Verse 11.50

Verse 11.50: Samjaya spake:—“Having said thus unto Arjuna, Vasudeva once more revealed (before Arjuna) his own proper Form: and that Mighty Spirit gave assurance once again to him who was frightened, by assuming, yet again, a milder Form of manifestation.” (640)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

And as the Lord was uttering these words, he suddenly appeared in human incarnation; and in this there is nothing to be wondered at; wondrous is indeed the manner in which the Lord is enamoured of his devotees. Lord Shri Krishna is in very truth the final Abode of Spirit Absolute and the quintessence of his Absolute Life Divine, he revealed to Arjuna in the Omnipresence-vision. Arjuna was at last wearied of that mighty spectacle. It was like throwing away what he had yearned after, or like being overnice about a gem, or like seeking and finding an excellent match in a girl, and then spuming her. So unbounded was Lord Krishna’s love for Arjuna, on whom he did lavish the choicest spiritual gift in the shape of His Omnipresent Incarnation.

As a gold chip is beaten into a sheet and then wrought up as an ornament to taste, and failing this, is again melted,—so did the Lord, for the deep love to his devotee, unfold his (Krishna’s) incarnate figure into that Omnipresent Deity. Arjuna surfeit with this sight turned his back upon it and the Lord became Shri Krishna again.” And in what quarters of the world, asks Sanjaya in wonder, are to be found such spiritual masters ever ready to bear and dance to the tune of the beloved disciple’s fancy? So unfathomable are the ways of Lord Krishna’s love for Arjuna.

That divine light which had erstwhile burst in all its glory, flooding the entire universe, withdrew to merge itself in Lord Krishna’s body. As all that is averred by the word “Twam” (tvaṃ—Thou) is merged in the word ‘Tat’, the Brahman Absolute, or as the entire tree is concentrated in the seed, or as the waking soul swallows up the fantasies of dream, in that way, in Lord Krishna’s incarnate divine body, the Omnipresent manifestation entire was suddenly absorbed. It was as though the splendour of the sun sank into the sun himself, or the clouds merged in the sky, or the tide of the sea flew back into the sea. It seems the rolls of the Omnipresent vision of Divinity lay unfolded and were reembodied in the figure of Lord Krishna, and for the pleasure of Arjuna, they were now unrolled. And Arjuna the queer customer, casting his eyes on the colourful pageantry on a vast scale, shrank from the deal: so Lord Krishna wrapped up the rolls again. And what by its infinite grandeur had swallowed up the entire universe, appeared in a shapely and serene human figure of extreme beauty.

In brief, the Infinite God was pleased to wear the tiny human figure to sooth and compose the frightened Arjuna; and then Kiriti cast an astonished gaze all round like one waking from a dream of a visit to Heaven; or did the son of Pandu indeed behold the Deity Incarnate, like one from whose soul (at the touch of the master’s grace) the flood-tide of world appearance ebbs away, yielding place to the vision of eternal truth. And his heart rejoiced mightily that the curtain of the Lord’s Omnipresent Image was drawn back to reveal Krishna, the God incarnate; he was then blessed in that vision as if he had triumphed over Death, or as if he had outstripped a raging stormy wind, or as if paddling with his arms he had swum across the seven seas.

He then saw this solid earth peopled with its denizens like stars slowly coming into view at sunset. As he cast his glance around, he found himself on the same former Kurukshetra, with the same kinsmen facing enemies in battle array and the warriors in groups hurling missiles at each other. He likewise saw as before, himself inside own his chariot, under a canopy of arrows, with the Lord of Goddess Lakshmi as charioteer sitting in front.