Category Archives: apashyat

Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 11

27 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in 11.13, anekadhaa, apashyat, chapter 11 verse 13, devedasya, ekastham, jagat, kritsnam, paandavaha, pravibhaktam, shareere, tadaa, tatra

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tatrakastham jagatkritsnam pravibhaktamanekadhaa |
apashyaddevedasya shareere paandavastadaa || 13 ||
 
Then, the Paandava saw the entire universe with many divisions located in one place in the body of that lord of lords.
 
tatra : that
ekastham : located in one place
jagat : universe
kritsnam : entire
pravibhaktam : with many divisions
anekadhaa : several
apashyat : saw
devedasya : lord of lords
shareere : in the body
paandavaha : the Paandava
tadaa : then
 
Previously, Arjuna was overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of Ishvara’s cosmic form. There was so much going on, so many shapes and forms, that he did not know where to look. He took some time to get accustomed to the radiance emitted from that form. Now that his vision became a little clearer, he saw the entire universe with the earth, the sky, the oceans, animals, plants, trees and humans in one tiny corner of that vast cosmic form.
 
Sant Jnyanadeva provides some illustrations to convey the how small the universe looked. It was like a few atoms on Mount Meru, a few bubbles in the vast ocean and an ant-hill on planet earth. Such was the vastness of the cosmic form that even our universe looked puny. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, we see a similar description. Yashoda saw herself and her village in a tiny corner of the universe that was situated in the yawning toddler Shri Krishna’s mouth.
 
In this shloka, Arjuna quite literally saw “the big picture”. Like us, he was concerned and preoccupied with his problems, his challenges and his worries. He now came face to face with “ananta koti brahmanda naayaka”, the lord of an infinite number of universes. When Arjuna saw Ishvara’s cosmic form, he realized that the universe is nothing but a small fraction of Ishvara’s creation. The tiny wave realized how huge the ocean really is.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 26, Chapter 1

05 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by in apashyat, chapter 1 verse 26, maatulaan, sthitaan, suhradashcha, tatra

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tatraapashyatsthitaanpaarthaha pitrinaatha pitaamahaan |
aachaaryaanmaatulaan bhraatrin putraan poutraan sakhimstathaa ||26 ||
shvasuraan suhradashchaiva senyorubhayorapi | 

There, Arjuna saw his fatherly and grandfatherly elders, teachers, uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, as well as friends, in-laws and well-wishers, present in both armies.
 
tatra : there
apashyat : could observe
sthitaan : situated
paarthaha : Arjuna
pitrin atha : fatherly elders and
pitaamahaan : grandfatherly elders
aachaaryaan : teachers
maatulaan : maternal uncles
bhraatrin : brothers
putraan : sons
poutraan : grandsons
sakhims tathaa : friends too
shvasuraan : fathers-in-law
suhradashcha-eva : and well-wishers
senyor-ubhayor-api : in both armies
 
Before Shri Krishna had spoken, the Kaurava army seemed like one big sea of evil to Arjuna, ready to be destroyed. But after Arjuna heard those words, he began to spot some known faces in the Kaurava army. He saw Drona, Bheeshma, and all the other people he knew. Soon, he began to see familiar faces in both the Kaurava and Paandava armies.
 
This experience is not so far away from the real world. In fact, a similar situation could have been faced by soldiers in the India Pakistan war, where many soldiers may have had to fight their friends and relatives. Even if we never have to wage war, we may have faced a similar situation.
 
Imagine you are a student who is about to graduate from college. You have been shortlisted for a prestigious job that is also highly selective – there is just one student that will get recruited from your college. You prepare for this interview for several weeks. On the day of the interview, you are almost 100% sure that you will pass through the interview with flying colours. As you step into the waiting hall for the interview, you conduct a quick survey of the candidates that you will compete against. You find out that Miss X, someone who’s always on top of the dean’s list, and someone who you thought had already accepted another offer, is also waiting in the interview hall, looking sharp and confident.
 
What goes through your mind?