BG 11.10-11 aneka-vaktra-nayanam... cited

Expressions researched:
"anantam visvato-mukham" |"aneka-divyabharanam" |"aneka-vaktra-nayanam" |"anekadbhuta-darsanam" |"divya-gandhanulepanam" |"divya-malyambara-dharam" |"divyanekodyatayudham" |"sarvascarya-mayam devam"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 11.10-11, Translation and Purport:

Arjuna saw in that universal form unlimited mouths, unlimited eyes, unlimited wonderful visions. The form was decorated with many celestial ornaments and bore many divine upraised weapons. He wore celestial garlands and garments, and many divine scents were smeared over His body. All was wondrous, brilliant, unlimited, all-expanding.

In these two verses the repeated use of the word many indicates that there was no limit to the number of hands, mouths, legs and other manifestations Arjuna was seeing. These manifestations were distributed throughout the universe, but by the grace of the Lord, Arjuna could see them while sitting in one place. That was due to the inconceivable potency of Kṛṣṇa.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 3, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So this virāṭ-rūpa is subordinate. Darśayāmāsa hari. Hari is the supreme. And the virāṭ-rūpa is a feature, not that virāṭ-rūpa is original.

Dr. Patel: One of the features of His multiple features.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Virāṭ-rūpa. Not that the... Māyāvādīs take the virāṭ-rūpa is the origin, and this rūpa, Kṛṣṇa, that is māyā. Therefore they are called Māyāvādīs. But actually, Hari manifested or exhibited...

Dr. Patel: One of his multiple...

Prabhupāda: Multiple features.

Dr. Patel:

aneka-vaktra-nayanam

anekādbhuta-darśanam

aneka-divyābharaṇaṁ

divyānekodyatāyudham

divya-mālyāmbara-dharaṁ

divya-gandhānulepanam

sarvāścarya-mayaṁ devam

anantaṁ viśvato-mukham

(Bg. 11.10-11)

divi sūrya-sahasrasya

bhaved yugapad utthitā

yadi bhāḥ sadṛśī sā syād

bhāsas tasya mahātmanaḥ

(BG 11.12)

He had thousands and millions of features.

tatraika-sthaṁ jagat kṛtsnaṁ

pravibhaktam anekadhā

apaśyad deva-devasya

śarīre pāṇḍavas tadā

(BG 11.13)

tataḥ sa vismayāviṣṭo

hṛṣṭa-romā dhanañjayaḥ

praṇamya śirasā devaṁ

kṛtāñjalir abhāṣata

(BG 11.14)

Now Arjuna said. Shall I read further?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Arjuna uvāca. These boys understand this, all of them?

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, I will explain.

Dr. Patel: Now Arjuna says, paśyāmi devāṁs tava deva dehe sarvāṁs tathā bhūta-viśeṣa...

Prabhupāda: Devāṁs, devāṁs, tava deva dehe means "devas, the demigods, they are part and parcel of Your virāṭa-rupa." They are not independent. Just like this finger is part of my this whole body, similarly, all these devas, these demigods... That is explained previously. Ye 'py anya-devatā bhaktā yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ, te 'pi mām eva. If you give something to my finger, that is to be given to my body, but that is avidhi-pūrvakam. The thing's to be given to the mouth, not in the hand. But their logic is, because everything is the same, why not here? That is Māyāvāda. Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 4, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Just see. Sañjaya was speaking in the room to Dhṛtarāṣṭra and he said that "Now He showed." That means he was seeing. That is another television. Another television. That television is unknown now. Santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu. Premāñjana-churrita-bhakti-vilocanena. This is also television. The television machine is within the heart. One can see everything, provided he has learned the art how to see, that television within the heart.

Girirāja: (finishes synonyms) "Translation: Sañjaya said: O King, speaking thus, the Supreme, the Lord of all mystic power, the Personality of Godhead, displayed His universal form to Arjuna."

Dr. Patel: Shall I read?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel:

aneka-vaktra-nayanam

anekādbhuta-darśanam

aneka-divyābharaṇaṁ

divyānekodyatāyudham

divya-mālyāmbara-dharaṁ

divya-gandhānulepanam

sarvāścaramayaṁ devam

anantaṁ viśvato-mukham

(Bg. 11.10-11)

Prabhupāda: So even in the universal form, there is personality. Divya-mālya, divya-gandha, kirīṭina, dressed, well-dressed. Well-dressed is possible not in the imperson. If you want to dress somebody, he must be a person. You cannot dress in the sky. "Here is helmet, here is garland." Where you put? (laughs) So in the universal form also there is personality.

Girirāja: (reads synonyms to:) "ābharaṇam-ornaments; divya-divine..."

Prabhupāda: You have to understand.

Girirāja: "Aneka-various..."

Prabhupāda: Aneka. So here is the word, aneka. Ana eka, "more than one." So what is that aneka?

Dr. Patel: Everything, aneka.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Dr. Patel: Innumerable you can say.

Chandobhai: I mean (indistinct Sanskrit)

Prabhupāda: Aneka, that is confirmed in the Vedas, eka puruṣam. That is aneka. That is aneka.

Dr. Patel: Eka puruṣam.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Although He is one, He can manifest. He is exiting, not manifest. He is existing in aneka. And what is that aneka? Aneka means expansion of svāṁśa... That is... Therefore we require reference from many śāstras. In the Varaha Purāṇa this aneka explained—svāṁśa and vibhinnāṁśa. Svāṁśa, expansion of the Viṣṇu-tattva. Viṣṇu-tattva. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā niyamena tiṣṭhan (Bs. 5.39). He has expanded Himself in so many incarnations, rāmādi, like Rāma, not this loafer class. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā niyamena tiṣṭhan (Bs. 5.39). This is aneka. Another aneka-mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhuta (BG 15.7). They are also aneka. Anantāya kalpate. So all the Viṣṇu forms and all the living entity forms, altogether, he was able to see in the body of Kṛṣṇa. That is aneka. Yes, go on.