Gita 11.04 – Devotee desires to see Krishna but doesn’t demand

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Thank you Arjuna has prefaced his request with three earlier verses in this verse he makes the request in the previous verses he makes it clear that his request is not originating from doubt about Krishna's supreme position it is simply arising from the desire for deeper appreciation of Krishna's supreme position by means of a direct vision and he also acknowledges the possibility that he may not be qualified for such a vision and thus he phrases this as a very humbly put request if my dear lord it is possible if you think it is possible for me if oh lord it is possible for me to see you are Yogeshwara you are not just a yogi who has mystic powers you are the lord of all yogis you have supreme mysticism within you that means you can actually reveal the universal form if you so desire darshayatmanam avyayam darshayatmanam avyayam so please reveal to me your own glory so here you are eternal avyayam atmana your divine self your transcendental self that is eternal so I recognize the eternity of that and I desire to behold this extraordinary form of lord so in this connection we see that approaching god requires humility if you try to approach god with a demanding attitude the arrogant attitude then we can't move forward we need to recognize that Krishna is far greater than us Krishna is a supreme being we are his servants and we cannot have him at our beck and call we cannot demand that he appear in front of us whenever we so desire whenever we so demand Arjuna is in a position far more exalted than ours he is an advanced devotee and an intimate friend of the lord he is also in the personal presence of the lord and yet despite having all these qualifications he doesn't consider himself in a position to demand that the lord show his form to him he shows universal form in the early days of the Krishna consciousness movement the devotees who were introduced by Srila Prabhupada expected that they are practicing such a radical lifestyle giving up all the forms of enjoyment that were common in the society that they were living in they thought that such a radical commitment to god would also bring dramatic results and they expected to experience some dramatic results in terms of the capacity to give up sensual pleasures but they also expected some paranormal supernatural divine visions and when they did not get those visions they were sometimes disappointed so I agree Prabhu was one such person and he asked he asked Srila Prabhupada once Swamiji I have been chanting Hare Krishna now following the four aggregate principles for six months and yet I have had no vision of Krishna what is happening when will I see Krishna at that time Prabhupada looked at him calmly and Prabhupada opened the Bhagavad Gita to this verse and he said read it and he read the translation and just couldn't register Prabhupada said read it again and he read it again and then he says what has this got to do with my question that was the question in his mind but then as he read it once again he read the part if you think I am qualified you think it is possible for me to see the form then you can show the form to me so Prabhupada so he understood Prabhupada you are saying that I cannot demand from Krishna Prabhupada smiled and said yes that is right it is Krishna's grace and whenever Krishna chooses to have mercy on us he will reveal his form and now whether it is universal form or whether it is a two handed form of Krishna all such visions are rare and a devotee desires but does not demand to see Krishna's form if you don't even desire to see Krishna's form then actually there is not our devotion is not very deep if we have love for someone naturally we want to meet that person we want to be with that person we want to feel enlivened by that person's presence and grace and guidance so love naturally means if we have love for Krishna naturally we will want to behold his form at the same time we also need to recognize that love is not just a matter of doing what pleases us and expecting our beloved to do our bidding and especially when we are in an asymmetric relationship bhakti is a relationship of bhakti is a love of ecstatic asymmetry that means that we actually sometimes people feel that when they have to have proper relationship both of us should be equal partners and then we discuss and we finalize things and then we take our relationship forward that is one modality of relationship but in the relationship of bhakti with Krishna Krishna is vibhu we are anu Krishna is vigna we are mudha Krishna is great we are tiny Krishna is wise we are deluded by maya Krishna is mayadheesh we are mayadheen he is the lord of maya we are subordinated we are caught in the clutches of maya and therefore we can't demand that Krishna do this or do that so there is a huge asymmetry in the relationship and yet now when there is a power asymmetry and often it's like a big country and a small country or a big boss and an ordinary employee often the powerful person bullies the weak person powerful country bullies the weak country but Krishna is the well-wisher of everyone and Krishna's glories are infinite and as devotees we can delight in his glories we can feast in his glories and thus we can move onwards steadily in our journey towards him and attain him so for us to appreciate Krishna's greatness means to recognize that Krishna will reveal himself by his will and thus we let thy will be done not mine as it is said in the bible so yes that means we do have a will it's not that we are simply robots acting according to a program we do have our will so as devotees we can certainly desire to see Krishna but we don't demand to see him and by that humility we please him and if we persevere in the practice of bhakti praying to Krishna to come closer to him praying to Krishna to manifest in our heart but not making our service conditional to that the fulfillment of that request then that attitude of of surrendered dedication pleases him and of course he reveals himself to us.