BG 11.14

What do we learn from the Viswaroopam of Sri Krishna? He is Iswara among iswaras. That is God among gods. Iswara means Commander, Controller and Leader. 'Ish' means commanding and 'warat' means the skill possessed naturally. This can be seen in our daily life also. Children are commanded by parents; subjects by King. But here the Lord Commands each and everyone, including the commanders we see in our life. There is no Iswara above or equal to Him. This is what we learn from the Viswaroopam. Aptly, we learn about Sri Parameswara from Parameswara Vinnagaram. Vinnagaram means the abode of Sri Vishnu or Vaikuntam. Parameswara Vinnagaram proclaims that He is the Supreme Lord, to His devotees. The Lord in the ground tier is Sri Vaikuntanathan. Large idol in sitting pose, the Lord graces. Right leg is folded and kept on the seat, while left leg is on the ground. Right arm is in abhaya mudra and left arm is pointing to His feet, for us to cling to them. Upper Two arms are holding discus and conch. Displaying His tall Crown, the Lord is gracing alone. Nearby there are no Consorts, sages nor Nityasuris. We saw in the last sloka that others borrow from His brilliance, for their illumination, while He does not depend on others. 'Kunta' means deficiency; and 'vikunta' means without any deficiency. This is a very superficial interpretation. So, in Vaikuntam, our knowledge will have no deficiency. In this Universe our knowledge is very much reduced. The moment atman reaches Vaikuntam, the knowledge it possesses is complete and fully enlarged. Utsavar is accompanied by Sri Sridevi and Sri Bhudevi. We can also worship Sri Vaikuntavalli Thayar [ஸ்ரீ வைகுந்தவல்லி தாயார் ]. The Lord displays abhaya by the right arm and the left arm is in kati mudra, where the left arm is on the lap, assuring us that once we surrender unto Him, He will reduce the ocean of samsaram to knee deep. We can also worship Sri Andal. Nearby, another smaller Utsavar could be seen. He is Sri Varantharu Mamanivannan, described earlier. He is the Utsavar of Sri Ranganatha in the Second tier. The Sri Ranganatha here varies from the Sri Ranganatha of Srirangam. In Srirangam, the Lord is reclining with Head in the West, Feet in the East, back to North and facing South. Here, the Lord is reclining with Head in the North, Feet in the South, back to East and facing West. Sri Devaraja Perumal also was facing West. In Kanchi region, perhaps, excepting one Kshetram, in all other temples, the Lord faces West. It is said that the Lord is having His head in the North direction, to enhance the life period of King Parameswara Pallava. Thirumangai Alwar mentions Two Pallava Kings in his pasuram - Pallavan and Villavan. These Two were born to a King and they meditated here and worshiped the Lord. The temple architecture clearly reveals the enormous services rendred by Pallava Kings. The vimanam here is Mukunda vimanam [முகுந்த விமானம்]. Mukunda means capable of granting Moksham. 'Mu' means Mukti, 'ku' means place and 'dha' means capable of granting. Thus the Lord below Mukunda vimanam, grants Moksham to those seeking. We will now see sloka 13:

tatraika-stham jagat krtsnam
pravibhaktam anekadha
apasyad deva-devasya
sarire pandavas tada

"At that time Arjuna could see in the universal form of the Lord the unlimited expansions of the universe situated in one place although divided into many, many thousands."

Sanjaya tells that Arjuna saw many, many things in the Celestial body of the Lord. Pandava = Son of Pandu, Arjuna, apasyad = saw, deva-deva = [in] gods' God [Sri Krishna]'s, sarire = body, krtsnam = without any exception, jagat = entire Universe, anekadha = in many aspects, pravibhakta = thoroughly separated, tat = in that [body], eka-stham = one small fraction. The Lord's very mammoth celestial body [Viswaroopam] is seen by Arjuna. In that body, in one corner, he sees, entire Universe, with all its separate entities, without any exception. Arjuna saw everything in this Universe. Everything was seen thoroughly separated and in all aspects. Deva deva means just like Devas are to us the Lord is to Devas. The Body of the Lord was divine, with divine garlands, garments, ornaments, weapons and other astonishing objects, radiating and with divine fragrance. He sees all the objects of the Universe, thoroughly separated in every aspect. What does this mean? Swami Ramanuja says in his Gita Bhashyam: bhogo, bhogopakarana, bhogastana, bhoktruvargam [भोगो, भोगोपकरण, भोगस्ताना, भोगत्रु वर्गम]. Objects of experience, places for such experience, instruments for experiencing and experiencing people. Thus the objects in this Universe are divided into Four separate categories. We are the experiencing people. We eat, listen, run about, etc., and all these are experiences. So all atman are the people experiencing. We experience various objects. They could be food or music, etc., which are experienced. These are also, like the atman, are many, many. These objects are experienced from various places; like an auditorium for listening to music, or dining hall to eat, etc. To experience, one needs implements, like plate to eat, or eyes or light to read, etc. Thus the Universe is separated in many aspects and Arjuna sees everything. Experiencing persons could be human or animals or trees. Places could be Earth or heaven, etc. All these were seen by Arjuna in the Divine body of the Lord. That too in a small part of the body. The Lord already told that the Lord supported the entire Universe and He said that without Him, there was nothing in the Universe. He had told that He was the Antaryami in everything. He had told that He was the Primary Cause for everything created, sustained and destroyed. Thus in these Five slokas, Sanjaya expalined to Dridarashtra, the scene viewed by Arjuna.