(The present world is going through an extremely difficult phase of its life in which we see ‘Nature devouring her children’, ‘Time eating up the lives of creatures’, everywhere the violence of the Rudra and the dance of Death. What should be the man’s attitude towards life, how should he face the many challenges that life keeps offering at various stages? In this write-up the author makes an attempt to find a lasting solution to this significant question through the lens of the Viśvarūpadarśana episode of the Gita as interpreted by Sri Aurobindo.)

The Viśvarūpadarśanam or the vision of the Universal Purusha that appears in chapter eleven of the Gita, as says Sri Aurobindo, is one of ‘the most powerfully poetic passages’ in the Gita. The intensity with which the vision of the Divine in his various forms is expressed is magnanimous. It is indeed extremely difficult to place it totally in the thought as it is beyond all surface values. Its grand poetic presentation is highly symbolic and revelatory. One wonders about the real significance of this universal vision that Arjuna was so fortunate to behold.

What could be its relevance in the context in which it happened and for the present age and the ages to come?

Ordinarily, what persistently holds on to man’s mind and sense is the idea that things exist by themselves and for themselves apart from God. Man very often forgets the unseen hands of the Divine behind everything, being and happening. This lack of faith in the Divine’s hand behind all actions in the world leads man to all doubts, questions, illusions which keep affecting him and making him collapse at critical times as it happened to Arjuna. Even though the Divine was right in front of him he could not control his emotions. Moreover, he put forth his arguments justifying his action of refraining from the battle. He knew in a very limited way what Krishna could do, But never had any idea about the true power of Krishna. After listening to him in the battlefield about the knowledge that Krishna was imparting, Arjuna strongly felt to see the power of Krishna and all that he was. The vision of the Universal Purusha was much needed for bringing back Arjuna to the state in which he could become free from all moha or delusion. For Arjuna, it was not just a feeling but an intense aspiration to know and understand totally who Krishna was.

When we look closely at the whole episode, it becomes clear that it was Arjuna who aspired intensely to see the living image of Divine in his various forms, to see the unseen Divine in every thing, being and happening (एवमेतद्यथात्थ त्वमात्मानं परमेश्वर । द्रष्टुमिच्छामि ते रूपमैश्वरं पुरुषोत्तम ॥ evametadyathāttha tvamātmānaṁ parameśvara, draṣṭumicchāmi te rūpamaiśvaraṁ puruṣottama – Gita, 11.3). One must remember that any aspiration with all its intensity, purity and sincerity is always fulfilled by the Divine. We see that happening in the life of Arjuna who because of this intense and pure aspiration was not only nearer to the Divine but also dear to Him (priyo’si me). To that dear Arjuna, Krishna reveals himself in all aspects of him both in his Divine and undivine forms. In a deeper sense, everything belongs to the Divine and is in the Divine, is from the Divine, including even what we call undivine or hostile or evil or terrible (īśā vāsyamidaṁ sarvam).

However, the human eye is too limited to behold this imperishable greatness of the Divine. One needs to have the Divine eye, an inmost seeing, by which the Divine in all his forms can be seen. That is the eye that was given by the Divine himself to Arjuna (divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ) so then he could behold the Divine Supreme in all possible forms (sacarācaram) of him, the whole world related and unified in the single body of the Divine (ihaikasthaṁ jagatkṛtsnam). This is indeed the central significance of the vision of the universal form that reconciles and unifies everything. Sri Aurobindo says:

“It is the vision of the One in the many, the Many in the One,—and all are the One. It is this vision that to the eye of the divine Yoga liberates, justifies, explains all that is and was and shall be. Once seen and held, it lays the shining axe of God at the root of all doubts and perplexities and annihilates all denials and oppositions.” (Essays on the Gita, CWSA vol. 19, pg. 378)

Once this unity is established and one attains oneness with the Divine in all and all in Divine (सर्वभूतस्थमात्मानं सर्वभूतानि चात्मनि । sarvabhūtasthamātmānaṃ sarvabhūtāni cātmani, Gita6/29) one becomes free from all fears, confusions and doubts and grief (तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ, Ishopanishad, 7). This indeed is the true admission into the Divine Knowledge. Once admitted one sees the world with the eye of One, not with divided vision (dvandairvimukta). One experiences a new world based on this all-relating and all-unifying vision.

The Divine in his universal form is seen as a luminous mass of energy, as an encompassing blaze, sun-bright, fire-bright, immeasurable (dīptānalārka-dyutim-aprameyam). He is also seen as the eternal guardian of the eternal laws (śāśvata-dharma-goptā), as the sempiternal soul of existence (sanātanaḥ). He is seen as the immeasurable without beginning, middle and end (anādimadhyānta). Everything in the world proceeds from him exists in him and in the end, merges in him. The same Divine is seen in his most opposite forms of his. On one side he embraces all with his thousand arms in compassion and on the other side he destroys all with his another thousand arms. He is seen in his terrific image of a destroyer with burning eyes, devouring mouths, terrible jaws, tusks of destruction, the dreadful and fierce lustre of him destroying everything. He is seen as Time as the Destroyer (kālo’smi lokakṣyakrit pravṛddhaḥ). Arjuna is frightened by the vision (bhītabhītaḥ). He cries out and prays to the Divine Krishna to withdraw this terrible form of him and appear before him in his most benevolent form (tadeva me darśaya deva rūpam).

