अदृष्टपूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा
भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे |
तदेव मे दर्शय देवरूपं
प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास || 45||
adṛiṣhṭa-pūrvaṁ hṛiṣhito ’smi dṛiṣhṭvā
bhayena cha pravyathitaṁ mano me
tad eva me darśhaya deva rūpaṁ
prasīda deveśha jagan-nivāsa
adṛiṣhṭa-pūrvam—that which has not been seen before; hṛiṣhitaḥ—great joy; asmi—I am; dṛiṣhṭvā—having seen; bhayena—with fear; cha—yet; pravyathitam—trembles; manaḥ—mind; me—my; tat—that; eva—certainly; me—to me; darśhaya—show; deva—Lord; rūpam—form; prasīda—please have mercy; deva-īśha—God of gods; jagat-nivāsa—abode of the universe
Translation:
Having seen Your universal form that I had never seen before, I feel great joy. And yet, my mind trembles with fear. Please have mercy on me and again show me Your pleasing form, O God of gods, O Abode of the universe.
Commentary:
Arjuna was delighted and at the same time struck with terror by the Cosmic Form of the Lord. The full manifestation of the Lord should be terrifying indeed, when the Lord appears as Time, the Destroyer. Even Arjuna was fear-struck and distressed. So he wishes to see the Lord in His former pleasing form.
Prasida: In the 25th verse, Arjuna makes the same appeal.
Tadeva rupam: Some interpret the words to mean the four-armed form of Vishnu.
A month after meeting Sri Ramakrishna, Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) returned to Dakshineswar and found the Master alone in his room. Ramakrishna was glad to see Narendra and asked him to sit on the corner of his bed. After a few minutes the Master drew near him in an ecstatic mood, muttered some words, fixed his eyes on him, and placed his right foot on Narendra’s body. At his touch Narendra saw, with open eyes, the whole world vanishing — the walls, the room, the temple garden, and even himself were disappearing into the void. He felt sure that he was facing death. He cried out loudly: “Ah, what are you doing to me? Don’t you know that I have parents at home?” Listening to this, the Master laughed and then touching Narendra’s chest, said: “All right, let it stop now. It will happen in its own good time.” With this Narendra became normal again. (Source: God Lived With Them)
One day in Jayrambati, Swami Tanmayananda worshipped the Mother’s feet, as she was his guru. Then when he put her feet on his head, she said: “My foolish child, one should not put another’s feet on the head because the Master dwells there.”
“Mother, I have not seen the Master,” Tanmayananda replied.
“The Master is God Himself.”
“If the Master is God, then who you are?”
“Who else am I?”
“If you wish, you can show me the Master.”
“When the Master touched Naren [Vivekananda], he was so scared that he cried out. Practise spiritual disciplines and you will see him.”
“What is the need of spiritual disciplines for a person who has a guru like you?”
Holy Mother explained: “Yes, that’s true. But you see, one might have all kinds of food at home, yet one must cook it and eat the food. He who cooks earlier, gets his food earlier too. Some eat in the morning, some in the evening, and yet some starve because they are too lazy or afraid to cook.” (Source: Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play)
Seeing Sri Ramakrishna in samadhi many times, Mathur became eager to know more about this mysterious phenomenon. He knew very well that the Master had the power to transmit samadhi to others, so one day he asked to experience it himself. At first Sri Ramakrishna tried to dissuade him from this desire, but after repeated requests from Mathur he finally said: “Well, I’ll ask Mother about it. She will do as She thinks best.”
A few days later, while at his home in Calcutta, Mathur experienced bhava samadhi (a state in which the mind is between the absolute plane and the relative plane). Sri Ramakrishna described what happened next: “He sent for me; and when I went there I found him altogether changed — he wasn’t the same man. Whenever he spoke of God, he shed floods of tears. His eyes were red from weeping, and his heart was pounding. When he saw me, he fell down and clasped my feet. ‘Father,’ he said, ‘I admit it — I’m beaten! I’ve been in this state for the past three days. I can’t apply my mind to worldly affairs, however hard I try. Everything is going wrong. Please take back the ecstasy you gave me. I don’t want it.’ ‘But you begged me for ecstasy,’ I said. ‘I know I did. And it is indeed a blissful state — but what’s the use of bliss when all my worldly affairs are going to pieces? This ecstasy of yours, Father, it only suits you. The rest of us don’t really want it. Please take it back!’ Then I laughed and just rubbed Mathur’s chest with my hand and he was himsel again.” (Source: They Lived with God)
Some devotees would tell Sri Ramakrishna about their spiritual experiences. Hearing them, Swami Brahmananda asked the Master to grant him some spiritual experiences. The Master told him: “Look, that kind of experience comes when one practises meditation and prayer regularly and systematically. Wait. You will get it eventually.”
