Chapter 11. The Universal Form
TEXT 1
Arjuna said: I have heard Your instruction on confidential spiritual matters which You have so kindly delivered unto me, and my illusion is now dispelled.
PURPORT
Arjuna realized that God is the cause and essence of everything. Arjuna understood this quickly because he is a liberated soul, but we need decades to understand. A person with spiritual skill even hearing one name "Kṛṣṇa" will be attracted by it, because it is very unusual. How many years have passed, but this name "Kṛṣṇa" remains incomprehensibly attractive.
The words of God are nondifferent from Himself, therefore a person can perceive God through His words. Kṛṣṇa also performed many superhuman activities which also helps us to understand Him. On the other hand, God has many names and forms and all of them are also God. Why is Kṛṣṇa original? Since He manifests the greatness and the close relationships. We see parental, friendly, and marital relationships everywhere, hence it must also be in God. But then there must be deception, betrayal, and jealousy in God - indeed, these are also present in Him. Lord Nārāyaṇa (God in greatness) is perfect, He does not violate anything, but Kṛṣṇa, for example, like a child can do whatever He wants. The Absolute must have all qualities.
Everyone of us seek love, justice, eternity, and happiness - all these are in God. One may believe in it, but knowledge and practice are better. In any case, knowledge and practice are necessary for spiritual development. People have no knowledge because they are busy with themselves. Self-absorption is the main disease of the material world. Whether a person is in religion or out of religion, usually he is focused on himself and because of this he has very little knowledge. One can get rid of self-absorption by following the instructions of the scripture, working for God, or even better - by preaching. One of the main defilements is selfishness which manifests itself as a desire to be someone, to appear as someone in the eyes of others, a painful perception of criticism, a desire for glorification; all these can be corrected mainly by preaching. One can live for tens of years in temples, be an ascetic, give lectures within a spiritual society, but still keep one's ego. This fact is not a theory, we see such things everywhere. Therefore, the scripture is very clear: preach "from door to door," from person to person. By preaching to others, the personality is purified the fastest. Of course, one can do everything nominally in this case too, but it is more difficult to do it by preaching to others.
TEXT 2
O lotus-eyed one, I have heard from You in detail about the appearance and disappearance of every living entity, as realized through Your inexhaustible glories.
PURPORT
Śrīla Prabhupāda usually gives five to ten spiritual contexts in one purport, I usually describe one to three contexts. Śrīla Prabhupāda has a very succinct, concise presentation in which there is a lot of information, I have a detailed presentation of one or two points. Why is that? Because I write at a simpler level. When people have developed intelligence, it is enough for them to hear a thought briefly to understand everything completely; when there is little intelligence, the thought must be expanded, illustrated.
Kṛṣṇa spoke in general, briefly, thesis, but listened to these theses, Arjuna understood the whole subject, therefore he speaks here about the inexhaustible greatness of God. Kṛṣṇa has already told briefly, thesis a lot, and when a person has intelligence, he can quickly understand all what Krishna said is true. God created this world, He also created souls, living beings. Kṛṣṇa talks about different parts of creation, about the methods of spiritual life briefly, succinctly, beautifully and logically, so Arjuna easily understood that God is before him. Arjuna also realized the greatness of God, although he always considered God to be his friend.
Arjuna's and ours possibilities of realizing God are similar; listening to God or reading about Him are generally the same, because there is no difference whether a person listens to God or reads about Him. Similarly as Arjuna realized the greatness of God by listening, we can realize - perceive directly - the greatness of God by reading, by personally verify this. Through the text, through logic, through the realization of the greatness of God manifested in nature, or the realization of Brahman, the Supersoul. Wherever we look, everything shows God exists and what His qualities are. A person sees a blade of grass or a computer - all these point to God in many details.
For example, we see a computer: it is created, made by man. If the world had not been created, no one would have been able to create within the world. If everything had arisen by chance, there would be no laws, everything would continue to happen by chance, and there would be no directed activity – it would be impossible. By creating a computer, people model the world, they model thinking, they model activities, and forms. The desire of people is domination, at least over the computer world. The computer, virtual reality, is simply an extension of the desire for domination and the desire to imitate God. God created all these in reality, people make only a mock up but how passionate they are about it! Any scientific invention is a manifestation of the desire to gain freedom from the laws of nature, in other words, the same desire to free oneself from the power of matter.
This understanding of God through the surrounding reality is not spiritual emotions, but it is sometimes more important than spiritual emotions because it is based on obvious facts. When a person ascends, it may be difficult for him (for example, in the emotions of separation) and it is necessary to maintain steadfastness, so knowledge is needed. Second point: people need a fact-based preaching. The initial preaching speaks of simple things, yet it is as absolute as the more exalted preaching, and it should be learned. By gaining qualifications, a devotee will become convincing, and by elevating any people to the beginning of spiritual life, he will be able to get out of the influence of the material world, that is, realize God.
When a person sees everything in fact, without faith, he becomes steadfast. Realizing spiritual life through facts, a person will always be devoted to God in one way or another. Those who either accept God, or doubt His existence, or only blindly, fanatically believes - simply know nothing about Him. If we see the facts of God's existence everywhere, how can we doubt? Sometimes people think that principles and commandments are very important, but spiritual knowledge is needed, one can not worry about commandments for a while and understand something about God. While a person does not know anything about God, the commandments are ineffective. People only believe in God because they know nothing about Him, have no interest in Him and are absorbed in themselves. There are huge denominations and they know almost nothing about God, they are busy with their personal affairs. If you see, they only care about glory, to be recognized as true and great, that's all.
