Category Archives: vaktraani

Bhagavad Gita Verse 29, Chapter 11

12 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in 11.29, api, chapter 11 verse 29, eva, jvalanam, lokaaha, naashaaya, patangaahaa, pradeeptam, samriddhavegaahaa, tathaa, tava, vaktraani, vishanti, yathaa

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yathaa pradeeptam jvalanam patangaa vishanti naashaaya samriddhavegaahaa |
tathaiva naashaaya vishanti lokaastavaapi vaktraani samriddhavegaahaa || 29 ||
 
Like moths enter a blazing fire with great speed for their destruction, so also do these people enter your mouths with great speed for their destruction.
 
yathaa : like
pradeeptam : blazing
jvalanam : fire
patangaahaa : moths
vishanti : enter
naashaaya : for destruction
samriddhavegaahaa : with great speed
tathaa : so do
eva : only
naashaaya : for destruction
vishanti : enter
lokaaha : these people
tava : your
api : also
vaktraani : mouths
samriddhavegaahaa : with great speed
 
In the previous shloka, Arjuna gave the example of rivers flowing into the ocean to indicate the ultimate dissolution of all names and forms back to their source, Ishvara. Some may raise a doubt here. They may say, water is inert so naturally it goes wherever the flow takes it. In order to dispel this doubt, Arjuna gives the example of moths that rush towards a flame, and are eventually destroyed. Sant Jnyaneshwar gives the example of water droplets evaporating on a hot iron rod in his commentary.
 
By showing the process of destruction at such a grand scale, Shri Krishna also wants to remove Arjuna’s fear of death. Since the physical body goes away after death, there is no question of pain once we die. We are scared not about the pain of death, but about losing all of our identity as a so-and so, with all his possessions and attachments. The name and form that we have become attached, and its network of relationships with other names and forms, is what ultimately gets dissolved.
 
But when we know that death is nothing but a return of our name and form into that of Ishvara’s, our fear of death will go away, or at least, diminish to a great extent. In fact, when we become a devotee of Ishvara, death loses its unpleasantness because now it means a return to the original source of the universe. We begin to lead our lives with a great degree of courage and fearlessness, because we know how it will all end.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 28, Chapter 11

11 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by in 11.28, abhimukhaa, abhivijvalanti, ambuvegaahaa, amee, bahavaha, chapter 11 verse 28, dravanti, eva, nadeenaam, naralokaveeraa, samudram, tathaa, tava, vaktraani, vishanti, yathaa

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yathaa nadeenaam bahavombuvegaahaa samudramevaabhimukhaa dravanti |
tathaa tavaamee naralokaveeraa vishanti vaktraanyabhivijvalanti || 28 ||
 
Like torrents of several rivers rush towards the ocean, so do those brave men of this earth run to your blazing mouths.
 
yathaa : like
nadeenaam : rivers
bahavaha : several
ambuvegaahaa : torrents
samudram : ocean
eva : only
abhimukhaa : towards
dravanti : rush
tathaa : so do
tava : to you
amee : those
naralokaveeraa : brave men of the earth
vishanti : run
vaktraani : mouths
abhivijvalanti : blazing
 
Putumayo, Caqueta, Vaupes, Guainea, Morona, Pastaza, Nucuray, Urituyacu, Chambira, Tigre, Nanay, Napo, and Huallaga. These are names of just a handful of 1100 rivers that feed the Amazon, the largest river in the world by volume. It covers almost 7 million square kilometres of land in South America, and empties 300,000 cubic metres per second into the Atlantic Ocean. The most distant source of the Andes is a glacier on the western edge of South America, near the Pacific Ocean, on the other side of the continent.
 
Arjuna, on seeing the hordes of warriors rushing into Ishvara’s mouths, compares them to the water in a river rushing with great speed into the ocean. It reminds him of Shri Krishna’s description of the water cycle as a sacrifice when he was explaining karma yoga. A drop of water which originated from the ocean evaporates into the sky, falls down as rain into a water body, and eventually finds its way into a flowing river that goes right back into its source, the ocean. At one point it thinks that it is rain, or it is a pond, a lake, a stream and so on, forgetting its true nature as water.
 
Similarly, we tend to think of ourselves as children, students, engineers, executives, rich people, poor people at different points in our lives, and forgetting that our journey is just a cycle that begins from Ishvara, the source, and ends back into that same source. So even though Arjuna was scared of Ishvara’s monstrous form, he understood that there was nothing to be scared about destruction. It was a bona fide part of Ishvara’s creative process.
 
Arjuna illustrates another aspect of this scene in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 27, Chapter 11

10 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by in 11.27, bhayaanakaani, chapter 11 verse 27, choornitaihi, damshtraakaraalaani, dashanaantareshu, kechit, sandrishyante, tvaramaanaahaa, uttamaangaihi, vaktraani, vilagnaahaa, vishanti

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vaktraani te tvaramaanaa vishanti damshtraakaraalaani bhayaanakaani |
kechidvilagnaa dashanaantareshu sandrishyante choornitairuttamaangaihi || 27 ||
 
(They are) rushing to enter into your mouths, with fearful fangs, wide open. Some appear with their skulls crushed, stuck between your teeth.
 
vaktraani : mouths
te : your
tvaramaanaahaa : rushing
vishanti : entering
damshtraakaraalaani : wide open fangs
bhayaanakaani : fearful
kechit : some
vilagnaahaa : caught
dashanaantareshu : between teeth
sandrishyante : appear
choornitaihi : crushed
uttamaangaihi : skulls
 
Arjuna continued to narrate the horrifying scene from the future state of the Mahabhaarata war. He now saw several warriors from both armies rushing to enter the numerous mouths of Ishvara’s cosmic form. He also saw Ishvara devouring these warriors, with the remnants of his meal stuck between the gaps of his teeth. Arjuna uses the word “choornit” meaning powder to highlight the force of Ishvara’s jaws and their impact on the warriors.
 
This gruesome scene serves to remind us of the ephemerality of the material world comprised solely of names and forms. If Ishvara can create the variety of names and forms in his pleasant form, he can also dissolve that variety in his terrible form. Arjuna saw this vision quite clearly, as did many people in the northeastern United States that were impacted recently by the most powerful hurricane in history. Ishvara’s power can level entire towns within minutes.
 
Another intriguing aspect of this shloka is that Ishvara’s cosmic form isn’t going after all the warriors, in fact, they themselves are rushing into his mouths. It reinforces the message given by Shri Krishna earlier. Ishvara does not favour or hate anyone. Every individual creates his own destiny by the fruit of his choices and actions. The Kauravas and Paandavas decided to engage in a war, so it was natural that many of them would end up dead when the war ended.
 
Now, knowing that Shri Krishna could show him the future, Arjuna was curious to know whether he would win or lose. But he did not ask this question directly. He continued describing the scene, hoping that Shri Krishna would reveal it eventually.