meditating on universal form / visva rupa

For a materialist also, worship of the universal gigantic form of the Lord leads one to the right path.

The second, more important consideration is that even if the varnasrama system is observed strictly, it still cannot help one to rise to the highest plane of transcendental service to Godhead. The virat-purusa is a material conception of the Personality of Godhead and is just the beginning of spiritual realization. The topmost spiritual realization is attraction for devotional service to the Personality of Godhead. Such attraction for devotional service is the only necessity for the living being and it automatically brings a sense of detachment from all other activities. (More...)

Mahārāja Parīkṣit was already directly connected with the personal feature of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and as such he had no need to inquire from Śukadeva Gosvāmī about where and how to apply the

Maharaja Pariksit was already directly connected with the personal feature of the Lord Sri Krsna, and as such he had no business to inquire from Sukadeva Gosvami about where and how to apply the mind in the impersonal virata-rūpa of the Lord. But he inquired after a detailed description of the matter for the benefit of others, who are unable to conceive of the transcendental personal feature of the Lord as the form of eternity, knowledge and bliss. The nondevotee class of men cannot think of the personal feature of the Lord. Because of their poor fund of knowledge, the personal form of the Lord, like Rama or Krsna, is completely revolting to them. They have a poor estimation of the potency of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita, it is explained by the Lord Himself (Bg. 9.11) that people with a poor fund of knowledge deride the Supreme Personality of the Lord, taking Him to be a common man. Such men are ignorant of the inconceivable potency of the Lord. By the inconceivable potency of the Lord, He can move in the human society or any other society of living beings and yet remain the same omnipotent Lord without deviating in the slightest from His transcendental position. So, for the benefit of men who are unable to accept the Lord in His personal eternal form, Maharaja Pariksit inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami how to fix the mind on Him in the beginning, and the Gosvami replied in detail as follows. (More...)

To become a pure devotee of Lord Krsna, two things are very much essential, namely having a chance of being born in the family of a devotee and having the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master. By the grace of Lord Krsna, Pariksit Maharaja had both opportunities. He was born in a family of devotees like the Panḍavas, and just to continue the dynasty of the Panḍavas, Maharaja Pariksit was specifically saved by the Lord just to show special favor to the Panḍavas, and later on, by the arrangement of the Lord, Maharaja Pariksit was cursed by the boy of a brahmana and was able to get the association of a spiritual master like Sukadeva Gosvami. In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is said that a fortunate person, by the mercy of the spiritual master and Lord Krsna, achieves the path of devotional service. This was perfectly applicable in the case of Maharaja Pariksit. By way of being born in the family of devotees, he automatically came in touch with Krsna, and after being so contacted he constantly remembered Him. Consequently Lord Krsna gave the King a further chance of development in devotional service by introducing him to Sukadeva Gosvami, a stalwart devotee of the Lord with perfect knowledge in self-realization. And by hearing from a bona fide spiritual master, he was perfectly able to concentrate his chaste mind further upon Lord Krsna, as a matter of course. (More...)

Materialistic philosophers and scientists are too much engrossed with atomic energy and the gigantic situation of the universal form, and they offer respect more seriously to the external phenomenal feature of material manifestations than to the noumenal

Less intelligent persons with a poor fund of knowledge cannot accommodate the thought of this inconceivable potency of the Lord Sri Krsna, by which He appears just like a human being (Bg. 9.11). His appearance in the material world as one of us is also His causeless mercy upon the fallen souls. Although He is transcendental to all material conceptions, still by His unbounded mercy upon His pure devotees, He comes down and manifests Himself as the Personality of Godhead. Materialistic philosophers and scientists are too much engrossed with atomic energy and the gigantic situation of the universal form, and they offer respect more seriously to the external phenomenal feature of material manifestations than to the noumenal principle of spiritual existence. The transcendental form of the Lord is beyond the jurisdiction of such materialistic activities, and it is very difficult to conceive that the Lord can be simultaneously localized and all-pervasive, because the materialistic philosophers and scientists think of everything in terms of their own experience. Because they are unable to accept the personal feature of the Supreme Lord, the Lord is kind enough to demonstrate the virata feature of His transcendental form, and herein Srila Sukadeva Gosvami has vividly described this form of the Lord. He concludes there is nothing beyond this gigantic feature of the Lord. None of the materialistic thoughtful men can go beyond this conception of the gigantic form. The minds of the materialistic men are flickering and constantly changing from one aspect to the other. Therefore, one is advised to think of the Lord by thinking of any part of His gigantic body and by one's intelligence only. One can think of Him in any manifestation of the material world-the forest, the hill, the ocean, the man, the animal, the demigod, the bird, the beast or anything else. Each and every item of the material manifestation entails a part of the body of the gigantic form, and thus the flickering mind can be fixed in the Lord only and nothing else. This process of concentrating on the different bodily parts of the Lord will gradually diminish the demoniac challenge of godlessness and bring about gradual development of devotional service of the Lord. Everything being the part and parcel of the Complete Whole, the neophyte student will gradually realize the hymns of Īsopanisad which state that the Supreme Lord is everywhere, and thus he will learn the art of not committing any offense on the body of the Lord. This sense of God-mindedness will diminish one's pride of challenging the existence of God. Thus one can learn to show respect to everything, for all things are the parts and parcels of the supreme body. (More...)

