.

come to me. For them only do I destroy the darkness which springs from ignorance by the brilliant lamp of spiritual knowledge." Arjuna confesses that Krishna is the "Supreme, Universal Spirit, the Supreme dwelling, the most excellent purification, the Eternal Person prior to the gods, unborn, omnipresent.' . . . But He entreats Krishna to declare his divine virtues more completely. He desires to know in what particular forms he would be contemplated.1

....

Krishna replies, that he cannot tell his virtues with completeness, for there is no end of his extensiveness; but he again asserts his supremacy in all things, and enters into details, as : "Of Vedas, I am the Sâma-veda. . . . . Among words, the monosyllable 'Om!' Among forms of worship, the silent worship. Among mountain ranges, Himalaya. The sacred fig-tree among all trees; Towards the conclusion he says, "I am also eternal time. I am the preserver who watches in all directions. And I am Death, who seizes all, and the Birth of those who are to be. I am the of dice among things which degame ceive. . . . . But what, indeed, hast thou to do, Arjuna, with so much knowledge as all this? (One sentence comprehends it all, viz.): I have established, and continue to establish, all this universe by one portion of myself."

Chapter XI.-Arjuna is now convinced of the "inexhaustible greatness" of Krishna, but is anxious to behold his sovereign form as he has declared it. "If," he says, "thou thinkest that that form is possible for me to look on, do thou, lord of devotion, show thine inexhaustible self to me!"

Krishna then gives the well-known description of himself as the infinite, universal Deity.

Having thus spoken, Hari (a name of Krishna) showed to the son of Pritha his sovereign form, gifted with many mouths and eyes, with many wonderful appearances, with many divine ornaments, holding

Thomson, p. 70.

2 Aswattha or Pipal, ride p. 236.

MANIFESTATION OF KRISHNA.

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many celestial weapons, wearing celestial wreaths and robes, anointed with celestial perfumes, the all-miraculous infinite deity, with his face turned in all directions. If the light of a thousand suns were to break forth in the sky at the same time, it would be similar to the brilliance of that mighty one. There did the son of Pându then behold the whole universe, so multifariously distributed, collected in one in the person of the god of gods. . . . thereupon, with his hair standing on end, bowing his head, he spoke as follows: 1

"I behold all the gods in thy body, O god! and crowds of different beings; the lord Brahmâ on a throne of a lotus-cup, and all the Rishis (or holy poets), and celestial serpents. I see thee with many arms, stomachs, mouths, and eyes, everywhere of infinite form. I see neither end nor middle, nor yet beginning of thee, O Lord of All! of the form of All! crowned with a diadem, bearing a club, a discus. I see thee a mass of light, beaming everywhere, hard to look upon, bright as a kindled fire or the sun, on all sides immeasurable. I believe thee to be the indivisible, the highest object of knowledge, the supreme receptacle of this universe, the imperishable preserver of eternal law, the everlasting person. I see thee without beginning, middle, or end, of infinite strength, with the sun and moon as eyes, mouths like a kindled fire, heating all the universe with thy splendour. . . . . Having seen thy mighty form, with many mouths and eyes, and with many arms, thighs, and feet, many stomachs, and projecting teeth, the worlds, and I too, are astounded.” 2

Arjuna becomes troubled in his inmost soul, and feels no joy in "beholding mouths with projecting teeth, like the fire of death." And into these mouths of Krishna, or Vishnu, all the sons of Dhritarashtra are hastening-some are seen sticking amongst his teeth, and some are seen with their heads ground down. He says to Krishna :

"As many torrents of rivers flow to the ocean, so these heroes enter thy flaming mouths. As flies . . . . fly into a lighted candle. Devouring all inhabitants of the world from every quarter, thou lickest them in thy flaming lips. . . .

Thomson, p. 75.

Ibid, p. 75 ff.

3 Ibid, p. 77.

Arjuna, overwhelmed with fear, calls Krishna “infinite king of gods! habitation of the universe-the one indivisible-the existing and not existing ;" . . . . and unable adequately to express the fulness of his reverence, exclaims, "Hail! hail to thee! hail to thee a thousand times! and again, yet again, hail! Hail to thee from before! Hail to thee from behind! Hail to thee from all sides! Thou All! Of infinite power and immense might, thou comprehendest all; therefore thou art All." And then, alarmed at having treated this Almighty Existence as a friend, he implores pardon for whatever he has said "from negligence or affection, as: 'O Krishna! O son of Yadu! O friend!' and everything in which I may have treated thee in a joking manner, in recreation, repose, sitting, or at meals, whether in private or in presence of these, Eternal One."

