Hinduism / by Monier Williams.

  • Monier Monier-Williams
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hinduism / by Monier Williams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Have faith in me, adore and worship me,* 1 And join thyself in meditation to me ; Thus shalt thou come to me, O Arjuna ; Thus shalt thou rise to my supreme abode, Where neither sun nor moon hath need to shine, For know that all the lustre they possess is mine.2 We come now to Chapter XI., called ‘ the Vision (or Revelation) of the Universal Form ’ (vtiva-rupci-dar- sana). Arjuna, filled with awe at the discovery of the true nature of Krishna, acting as his charioteer, addresses him thus : Most mighty Lord supreme, this revelation Of thy mysterious essence and thy oneness With the eternal Spirit, clears away The mists of my illusions. Show me then Thy form celestial, most divine of men, If haply I may dare to look upon it. To this Krishna replies : Thou canst not bear to gaze upon my shape With these thy human eyes, O son of Pandu, But now I gift thee with celestial vision ; Behold me in a hundred thousand forms, In phases, colours, fashions infinite. Then follows the description of Krishna’s super- natural transformation :3 thee.’ A sense of original corruption seems to be felt by all classes of Hindus, as indicated by the following prayer used after the Gayatri by some Vaishnavas :— Papo ’ham pdpa-karmdham papatmd pdpa-sambhavah, Trahi mam, pundartkaksha sarva-pdpa-hara Hare, ‘ I am sinful, I commit sin, my nature is sinful, I am conceived in sin ; Save me, O thou lotus-eyed Hari, the remover of sin.’ 1 Cf. Prov. xxiii. 26 : ‘ My son, give me thine heart.’ 2 Cf. Rev. xxi. 23 : ‘ The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it.’ 3 The idea of this Dr. Lorinser considers borrowed from the Gospel narrative of the transfiguration. It is certainly very in-
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