Was Sri Krishna's vishwaroopam seen by anyone before the Gita Upadesha?

Question

In the 11th chapter of Gita; it is said that this vishwaroopam was never seen or heard by anyone before and arjuna needed special divya drsti to witness it. Which i believe is correct.

BG 11.6: Behold in me, O scion of the Bharatas, the (twelve) sons of Aditi, the (eight) Vasus, the (eleven) Rudras, the (twin) Ashwini Kumars, as well as the (forty-nine) Maruts and many more marvels never revealed before.

But some of the answers and questions here claim that vishwaroopam was already shown in the court of Kurus.

Is this true? (what about the contradiction)

Because the claim made in geeta is that its never heard or seen before.

Secondly, no one in the court was given divya drsti to witness it .

It can be possible that the one in court was a divine form but not necessarily the vishwaroopam itself.

Answer 1

It was Viraatroop not Vishwaroop which was observed before giving the Gita Upadesh

SECTION CXXXI of the Udyoga Parva describes Lord's Viraatroop

Saying this Kesava, that slayer of hostile heroes burst out into a loud laughter. And as the high-souled Sauri laughed, from his body, that resembled a blazing fire, issued myriads of gods, each of lightning effulgence, and not bigger than the thumb.

And on his forehead appeared Brahman, and on his breast Rudra. And on his arms appeared the regents of the world, and from his mouth issued Agni, the Adityas, the Sadhyas, the Vasus, the Aswins, the Marutas, with Indra, and the Viswedevas. And myriads of Yakshas, and the Gandharvas, and Rakshasas also, of the same measure and form, issued thence. And from his two arms issued Sankarshana and Dhananjaya.

And Arjuna stood on his right, bow in hand, and Rama stood on his left, armed with the plough. And behind him stood Bhima, and Yudhishthira, and the two sons of Madri, and before him were all the Andhakas and the Vrishnis with Pradyumna and other chiefs bearing mighty weapons upraised. And on his diverse arms were seen the conch, the discus, the mace, the bow called Saranga, the plough, the javelin, the Nandaka, and every other weapon, all shining with effulgence, and upraised for striking.

And from his eyes and nose and ears and every part of his body, issued fierce sparks of fire mixed with smoke. And from the pores of his body issued sparks of fire like unto the rays of the sun.

And beholding that awful form of the high-souled Kesava, all the kings closed their eyes with affrighted hearts, except Drona, and Bhishma, and Vidura, endued with great intelligence, greatly blessed Sanjaya, and the Rishis, possessed of wealth of asceticism, for the divine Janardana gave unto them this divine sight on the occasion.

And beholding in the (Kuru) court that highly wonderful sight, celestial drums beat (in the sky) and a floral shower fell (upon him). And the whole Earth trembled (at the time) and the oceans were agitated. And, O bull of the Bharata's race, all the denizens of the earth were filled with great wonder.

Then that tiger among men, that chastiser of foes, withdrew that divine and highly wonderful, and extremely varied and auspicious form. And arm-in-arm with Satyaki on one side and Hridika's son (Kritavarman) on the other, and obtaining permission of the Rishis, the slayer of Madhu went out.

Conclusion: Vishvaroop was only observed by Arjun during the narration of Gita. Viraatroop is subtly different from the former

Answer 2

No. It is NOT True.

Vishva-rupa was NOT shown by Lord Krishna before this to anyone and He Himself says this:

11.47 O Arjuna, this supreme, radiant, Cosmic, infinite, primeval form-which (form) of Mine has not been seen before by anyone other than you, has been shown to you by Me through the power of My own Yoga.

11.48 Not by the study of the Vedas and sacrifices, not by gifts, not even by rituals, not by severe austerities can I, in this form, be perceived in the human world by anyone ['By anyone who has not received My grace'] other than you, O most valiant among the Kurus.

The Lord is the Truth Himself and so what He told is FINAL in this regard.

Gita refers to this particular Form as the 'Visva-rupa'.

