, all demigods surrendering and flowing into the God in fear with folded hands singing the Vedic hymns. All Adityas, the Vasus, the Sadhyas, the Visvedevas, the two Asvis, the Maruts, the forefathers and the Gandharvas, the Yaksas, Asuras, and all demigods were beholding God in wonder. Unable to tolerate seeing the unimaginable, amazing vast and all pervasive form of the God Self, Arjuna felt bewildered and exhausted He could see the sons of Dhrtarastra along with their allied kings, and Bhisma, Drona and Karna, and all Pandava soldiers rushing into God’s blazing, fiery mouths with their heads smashed and crushed by God’s terrible teeth as if God is devouring all people while covering the universe with His immeasurable rays. Then Arjuna asked Krishna what was all these he was seeing. Krishna replied that God as Time also destroys His own manifestations. What Arjuna had seen as God devouring people is nothing but the future of the battling armies who would be slain in the War and Arjuna has only to fight as the instrument of God to slay them. All the great warriors like Drona, Bhisma, Jayadratha and Karna are already destroyed. Arjuna has to simply play the role cast for him by God: fight to vanquish his enemies.
Verses 11.35 -
After hearing these words of Krishna, Arjuna trembled, fearfully offered obeisance with folded hands and said that the world became joyful upon hearing God’s name. He said God stood above even Brahma as the original master, the limitless, the refuge of the universe, the invincible source and the cause of all causes, transcendental to all material manifestation. He understood that God is the only knowable pervading the entire cosmic manifestations including air, fire, water, the moon, the supreme controller and the grandfather and every thing at the same time. God is the father of the whole cosmic manifestation, the ultimate to worship, the spiritual master. No one is equal to the immeasurable God. Arjuna begged for mercy for God for his ignorance and follies in the past. He prayed God to assume his more traditional deity form for worship. Krishna replied that no one before Arjuna had ever seen the unlimited and effulgent, universal form. And, this form cannot be viewed by studying the Vedas, or by performing sacrifices, or by charities, or by mere worship. Thus for the benefit of devotee Arjuna, Krishna assumed His four-armed deity form and therafter the normal human form and restoring Arjuna to calmness. Then Krishna said that God’s original and divine form can only be seen by the real devotees of God. The devotee engaged in pure devotional service to God, free from the contaminations of previous activities and from mental speculation, and who is friendly to every living entity, can only visualize and merge with God.
[ Note: This Vswaroop Darshan of God by Arjun may appear to be something, unnatural, mystical or magical. This is not really so. This episode is completely natural as has been explained at " Viswaroop Darshan - Beyond Eye Vision: God & Gita 39" at http://senland.blogspot.com/]