​Gita 11.27 The comprehensive vision of the universes includes its gruesome features

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Bhagavad Gita 11.27 So Arjuna is describing the Vishwaroopa and he is describing the destructive features of the Vishwaroopa which have caused him great alarm, which have caused him to be totally disoriented. And in the 11.26 he has said how not just the forces on the Kaurava side but the forces on his side also they are all being destroyed and they are not just being destroyed but they are being destroyed in a ghastly way.

That is indicated in this verse. The Vishanti, they are all entering into Vaktrani, they are entering into your mouth, Tvaramana, rushing into it, not just, it's not like a casual stroll in the morning. Actually they are just racing into it.

So earlier it was stated that actually Damshtra Karalani, there is, these teeth are fearsome, that was mentioned twice earlier but now those fearsome teeth are described to be in action. So two describers are used actually for describing the teeth. They are terrible and they are fearful, very fearful.

So this repetition actually is, it conveys an emotion. Somebody met with an accident or somebody saw an accident, it was horrendous, it was awful, it was gruesome. People may use multiple describers, multiple adjectives to try to convey the reality of the situation which they feel is not conveyable or capturable in one word.

So like that, here the teeth are so terrible that he is not able to convey it in one word and that's why Arjuna is using two, two describers. He says, Damshtra Karalani Bhayanakani. These teeth are, they are terrible, they are fearsome.

And Kechit, for some of them, Vilagna, alone. So lagna is application, connection. Vilagna means, as they are rushing into the mouth of the Vishwaroopa and there are these fearsome teeth protruding out, so some of them are getting attached to the teeth, getting entangled in the teeth and Kechit, Vilagna, Dashanantareshu.

And as they try to move on, there are many teeth and sometimes there is a little space between the teeth. So sometimes, you know, a prey may, as it's moving, being drawn into the mouth, may get caught. So like that, these warriors, some of them are getting caught in the, between the teeth itself.

And as they are rushing towards, they are being propelled inwards and as they get caught in the teeth, then what happens? Sandrushyante. Drishyanti is to see, Sandrushyanti is I am seeing them. What is happening? Choornitair Uttamangai.

Choornitair. That means they are just getting crushed. They are just getting totally destroyed.

Uttamangai, their body is. Anga is body. Uttamangai is the best part of the body.

Now conventionally it is thought that the head is the best part of the body. Normally, if the head is cut off, then the person dies. There is just no chance of when a person's head is cut off, the person will live.

So it's the best part of the body. And in the social body, the Brahmanas who are considered to be the highest Varanas, they are considered to be the head. So Uttamangai means the best part of the body, that is the head.

So as the warriors are rushing into the universal form, at that time their heads are smashing against the teeth. They are getting caught between the space between the teeth. The head is getting smashed and they are just Choornitair, just smashed.

So actually, to see anyone dying, to see any kind of death, that is distressing. But to see death that is ghastly, that is gruesome, that is even more distressing. So for example, you know, if there is a child and for a child, if they come to know that their mother or father has passed away, that itself is very difficult to take for the child.

But if the child is there when they see an accident, if the child is there in a car and the car meets with an accident, in front of them, the child sees the mother's head smashed against some wall or just, you know, the whole body ripped apart or, you know, the hands and legs tangled and then the child sees the death, the trauma of the event is aggravated by the trauma of the vision at that time. So like that, death can also be in many forms and when the death is in a gruesome form and when the gruesome form is seen, it can be a very horrifying sight. So Arjuna is a Kshatriya, he is habituated to seeing blood, he is habituated to seeing destruction.

And it's not just that Arjuna is habituated to seeing death and destruction and bloodshed, he is also habituated to seeing various kinds of ferocious beings. He is also habituated to seeing Rakshasas. Rakshasas are not just predators, predators are animals who eat other smaller animals, but they are, Rakshasas are cannibals.

They don't just eat other animals, they eat other, they eat human beings. So Arjuna, he has even fought with cannibals and he knows the habits of cannibals who actually, who in a very perverse pleasure, they feast on animals, they feast on human beings and he knows that and he is aware of that. But even that sight of Rakshasas and the Rakshasas even in action is not as horrendous as is the sight of the Vishwaroopa destroying the assembled forces on both sides.

So what is the reason for this? Why is Arjuna discombobulated to such an extent? That is because he recognizes that he is simply caught, he is totally consumed. He has no capacity to resist the kind of destruction that he is witnessing. He is simply a witness, he can't intervene and the scale and the size of the universal form, the scale of the destruction that is being brought in this vision and sight of it all is just causing Arjuna to tremble, is causing him trepidation at his very core.

Now we may wonder what kind of vision is this? See death is a reality of life and it is a brutal reality of life and it just can't be denied. So the Bhagavad Gita recognizes that when we say that God is, the soul of God is, that everything is included in God ultimately, that means even the brutal things that we see in this world, they are also, they must have some connection with God. Of course we don't say that God, it is not that God is the cause of the brutality but brutality is present in the world and ultimately nothing can be present in the world that is not at least sanctioned by God.

So why he sanctions it and why certain specific things happen, there may be specific reasons for those happenings. But overall the theistic understanding of the universe, for it to be inclusive, for it to be comprehensive, it needs to be able to account for even the presence of brutality and perversity in this world. And in this Vishwaroopa that is demonstrated by the sight of the people, the warriors meeting a devastating kind of destruction here in the war field.

This conveys that actually they are all totally disoriented, they are totally shaken, they are devastated, they are destroyed. And thus there is no hope for them, this war is going to end in destruction and devastation and the Vishwaroopa is giving to Arjuna the demonstration of what is going to come in the future and through this we actually see the inclusiveness of God. I will discuss this more in the 30th text but that God's inclusiveness means also the comprehensive vision of the universe includes the gruesome features, gruesome reality within the universe also and that is demonstrated through this vision.

Thank you.