This indeed is a weakness of the human heart and it feels comfortable only with the things which are pleasing, soothing and comforting. It resists to see the other side of the truth which is not very comforting, clear and hard to bear. In the words of Sri Aurobindo:

“The weakness of the human heart wants only fair and comforting truths or in their absence pleasant fables; it will not have the truth in its entirety because there there is much that is not clear and pleasant and comfortable, but hard to understand and harder to bear. The raw religionist, the superficial optimistic thinker, the sentimental idealist, the man at the mercy of his sensations and emotions agree in twisting away from the sterner conclusions, the harsher and fiercer aspects of universal existence.” (Essays on the Gita, CWSA vol. 19, pg 381)

In truth, the world in which man lives is a world of battle, falsehood, a dangerously destructive and devouring world. Here the man moves among enormous perils, at every step forward he is faced with many dangers brought before him by the unseen hands of evil. He feels in every breath of his life the breath of death. This is what the man in the present world is experiencing at every moment of his life and struggling with life and death. This indeed is the nature of the present world. What should be our attitude then! How should we continue living in this world and move towards the ultimate goal of attaining eternal happiness (śāśvataṃ sukham) and peace (śāśvatī śāntiḥ)? Here is what Sri Aurobindo writes while commencing upon the Universal vision of the Divine:

“We have to look courageously in the face of the reality and see that it is God and none else who has made this world in his being and that so he has made it. We have to see that Nature devouring her children, Time eating up the lives of creatures, Death universal and ineluctable and the violence of the Rudra forces in man and Nature are also the supreme Godhead in one of his cosmic figures. We have to see that God the bountiful and prodigal creator, God the helpful, strong and benignant preserver is also God the devourer and destroyer. The torment of the couch of pain and evil on which we are racked is his touch as much as happiness and sweetness and pleasure. It is only when we see with the eye of the complete union and feel this truth in the depths of our being that we can entirely discover behind that mask too the calm and beautiful face of the all-blissful Godhead and in this touch that tests our imperfection the touch of the friend and builder of the spirit in man.” (Essays on the Gita, CWSA vol. 19, pg 382)

The vision of the Universal Purusha, the World Spirit is the perfect answer to the problem that the world keeps facing. The problem at large is the problem of struggle, ruin, massacre, death and suffering. Man is abysmally limited in understanding the grand plan of the Divine. And thus keeps complaining about the destruction, as did Arjuna. The Divine foresees what could be helpful in building a new creation far better than the present limited world. Therefore he destroys to create a new world of right and justice and beauty and harmony and Truth and Dharma – or ‘a new mighty and splendid kingdom’. What is demanded by him is unquestionable participation in His work and complete identification with his will, to be one with him in the soul, to witness calmly the supreme purpose of his fulfillment in the world. To create and establish the ‘new splendid kingdom’ (rājyaṃ samṛddham), the old has to be destroyed. So the God himself as the Time Spirit (kāla) initiates the destruction. But one must remember that destruction is not the essence of the Time Spirit. It is used by the Time Spirit for the creation of the new. It is by the destruction that the long work of preservation is maintained. Destruction indeed is the first condition of progress. Sri Aurobindo observes:

“Inwardly, the man who does not destroy his lower self-formations, cannot rise to a greater existence. Outwardly also, the nation or community or race which shrinks too long from destroying and replacing its past forms of life, is itself destroyed, rots and perishes and out of its debris other nations, communities and races are formed.” (Essays on the Gita,CWSA, Vol. 19, P 384)

Any attempt towards escaping the battle and destruction means to strive against the will of the World Spirit vainly. The greatest virtue, therefore, is to develop the spiritual courage to face the sterner truths of Nature and action and existence. And to do this one needs to throw out from oneself all that is limiting, all that is dark, all that is inglorious, all that is mean, all that leads to weakness and impotence and pity. One needs to throw away from oneself all kinds of selfishness and work only for the harmony, solidarity and unity of peoples (lokasaṅgraham evārtham). There should be no place for personal enmity, anger, hatred, egoistic desire, violence, passion while working for the lokasaṅgraha. It is necessary for the greater purpose to be served that one submits oneself to God’s will alone and opens up oneself as a pure channel of the Divine accepting even the destruction as his will. One must carry in one’s mind and heart that the Divine does not destroy for the sake of destruction, but, as Sri Aurobindo says, “to make the ways clear in the cyclic process for a greater rule and a progressing manifestation, rājyaṁ samṛddham.” And for achieving this, one needs to transform one’s ignorant actions and follow the new inner principles of works – the same principles operative in the Divine consciousness; one needs to offer one’s own individual egoistic will in order to be identified with the Divine will and work as an instrument of the Divine. Here lies the solution to face the great challenges of life and get victory over the adverse forces. All those who cling to their egoistic individual will and follow their own preferences, tendencies, fancies and impose their own will on others and work for fulfilling their own selfish interest will be devoured by the kāla, the Time Spirit.