Chapter 11 Shloka 20

द्यावापृथिव्योरिदमन्तरं हि व्याप्तं त्वयैकेन दिशश्च सर्वा:।

दृष्ट्वाद्भुतं रूपमुग्रं तवेदं लोकत्रयं प्रव्यथितं महात्मन्।।२०।।

O great One, the entire space between the skies

and the earth and all the directions are pervaded

by You alone. The three hemispheres

are filled with great alarm upon witnessing

Your awesome and terrible form.

Chapter 11 Shloka 20

द्यावापृथिव्योरिदमन्तरं हि व्याप्तं त्वयैकेन दिशश्च सर्वा:।

दृष्ट्वाद्भुतं रूपमुग्रं तवेदं लोकत्रयं प्रव्यथितं महात्मन्।।२०।।

O great One, the entire space between the skies and the earth and all the directions are pervaded by You alone. The three hemispheres are filled with great alarm upon witnessing Your awesome and terrible form.

Little one, first understand the significance of the ‘space between heaven and earth’. Arjuna is referring thus to this mortal world. He says, “You are this mortal hemisphere and You are all these mortals.” Thus all that is happening in this world is through That Supreme One.

Little one, this world is pervaded by the three attributes of sattva, rajas and tamas.

The predominance of the attributes of rajas and tamas in the present Kaliyuga

In the present day the attribute of sattva has declined to a great degree. Rajas and tamas are predominant.

1. The ordinary mortal is filled with greed, desire and craving.

2. He is full of pride, arrogance and haughtiness.

3. He is shackled by ignorance, moha and meum.

4. He is angry and hot-tempered.

5. Malice, hatred and enmity abound.

6. Corruption, tyranny and heartlessness have become the nature of man.

7. Forsaking one’s duty and dharma are the principal traits of today’s society.

8. Even the so called ‘sadhus’ of the present day are devoid of saintly attributes.

9. Such sadhus are renouncing their duty and their dharma.

10. All traces of yagya, tapas and daan are disappearing from present day life.

11. Atrocities are committed in the Lord’s Name.

12. People are dubbed as ‘untouchable’ in the name of the Lord.

13. Instead of pointing out their lacunae to sadhaks and other aspirants, spiritual instructors begin talking of and explaining Vedanta or the highest devotion.

Little one, Arjuna says, “I am witnessing this terrible form in You.” Seeing this form pervading every direction, the three hemispheres quake. In other words, people of all the three gunas, rajas, tamas and sattva, are trembling with fear.

Little one, look at the present day culture and code of conduct and you will be able to understand this shloka immediately. Rajas is so active that it has tormented and shaken the entire world. Now tamas, too, has become rampant.

Tamas

1. This is the guna of murderers.

2. It is a destroyer.

3. It thirsts for the blood of others.

4. It is blind and without any respect or consideration for others.

5. It casts a veil over one’s knowledge.

6. Such people are unmindful of their own destruction, they only seek to destroy others.

People are trembling at the sight of such qualities contained within the Lord. This is indeed the Lord’s awesome and extraordinary form.

Who can believe that this is the Lord’s own form and that it is indeed the Lord Himself who abides in these attributes? One is amazed and even afraid at witnessing this terrible and immense form of the Lord.

Ugra (उग्र) means terrible, cruel, merciless, injurious, sharp.

Little one, this ‘ugra’ realm only increases pain and anguish, confusion and remorse.

Kamla, my dearest, knowing that all is the Lord, do not seek to escape from this world. Realise that all that transpires is due to the interaction of gunas. These spring from the Lord, abide within Him and are the Lord Himself. This realisation should not augment the tendency of escapism. If you are truly a sadhu or one with virtuous tendencies:

a) you will do all you can to alleviate the sorrow of the grief-stricken;

b) you will support those who are victims of tyranny;

c) you will do all you can to protect those with virtuous tendencies from the assaults of the wicked;

d) you will constantly perform selfless deeds;

e) you will renounce desire and attachment and, indifferent towards your own self, you will come forward to assuage the pain and sorrows of others.

Kamla, your attributes will interact in accordance with your nature and the nature of others. The Lord is saying to Arjuna, “Fight! Do not endeavour to obstruct your natural tendencies. Let them clash with the gunas of others.”

The practice of virtuous qualities includes:

1. The practice of selfless deeds in other words, service.

2. The alleviation of others’ travails.

3. Charity – beginning with the gift of one’s body self for the other’s benefit.

4. Tapas or austerity – the sadhu smilingly takes on the distress of others with the utmost forbearance.

5. Yagya – such a one ever endeavours to fulfil the desires of others.

Without such practice:

a) knowledge is meaningless;

b) knowledge cannot be understood;

c) one cannot attain sainthood;

d) one cannot attain the Lord.

Every spiritual aspirant must necessarily practice yagya, tapas and daan; without such practice:

1. You cannot understand the Truth.

2. You can never fathom the Lord’s Incarnations, which appear from time to time.

3. You cannot understand the essence of detachment.

4. You will not be able to comprehend the essence of indifference towards one’s personal self and the manifest form of that indifference.

5. You will not even be able to fathom the qualities of the sadhu or the man of virtue.

The Lord is not attainable through renouncing all and escaping from the world. First inculcate virtuous qualities within yourself. When a sadhu practices such qualities, he becomes a protector of goodness. Attaining strength in virtue, he becomes a proof of living righteousness. The Lord Himself says, “I take birth for the protection of the virtuous.”

Little one, the Lord protects the sadhus or the virtuous, and those aspiring for such noble qualities, from all negative or evil qualities. He specifically points out the course of virtue to the sadhu so that he desists from the path of evil. The Lord’s whole life is a model of moral perfection, the epitome of virtue, providing all sadhus with an example of the essence and the manifest form of virtue.