Gita 11.23 The universal form’s predatory features arouse fear even in Arjuna

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whose analysis will continue in our future talks. Thank you. maha bahu bahu bahu rupadam bahu dharam bahu dhamsthra karalam trishtvalokah pravitas tathaham rupam mahatte Arjuna is continuing to describe the universal form and he says rupam mahatte, this is a huge form, bahuvakthranetram, there are many faces and many eyes, maha bahu bahu bahu rupadam, maha bahu, not only are there many arms but there are many powerful arms, maha bahu bahu bahu rupadam.

So here there is a poetic alliteration with the word bahu in this verse and so the word bahu comes in the first second and third lines and several times but in addition to the same word being repeated there is also bahu and bahu, similar sounding word that are also repeated and that adds further poetic beauty, maha bahu bahu bahu rupadam. So now here actually the three words which sound very similar bahu, bahu and bahu, they all refer to different things, bahu means many, bahu means arms and maha bahu which is the first word over there is a combined word which refers to which is a form of address, respectable address for a hero, oh powerful armed ones, so maha bahu bahu bahu rupadam, rupadam, so there are many arms and then there are many bellies, many feet, rupadam, uru is thighs, padam is feet, arms are also there, bahu dharam bahu dhamshtra karalam, there are many bellies and then dhamshtra karalam, there are teeth, terrible teeth, dhushtvalokah pravithithastathaham, and seeing all this all the people are troubled and so am I, pravithithastathaham, so there are several firsts in this verse in terms of the further elaboration of the features of the universal form, from the literary structure I already discussed how this verse features the bahu word and the bahu sound as a repetition, but along with that first time there is a reference to the teeth, the terrible teeth, earlier it was mentioned that the fire was coming from the mouth, that was mentioned in shyamitvam deeptahutah shivaktaram, that was in text 19, that the fire is emerging from the mouth which itself is frightening, but now, so the fire emerging from the mouth indicates a destructive intent or a very strong, very fearsome destructive capacity, even if there is no direct intent, somebody can just open their mouth and send out fire and destroy, that's a very fearsome thing to contemplate, now the teeth which are ferocious, karalam, tamstra karalam as it is mentioned over here, that also conveys a destructive intent, but it conveys also a predatory intent, normally if there are toothpaste ads, then we say oh the teeth are so shining, so beautiful, so clean, so attractive, so normally we talk about the attractiveness of teeth when we are talking about the beauty of a person, but when we see say a dog that is roaring, dog that is growling, at that time we look at its fangs, how sharp are its fangs, how long are its fangs, how dangerous will its bite be, or to consider an even more fear-inducing example, we might associate sharp teeth, the fangs, with tigers and lions, such animals can actually, just they have such sharp teeth, they can rip apart people's bodies, they can rip apart an arm, rip apart a stomach and kill people like that, so it's usually they kill and then they consume, so there is a definite predatory feature, predatory connotation associated with the idea of fearsome teeth, quite often it is Rakshasas who are depicted as having fearsome teeth, sometimes in some movies if some villain is there and the villain laughs and then the teeth seem very fearsome when they laugh, so basically the destructiveness of this universal form that is conveyed to the point here of there being tamstra karalam, there being very fearsome teeth, so this is the second additional feature, the other features were talked about earlier also, many eyes, many faces, many arms, although there are some additional more many is referred to, the bellies, the thighs, bahurupadam, that may be many, but that is just a continuation of the bodily description, the features that signify something special, that is primarily the tamstra karalam, the teeth, so now if we combine the earlier description 19 of fire coming out of the mouth and teeth coming in and having fearsome teeth, normally fire coming out means there is a destruction that is sent out by the fire, whatever is there outside is destroyed, but teeth are usually used to cut and consume, that means whatever is outside is dragged inside and consumed, so both ways there is destruction, there is incineration, incineration means burning by fire, incineration if the fire comes out of the mouth and there is consumption and digestion if the fangs draw, drag a person inside, both ways there is destruction and both are fearsome, but still the idea of being chewed and cut and consumed alive and that can be extremely scary, so then, so that effect of scariness is conveyed, so seeing this all the people in the world, so that the worlds were fearful was hinted at by Arjuna earlier in 11.20 when he said so pravithitam, so similarly almost the same word is used over here, pravithitas, so there all the three worlds were troubled, were mortified, were scared, that is conveyed by loka-triya, here the point that is being made is not only is everyone else scared, but loka-pravitha-stham, as Arjuna says over here, that all the worlds are perturbed and I am also perturbed, so if somebody says watching a horror movie and some grisly, some fearsome, shape-changing monster suddenly appears in a gruesome form and other characters that are there in that horror movie, they may all get scared, they may start trembling and they become extremely petrified and now if suddenly that character is very real, that character is very forceful, that character is very, that shape-shifting monster or whatever, fearsome character that is there, the more real it is, the more vivid it is, the impact may happen on the audience also, so here Arjuna is describing the effect on him also, he says pravithas-stham, I too am troubled and what specifically troubles Arjuna will be conveyed in later verses, but here we can get a hint by contemplating the destructive, predatory features of the absolute truth, what these destructive predatory features convey, that we will discuss also in our future talks. Thank you.