A couple of days later, in the evening, Swami Brahmananda saw the Master walking towards the Divine Mother’s temple, and he followed him. Sri Ramakrishna entered the temple, but the disciple did not dare go inside, so he sat in the natmandir [the hall in front of the temple] and began to meditate. After a while he suddenly saw a brilliant light, like that of a million suns, rushing towards him from the shrine of the Divine Mother. He was frightened and ran to the Master’s room.
A little later Sri Ramakrishna returned from the shrine. When he saw Swami Brahmananda in his room, he said: “Hello! Did you sit for meditation this evening?”
“Yes, I did,” answered Swami Brahmananda, and he told the Master what had happened.
Then the Master told him: “You complain that you don’t experience anything. You ask, ‘What is the use of practising meditation?’ So why did you run away when you had an experience?” (Source: Ramakrishna as We Saw Him)
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
(To Shivanath and the other Brahmo devotees) “Can you tell me why you dwell so much on the powers and glories of God? I asked the same thing of Keshab Sen. One day Keshab and his party came to the temple garden at Dakshineswar. I told them I wanted to hear how they lectured. A meeting was arranged in the paved courtyard above the bathing-ghat on the Ganges, where Keshab gave a talk. He spoke very well. I went into a trance. After the lecture I said to Keshab, ‘Why do you so often say such things as:
“O God, what beautiful flowers Thou hast made! O God, Thou hast created the heavens, the stars, and the ocean!” and so on?’ Those who love splendour themselves are fond of dwelling on God’s splendour.
“Once a thief stole the jewels from the images in the temple of Radhakanta. Mathur Babu entered the temple and said to the Deity: ‘What a shame, O God! You couldn’t save Your own ornaments.’ ‘The idea!’ I said to Mathur. ‘Does He who has Lakshmi for His handmaid and attendant ever lack any splendour? Those jewels may be precious to you, but to God they are no better than lumps of clay. Shame on you! You shouldn’t have spoken so meanly. What riches can you give to God to magnify His glory?’
“Therefore I say, a man seeks the person in whom he finds joy. What need has he to ask where that person lives, the number of his houses, gardens, relatives, and servants, or the amount of his wealth? I forget everything when I see Narendra. Never, even unwittingly, have I asked him where he lived, what his father’s profession was, or the number of his brothers.
“Dive deep in the sweetness of God’s Bliss. What need have we of His infinite creation and unlimited glory?” …….
Sri Ramakrishna continued: “It is also true that after the vision of God the devotee desires to witness His lila. After the destruction of Ravana at Rama’s hands, Nikasha, Ravana’s mother, began to run away for fear of her life. Lakshmana said to Rama: ‘Revered Brother, please explain this strange thing to me. This Nikasha is an old woman who has suffered a great deal from the loss of her many sons, and yet she is so afraid of losing her own life that she is taking to her heels!’ Rama bade her come near, gave her assurance of safety, and asked her why she was running away. Nikasha answered: ‘O Rama, I am able to witness all this lila of Yours because I am still alive. I want to live longer so that I may see the many more things You will do on this earth.’ (All laugh.)
(To Shivanath) “I like to see you. How can I live unless I see pure-souled devotees? I feel as if they had been my friends in a former incarnation.”
A BRAHMO DEVOTEE: “Sir, do you believe in the reincarnation of the soul?”
MASTER: “Yes, they say there is something like that. How can we understand the ways of God through our small intellects? Many people have spoken about reincarnation; therefore I cannot disbelieve it. As Bhishma lay dying on his bed of arrows, the Pandava brothers and Krishna stood around him. They saw tears flowing from the eyes of the great hero. Arjuna said to Krishna: ‘Friend, how surprising it is! Even such a man as our grandsire Bhishma — truthful, self-restrained, supremely wise, and one of the eight Vasus — weeps, through maya, at the hour of death.’ Sri Krishna asked Bhishma about it. Bhishma replied: ‘O Krishna, You know very well that this is not the cause of my grief. I am thinking that there is no end to the Pandavas’ sufferings, though God Himself is their charioteer. (Krishna, an Incarnation of God, was Arjuna’s charioteer.) A thought like this makes me feel that I have understood nothing of the ways of God, and so I weep.'” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Do you think that there is any fixed, catalogued price of so much austerity, so much japam, so much charity, etc., for God-realization? None can force realization out of Him!… But, if you don’t keep up a regular spiritual struggle, you will not be able to hold the experience when it comes.
— Swami Brahmananda (Source: The Eternal Companion)
You must have read what the Master used to say: ‘The breeze of divine grace is blowing all the time; it is for you to unfurl your sail.’ This unfurling of the sail means undertaking spiritual practices with sincere diligence. Through spiritual practices, one must make oneself fit to receive God’s grace.
— Swami Shivananda (Source: For Seekers of God)
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 11 
(55 Verses)
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 |
| 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 |
| 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 |