One should control the sitting posture, regulate the breathing process by the yogic prāṇāyāma and thus control the mind and senses and with intelligence apply the mind to the gross potencies of the Lord [called the virāṭ-r&

Sukadeva Gosvami answered, One should control the sitting posture, and regulate the breathing process by the yogic pranayama and thus control the mind and the senses, and with intelligence apply the mind to the gross potencies of the Lord [called the virata rūpa]. (More...)

The materially-absorbed mind of the conditioned soul does not allow him to transcend the limit of the bodily conception of self, and thus the yoga system for meditation (fixing the mind upon the Supreme, controlling the sitting posture and breathing process) is prescribed in order to mold the character of the gross materialist. Unless such materialists are able to cleanse the materially absorbed mind, it is impossible for them to concentrate upon thoughts of transcendence. And to do so one may fix one's mind on the gross material or external feature of the Lord. The different parts of the gigantic form of the Lord are described in the following verses. The materialistic men are very anxious to have some mystic powers as a result of such controlling process, but the real purpose of yogic regulations is to eradicate the accumulated dirty things like lust, anger, avarice and all such material contaminations. If the mystic yogi is diverted by the accompanying feats of mystic control, then his mission of yogic success is a failure, because the ultimate aim is God realization. He is therefore recommended to fix his gross materialistic mind by a different conception and thus realize the potency of the Lord. As soon as the potencies are understood to be instrumental manifestations of the transcendence, the next step is automatically advanced, and gradually the stage of full realization becomes possible for him. (More...)

The asuras do not accept any evidential proof from the revealed scriptures, nor do they recognize the authority of the great ācāryas. They want to see with their own eyes at once. Therefore they can see the gigantic body of the Lord as virā

This gigantic manifestation of the phenomenal material world as a whole is the personal body of the Absolute Truth, wherein the universal resultant past, present and future of material time is experienced. (More...)

Anything either material or spiritual is but the expansion of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 13.13), the omnipotent Lord has His transcendental eyes, heads and other bodily parts distributed everywhere. He can see, hear, touch or manifest Himself from anywhere and everywhere, for He is present everywhere as the Supersoul of all infinitesimal souls, although He has His particular abode in the absolute world. This relative world is also His phenomenal representation because it is nothing but the expansion of His transcendental energy. Although He is in His abode, still His energy is distributed everywhere, just as the sun is localized as well as expanded everywhere and the rays of the sun, being nondifferent from the sun, are accepted as expansions of the sun disc. In the Visnu Purana (V.P. 1.22.52) it is said that as fire expands its rays and heat from one place, similarly the Supreme Spirit, the Personality of Godhead, expands Himself by His manifold energy everywhere and anywhere. The phenomenal manifestation of the gigantic universe is only a part of His virata body. The less intelligent class of men cannot conceive of the transcendental all-spiritual form of the Lord, but they are astounded by His different energies just as the aborigines are struck with wonder by the manifestation of lightning, a gigantic mountain or a hugely expanded banyan tree. The aborigines praise the strength of the tiger and the elephant because of their superior energy and strength. The asuras also cannot recognize the existence of the Lord, although there are vivid descriptions of the Lord in the revealed scriptures, although the Lord incarnates and exhibits His uncommon strength and energy, and although He is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by learned scholars and saints like Vyasadeva, Narada, Asita and Devala in the past and by Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita, as also by the acaryas like Sahkara, Ramanuja, Madhva and Lord Sri Caitanya in the modern age. The asuras do not accept any evidential proof from the revealed scriptures, nor do they recognize the authority of the great acaryas. They want to see eye to eye at once. Therefore they can see the gigantic body of the Lord as virata, which will answer their challenge, and as they are accustomed to pay homage to superior material strength like that of the tiger, elephant, lightning, etc., they can offer respect to the virata rūpa. Lord Krsna, by the request of Arjuna, exhibited His virata rūpa for the asuras. A pure devotee of the Lord, being unaccustomed to look into such mundane gigantic form of the Lord, requires special vision for the purpose. The Lord, therefore, favored Arjuna with special vision for looking into His virata rūpa, described in the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. This virata rūpa of the Lord was especially manifested, not for the benefit of Arjuna, but for that unintelligent class of men who accept anyone and everyone as the incarnation of the Lord and so mislead the general mass of people. For them, the indication is that one should ask the cheap incarnation to exhibit his virata rūpa and thus be established as an incarnation. The virata rūpa manifestation of the Lord is simultaneously a challenge to the atheist and a favor for the asuras who can think of the Lord as virata and thus gradually cleanse the dirty things in their hearts in order to become qualified to actually see the transcendental form of the Lord in the near future. This is a favor of the all-merciful Lord to the atheists and the gross materialists. (More...)

