daṁṣṭrā-karālāni ca te mukhāni  dṛṣṭvaiva kālānala-sannibhāni|
diśo na jāne na labhe ca śarma  prasīda deveśa jagan-nivāsa|| 11.25

“Having seen your many mouths bearing your terrible teeth, resembling the raging fire at the time of annihilation, I forget where I am and do not know where to go. O Jagan-nivasa, the omni-present one; please have mercy on me. 11.25

It only takes a few seconds for the mind to generate the dominant emotion after the unconscious determines what’s in the sensory field is an “unknown”, and here, that was true for Arjuna also.  Arjuna’s initial astonishment transforms into rabid fear.   Also, the sloka Oppenheimer of Manhattan project fame apparently quoted at the sight of nuclear explosion from the experimental atomic bomb is from this chapter, because the scene of fire from the bomb reminded him of the “fire of annihilation” that Arjuna saw_/\_

We discussed the Kundalini Awakening aspect in the last two blurbs (30 and 31).  Let’s continue with the next step – the ascent.

Arjuna continues on with “I see all the sons of Dhritarashtra, along with their allied kings, including Bhishma, Drona, Karna, and also the generals from our side, rushing headlong into your fearsome mouths. I see some with their heads smashed between your terrible teeth.” 11.26-27

With your fiery tongues you are licking up the hosts of living beings on all sides and devouring them with your blazing mouths. O Vishnu, you are scorching the entire universe with the fierce, all-pervading rays of your effulgence. 11.30

Isn’t it interesting that Arjuna saw destruction, death and gore as opposed to pleasant and peaceful universe? Because, that was his state of mind, at that time!  Yet another reminder for us that what we see in front us is mostly a reflection of own internal state of mind.  In modern psychology, it was Carl Jung who coined the word “projection” to describe this concept.

This scene of destruction causes Arjuna’s astonishment to turn into fright.  Most significant is the dissolution /morphing of Space-Time.   From these verses, we are given to understand that Arjuna loses the sense of time first, as the future turns into “Anala”, a primordial fire element of destruction.  Anala is one of the eight Vasus –  turning into a force of destruction of manifested creation, i.e., “dṛṣṭvaiva kālānala sannibhāni”.  Arjuna then says, he lost sense of directions.  So first the time component gets jumbled up, and then the space – “diśo na jāne”. 

In the evolution of our “brain”, space component is the most primitive, while the time component is a much latter evolved aspect.  Humans process the time in a much more detailed way than other species, but some animal species actually possess spatial processing aspects that rival or even exceed human capabilities. So, in the process of dissolving the mind, the time component dissolves first and then the space, in meditation or at the very very end.  All part of the awakening, tat-twam-asi realization process.

Arjuna in this awakened state hears Krishna telling him : I am the mighty Time, the source of destruction that comes forth to annihilate the worlds. Even without your participation, the warriors arrayed in the opposing army shall cease to exist. 11.32

Oppenheimer supposed to have quoted this verse when he saw the nuclear explosion from the first test atomic bomb.  That was so apt – the very science that gave us lifesaving antibiotics,  life-preserving preemie technologies, has an embodiment that essentially could annihilate the world….  This is what Oppenheimer saw at that moment apparently_/\_

Arjuna’s astonishment dissipates as his fright-laden crisis deepens.  This raises an important question – why was Arjuna frightened?  After all, isn’t kundalini awakening what everyone is looking for?  Yogis’ reasoning? Arjuna put Krishna outside of him, as opposed to letting the experience engulf him into a merged state – samadhi.  He saw all things in Krishna’s universal form, including all the warriors lined up along his side as well as on the opponent’s side, but he never mentioned seeing himself in Krishna.  Contrast this with the kundalini awakening and viswarupa sandarsana experience of Yaśodā – the foster mother of Krishna (see below).  That’s normally the case with us also.  Even in our mind’s storytelling episodes, and in most of the dreams, we are the subject; we are rarely included in the scene.  The observer and observed will merge at the”samadhi” stage, the eight step – the most stable of awakened states.  Emotions led by instincts dominate the dualistic observer-observed interactions.

