Branches Unknown

Arjuna asks Krishna to reveal his immortal self. Who would have thought you can’t actually see Krishna himself, but in other forms…Typical. According to him, he is not visible with the naked eye, he is reflected by the forms, animate and inanimate in this world.

Sanjaya goes on to describe Krishna’s view as:


“If the light of a thousand suns
Were to rise in the sky at once,
It would be like the light
of that great spirit.”

So maybe Krishna really is as amazing as he makes himself up to be.

He finally decides to show Arjuna his true form, revealing the ultimate manifestation of his power. Arjuna here, finally understands who Krishna truly is, no shield to screen him from exposing his true, divine self. We also learn, that no one has ever seen this form, only Arjuna.

You don’t achieve the priveledge to see his form by “penances, lore, or sacrificial rites.” Only with loyalty, can one truly come to see his form.

In that same way, it demonstrates how with trust and true loyalty, people will come to rely on you and expose themselves in ways never before. Same with faith. Wichever god or immortal being you believe in, real dedication and fidelity consist in your living after the life after death to your expectations.

In lesson fifteen, Krisha, I think, compares life to one of the following things. It could be possible he is comparing it life. The branches point in all different directions, their roots reaching downward to life on Earth. It’s as we climb these vines that we ask ourselves what is the point, how do we get to the top, why go up if there’s achance we’ll be thrown back down.

There is also the mere chance of it being a type of symbol for God (In this case, Krishna). How, no matter how many of us believe in one of them entirely, with all our beings, some of us still question them and ourselves.


“Its form is unknown
here in the world;
Unknown are its end,
its beginning, its extent”

We ask ourselves how it is possible that such beings exist, and sometimes wonder about our own lives. He goes on about his glory, and about our human spirits later becoming eternal, as whoever is devote to him is eternal. With faith and knowledge, one has understanding, a purpose, and a goal, that is eventually fulfilled.