मत्कर्मकृन्मत्परमो मद्भक्तः सङ्गवर्जितः ।
निर्वैरः सर्वभूतेषु यः स मामेति पाण्डव ।। ११.५५ ।।

mat-karma-kṛn-mat-paramo mad-bhaktaḥ saṅga-varjitaḥ |
nirvairaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ sa mām-eti pāṇḍava || 11.55 ||

Giving the Supreme the supreme pedestal

The entry into the Supreme, or to the universal magnitude, is not a physical process. What therefore takes place is that the seeker comes to know of the supreme Truth and that knowledge inaugurates the final entry into the Supreme and its universal magnitude. The important point is that there is nothing like a physical entry into Godhood. The entry is only the emergence of the seeker’s understanding and realization about it. Krishna emphasizes it quite distinctly.

Krishna does not stop at this. He comes back to the thread of his discussion. His intention is to enlighten Arjuna as well as the others like him. He emphasizes the purity and wholesomeness the mind should achieve, if the seeker aims at something great and immortal:

Work for the sake of the Supreme, consider the Supreme as the highest in a wholesome manner, be devoted to the Supreme in all ways and at the same time do not foster any attachment of any kind. Be free of all intolerance or hatred to anything of creation. One, purified and enriched by this, will attain the Supreme.

To regard the supreme Reality with all the comprehensiveness and supremacy is the first factor to count. True spirituality or devotional life commences from here alone. Once the seeker displays such a depth and wholesomeness, each and every act of his becomes an unreserved dedication to the Supreme.

By this, any dividing note between the Supreme and himself vanishes forever. A feeling of greatness and expanse takes over. That verily marks the essence of devotion. A devotee will then have an all-fold attunement in whatever he does. But it will not be possible unless he gets away from all his attachment to the ephemeral world and its contents, be it his body or the family, relatives and friends.

Simultaneously, the mind should also outgrow all kinds of hatred and intolerance towards anything in the world. Such a level of purity, piety and devotional expanse is verily the goal of spiritual life. Krishna calls such fruition as attaining the Supreme.

Man will no more then be a mere mortal individual. He feels his being is immortal, supreme and unassailable. The ego with all the constrictions it forges, will simply flee, and in its place will shine the universal expanse and freedom. It is no more seeking or seeing any kind of visvarupa, as Arjuna sought and did. On the other hand, it is a clear instance of growing into the universal dimension.

The difference between the two should be clearly borne in mind. This is the summary message with which Krishna ends the chapter. To miss this will be to miss the whole import of the visvarupa darsana.