That He showed some Other Great Form or Vibhuti of His in the Royal Court but NOT the Visvarupa is the only conclusion.

UPDATE

The Form shown at the Royal Court and the Visva-rupa--- both required divine sight. But this does NOT mean the two Rupa's were the same. Arjuna saw that Sri Krishna is devouring the Kauravas by His fierce teeth. Was this seen or was there any possibility of being seen this AT ALL before the war?

Sri Krishna also did NOT merely mean 'not seen before by you' as that is very obvious.He clearly says NONE except you saw this. As already mentioned, the eating of the Katuravas by His teeth was a part of the Visva-rupa and there is no possibility of showing this except just before the war as the Lord Himself tried to stop the war

Acharya Shankar says in His commentary:

11.47 Prasannena, out of grace-grace means the intention of favouring you; O Arjuna, idam, this; param, supreme; tejomayam, abundantly radiant; visvam, Cosmic, all-comprehensive; anantam, infinite, limitless; adyam, primeval-that which existed in the beginning; rupam, form, the Cosmic form; yat which form; me, of Mine; na drsta-purvam, has not been seen before; tvat-anyena, by anyone other than you; daristam, has been shown; tava, to you; maya, by Me-who am racious, being possessed of that (intention of favouring you); atma-yogat, through the power of My own Yoga, through the power of My own Godhood. 'You have certainly got all your ends accomplished by the vision of the form of Mine who am the Self [The word atmanah (who am the Self) does not occur in some editions.-Tr.] .'

Acharya Ramanuja says in His commentary :

11.47 The Lord said The 'luminous' form of Mine is a mass of luminosity. It is 'universal' i.e., constitutes the Self of the universe. It is 'infinite', endless. This is illustrated by describing it as having no beginning, middle or end. It is 'primeval,' namely, it constitutes the foundation of all beings other than Myself. It has nevr been seen before by any one other than you. Such a form is now revealed to you, who are My devotee, by Me who am gracious, by My own Yoga, namely, by the power of willing the truth associated with Me. Sri Krsna proceeds to say, 'It is not possible that I can be realised as I am, through any means except exclusive Bhakti.'

Sridhara Swami writes:

Being thus humbly entreated, Lord Krishna consoles Arjuna and cheers him up with the word prasannena which means being pleased and explains to him in this verse and the next two that there is no need for him to be fearful when out of His grace he has been shown the resplendent, supreme, unlimited, all pervading and powerful visvarupa or divine universal form by virtue of His phenomenal internal potency known as Yogamaya which was never before seen by anyone else previously.

Acharya Madva says :

Being thus humbly entreated, Lord Krishna consoles Arjuna and cheers him up with the word prasannena which means being pleased and explains to him in this verse and the next two that there is no need for him to be fearful when out of His grace he has been shown the resplendent, supreme, unlimited, all pervading and powerful visvarupa or divine universal form by virtue of His phenomenal internal potency known as Yogamaya which was never before seen by anyone else previously

Acharya Keshava Kashmiri says

Being thus appeased Lord Krishna tells Arjuna He is pleased with him and asks why is he feeling trepidation after requesting to witness His visvarupa or divine universal form which was revealed to bless him. The visvarupa of infinite potency and unlimited splendour is the prime cause of creation and never before seen by anyone else on Earth.

So both the Acharyas also accept that It was NOT shown before to anyone.

Answer 3

The contradiction is resolved if you go with either Ganguli's or Debroy's translation of verse 11.6. According to both, adṛṣṭa-pūrvāṇi (never seen before) means 'never seen before, by you [Arjuna].'

K. M. Ganguli's translation of Ch. 11, verses 4-8:

If, O Lord, thou thinkest that I am competent to behold that (form), then, O Lord of mystic power, show me thy eternal Self.

The Holy One said, 'Behold, O son of Pritha, my forms by hundreds and thousands, various, divine, diverse in hue and shape.

Behold the Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Aswins, and the Maruts. Behold, O Bharata, innumerable marvels unseen before (by thee).

