Shloka # 43:

You are the Father of all beings moving and non-moving; to this (world) You are worthy of worship, the Teacher, and greater (than a teacher). There is none equal to You; how at all can there be anyone greater even in all the three worlds, O You of unrivalled power?

Continuing his teaching Swamiji said, Sri Krishna answering Arjuna’s question, pointed out that he, Krishna, himself was Kalatatvam. Time is not separate from Creation and once I appreciate desha and kala as Ishvara; then everything existing in time and space also must be Ishvara because the world cannot exist separate from desaha and kala. As I said the other day, previously it was thought that time and space are separate and the creation is separate; this was the thinking under Newtonian physics. Later we have revised our opinion; creation cannot be separated from time and space; or time and space cannot be separated from creation.

Shankaracharya says, God created time, space and the World.

It is not that time and space existed before and Bhagavan thought in time, one day, to create the universe; that is not the idea; when we say Bhagavan created the world it means Bhagavan created time, place and the world; and that is why we get into a logical problem; once I know Bhagavan created time and space and world, we will have difficulty in answering questions such as; when did Bhagavan create time; What will be your answer. It is a difficult question to answer. One cannot answer, when time arrived. Another question is where does space exist? How did cause and effect principle come about? These three questions, can never answered; that is why we use the word: Maya. Maya does not mean we do not know how to answer; Maya means intellectually these questions are undecipherable. So, what I want to say is: when Bhagavan says I am time, we should understand that as, Bhagavan is Time, Bhagavan is Space; Bhagavan is the objects also.

So, Bhagawan is time, space and objects. It also includes events that occur. Finally God is, all the laws governing all events. Citing example of boiling water, it follows laws such as boiling point etc. Every event is governed by physical and moral laws and is called Bhagawan or Niyama.

Whenever I experience anyone of the above four (time, space, objects, events) I am experiencing God. A person asked could I get darshan of God? Gita says, you are obtaining this darshan at all times; it is just that you are not aware of it. The moment we become aware of it, it becomes a mature mind; one becomes a madhyama bhakta. An Uttama bhaktha is even above this state.

This Vishwa rupa bhakta is a great nature lover that he appreciates as Bhagawan. Arjuna also gets a glimpse of this darshanam and he becomes overwhelmed by devotion.

In this context Shiva sankalpa mantras come to mind, they are so beautiful; it says, let my mind have auspicious thought; and one of the auspicious thoughts is that all the legs, all the eyes; all the faces are the faces of the Lord alone; and when Arjuna appreciates this; he looks back in time and remembers.

At this time, looking back, Arjuna feels guilt that in the past I have not addressed God properly, when we were younger. He surrenders to Lord and asks for forgiveness. Hence we should not disrespect Earth and Water. Do not spit in water; do not take bath in the river without clothes; all these advices are given by the Vedas.

Why so much respect? When rain comes we run away; then ask why escape from rain which is God himself.

Arjuna says, O Lord, you are father of Universe consisting of moving and non-moving objects.”

This is the shloka I introduced in the last class. “Oh Lord: You are the father of the universe.” Here we have to see two things; In Vedantic teaching, three stages are there; I have told you before; philosophically first we say:

Bhagavan creates the world; stage one;

stage two is Bhagavan himself becomes the world,

the last stage is Bhagavan appears as the world without undergoing change.

First stage is called nimitha karana Ishvara or ekarupa Ishvara; the second stage is called upadana karana Ishvara or anekarupa Isvara; the third stage is called vivartha upadana Ishvara or arupa Ishvara.

Arjuna is, here, doing both; He is says, You are the Father of the world and You are the world.

God is the creator of scriptural teaching tradition. You are the adi guru. You are greater than all other Gurus. Why so? All other Gurus were at one point in time a shishya. Bhagawan is the absolute Guru who was never a shishya (gariyan).

“ there is no one equal to you; so, where is the question of someone being greater than you; you are matchless one; you are Lord of matchless glory.”

Shloka # 44:

Therefore, by bowing down and prostrating the body, I seek to propitate You who are God and are adorable. O Lord, You should [The elision of a (in arhasi of priyayarhasi) is a metrical licence.] forgive (my faults) as would a father (the faults) of a son, as a friend, of a friend, and as a lover of a beloved.

