THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE COSMIC FORM
When Bhagavan says, ‘I remain in the form of this entire world,’ naturally Arjuna wonders whether this is literally so. He has heard about what happened when Yasoda asked Krishna¸a to open his mouth upon finding him eating mud. She saw within the mouth of Krishna, the child, the entire jagat. Now Arjuna wants to know if he can see the entire cosmic form, visvarupa, within the form of Krishna who is
standing in front of him.
To understand this cosmic form properly we should understand Ìsvara’s form. As we have seen, Ìsvara can be viewed from different standpoints. The essential nature is caitanya, brahma, the truth of Isvara and of the Jiva. The jiva’s essential svarupa is sat -cit-anandam advayam brahma and the svarupa of Ìsvara is the same Brahman. This is one level of appreciation of Ìsvara. Then there is another level of appreciation– Ìsvara as the same Brahman conditioned by maya, as the one who is the jagat-karana. Definitely pure limitless consciousness, Brahman, cannot be jagat-karana unless there is some other power available for that Brahman. As a jiva looking at this universe, I
naturally seek the cause. Sruti reveals that the cause is Brahman, not pure Brahman but Brahman with a certain power.
In order for Brahman as Ìsvara to have the status of creator of everything, omniscience and appropriate power are necessary. Appropriate power means a power in keeping with the nature of the jagat. Whatever is the order of reality of the world, the same should be the order of reality of the power that creates it. When we analyse this creation, we find it is mithya and therefore, there must be a mithya power, which has created it.
