Dear All,
We have read in the verses prior to the verse 13 taken up today that upon Arjuna's request to show His cosmic vision, the Lord grants Arjuna the grace to see Him in His cosmic form.
What does Arjuna see then?
Verse 13
Tatraikastham jagatkritsnam
Pravibhaktamanekadhaa;
Apashyaddevadevasya
Shareere paandavastadaa.
There, in the body of the God of gods, Arjuna then saw the whole universe resting in the one, with its many groups.
Tatraikasthaṁ jagat kṛtsnaṁ pravibhaktam anekadhā (11.13): Divided into multifarious shapes, this entire creation was seen there as if it is only a fraction of this total manifestation.
Purusha Sukhtam describes “Pādo’sya viśvā bhūtāni”: Only one-fourth of the Supreme Being is manifested in this cosmos, as it were. Tripādasyā’mṛtaṁ divi: Three-fourths is invisible.
The imminent form of God is only one-fourth, as it were; the transcendent form is three-fourths, as it were. It is not actually an arithmetical division that is intended here; the idea is that it is a very small fraction.
In the previous chapter, Lord declared, Viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat: “With a little fraction of Myself, I am supporting the entire cosmos.” The idea is that a little bit of the glory of God is revealed in the whole cosmos, and the real glory is transcendent.
In the Brahdaranyaka Upanishad, it is said, “Estasyaivānandasyānyāni bhūtāni mātrām upajīvant:
Yajnavalkya says that with a little spoonful of the bliss of the ocean of Brahman, the whole universe is sustained. And we are licking it in a mild, adulterated, spread-out, dense, concretized form of one spoonful only. What would be the ocean of that bliss? Such a thing Arjuna beheld.
In that great God of God’s Being, Arjuna had the blessing of beholding the wonder. There is no word in language to describe this wonder, except that it is a wonder.
Isavasya Upanishad begins with the mantra- Isavasyam idam sarvam: "This creation is enveloped/ Pervaded by the Almighty Supreme Being.
Is it contradictory to what we have seen in the verse we are reading wherein Krishna says, the entire creation is seen within Him / The lord?
Actually it is not contradictory. When we have understood that the entire creation rests in Lord, then it s but necessary that the essence that the Lord is, must be present in each and every created being!!
The lord, the supreme creator willed and this creation came into being.
This is what is the understanding upto almost the final stage in our learning and experiencing Lord in this creation.
This is what is the understanding upto almost the final stage in our learning and experiencing Lord in this creation.
Swami said, “ I separated myself from myself to Love myself”.
When we have believed and understood this, then, both the affirmations given below are true and in essence, mean the same thing.
Lord has created this entire universe and is present (Isavasyam) in every living and non-living thing that is present
Or
Divided into multifarious shapes, this entire creation was seen there as if it is only a fraction of this total manifestation.
Love.