The conception of the universal form of the Lord gives a chance to the materialist to think of the Supreme Lord, but the materialist must know for certain that his visualization of the world in a spirit of lording over it is not God realization.

Persons who have realized it have studied that the planets known as Patala constitute the bottom of the feet of the Universal Lord, and the ankles and the soles are the Rasatala planets. The calves are Mahatala planets, and His knees constitute the Tala and Atala planets. (More...)

Outside the bodily existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the manifested cosmic existence has no reality. Everything and anything of the manifested world rests on Him, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 9.4), but that does not imply that everything and anything in the vision of a materialist is the Supreme Personality. The conception of the universal form of the Lord gives a chance to the materialist to think of the Supreme Lord, but the materialist must know for certain that his visualization of the world in a spirit of lording over it is not God realization. The materialistic view of exploitation of the material resources is occasioned by the illusion of the external energy of the Lord, and as such, if anyone wants to realize the Supreme Truth by conceiving of the universal form of the Lord, one must cultivate the service attitude. Unless the service attitude is revived, the conception of virata realization will have very little effect on the seer. The transcendental Lord, in any conception of His form, is never a part of the material creation. He keeps His identity as Supreme Spirit in all circumstances and is never affected by the three material qualities, for everything material is contaminated. The Lord always exists by His internal energy. (More...)

The universe is divided into fourteen planetary systems. Seven planetary systems, called Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Jana, Tapas, and Satya, are upward planetary systems, one above the other. There are also seven planetary systems downward, known as Tala, Atala, Vitala, Rasatala, Talatala, Mahatala and Patala, gradually, one below the other. In this verse, the description begins from the bottom because it is in the line of devotion that the Lord's bodily description should be begun from His feet. Sukadeva Gosvami is a recognized devotee of the Lord, and he is exactly correct in the description. (More...)

The gigantic universal form of the Personality of Godhead, within the body of the universal shell, which is covered by sevenfold material elements, is the subject for the virāṭ conception.

The gigantic universal form of the Personality of Godhead, within the body of the universal shell, which is covered by sevenfold material elements, is the subject for virata conception. (More...)

Simultaneously, the Lord has multifarious other forms, and all of them are identical with the original fountainhead form of the Lord Sri Krsna. In the Bhagavad-gita, it has been proven that the original transcendental eternal form of the Lord is Sri Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, but by His inconceivable internal potency, atma-maya, He can expand Himself by multifarious forms and incarnations simultaneously, without being diminished in His full potency. He is complete, and although innumerable complete forms are being emanated from Him, He is still complete without any loss. That is His spiritual or internal potency. In the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, the Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna, manifested His virata rūpa just to convince the less intelligent class of men, who cannot conceive of the Lord as appearing just like a human being, that He factually has the potency of His claim to be the Supreme Absolute Person without any rival or superior. Materialistic men can think, although very imperfectly, of the huge universal space, comprehending an innumerable number of planets as big as the sun. They can see only the circular sky overhead, without any information that this universe, as well as many other hundreds of thousands of universes, are each covered by sevenfold material coverings of water, fire, air, sky, ego, noumenon and material nature, just like a huge football, pumped and covered, floating on the water of the Causal Ocean, wherein the Lord is lying as Maha-Visnu. All the universes in seed are emanating from the breathing of the Maha-Visnu, who is but part of a partial expansion of the Lord, and all the universes presided over by the Brahmas vanish when the Maha-Visnu withdraws His great breathing. In this way, the material worlds are being created and vanished by the supreme will of the Lord. The poor foolish materialist can just imagine how ignorantly he puts forward an insignificant creature to become His rival incarnation, simply on the allegations of a dying man. The virata rūpa was particularly exhibited by the Lord just to give lessons to such foolish men, so that one can accept a person as the incarnation of Godhead only if such a person is able to exhibit such virata rūpa as Lord Krsna did. The materialistic person may concentrate his mind upon the virata or gigantic form of the Lord in his own interest and as recommended by Sukadeva Gosvami, but he must be on his guard not to become misled by pretenders who claim to be the identical person with Lord Krsna but are not able to act like Him or exhibit the virata rūpa, comprehending the whole of the universe. (More...)

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