Chapter 7 - Vision of the Cosmic Form (viśvarūpa-darśana)

7.1 Rāma repeats his question.

The question put by Śrī Rāma was not frontally answered by Lord Śiva who was explaining about the glories of Himself and Abhijñāna Śākuntala such Śrī Rāma humbly requested Lord Śiva how a limited form of the Lord was capable of origination of all beings, their maintenance and dissolution and how all deities are stationed in him and how he is able to contain the fourteen worlds.

7.2 Banyan seed.

Lord Śiva replied with a beautiful simile^[1] that it is like a seed of a banyan tree although very tiny, containing the huge banyan tree which will grow out of it. The origination and dissolution of the beings take place in his body. Rāma reiterated his doubt Abhijñāna Śākuntala he was not clear, like the illusion due to vertigo of direction is not dissolved even after being told the truth about it.

7.3 Rāma given divine eyes.

Lord Śiva out of great compassion told Rāma that what he wanted to show Rāma could not be seen with normal eyes and Abhijñāna Śākuntala such he would endow Rāma with divine vision, by means of which,^[2] shedding all fears, Rāma can behold the expanse of everlasting luminosity of God. Only one graced by God can have this divine vision, even celestial beings are incapable of seeing through God’s form.

7.4 Lord’s Cosmic Form.

After having blessed Rāma with the divine vision, God opened his mouth and Rāma came face to face with Lord’s form resembling the subterranean fire. Seeing the luminous form like millions of lightning flashes, striking intense terror even amongst bravest, Rāma collapsed on his knees to the ground, fell prostate like a stick and praising the Lord, witnessed the destroyer of Tripura with all sidereal universes inside it looking like she-sparrows, in constellation of luminous blaze. Rāma could see mountains like Meru, Mandara, Vindhyā, the seven seas, sun and moon, the Gods and all five elements. The son of Daśaratha beheld forests, holy mountains, the fourteen worlds and the entire cosmic expanse in the Lord’s mouth. Beholding all these Rāma, filled with fear, prostrated again and again and true wisdom dawned upon him and commenced praising the Lord with Vedic chants and hymns from the Upaniṣads. He described in graphic terms all the multifaceted qualities of Mahādeva and could not contain the awe of seeing such a sight which even celestial beings crave for. Rāma was uttering the great upaniṣadic truths that just Abhijñāna Śākuntala snake appearing in the rope and causing fear does not really come into being, nor exists nor undergoes destruction, similarly the universe too taking shape in Śiva only through the sheer Māyā of the Lord^[3] and the God is the Māyin. God pervades all the quarters and the intermediate directions. Lord is the universe, secondless, the infinite and the eternal. Even when the universe becomes extinct, there is no loss to Lord, just Abhijñāna Śākuntala there is no detriment to space when a pot is broken. He concludes his awe-stircken prayer with prostrations to the swan in the ocean of existence and consciousness, the blue throated, the very form of time, the destroyer of all sins and the witness experience of all the functions of mind, which after all, is illusory and he entreated God to be shown back to him his benign personal form.^[4]

7.5 Śiva—Rāma’s preceptor.

Reminding Rāma that there is nothing anywhere whatsoever than Him, Lord withdrew the Gods and others into his own form. Closing his eyes in sheer delight, Rāma again opened his eyes and saw the God clad in tiger skin on the crest of Himālaya mountain. Rāma prostrated and God commanded him to sit in front of him and ask about any doubts he had, Abhijñāna Śākuntala there cannot be a better and greater preceptor than Him.

Thus ends chapter seven of Śiva-gītā.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ibid VII-5

[2]:

Ibid VII-10

[3]:

Ibid VII-28

[4]:

Ibid VII-39