Bhagavad-Gita (Besant 4th)/Discourse 11

ELEVENTH DISCOURSE. Arjuna said: This word of the supreme Secret concerning the Self, Thou hast spoken out of compassion; by this my delusion is taken away. (1) The production and destruction of beings have been heard by me in detail from Thee, O Lotus-eyed, and also Thy imperishable greatness. (2) O supreme Lord, even as Thou describest Thyself, O best of beings, I desire to see Thy Form omnipotent. (3) If Thou thinkest that by me It can be seen, O Lord, Lord of Yoga, then show me Thine imperishable Self. (4) The Blessed Lord said: Behold, O Pârtha, a Form of Me, a hundredfold, a thousandfold, various in kind, divine, various in colours and shapes. (5) Behold the Âdityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the two Ashvins and also the Maruts; behold many marvels never seen ere this, O Bhârata. (6) Here, to-day, behold the whole universe, movable and immovable, standing in one in My body, O Gudâkesha, with aught else thou desirest to see. (7) But verily thou art not able to behold Me with these thine eyes; the divine eye I give unto thee. Behold My sovereign Yoga. Sanjaya said: Having thus spoken, O King, the great Lord of Yoga, Hari, showed to Pârtha His supreme Form as Lord. (9) With many mouths and eyes, with many visions of marvel, with many divine ornaments, with many upraised divine weapons; (10) Wearing divine necklaces and vestures, anointed with divine unguents, the God all-marvellous, boundless, with face turned everywhere. (11) If the splendour of a thousand suns were to blaze out together in the sky, that might resemble the glory of that Mahâtman. (12) There Pândava beheld the whole universe, divided into manifold parts, standing in one in the body of the Deity of Deities. (13) Then he, Dhananjaya, overwhelmed with astonishment, his hair upstanding, bowed down his head to the Shining One, and with joined palms spake. (14) Arjuna said: Sanjaya said: Having heard these words of Keshava, he who weareth a diadem, with joined palms, quaking and prostrating himself, spake again to Krishna, stammering with fear, casting down his face. (35) Arjuna said: The Blessed Lord said: Sanjaya said: Vâsudeva, having thus spoken to Arjuna, again manifested His own Form, and consoled the terrified one, the Mahâtman again assuming a gentle form. (50) Arjuna said: Beholding again Thy gentle human Form, O Janârdana, I am now collected, and am restored to my own nature. (51) The Blessed Lord said: This Form of Mine beholden by thee is very hard to see. Verily the Shining Ones ever long to behold this form. (52) Nor can I be seen as thou hast seen Me by the Vedas, nor by austerities, nor by alms, or by offerings; (53) But by devotion to Me alone I may thus be perceived, Arjuna, and known and seen in essence, and entered, O Parantapa. (54) He who doeth actions for Me, whose supreme good I am, My devotee, freed from attachment without hatred of any being, he cometh unto Me, O Pândava. (55) Thus in the glorious Upanishads of the Bhagavad-Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Shri Krishna and Arjuna, the eleventh discourse, entitled: THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM. - Ishvara, the Creator and Ruler of a Universe. - Various classes of Celestial Beings. - Ishvara. - Names of various grades of super-physical beings. - Being, Non-Being.