Wherever a person is, he can learn, read, think about God, then inwardly gradually renounce the fruits of labor - and he will immediately become happy. When talking about achieving God consciousness, Śrīla Prabhupāda often gives Rūpa Gosvāmī's analogy about hunger and food: "Just like hungry man. If he is given food, he takes it, but as he takes it, he becomes satisfied”(Lecture on the Bhagavad-gītā, 16.7, Sanand, December 26, 1975). Accordingly, when a person gains knowledge about God through reading, meditation, when he leaves (mostly inwardly) everything unnecessary and practices, he attains the consciousness of God and becomes enlightened and happy.
We are souls, we are eternal, we are also eternal servants of God. To be an eternal servant of God is sambandha (spiritual self-awareness). As long as a person is attached to the fruits of labor, to the third, fifth, tenth material things, he will be conditioned. Sometimes it happens that people come to spiritual life, then engage in some kind of intra-confessional squabbles or machinations, and it can be seen how they begin to fall down. Renouncing the fruits of labor, including in some cases avoiding external religiosity, a person becomes happy and goes to preach, or one may immediately go to preach - the effect will be the same.
At the beginning, one may not change anything outwardly, and it is even better not to change anything, neither family nor work, but just add spiritual life. Being in his position, a person does not fall, does not degrade, and does not get into an extreme situation. For example, if somebody is not a brāhmaṇa, it is better for him not to imitate brāhmaṇism. When a person undertakes to imitate something, part of his energy will be spent on such an imitation; only for the sake of what? This is just stupidity or a desire for prestige, that is, he is just busy with himself. Kṛṣṇa does not tell Arjuna to become a brahmana or anything like that. On the contrary, Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna and us to remain who we are but to accept spiritual activities, knowledge, and preaching. Everything that needs to be changed will change over time itself.
People are unhappy not because they have little money or a bad wife, but because there is no piety (awareness of oneself and God). When there is a lot of piety, everyone will be happy, in any position. Therefore, as soon as we renounce the fruits of labor, immediately will come happiness, Brahman, and sambandha, and whether we are a man or a woman does not matter. But if we sit among the "sacred" pots, invented ideas, some minor rituals, from year to year, then getting married, then getting divorced, of course, there will be little progress. When a person is unhappy, he seeks outward respect for himself and other materialism.
Knowledge and renunciation are the two great pillars of the spiritual life. Some may say that knowledge and renunciation are the preliminary principles of bhakti, but no real guru will ever reject knowledge and renunciation. When there is knowledge and renunciation, one is strong. We need to realize ourselves and preach, so we will be happy personally and bring good to others, and then we will realize God.
TEXT 3
O greatest of all personalities, O supreme form, though I see here before me Your actual position, I yet wish to see how You have entered into this cosmic manifestation. I want to see that form of Yours.
PURPORT
Arjuna understood from the words of Kṛṣṇa, that Kṛṣṇa is God. Arjuna does not believe in this, he understands it clearly in his mind and feels it when he hears Kṛṣṇa. So Arjuna immediately says to Kṛṣṇa, show me how You maintain the whole universe. Arjuna is not a thinker, not an ascetic, not a mystic or a sage, he is a great warrior, but he is in the role of an ordinary person now. Sages would begin to clarify some complicated aspects of spiritual life, but Arjuna has something of a merely childish interest: how, in what form does God maintain the whole world? At the same time, such interest is natural for Arjuna because God is always with him. Although Arjuna did not realize that Kṛṣṇa is God, nevertheless he was always connected with the complete whole and perhaps the universal form is one of the few things that Arjuna has not yet seen in his life.
On the other hand, ordinary people, in addition to explanations, need some other miracles and "material" evidence that Kṛṣṇa is God. It is clear that materialists will not accept this kind of evidence and will say that everything is invented. However, Kṛṣṇa is God and a devotee who follows His instructions will receive quite a lot of evidence of this in his own life. Arjuna is a kṣatriya, a warrior, and kṣatriyas are characterized by both curiosity and some passion, so Arjuna, when he learned that Kṛṣṇa is God, immediately wanted to see His universal form.
TEXT 4
If You think that I am able to behold Your cosmic form, O my Lord, O master of all mystic power, then kindly show me that universal self.
PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
It is said that one can neither see, hear, understand nor perceive the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, by the material senses. But if one is engaged in loving transcendental service to the Lord from the beginning, then one can see the Lord by revelation. Every living entity is only a spiritual spark; therefore it is not possible to see or to understand the Supreme Lord. Arjuna, as a devotee, does not depend on his speculative strength; rather, he admits his limitations as a living entity and acknowledges Kṛṣṇa's inestimable position. Arjuna could understand that for a living entity it is not possible to understand the unlimited infinite. If the infinite reveals Himself, then it is possible to understand the nature of the infinite by the grace of the infinite. The word yogeśvara is also very significant here because the Lord has inconceivable power. If He likes, He can reveal Himself by His grace, although He is unlimited. Therefore Arjuna pleads for the inconceivable grace of Kṛṣṇa. He does not give Kṛṣṇa orders. Kṛṣṇa is not obliged to reveal Himself to anyone unless one surrenders fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and engages in devotional service. Thus it is not possible for persons who depend on the strength of their mental speculations to see Kṛṣṇa.