Caitanya Carana Prabhu:
From “The Universal Form as Revealed in the Bhagavad-gıta” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 57, No. 3 (May/June 2023):
“To help us better appreciate the vision of the universal form, the Gita describes it thrice: in Krishna’s words, in Sañjaya’s words, and in Arjuna’s words.”
“Why does the Gita use this triple descriptive framework? To help us gain a sense of a vision that is otherwise incomprehensible. When something is difficult to understand, it’s helpful to have that thing described or explained from different perspectives. In general, if someone claims to have seen something supernatural, it’s natural that most people will be suspicious. But if multiple people see the same thing, that increases the credibility of the vision. Beyond that, if we want to know more about what was actually seen, then we can try to integrate the details of the sight as described by different people.”
“What Arjuna sees initially as the majestic universal form soon starts devouring the warriors assembled on the very Kurukshetra battlefield where Arjuna is. This is Krishna’s cosmically destructive form of time, kala-rupa. That the kala-rupa perturbs a valiant warrior of Arjuna’s caliber underscores its unbearable scariness. This vision reveals the all-round nature of God’s omnipotence: no one can inspire devotion like Him (in His form as Krishna), and no one can induce fear like Him (in His form as time).”
“Vishnu is like God in the office, and Krishna is like God at home: same person, different personalities. And because God is omnipresent, He can be present both in the office and at home simultaneously.”