Gita 11.20 The universal form induces awe – both wonder and fear

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Bhagavad Gita 11.20 Mahatman Arjuna is continuing his description of the universal form that he is beholding by Krishna's merciful revelation dao a prithivyor dao is this outer space sky prithivyor prithivi is the earth idamantaram he whatever is there in between the two dao a prithivyor idamantaram he vyaptam tvayai kena by you alone oh lord everything is pervaded vyaptam tvayai kena dishascha sarvaha all the directions are pervaded yeah dhrishtva dhrishtva adbhutam rupam ugram tavedam dhrishtva on seeing your form it is adbhutam it is wondrous but it is also ugram it is fierce tavidam tavedam whatever I am saying dhrishtva adbhutam rupam ugram tavedam lokatrayam pravithitam mahatman all the three world lokatrayam pravithitam yatha means distress pravithitam means very distressed oh great soul so arjuna this verse has two parts first is the pervasiveness of the universal form and the second is the fearfulness of the universal dao a prithivyor idamantaram he vyaptam tvayai kena dishascha sarvaha that's the first two lines all that right from the earth to the sky whatever I can see is just pervaded by your universal form sometimes say when invading forces create a dust cloud then the dust cloud it spreads right from the ground right up to the sky and people who are attacked by the dust cloud can't see anything unless they are right in the middle of the attack atleast if they turn backwards they will see the clear landmarks and a clear path ahead but if the dust cloud has spread for a long time then whether they look at front or back in all directions they will see the dust cloud that is totally blinding just can't see anything so similarly here it is said yatha prithivyor idamantaram he that right from the sky down to the earth all of space is pervaded by you oh lord in this universal form it's pervasive there is nothing left for anyone to perceive yatha prithivyor idamantaram he whatever space is there in it it's all pervaded and just like if there is a smoke screen everywhere people become blinded people become fearful what is going to come next what is going to happen similarly drishtva adbhutam roopam ugram tavedam drishtva on seeing this form adbhuta it's wonderful this is something which is astounding but it's not just out saying it or astounding it's fear inducing ugram tavedam so there are two words in english there is awasam and there is awful both have the word aw in them but they have almost opposite connotations awasam is is a positive is a very strongly positive describer oh this is wonderful it means awasam this is awasam this is astounding this is impressive this is great that's how we use the word awasam whereas awful means oh i had awful experience there it was miserable it was terrible so when you use awful it means it has a very negative connotation so there may be awasam sight and there may be awful experience and one reflects something very positive the other reflects something other conveys something very negative so adbhuta can be translated as awasam whereas in terms of the effect on it is effect it has on it is dushtvaagdham lokam ugram tavedam lokatrayam pravachitam all the people in the three words are pravachitam everybody is afflicted by misery oh arjuna oh krishna he is referring to krishna by the word mahatma here mahatma is a great soul oh great soul everyone is afflicted by misery by fear by horror by distress by awe in the negative sense normally we won't think of god in negative terms it was awful we won't say that i went to a temple and it was awful of course if there is a terrible crowd or there is a stampede or somebody behaved very rudely with us we might say it was awful but when we are encountering god himself directly we usually won't use the word awful to describe that but then if we move forward and look at further verses in this sequence we will understand the rationale for what is being said over here we will understand why the word awful is used or the word awful is usable it's suitable because the word ugly normally ugly is fearsome fearful it is used although it is normally negative described but it is used in a laudatory sense for narsimhadev in fact one of his forms itself is called as ugly narsimha that narsimha who is in a very infuriated form that narsimha who is furious and that fury brings joy to the devotee's heart because that fury of the lord indicates that there is that lord cares normally we become angry anger conveys a state of great emotional involvement in something and we become angry when we strongly care for something so the devotees see the ugra feature of narsimha as expression of his great affection for Prahlad and by extension for all devotees and thereby even seeing the ugra rupa brings joy now in this context if we consider the form of the ugra further description given over there what all is ugra what all is causing what all is so fearsome whatever is causing striking fear in the three worlds that will be described by Arjuna in subsequent verses and this verse marks a transition Krishna is aware or it's a precursor to the description of the kaala rupa which comes later so the the vishwa rupa itself is awesome it is adbhuta but the kaala rupa within it is not just adbhuta it is ugra it causes pravetita that kaala rupa will be described later by Arjuna and right now Arjuna is describing the result of that revelation on the people of the universe a few verses later he will describe the result of that revelation on himself too we will discuss all this in our future verses thank you.