Behold, O thou of curly hair, the entire universe of mobiles and immobiles, collected together in this body of mine, whatever else thou mayst wish to see.

Thou art, however, not competent to behold me with this eye of thine. I give thee celestial sight. Behold my sovereign mystic nature.'

Bibek Debroy translates it the same way:

Chapter 893 (33)

Arjuna said, 'Out of compassion for me, the extremely secret adhyatma knowledge that you have stated has destroyed this delusion of mine. O one with eyes like lotus leaves! From you I have heard in detail about the creation and destruction of all beings, and also your eternal greatness. O supreme lord! What you have said about yourself is indeed like that. O supreme being! I wish to see your divine form. O lord! If you think that I am worthy of seeing that, then, O lord of yoga, show me your indestructible self.'

The lord said, 'O Partha! Behold my divine multi-dimensioned, multi-hued, multi-shaped hundreds and thousands of forms. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! See the adityas, the vasus, the rudras, the ashvinis and the maruts. See the many wonderful things you have never seen before. O Gudakesha! In my body, in one place, see the entire universe, with all that is moveable and immovable. Also see today, whatever else you want to see. You will not be able to see me with your own eyes. Therefore, I am giving you divine sight. Witness my divine glory.'

Sanjaya said, "O king! Having said this, Hari, the great lord of yoga, then showed Partha the divine and supreme form—with many mouths and eyes, with many miraculous things to see, adorned in many resplendent ornaments, with many divine weapons raised, with divine garlands and clothing, anointed with divine fragrances, extremely wonderful everywhere, resplendent, infinite, with faces in every direction. If the brilliance of a thousand suns simultaneously rises in the sky, then that brilliance can rival the brilliance of that great soul. Then Pandava saw the entire universe in one place, divided into many parts, in that great god of gods' body. Then, amazed and with his body hair standing up, Dhananjaya bowed down before the god with his head lowered and, with joined palms, said...

I don't see any difference between this form of Kṛṣṇa and the one he showed earlier in Dhṛtarāṣṭra's court as both of them required divine sight.

Chapter 792 (129)

Vaishampayana said, 'When Vidura spoke in this way, the valiant Keshava, the destroyer of large numbers of the enemy, spoke to Duryodhana, Dhritarashtra's son. "O Suyodhana! In your folly, you think of me as a single person. O one with extremely evil intelligence! You desire to overpower and capture me. Here are all the Pandavas, and the Andhakas and the Vrishnis. Here are the Adityas, the Rudras, the Vasus and the maharshis."

Saying this, Keshava, the destroyer of enemy warriors, laughed out aloud. When the great-souled Shouri was laughing, the thirty gods sprouted from his sides. They were like lightning, but were as small as a thumb. They were as radiant as the fire. Brahma appeared on his forehead and Rudra on his chest. The guardians of the world were on his arms and Agni was created from his mouth. The Adityas, the Sadhyas, the Vasus, the Ashvins, Indra and the Maruts and the Vishvadevas manifested themselves and the forms of the yakshas, the gandharvas and the rakshasas also appeared. Sankarshana and Dhananjaya appeared on his two arms, the archer Arjuna on the right and Rama, the wielder of the plough, on the left. Bhima, Yudhishthira and Madri's two sons appeared on his back. The Andhakas and the Vrishnis, with Pradyumna at the head, appeared in front of Krishna, with their great weapons raised up. The conch shell, the chakra, the club, the spear, the Sharnga, the plough and Nandaka could be seen. And many other weapons were raised up. They were radiant in all the directions, around Krishna's many arms. From his eyes, nose and ears emerged extremely terrible flames of fire with smoke. Rays like those of the sun emerged from the pores of his body. When they saw the terrible form of the great-souled Keshava, all the kings were frightened in their hearts and closed their eyes, with the exception of Drona, Bhishma, the immensely intelligent Vidura, the immensely fortunate Sanjaya and the rishis, rich in austerities, because the illustrious Janardana gave them divine sight.