89: Grasping the Universal Form

Creative Expression: Image Analysis

CHAPTER 11, TEXT 19: You are without origin, middle or end. Your glory is unlimited. You have numberless arms, and the sun and moon are Your eyes. I see You with blazing fire coming forth from Your mouth, burning this entire universe by Your own radiance. 

The painting above is such a beautiful meditation on this verse of the Gita. The artist captures such vast concepts with a fascinating flair. 

Notice that the "origin", "middle", and "end" are represented in the kinds of water and earth in the bottom middle of the painting. The "origin" of things in this material world is the mode of passion (rajas) which is on the bottom left, represented by the plumes of a volcano creating an island and waterfalls and rivers. The "middle" is the mode of goodness (sattva), which is represented by vast, flat plains and the gentle valleys in the middle. Also, Lord Vishnu presides over the mode of goodness (the "middle") and if you look closely you can see Him resting on a bed of divine snakes (ananta-shesha) in the top right hand corner. The "end" is the mode of ignorance (tamas) which is represented by volcanoes and dying bodies on the bottom right. 

Krishna's "glory is unlimited," which seems to be shown by the magnificent formations of the earth, the beings in the sky (at the top) and the scope and majesty of the overall painting.

The "numberless arms" are shown by the pantheon of beings to the right, their arms and forms stretching out of sight. 

"The sun and mood are your eyes" is shown here magnificently, with the sun radiating from the face in the center. I almost feel a sense of blindedness just by gazing at this painting, with the white shards of light coming at me directly. A man seems to be leading on galloping horses in the light of the sun, who is possibly Surya, the sun-god. I see the stars and other planets scattered throughout the faces of the central figures and throughout the painting, giving me a sense of the magnitude of this universal form. 

"Blazing fire coming forth from Your mouth" is shown by the central figure on the right, where a river of flame seems to be flowing from his ferocious mouth. Krishna later explains that this blazing river of fire that destroys all beings is His form as Time, "the great destroyer of the worlds" (11.32). 

This radiance of time and universal splendor leaves Arjuna dumbstruck, and eventually terrified. Krishna then ultimately displays his "two-armed form" (11.33) in order to pacify his dear friend. 

While the Universal Form is certainly awe-inspiring and wondrous, its hard to exchange love with a being who spews forth rivers of death or creates planetary systems or blinds the world by the radiance of his eyes. 

Love is down-to-earth, a simple, deep exchange of heart and soul. While this display of the universal form helps Arjuna and all of us understand that Krishna is no ordinary human being and that we need to respect Krishna as God, nevertheless, love is love, and sometimes all of this majesty gets in the way of that love.