The second-most profound realization that happened in HDB was, After ten chapters, when Arjuna closes his eyes. In the eleventh chapter he experiences the vishwaroop. The revelation in this HDB was, It’s not that Arjuna is saying to Krishna, “I saw all the forms in you.”. 

That’s not what he is saying.

As we have a very cinematic expression of the vishwaroop, “I saw all the forms in you.”, that’s exactly not what Arjuna went through. Arjuna is saying, he’s not saying, “Krishna, I’m seeing all the forms in you.”. Arjuna is actually saying, “Whichever form I see, I see you in it.”.

It’s not “All the forms are in you, Krishna.”. His vishwaroop is, “You are there in all the forms!”, which is so scientific. The formless presence is present in all the form!

Kakkai chiraginile Nanda laala, ninthan, kariya niram thondruthayya Nanda laala. Even when I see the black feathers of a crow, Krishna, I am able to see you in it. Somehow I feel a crow is a very localized view. So I feel maybe it’s an optical illusion. So I decide to look around and look at all the greenery which is encompassing. As we would say in Sanskrit, a crow can only be atra (here), tatra (there), anyatra (somewhere). A crow cannot be sarvatra (everywhere).

It cannot be everywhere. So I look at greenery, which is everywhere.

And I realize in all the green that I see, I see only you, Krishna. Parkkum marangalellam, ninthan,Pachai niram thondruthayya , Nanda laala. Then Arjuna says, “I think my eyes are cheating me.”. I’m borrowing the words of Bharathiyar’s Kakkai Siraginile Nandhalaala. He feels, “My eyes are cheating me.”. So he decides to check his ears. Ketkkum oliyellaam, ninthan geetham isaikkuthayya, Nanda Laala. OK, I think now I’ve listened to different sounds, but in all the sounds I hear, I hear only your music Krishna! Can’t be, every sense of mine cannot be betraying me. So let me try touch. Most authentic.

And let me not touch something that is pleasant. Let me touch something that is unpleasant. Let me put my finger through fire.

Theekkul viralai vittal, ninnai theendia inbam thondruthayya, Nanda Lala. Even when I touch something unpleasant, even in that, the pleasant thing is, I still experience only you, Krishna.

So essentially, vishwaroop is not “I saw all the forms in you.”, but vishwaroop is, “Whatever I see, whatever I perceive, in everything I perceive, only you.”.

So if in whatever I am trying to see, in whatever I am able to hear, in whatever I am able to smell, whatever I’m able to taste and whatever I am able to touch, if everything somewhere if I’m able to experience you, then you are omnipresent, which is what vishwaroop is. You are present in every form, Krishna.

So which means, there is no point in me being deluded in seeing the form in front of me. This is one of the manifestations of you, but you are there in everything.

So instead of searching for that one who is all-encompassing and losing your whole life in that search, learn to experience that one in everything that you are able to already perceive.

And then suddenly, you don’t have a father and mother at home. You have the divine as father and mother at home and an opportunity to take care of them. Suddenly, it’s not a husband or a wife, but it is the divine as your spouse, an opportunity for you to love.

Geetha Krishnaraj, in one of her poetry, would say, “God, why did you come as my parents?” and God would reply, “To take care of you and to tell you I love you.”. “God, then why did you come as my children?” “So that you can take care of me and to show you I love you.” “Then why did you come as my teacher?” “To show you, you need me and to tell you I love you.” “Then why did you make me a seeker?” “To show you, I also need you and to show you I love you.”

Suddenly, it’s not the plants, it’s not the trees, it’s not a dog, it’s not a fish, it’s not a father, it’s not a child. Suddenly, you have realized, literally, I will show my love to the Creator by caring for all the creation in all the possible ways, because the Creator is present in every creation. All of a sudden, vishwaroop has a very, very different manifestation to how you see life. Just one paradigm shift from, ‘I saw all in one’ to ‘that one permeates in all’. The reverence with which you begin to live your life from then on is so different. So one, keep growing in maturity materialistically. Preserve your innocence spiritually. Preserve your innocence spiritually to learn to see that one in all and you have a very, very different reverence to life.