Krishna Explains His Vishwarupa to a Terrified Arjuna

Arjuna couldn't stop shaking. His bow had fallen from nerveless fingers. His legs had given way. He sat in his chariot, head bowed, unable to look at the figure beside him.

Krishna had returned to his gentle, familiar form—dark-skinned, peaceful, wearing his yellow silk. But Arjuna couldn't unsee what he had witnessed.

Krishna: "Arjuna. Look at me."

Arjuna: "I cannot. I cannot look at you and not see... that."

Krishna: "Tell me what you saw."

Arjuna: "I saw... I saw countless faces, countless eyes, countless arms. I saw the sun and moon as your eyes. I saw fire pouring from your mouth, consuming everything—warriors, kings, the entire Kaurava army flowing into you like rivers into the sea."

His voice broke.

Krishna: "I saw time itself, Krishna. I saw death. I saw that everything—everyone I know, everyone I love, everyone I'm about to fight—has already been destroyed by you. They're already dead. I'm just... the instrument."

Arjuna: "And this frightens you?"

Arjuna finally looked up, eyes wild.

Krishna: "Frightens me? I asked to see God, Krishna! I didn't ask to see... that. I didn't ask to see the machinery of death. I didn't ask to see my own insignificance."

Arjuna: "You asked to see reality, Arjuna. Did you think reality would be comfortable?"

Krishna: "I thought it would be beautiful. Peaceful. Like the descriptions in scriptures—infinite light, eternal bliss."

Arjuna: "It is all that. But it is also this. Creation and destruction are not opposites—they are the same breath. What you saw wasn't death, Arjuna. You saw transformation. Energy changing form, endlessly, eternally."

Krishna: "But those soldiers—"

Arjuna: "Already dead, By the flow of time, by the consequence of their actions, by the inexorable wheel of karma. You saw the truth: nothing you do on this battlefield changes their fate. Your choice is only whether to participate consciously in the cosmic dance or to stand paralyzed by the illusion that you have the power to alter what must be."

Arjuna was silent.

Arjuna: "You wanted to see me without the veil, Now you have. I am not just your charioteer, your friend, your cousin. I am also the hunger in the tiger, the flood that drowns villages, the disease that takes children, the earthquake that swallows cities. I am the meteor that ends worlds, and I am also the first green shoot after winter, the baby's first cry, the lover's first kiss."

Krishna: "How do I worship that? How do I love something so... vast?"

Krishna smiled and reached out to touch Arjuna's cheek.

Arjuna: "The same way you always have. As your friend. As your guide. I showed you my cosmic form so you would understand that this war is not your burden to carry. The outcome is already written. But I return to this form so you can still come to me with your fears, your doubts, your humanity."

Krishna: "Can you... can you make me forget what I saw?"

Arjuna: "I could. Do you want me to?"

Arjuna thought for a long moment.

Krishna: "No, No. I need to remember that I'm not the doer. I need to remember that the weight of this war isn't mine to carry. I need to remember that whatever I do, it's already done."

Arjuna: "Now you understand karma yoga, Act without attachment to results—because the results were never yours to control."

Arjuna picked up his bow. His hands were steady now.

Krishna: "I'm ready."

Arjuna: "You always were. You just needed to see."

The conch shell blew, and the war began.