Arjuna further confesses that Krishna is the "father of the animate and inanimate world," and entreats that he will bear with him " as a father with a son, as a friend with a friend, as a lover with his beloved one." He says that what he has seen has delighted him, but that his "heart is shaken with awe," and he entreats Krishna to show his other form. "With thy tiara, thy staff, and thy discus in thy hand, thus only do I desire to see thee. Invest thyself with that four-armed form, thou of a thousand arms, of every form!"

Krishna, or Vâsudeva, then consoled Arjuna by resuming "a pleasant shape."

In Chapter XII. Arjuna enquires whether those who worship Krishna in his manifested form, or those who worship the indivisible and unmanifested are "the most skilled in devotion." Krishna replies, that those who worship the indivisible, indemonstrable, unmanifested, omnipresent, are esteemed the most devoted; but he allows that the labour of directing thought to an object which has no manifest form is great, and is with difficulty attained by mortals, and he therefore recommends 1 wor

KSHETRA. KSHETRAJNA.

233

ship "under the vyakta, or manifested form." And this, Mr. Thomson considers, "would be almost the same as that of worshipping him in his separate manifestations as some one of the deities."

Krishna says: "If thou art not able to compose thy thoughts immoveable on me, strive then to reach me by assiduous devotion. . . . . If thou art not capable even of assiduity, be intent on the performance of actions for me. Knowledge is

better than assiduity, contemplation is preferred to knowledge, the abandonment of self-interest in action to contemplation, final emancipation results from such abandonment." 1

We come now to the 13th Chapter, which Mr. Thomson regards as commencing a third division of the poem, as the first six chapters of the Bhagavad-Gîtâ treat, he says, of the practical dogmata of the Yoga system; the following six of its theology; while the concluding six, on which we are now entering, "bring forward the speculative" portion.

Chapter XIII. commences thus:

The Holy One spoke :

رو

"This body, O son of Kunti! is called Kshetra. Those who know the truth of things call that which knows this (Kshetra), Kshetrajna. And know also that I am the Kshetrajna in all Kshetras. What that Kshetra is, . . . . and what that Kshetrajna is, . . . learn from me.' Krishna then tells him that Vedic hymns and Brahma-sûtras have treated on this subject. "Kshetra is, literally, 'body,' not merely the personal body, but the body considered as an aggregate of all the components (twenty-three in number), all the attributes, and all the life of matter in its development." 3

Every organic aggregate of matter which contains a soul, and even inorganic matter, as stones, &c., are comprehended under this head. Kshetrajna is the individual soul which exists in such Kshetras;" the literal meaning of the word being "that 2 See above, p. 205.

1 Thomson, p. 83.

Thomson, p. 85.

which understands the Kshetra." To assist us in understanding this doctrine, Mr. Thomson bids us remember that "Hindu philosophers believed the soul to be placed within the body, in order to work out its emancipation from material and individual existence." "That emancipation," he continues, "can only be worked out by a complete and just comprehension of the nature of matter, and its true relations with individual soul and the supreme spirit. Hence it is called the comprehender of matter.'"

Kshetra, Krishna says, comprehends "the great elements, the ego-ism, the intellect, the principle of life, the eleven of sense. organs, the five organs

Kshetrajna, he states to be spiritual knowledge, which is "modesty, sincerity, reverence towards preceptors,

purity,

sense,

self-government, indifference towards objects of

age, sickness, pain, and error,

unselfishness, contemplation of birth, death, old indifference towards one's children, wife, and household, constant equanimity in pleasant and unpleasant circumstances, attentive worship by exclusive devotion on me, frequenting of solitary spots, a distaste for the society of men.

2

But this, which is called spiritual knowledge, is merely a means towards an end; "the object of spiritual knowledge" is "the Supreme Being, without beginning, neither the existent nor non-existent. It possesses hands and feet in all directions; eyes, heads and faces in all directions; having ears in all directions, he exists in the world, comprehending all things; resplendent with the faculties of all the senses, yet discontented with all the senses; disinterested, but yet sustaining all things; free from (the influence of the three) qualities, yet possessing every quality, existing both apart from and yet within existing things, both animate and inanimate." "Spirit, when invested with

Thomson, pp. 87, 88.

2 Ibid, pp. 88, 89, 90, 91.