Bg 11.22
rudrādityā vasavo ye ca sādhyā viśve ’śvinau marutaś coṣmapāś ca
gandharva-yakṣāsura-siddha-saṅghā vīkṣante tvāṁ vismitāś caiva sarve
Bg 11.23
rūpaṁ mahat te bahu-vaktra-netraṁ mahā-bāho bahu-bāhūru-pādam
bahūdaraṁ bahu-daṁṣṭrā-karālaṁ dṛṣṭvā lokāḥ pravyathitās tathāham
Bg 11.24
nabhaḥ-spṛśaṁ dīptam aneka-varṇaṁ vyāttānanaṁ dīpta-viśāla-netram
dṛṣṭvā hi tvāṁ pravyathitāntar-ātmā dhṛtiṁ na vindāmi śamaṁ ca viṣṇo
Translation
22. The Rudras, Adityas, Vasus, Sadhyas, Vishwe-Devas, the two Ashwins, Maruts, Ushmapas and hosts Of Gandharvas, Yakshas, Asuras and Siddhas
--- they are all looking at you, all quite astonished.
23. Having seen Your immeasurable Form, with many mouths and eyes, O Mighty-armed, with many arms, thighs, and feet, with many stomachs and fearsome with many tusks, the worlds are terrified and so too am I.
24. On seeing you, with Your Form touching the sky, flaming in many colours, with mouths wide open, with large fiery eyes, I am terrified at heart, and I find neither courage, nor peace, O Vishnu!
Commentary
Continuing the description, Arjuna says that among the hosts of being who gaze on at the Mysterious Form, there are Deities who are all the Lords of the phenomena, worshipped and revered by the generations of the Vedic period. Even they, looking at the Universal Form, stand struck with wonder and astonishment.
The terms used here have all been described during our discourses on the previous chapters. The Spirits of Destruction (Rudras), the Sun (Adityas), the Lord of the seasons (Vasus), the Spirits of the Sky (Sadhyas), the Lesser Lords (Vishwe-devas), the Horsemen Twins (Ashwins), the Storm-Lords (Maruts), the Heat-drinkers (Ushmapas), the hosts of Heavenly Musicians (Gandharvas), Yakshas, Asuras and Siddhas --- these constitute the crowd that gaze at the terrible form of the Lord, "ALL QUITE ASTOUNDED."
This stanza may not be quite appealing to us who are today strangers to the conceptions which these terms represent. But Arjuna was a student of the Vedas, and was the child of the age; he was naturally well versed in these Vedic thoughts and therefore the vocabulary of Arjuna could not have been otherwise. We have only to watch for, and understand, the general effect produced upon the Pandava warrior by the Vision of the Totality and the different reactions created in different types of minds. Each, according to its own intrinsic capacity, comprehended and appreciated the Vision of the entire Universe, so crystallised into the definite shapeless shape.
GIVING MORE AND MORE SURE STROKES, ARJUNA IS BRINGING OUT HIS EXPERIENCES TO A PRECISE CONCEPTION UPON THE CANVAS OF HIS LISTENER'S MIND:
The uncommon vision, "MARVELLOUS AND AWFUL," experienced by Arjuna, was not a localised form on a six-footed Lord Krishna. It was, in fact, a manifestation, wide and varied, extending almost to the frontiers of the All-pervading. And yet, the Pandava Prince realised it all in his inward vision as a limited form, having a definite shape. In the intellectual understanding of all shapeless qualities (like freedom, love, nationality, etc.), one gives them each a substantiality, a form, well-defined and precisely outlined for one's own intellect, although never for one's own sense-organs. Similarly, Arjuna too feels that, the experience of the Universal-Form, though All-pervading, has for him a definite shape. But when he tries to define the Form-Universal, so well realised by him, his very expressions belie his own feelings and defeat his own purpose.
Arjuna finds that the entire world is terrified by the Great Grand Form representing in itself "MANY MOUTHS AND EYES, MANY ARMS AND THIGHS, WITH MANY STOMACHS, AND FEARSOME WITH MANY TUSKS." He also adds, "SO AM I." Psychologically, when an individual is in a crowd of excited people or in the company of good men of peaceful contemplation, he vicariously gathers unto himself the mental qualities of the crowd in which he finds himself. "THE WORLD IS TERRIFIED," and, Arjuna confesses, "I TOO AM."
At the same time, the Pandava Prince feels it insulting and cowardly for his royal heart to feel any fear. Therefore, justifying his own fear, he describes the Terrible-Form to be in fact formless, and says that it absorbs into itself everything. The Universal-Form touches the very skies above. It glows with a variety of colours. Its fiery-eyes glow. Its open mouths consume everything. Altogether, the vision is capable of unnerving even the gods. Seeing that 'Vision' Arjuna confesses, "MY HEART QUAKES, AND I LOSE MY COURAGE AND MY PEACE." It is very significant that it is in this condition of benumbing fear that the great hero addresses the cosmic-vision, "O, Vishnu."*
As I said in the beginning, the conception-form so clearly defined in the intuitive understanding of Arjuna, is in fact the Infinite described in terms of Its own endless manifestations as the names and forms in the Universe. We, the students of the Geeta, should never forget these subtle under-currents of thought that Vyasa has so secretly kept for the profit of all diligent and sincere seekers of Truth.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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