Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11 in English IAST: Viśvarūpa Darśana Yoga

oṃ tatsaditi śrīmadbhagavadgītāsūpaniṣatsu brahmavidyāyāṃ yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasaṃvāde viśvarūpadarśanayogo nāmaikādaśo’dhyāyaḥ ||

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About Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga

At the end of the tenth chapter Krishna had said, ‘I stand supporting this whole world with a single fraction of myself.’ In the eleventh chapter that word becomes visible. To Arjuna’s longing to see what he has heard, Krishna answers by giving him a divine eye and showing him his cosmic form. This is the most dramatic chapter of the Gita: here there is more vision than instruction.

The metre of the chapter tells the story too. Up to the fourteenth verse it is the ordinary anushtubh, when Arjuna begins to tell what he sees it becomes the long trishtubh, and after Krishna returns to his gentle form it is anushtubh again. On these pages the trishtubh verses are given in two lines, following the Gita Press arrangement.

How the chapter moves

• Verses 1 to 4: Arjuna’s gratitude and request. I have no doubt about what I have heard, yet I wish to see your sovereign form.
• Verses 5 to 8: The call ‘behold’ and the gift of the divine eye.
• Verses 9 to 14: Sanjaya’s description. The light of a thousand suns, the whole world in one body, and Arjuna bowing with his hair on end.
• Verses 15 to 31: What Arjuna sees. All the gods, a form without beginning, middle or end, then the terrible mouths, the warriors of both sides rushing into them, and the question ‘who are you?’
• Verses 32 to 34: ‘Kalo ’smi’, I am Time. Be merely the instrument.
• Verses 35 to 46: Arjuna’s second hymn, his plea for forgiveness for having treated his friend with familiarity, and his request for the familiar form.
• Verses 47 to 55: The return to the gentle form and the chapter’s answer: not by the Vedas, austerity, gifts or sacrifice, but by exclusive devotion alone.

The cosmic form: three views

The acharyas read the cosmic form each in their own vision. For Shankara nothing exists apart from him, and so ‘tato ’si sarvah’ (11.40), you are all. For Ramanuja the world is his body and he is its Self and support, and the cosmic form makes that principle visible. Madhva reads words such as ‘aneka’, ‘vishva’ and ‘sahasra’ as pointers to the infinite. Calling the human form ‘his own form’, he says, follows the impression of the seer, and the cosmic form too is his very own (11.50). The different depths the acharyas give to the word ‘kala’ are set out on the page for 11.32.

These pages do not decide between the readings. Wherever the acharyas part, each position is recorded in its own terms.

The terrible form and these pages

The images of the verses from twenty to thirty are harsh: tusks, crushed heads, moths falling into fire. We have given them as they are, without softening them. On the page for 11.33 we have also made clear that the words ‘be merely the instrument’ are no excuse to escape responsibility for wrongdoing.

In this chapter the ‘For life today’ box links the experiences of fear, wonder, forgiveness and consolation to daily life: acute anxiety, sudden confusion in the elderly, blows to the head, addictions, recovery after a shock. The health notes are for general understanding only, and for personal problems a doctor’s advice is what counts.

Sources: several.

ಪಾಠದಲ್ಲಿ ತಪ್ಪೋ ಬೇರೆ ಪಾಠಾಂತರವೋ ಕಂಡಿತೇ? ನಮಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿ.
Noticed a mistake or a different reading? Tell us.