Experiencing God’s presence in the material World through:

The Virat - Rupa

Info-Note:

viräö-rüpa; viçva-rüpa;kala- rüpa

Srila Prabhupadatranslates them all as‘Universal Form’.

virat

What is that Form….

• The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His partial representation, measuring not more than nine inches as Supersoul, expands by His potential energy in the shape of the Universal Form, which includes everything manifested in different varieties of organic and inorganic materials. (SB 2.6.13-16)

Of what use is it to be aware of that Form?

•The Lord, being omnipotent, can offer His association by His inconceivable potencies. …..with His Universal From (viräö-rüpa), the cosmic impersonal feature of the Lord. (SB 2.1.22)

.

Bhag’s Divine Conceptions

• Impersonal Brahman (Shukadeva G’s past realization)

• Virat Rupa (See God externallyin matter)

• Antaryamin (See God internally• Avataras (See God doing lila)• Krishna (See God at home doing

his most intimate lila).

Difference between Gita and Bhag UF

•Gita UF is a revelation•Bhag UF is a

conceptualization.

11.15-11.31 Overview:

• 15-20: Vision of the universe

• 20-23: Effect on the universe

• 23-25: Effect on Arjuna

• 26-30: Vision of the battlefield• 31: Question.

One should concentrate his mind upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who alone distributes Himself in so many manifestations just as ordinary persons create thousands of manifestations in dreams…… …otherwise one will be misled and will cause his own degradation.…….

(SB 2.1.39)

Info-Note:

Acintya-bhedabheda-tattva: •The manifestion is one with

and simultaneously different from the Lord.

 Both,

the spiritual and material worlds are simultaneously one with and different from Sri Hari

(Bhaktivinoda, Vani Vaibhava p 37)

Bhagavad-gétä

In Chapters 9, Verse 4, Krishna say that this entire universe is pervaded by His un-manifested Form.

MaYaa TaTaiMad& Sav| JaGadVYa¢-MaUiTaRNaa )

MaTSQaaiNa SavR>aUTaaiNa Na cah& TaeZvviSQaTa" )) 4 ))

mayä tatam idaà sarvaà

jagad avyakta-mürtinä

mat-sthäni sarva-bhütäni

na cähaà teñv avasthitaù

Bhagavad-gétä

In Chapter 10, Verse 16

Arjuna asks the Lord to tell in detail of His divine opulences by which He pervades all these worlds.

Purport: People in general and the impersonalists in particular concern themselves mainly with the all-pervading nature of the Supreme. So Arjuna is asking Kåñëa how He exists in His all-pervading aspect through His different energies. …..

…Persons devoid of ätma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.”

Repeated Birth and Death!

There is only one Way to go!

But there are two directions:

Towards light…..Krishna (God)

Towards darkness….. Maya (Illusion)

…Foolish persons, bewildered by the external energy of Viñëu, do not know that the ultimate goal of the progressive search after happiness is to get in touch directly with Lord Viñëu, the Personality of Godhead. (2.1.19 p)

Çrémad-Bhägvatam

Thus persons who are unable to pin their faith on the personal feature of the Absolute are given a chance to associate with His viräö-rüpa, or the cosmic impersonal feature of the Lord (SB 2.1.22

Çrémad-Bhägvatam

This gigantic manifestation of the phenomenal material world as a whole is the personal body of the Absolute Truth…. ( 2.1.24)

“O King, the rivers are the veins of the gigantic body, the trees are the hairs of His body, and the omnipotent air is His breath.” (2.1.33)

The clouds which carry water are the hairs on His head, the terminations of days or nights are His dress…(2.1.34)

The horse, mule, camel and elephant are His nails….(2.1.35)

Çrémad-Bhägvatam

Varieties of birds are indications of His masterful artistic sense…..(2.1.36)

Çrémad-Bhägavatam

The whole material manifestation can be seen as part of His Virat Rupa. The wonders of this world are representations of the greatness of His splendor. (lighting, gigantic mountain, etc.)

Virat Rupa: from impersonal to personal

•SP: “godless display of opulence”•See material world as divine•Reference to artistry of God in the

UF: his subtle, artistic, attributes•His genitals: Reference to his

being a person.

Persons who have realized it have studied that the planets known as Pätäla constitute the bottoms of the feet of the universal Lord, and the heels and the toes are the Rasätala planets. The ankles are the Mahätala planets, and His shanks constitute the Talätala planets. (SB 2.1.26)

Great philosophers imagine that the complete planetary systems in the universe are displays of the different upper and lower limbs of the universal body of the Lord. (SB 2.5.36)

Great philosophers imagine that …… The Brahmanas represent His mouth, the Ksatriyas His arms, the Vaisyas His tighs, and the Sudras are born of His legs. (SB 2.5.37)

Is it real or

imaginary?

The Form is factual, but the concept of ”Krishna’s form in matter” is imaginary. The Lord has no material form.

End

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada, who came with the message of the absolute world, which enables us to appreciate the unlimited glorious of the Supreme Lord.

AimTo help the students understand the different sastric references regarding the UF and thus assisting them in identify Krishna’s

presence in this world. 

ObjectivesAt the end of the presentation, students should be able to:

 a)      List and contrast 2 different sources of sastric references reg.

the Lord’s Universal Form and can explain the differences of features in the

descriptions. 

b)     In own word concisely explain Sukadeva Goswami’s teachings regarding meditation on the UF, i.e. can explain why the UF is said to

be imaginary. 

c)      List examples of the Lord’s presence in this world, based on Ch 10 of

Bhagavad-Gita. 

d)     Can locate and concisely explain the references found in the Bg reg.

Krishna’s energies and opulence.