Gita 11.06 – We see with the information that helps us makes sense of what we see

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Bhagavad Gita 11.6 this is a word which comes repeatedly in this chapter as well as in this particular section in the previous verse it was now again here it is Arjuna had asked that he be able to see the universal form of Krishna and Krishna responds by saying yes Arjuna just see it Vashya, Adityan, Vasun, Rudran and then he further says he is describing the who's who in the universal population so this refers to the twelve sons of Aditi Vasun, the Ashta Vasus one of them had manifested as the leader among them had manifested as Bhishma, Rudran the eleven Rudras Lord Shiva who is worshipped as Mahadev is the prominent among them the Ashwini Kumaras they were the fathers of Nakul and Sahadev and they were the healers of physicians among the Devatas in some ways Marutas Tatha there are the 49 Marutas so Marut refers to wind and there is a story in the Srimad Bhagavatam that Indira slashed through the child that was there in the womb of Aditi and that that's how they slashed seven times so that's how they were 49 and they were known as Marutas at that time Aditi had performed devotional service in accordance with the instruction of her husband Kashyap Muni and that's why she had got her sons she had got sons with devotional bent of mind, so they were the Devatas the pious at least, pious or virtuous bent of mind so normally these sons are considered Daityas but the Marutas were not Daityas they were Godly you can see many things, many people many parishes of the universe Adhrishtapurvani that which has not been seen before Krishna will talk about the same word Adhrishtapurvani later in the 11.40s when he has completed describing the form and Arjuna has requested Krishna please redraw this form so at that time Krishna will ask you the same word to stress the rarity of the vision that Arjuna has had he says Adhrishtapurvani that which has not been seen before that which has not been seen before so Bahunya Adhrishtapurvani Pashyashcharyani Bharata Pashyashcharyani see the word Pashya comes in the first line and it comes in the last line also over here Pashyashcharyani, this is astonishing so you will see astonishing sides here and two things astonishing and unprecedented that which has never been seen before and that which is extraordinary to see so traditionally in the Vedic epistemology there are three methods called the Pratyaksha, Anuman and Shabda Pratyaksha is sense perception, Anuman is inference and Shabda is verbal testimony scripture revelation or divine revelation has come through the revealed words so now in this kind of situation where Arjuna has specifically requested can I see so Krishna has replied yes Arjuna you can see, I will show you Pashya just see so normally when we say invite some guests to our house and we tell them just see this so now in one sense it is already visible to them they are already seeing it so when we say just see, the point of saying that is to explain something about what we are seeing so we may point to that object with our hand for example we may show a painting and then we may say this painting is by so and so famous artist, I brought this from so and so museum you just see this so then see this can be a pointer to a visible or it can be a precursor to describing the visible we see not just with our eyes we see with the information that enables us to make sense of what we see with our eyes Arjuna has lived in a culture where the glory of God is well known and the idea that God can show his universal form is also well known but the point is that it is not so easy to, when the universal form is not so very commonly seen so when the universal form is shown now what it is, it is such a dazzling mind boggling sight that it is not very easy to make sense of it so therefore it needs to be explained so for example if somebody wants to see a computer and normally their idea of a computer is some laptop or a desktop but then if there is a colossal mainframe computer which is huge in size which is huge in its parts which is huge in its capacities to do things then when we show it we may say oh this is the, this huge structure is the processor this whole structure is the server, this whole structure is this or this is that so what this would mean is that we are giving people the information by which they can make sense of what they are seeing similarly Krishna is giving Arjuna over here an orientation so he has told him you see the universal form but what are you seeing in the universal form so normally when we see something huge we try to make sense of it by looking at if just the size itself is huge and unusual or unfamiliar to us then within that huge and unfamiliar we try to look for some things or some parts that are familiar and by looking at those familiar parts we try to understand or make sense of what is being seen and this way we move towards a better understanding of things, we move towards a progression in understanding so Krishna is doing that for Arjuna when he is seeing this, the previous verse said that pashyamai partha roopani shatashodha sastrasa nana vidhani divyani nana varanakuti nityo Arjuna see all these different so many numerous forms you are seeing but now within them you see there are so many different forms and it may be a little too much dazzling to make sense see this form, see this form, see this form see the Aditya, see the Rudra, see the see the Maruts, so like that you can see so many things, now in one sense Arjuna has heard about these celestial beings and he has gone to the heavens also, so he has even seen some of these beings but to see, so what is adrishta purvani, what has never been seen is to see all these beings together at one place and all subsumed within one form, that is unprecedented and that is astonishing so Krishna is helping Arjuna to appreciate the unprecedented and astonishing vision that is being revealed in front of his eyes.