The Kundalini Experience of Yaśodā

Yaśodā is the foster-mother of Krishna; for her, he is the world!  Single-pointed devotion  towards him is a significant part of her life.  Sure enough, that in combination with her extreme concern for his well-being was enough to awaken the kundalini, where she sees the entire universe in his mouth. Single-pointed devotion as ananya bhakti; note that bhakti is not just towards God, but it is just undivided attention, and therefore can be directed in any direction. However, even though she was astonished and bewildered, the visual of the universal vision ends with her seeing herself (and her surroundings) in that vision, unlike Arjuna.  Note that she was in a very safe place, unlike Aruna, and hence her emotion was not of rabid fear, but that of astonishment, as she tries to interpret it as a vision of her personal god, as his maya. With that she returns to normal, and even forgets this whole experience in her preoccupation with her divine child!

Here is the full story:

This whole thing starts with Krishna’s friends running to Yasoda to tell her that her child is eating mud… Below is the dialog based on an English translation (G. V. Tagare): from Canto 10 Chapter 8

34. Yaśodā: ‘You naughty boy! Why did you eat earth [mud] secretly? These your playmates tell me and this your elder brother also says the same.’

35. Krishna: ‘No mother, I did not eat earth [mud]. All these are liars. If (you still think that) they tell the truth, you look into my mouth personally.’

36. ‘If that be the case, open your mouth.’ Thus ordered, the Krishna opened his mouth.

37-38. She (Yaśodā) beheld therein the universe consisting of mobiles and immobiles, the ethereal dome, the cardinal points, the sphere of the earth along with the mountains, continents and oceans, the wind, the fire (of lightning), the moon, the stars, the (whole of the) planetary system, (elements like) water, fire, wind and the sky, (the presiding deities of) the senses and the mind, subtle elements and the three guṇas.

39. Seeing in the body, nay in the gaping mouth of her child, this marvellous universe consisting of a variety of organisms produced by (factors like Souls, Time, Nature, Destiny and Mind as well as the whole of Vraja including herself, she was seized with doubt [śaṅkām is the sanskrit word; it is incorrectly translated as terror].

40. (She bemused) “Is this a dream or an illusion created by a divine being? Or is it a fantasy—a delusion of my own mind? Or is it the innate divine power of this very child of mine?

41. Hence I bow down to the feet of that divinity, which are extremely difficult to comprehend and the real nature of which cannot be grasped easily by the intellect, mind, deeds and words; which are the basis of the universe and through the instrumentality of which and from out of which the universe is manifested.

42. That deluding potency (Māyā) arise perverse notions such as ‘I am (Yaśodā)’, ‘This is my husband’, ‘This (Kṛṣṇa) is my son’, ‘I am that chaste lady who protect the whole property of Nanda (the Lord of Vraja) ‘All the cowherds—men and women along with the wealth of cattle—are mine’.”

43. That personal God (sa īśvaraḥ) cast over the Gopa-lady [Yasoda] who had thus realized the truth, his deluding Vaiṣṇava (divine) charm which filled her with maternal affection for (her) son. [see the usage of īśvaraḥ here; review the blurb linked to this word]

44. Instantly the Gopa-lady [Yasoda] lost her memory (regarding the real nature of the Lord). She placed her son on her lap. Her heart overflowed with intense affection as before.

With that, she went back to her main preoccupation, which is her unwavering love of her adorable child … Now, contrast the surroundings and emotions in the Arjuna’s experience.

The “Not Mine” state along with your interpretation of the scene plays a huge role in the total experience.  Yasoda did not merge because there’s still subject-object dialog even after the appearance of the universal form (U-I, universal self, viswarupa…).  As long as that Me-Mine-Not Mine boundaries exist, the state of Samadhi does not stabilize.  For that reason both Arjuna and Yasoda returned to the bhu-level of consciousness.  

To further illustrate the role of where we place the abnormality in our minds determining the dominant emotional experience, yogis ask us to conduct a thought-experiment: they ask us to imagine another being with an unusually, scary deformity or a wound with an offensive odor.  Our normal reaction – is to avoid that being.  On the other hand, our emotions would be radically different if the same were present on us or part of us.   Why is that?  It’s that Me assessing “Tat” as NotMine.  Transcending that duality of Mine-NotMine is critical for a full stable experience.  If Arjuna went into that stable state, probably Gita would have ended with this chapter.  But Arjuna (and all seekers) needed some more coaching.  That’s also why we go through these contemplation points, so that these meditations come back to us when needed. 

May we all be blessed with a “churned and Contemplative” mind _/\_/\_/\_