Bg 11.9
sañjaya uvāca
evam uktvā tato rājan mahā-yogeśvaro hariḥ
darśayāmāsa pārthāya paramaṁ rūpam aiśvaram
Bg 11.10-11
aneka-vaktra-nayanam anekādbhuta-darśanam
aneka-divyābharaṇaṁ divyānekodyatāyudham
divya-mālyāmbara-dharaṁ divya-gandhānulepanam
sarvāścarya-mayaṁ devam anantaṁ viśvato-mukham
Translation
Sanjaya said: 9. Having thus spoken, O King, the great Lord of YOGA, Hari, showed to Partha His Supreme Form, as the Lord (of the Universe).
10. With numerous mouths and eyes, with numerous wonderful sights, with numerous divine ornaments, with numerous divine weapons uplifted (such a form He showed).
11. Wearing divine garlands (necklaces) and apparel, anointed with divine unguents, the All-wonderful, Resplendent, Endless, facing all sides.
Commentary
The versatile genius of Vyasa has never left anything that he has touched without raising it to the most sublime heights of perfection. With unimaginable capacities for composing incomparable poetry, unique prose-diction, chaste descriptions, artistic, literary designs, original innovations both in thought and form --- a brilliant philosopher, a man of consummate wisdom, a genius in worldly knowledge, at one time in the palace, at another time in the battle-field, at still another time in Badrinath, and again, among the silent snow peaks --- strode the colossus, Sri Vyasa, as an embodiment of what is best in the Hindu tradition and in the Aryan culture. Such an all-round genius has not yet been reported ever to have been born, lived or achieved so much in the history of this globe, at any other time!
After Lord Krishna gave Arjuna a hint as to what he should expect and where he would gain the vision of the Cosmic-Man, etc., Vyasa introduces a small section in which Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra, the blind father of the wicked Kauravas.
The literary purpose served by this stanza is only to show to the readers that Krishna, according to his promise, had actually revealed his Cosmic-Form to Arjuna. But along with that, the deft mastery of the ancient writer of Mahabharata tries to paint for us the mental attitude and the inward sympathies of Sanjaya. We have stated earlier that Sanjaya is "OUR OWN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT." His sympathies are clearly with the Pandavas, the friends of the Lord. This tendency in Sanjaya is unquestionably revealed when he addressed his own master merely as "O King" (Rajan) while he uses the terms, (a) Mahayogeshwara ... "the Great Lord of Yoga" and (b) Harih ... "the one who maintains the champions of Truth by destroying the powers of falsehood," to indicate Lord Krishna. The implied suggestions of these words point at a bloodless murder of the blind old King!
With Sanjaya's words, the crowd of listeners and students of Geeta are shifted from the field of the battle to the palace of the battle-monger. This is perhaps necessary to remind the readers that the philosophy of the Geeta has an intimate practical application to life. Sanjaya informs Dhritarashtra that the Great Lord of Yoga showed to Arjuna his Supreme Ishwara-form. Sanjaya entertains a thin hope that, at least on hearing that the Lord of the Universe is on the side of his nephews, the blind King will foresee the sure defeat of his sons and, in his discrimination, will cry a halt to the impending disastrous war.
IN A ROUGH OUTLINE SANJAYA DESCRIBES THE LIST OF THINGS THAT WERE VISIBLE WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE DIVINE CHARIOTEER:
When a painter at his easel tries to express his artistic ideas through the medium of colour he invariably begins by outlining his theme roughly on the canvas. Later on, inch by inch, he adds more and more details to make the canvas sing the song of his message. Similarly in the word-picture of the literary artist, Vyasa, this stanza containing Sanjaya's words, represents the rough outline of the Universal Form of the Lord.
The Vision appearing before Sanjaya is no vision for a mortal intellect to live comfortably by. An ordinary man must feel dazed with wonderment and fear at this august and mighty Vision. The total Cosmos is no easy subject-matter for the mind to conceive of or for the intellect to comprehend, and therefore, when it comes as it does in the Geeta, in the stark realism of the Vision, Sanjaya stammers these phrases.
