लेलिह्यसे ग्रसमानः समन्ता-ल्लोकान्समग्रान्वदनैर्ज्वलद्भिः ।तेजोभिरापूर्य जगत्समग्रंभासस्तवोग्राः प्रतपन्ति विष्णो ॥
lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantā-llokānsamagrānvadanairjvaladbhiḥtejobhirāpūrya jagatsamagraṁbhāsastavogrāḥ pratapanti viṣṇo
Thou lickest the regions all around with Thy tongues and Thou art swallowing up all the nations in Thy mouths of burning; all the world is filled with the blaze of Thy energies; fierce and terrible are Thy lustres and they burn us, O Vishnu.
Compiled rendering · Anilbaran Roy
Essays on the Gita
But in the greatness of this vision there is too the terrific11·19–26 image of the Destroyer. This Immeasurable without end or middle or beginning is he in whom all things begin and exist and end. This Godhead who embraces the worlds with his numberless arms and destroys with his million hands, whose eyes are suns and moons, has a face of blazing fire and is ever burning up the whole universe with the flame of his energy. The form of him is fierce and marvellous and alone it fills all the regions and occupies the whole space between earth and heaven. The companies of the gods enter it, afraid, adoring; the Rishis and the Siddhas crying “May there be peace and weal” praise it with many praises; the eyes of Gods and Titans and Giants are fixed on it in amazement. It has enormous burning eyes; it has mouths that gape to devour, terrible with many tusks of destruction; it has faces like the fires of Death and Time. The kings and the captains and the heroes on both sides of the world-battle are hastening into its tusked and terrible jaws and some are seen11·28–31 with crushed and bleeding heads caught between its teeth of power; the nations are rushing to destruction with helpless speed into its mouths of flame like many rivers hurrying in their course towards the ocean or like moths that cast themselves on a kindled fire. With those burning mouths the Form of Dread is licking all the regions around; the whole world is full of his burning energies and baked in the fierceness of his lustres. The world and its nations are shaken and in anguish with the terror of destruction and Arjuna shares in the trouble and panic around him; troubled and in pain is the soul within him and he finds no peace or gladness. He cries to the dreadful Godhead,11·31 “Declare to me who thou art that wearest this form of fierceness. Salutation to thee, O thou great Godhead, turn thy heart to grace. I would know who thou art who wast from the beginning, for I know not the will of thy workings.”
Other writings
[I have spoken so far of the intellectual tests that we can employ. Before I pass from this subject, it may be well to insert a word of explanation, of self-defence, almost of apology. Among the intellectual interpreters of Sruti, Shankara towers like an unreachable giant above his fellows. As a philosopher, as a metaphysician, as a powerful logician & victorious disputant his greatness can hardly be measured. For a thousand years and more he has stood in the heavens of Indian thought, his head far away in the altitudes of Adwaita, his feet firmly planted on the lifeless remnants of crushed systems and broken philosophies, the wreckage of his logical conquests, his mouth like Trishira’s swallowing up the world, lokan grasantam, annihilating it in the white flame of the Mayavada, his shadow covering our intellects & stunting the efforts of all who have dared to think originally & dispute his conclusions. Not Madhwa, not even Ramanuja can prevail against this colossal shadow. Yet I have ventured throughout to differ from this king of commentators—almost even to ignore this great & invincible disputant. If I have done so, it is because I think the decree of our liberty has already been pronounced by another giant of thought. When the great Vivekananda, potent seedsower of the future, in answer to the objection of the Pundits, “But Shankara does not say that,” replied simply but finally, “No, but I, Vivekananda, say it,” he pronounced the decree of liberation not only for himself but for all of us from the yoke, the golden but heavy yoke, of the mighty Dravidian. For this was Vivekananda’s mission to smite away all obstacles, however great & venerable, & open the path to the resurgence of Indian originality & the direct confrontation of the soul of man with the living Truth. He was our deliverer not only from ignorance & weakness, but from the systems of knowledge that would limit us and impose a premature finality.
*dṛṣṭvādbhutaṁ rūpam ugraṁ tavedaṁ lokatrayaṁ pravyathitaṁ mahātman…. dṛṣṭvā hi tvāṁ pravyathitāntarātmā dhṛtiṁ na vindāmi śamaṁ ca viṣṇo…. yathā nadīnāṁ bahavo’mbuvegāḥ samudram evābhimukhā dravanti, tathā tavāmī nara-loka-vīrā viśanti vaktrāṇyabhivijvalanti. yathā pradīptaṁ jvalanaṁ pataṅgā viśanti nāśāya samṛddhavegāḥ, tathaiva nāśāya viśanti lokās tavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛddhavegāḥ. lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantāl lokān samagrān vadanair jvaladbhiḥ, tejobhir āpūrya jagat samagraṁ bhāsas tavogrāḥ pratapanti viṣṇo. ākhyāhi me ko bhavān ugrarūpo namo’stu te devavara prasīda, vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṁ na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim.*
“When is seen this thy fierce and astounding form, the three worlds are all in pain and suffer, O thou mighty Spirit…. Troubled and in anguish is the soul within me as I look upon thee and I find no peace or gladness…. As the speed of many rushing waters races towards the ocean, so all these heroes of the world of man are entering into thy many mouths of flame. As a swarm of moths with ever increasing speed fall to their destruction into a fire that someone has kindled, so now the nations with ever increasing speed are entering into thy jaws of doom. Thou lickest the regions all around with thy tongues and thou art swallowing up all the nations in thy mouths of burning; all the world is filled with the blaze of thy energies; fierce and terrible are thy lustres and they burn us, O Vishnu. Declare to me who art thou that comest to us in this form of fierceness; salutation to thee, O thou great godhead, turn thy heart to grace! I would know who art thou who wast from the beginning, for I know not the will of thy workings.”
The Arya — text not in the CWSA
lelihyase grasamānah samantāl
