divine sight

Swami Kaivalyananda discussed some parts from the 11th chapter of the Gita. Here is one shloka;
‘Na tu mam shakyase drashtum, anenaiva svacakshusha,
divyam dadami te cakshu, pashya me yogam aishvaryam. 11.8.

The Lord tells Arjuna, ‘but you are not able to see Me with your own eye; therefore, I give you divine sight. See my glorious Yoga!’

Thereafter, Sanjaya describes the form the Lord showed to Arjuna; several eyes, arms, feet, mouths, and wonders; divine fragrances, divine dresses and garlands, etc.
One thing we should understand is that this ‘vishva rupa,’ or universal form of Sri Krishna is not something material. When we think of this, we think that Arjuna is seeing the entire material universe. If that were so, there would not be anything so great. Instead of a range of 50 feet, the Lord can give a range of sight of 1000 feet. That’s not what is here. This is a divine form, beyond the perception of the senses. That’s why the Lord says, ‘I give you divine sight.’ Here, there are material things described, everything from Lord Brahma to the war in Kurukshetra. However, those material things are only a small portion of the Lord’s ‘vishva rupa.’ That’s why the word ‘ascharyam,’ or ‘wonder’ is used in each place.
That’s because words cannot describe those divine aspects of the Lord. All you can say is the word ‘wonder.’ Therefore, nobody should think that this is a revealing of the material universe to Arjuna. This is showing all the divine aspects of the Lord, in which the entire universe is a mere portion.
Also, Swami said that none of us should be sad that we haven’t seen this ‘vishva rupa.’ This is because the Lord said that nobody but Arjuna has seen this in history, or will see. Swami said that once he was in a class, and the teacher explained this section. Then the teacher asked the students, ‘how many of you have experienced the vishva rupa?’ Swami said, ‘no, I haven’t.’ The teacher said, ‘Oh, you are just too dull, that’s all.’
Then four or five students raised their hands, and said ‘yes, I saw it!,’ praising the teacher. Swami says that kind of ‘vision’ is removed by medicine. That’s not what Arjuna experienced. This is something not to be gained by studying the scriptures or by contemplation on the spiritual truths. This is only something that be revealed by an Avatar.
So, Swami said quietly at the end, ‘just do one thing. You go and ask Amma secretly to show you the visva rupa.’ At this, everybody laughed.
I’d like to mention, any of your comments and ideas would be very interesting. After so many posts, I have begun to wonder if anybody at all is reading? Does anybody read the Gita daily? Just curious.

Piyush,
June 27, 2007