The Vision of Krishna's Totality and The True Spirit of Man

In the eleventh teaching, Krishna reveals himself on his true form to Arjuna. This was very surprising and unexpected to me. Here is his description:

"It was a multiform, wondrous vision,
with countless mouths and eyes
and celestial ornaments,
brandishing many divine weapons." (p. 98)

After Krishna's transformation, Arjuna started a long speech about how he was surprised at seeing Krishna that way, and started telling him that everyone would look at him in awe, because of his many arms and many mouths. He said that he didn't understand the change, so he asked Krishna to explain.

Krishna responded that he was the God who killed the world, and that all the warriors would die even if Arjuna didn't help him. Then he said that he would just be his instrument, so that was why it wasn't wrong to kill them. He was basically using Arjuna.

Arjuna got scared, and he told Krishna how, if he had ever offended him, he was sorry. Then he asked Krishna if he could become the one he knew again.

Krishna accepted, and said that Arjuna was the only person who had ever seen him in his pure form, and that he should not suffer, so he changed back. Something that I didn't really expect was that he called Arjuna "great hero", so he must certainly appreciate him. I thought he didn't like because he was inactive and didn't want to fight, but it seems like he does like him.

"By devotion alone
can I, as I really am,
be known and seen
and entered into, Arjuna." (p. 108)

This quote means that Krishna was convinced that Arjuna was loyal and devoted to him, and that he was valuable enough, even more than the gods, to see him in his full form.


In the fifteenth teaching, Krishna starts off talking about the tree of life, and how they say it never changes, and its roots and leaves reach everywhere. There is one part that I didn't understand, which was this quote that, as far as I know, is saying that detachment kills the tree, or ends with life itself:

"Its form is unknown
here in the world;
unknown are its end,
its beginning, its extent;
cut down this tree
that has such deep roots
with the sharp ax
of detachment." (p. 123)

I don't think this means what I think it means, because they had said before that the key to happiness was detachment.

Then he goes on again with his I-am-the-best-and-the-world-would-suck-without-me speech, saying that there are three types of spirit in a human; the transient, the eternal, and the supreme, and since he has a higher status than the transient and the eternal, then that he himself is the supreme, and that "...one has understanding... [when] he devotes his whole being to me."

Something that I still want to know and haven't been able to find out is if Arjuna will or won't fight at the end, but I am pretty sure he will, because with each teaching, his respect for Krishna grows.