"DIVINE HIS GARLANDS AND ROBES" --- "DIVINE THE PERFUME OF HIS ANOINTMENT" --- "ALL MARVELLOUS, THE LORD, BOUNDLESS AND FACING EVERY SIDE" --- these represent the remaining strokes which, when added to the previous set of lines, bring out the picture of the Cosmic-Man roughly in its full outline.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
sañjaya uvāca
evam uktvā tato rājan mahā-yogeśvaro hariḥ
darśayāmāsa pārthāya paramaṁ rūpam aiśvaram
Bg 11.10-11
aneka-vaktra-nayanam anekādbhuta-darśanam
aneka-divyābharaṇaṁ divyānekodyatāyudham
divya-mālyāmbara-dharaṁ divya-gandhānulepanam
sarvāścarya-mayaṁ devam anantaṁ viśvato-mukham
Translation
Sanjaya said: 9. Having thus spoken, O King, the great Lord of YOGA, Hari, showed to Partha His Supreme Form, as the Lord (of the Universe).
10. With numerous mouths and eyes, with numerous wonderful sights, with numerous divine ornaments, with numerous divine weapons uplifted (such a form He showed).
11. Wearing divine garlands (necklaces) and apparel, anointed with divine unguents, the All-wonderful, Resplendent, Endless, facing all sides.
Commentary
The versatile genius of Vyasa has never left anything that he has touched without raising it to the most sublime heights of perfection. With unimaginable capacities for composing incomparable poetry, unique prose-diction, chaste descriptions, artistic, literary designs, original innovations both in thought and form --- a brilliant philosopher, a man of consummate wisdom, a genius in worldly knowledge, at one time in the palace, at another time in the battle-field, at still another time in Badrinath, and again, among the silent snow peaks --- strode the colossus, Sri Vyasa, as an embodiment of what is best in the Hindu tradition and in the Aryan culture. Such an all-round genius has not yet been reported ever to have been born, lived or achieved so much in the history of this globe, at any other time!
After Lord Krishna gave Arjuna a hint as to what he should expect and where he would gain the vision of the Cosmic-Man, etc., Vyasa introduces a small section in which Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra, the blind father of the wicked Kauravas.
The literary purpose served by this stanza is only to show to the readers that Krishna, according to his promise, had actually revealed his Cosmic-Form to Arjuna. But along with that, the deft mastery of the ancient writer of Mahabharata tries to paint for us the mental attitude and the inward sympathies of Sanjaya. We have stated earlier that Sanjaya is "OUR OWN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT." His sympathies are clearly with the Pandavas, the friends of the Lord. This tendency in Sanjaya is unquestionably revealed when he addressed his own master merely as "O King" (Rajan) while he uses the terms, (a) Mahayogeshwara ... "the Great Lord of Yoga" and (b) Harih ... "the one who maintains the champions of Truth by destroying the powers of falsehood," to indicate Lord Krishna. The implied suggestions of these words point at a bloodless murder of the blind old King!
With Sanjaya's words, the crowd of listeners and students of Geeta are shifted from the field of the battle to the palace of the battle-monger. This is perhaps necessary to remind the readers that the philosophy of the Geeta has an intimate practical application to life. Sanjaya informs Dhritarashtra that the Great Lord of Yoga showed to Arjuna his Supreme Ishwara-form. Sanjaya entertains a thin hope that, at least on hearing that the Lord of the Universe is on the side of his nephews, the blind King will foresee the sure defeat of his sons and, in his discrimination, will cry a halt to the impending disastrous war.
IN A ROUGH OUTLINE SANJAYA DESCRIBES THE LIST OF THINGS THAT WERE VISIBLE WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE DIVINE CHARIOTEER:
When a painter at his easel tries to express his artistic ideas through the medium of colour he invariably begins by outlining his theme roughly on the canvas. Later on, inch by inch, he adds more and more details to make the canvas sing the song of his message. Similarly in the word-picture of the literary artist, Vyasa, this stanza containing Sanjaya's words, represents the rough outline of the Universal Form of the Lord.
The Vision appearing before Sanjaya is no vision for a mortal intellect to live comfortably by. An ordinary man must feel dazed with wonderment and fear at this august and mighty Vision. The total Cosmos is no easy subject-matter for the mind to conceive of or for the intellect to comprehend, and therefore, when it comes as it does in the Geeta, in the stark realism of the Vision, Sanjaya stammers these phrases.
"DIVINE HIS GARLANDS AND ROBES" --- "DIVINE THE PERFUME OF HIS ANOINTMENT" --- "ALL MARVELLOUS, THE LORD, BOUNDLESS AND FACING EVERY SIDE" --- these represent the remaining strokes which, when added to the previous set of lines, bring out the picture of the Cosmic-Man roughly in its full outline.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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