Arjuna’s guilt does not leave him, although he has only treated Sri Krishna as a friend. In Bhakti literature God is accepted as a friend, but still Arjuna feels guilty.

“ I request forgiveness, falling at your feet. I propitiate you for my offense.” Other than God nobody deserves namaskara. All namaskara’s finally go to God through Guru Paramapara.

“I do this so that you forgive me for my insults to you; even as a parent forgives children.” We should forgive our children when they make mistakes.

Like a husband forgiving his wife for her offenses; husband was considered a Guru and wife the shishya. “You are like husband”, is also a form of bhakthi called madhura bhakthi; where the devotee looks upon himself as Gopi or Radha and Lord is the only purusha.

Finally, forgive me, just as a friend forgives another friend.

Shloka # 45:

I am delighted by seeing something not seen heretofore, and my mind is stricken with fear. O Lord, show me that very form; O supreme God, O Abode of the Universe, be gracious!

Here Arjuna expresses his two fold emotions. I am in conflict. I am one of the few lucky one’s with a Divya Chakshu that allowed me the Vishwa Rupa Darshanam.

At the same time from one corner I see only Lord’s mouth where bodies are being crushed and devoured. My mind is in grip of fear due to this. One part is happy while another part of mind is fearful. Of the two, fear is more dominant.

Divya Chakshu has to come to us through our own Sadhanas; Arjuna got his from God’s blessing; he did not get it from his sadhanas; he was not mature enough to get it, hence he is fearful.

So, I request you to withdraw Vishwa Rupa; I can’t withstand it. To withstand Vishwa Rupa darshanam one’s Raga Dvesha must be carefully reduced; my Ahamkara, Mamakara must reduce in me.

I have seen something unique, Vishwa Rupa; seeing it I am extremely elated, but internally I am frightened as well.

Citing an example, swamiji said in his village during a temple festival they had a few elephants and he got on top of one of them. Now, elephant has big backbone; it also has hair that is very rough. Both of them make one miserable but yet one keeps smiling.

Of the two, fear is the one that dominates. O Lord, I would like to see you as good old Sri Krishna, the Eka Rupa Ishwara. Graduating to aneka rupa Ishwara is not easy; only after being in aneka rupa for some time can one go to arupa ishwara.

Be gracious to me; O lord abode of universe.

Citing a story, when Krishna ate mud, Yashoda scolded and said; open the mouth. She thought that she will see only mud inside the mouth but instead of mud, the whole cosmos was there; and just as Arjuna could not withstand the Vishva rupa; even Yashoda could not. Therefore instead of saying; I am not able to; she commanded Krishna to Shut Up. Shut Up seems to be a command, but inside it is all fear; It is not to be taken literally; how can all the cosmos would be inside the Krishna’s mouth; even the Tirupati Laddu we are not able to put inside as a whole into our mouth; so, do not take it literally. This symbolizes the Lord as the vishvadharam gagana sadrsham.

Shloka # 46:

I want to see You just as before, wearing a crown, wielding a mace, and holding a disc in hand. O You with thousand arms, O You of Cosmic form, appear with that very form with four hands.

So Arjuna concludes his prayer. That is the third stage of appreciation. No.1 Ascharyam; No.2 bhayam; No.3 bhakthihi; the third stage of bhakthi expression is being concluded here; with Arjuna’s request to the Lord to get back to his own ekarupa.

He says he wants to see the Lord with his Chakra, Gadha and his four hands.

Some ask if Sri Krishna had four hands? Sri Krishna had only two hands. We can conclude that Arjuna was probably confused due to his changing emotions. So he says, May you appear as Sri Krishna rupam and not as Vishwa Rupam.

So with this Arjuna’s response to Vishva rupa

darshanam is over; the last phase is from shloka No.35 up to this shloka. Now the ball is in Lord Krishna’s court; so, there is some silence; because Arjuna has made his request and Sri Krishna has to do respond; What is the Lord going to do is given in the next shloka; which we will see in the next class.

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy