Arjuna asked:
“What happens to him who begins the path of liberation and for some reason does not reach the goal? Is he deprived of all success and perishes like a lonely cloud?”
The Supreme Personality of God replied:
“He who tries the path of realization and does not finish the path, after so many years of joys on the planets where those who are pious live, is reborn into a family of virtuous people, advanced in wisdom. And thanks to this birth, his divine consciousness awakens and he resumes the interrupted path until complete success is achieved.
“This material nature is composed of eight elements, and in addition to it there is another energy, made up of living entities that try to exploit the resources of matter to their advantage. You should also know that, in addition to this, I exist, who am the origin and the dissolution, that there is no truth superior to Me, and that everything subsists in Me just as the pearls of a necklace are held together by the thread. I am the origin of everything, O Arjuna, and only he who submits to Me will be able to cross the vast and difficult ocean of ignorance”.
The Supreme Lord continued:
“My dear Arjuna, as you are not envious of Me, I will impart to you the most confidential knowledge.
“This entire universe is pervaded by My unmanifested form and all beings are in Me, but I am not in them. I am the Creator and the Maintainer of all that exists. At the end of the millennium everything returns to Me and by My will everything automatically manifests itself again and is then destroyed again. I control all the phenomena of the universe.
“So, to free yourself from the bonds of action, do everything by offering it as a sacrifice to Me. Always think of Me, become My devotee, offer Me obeisances; so absorbed in My person you will surely come to Me.”
Arjuna said:
“You are the Supreme Personality of God, the ultimate refuge, the purest, the absolute truth. You are the eternal and transcendental supreme person, the unborn, the greatest. All the purest sages like Narada, Asita, Devala and Vyasa confirm this truth and now You yourself have declared it to me. O Krishna, I accept as truth whatever You have told me. You are the Lord of all that exists. Now, therefore, tell me about Your various forms on which I can meditate; describe to me Your infinite powers.”
And the Lord, to please His close friend, described them, then showed him the universal form. Confused and appalled to see that aspect of the Lord, Arjuna begged him to return to His original form.
This is a section of the book “Maha-bharata, Vol. 2”.
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