Terror and Wonder
Seeing this terrible form, all the worlds tremble with fear, and so do I.
Arjuna's response to the cosmic vision combines terror and reverence. The Divine is not only comforting but awesome in the original sense—inspiring awe that includes fear. This corrects the tendency to domesticate God, making the Divine merely a cosmic friend. True encounter with the infinite is overwhelming, shattering our conceptual frameworks. Rudolf Otto's 'mysterium tremendum' captures this numinous experience of the holy.
Having seen Your immeasurable form with its many mouths, eyes, arms, thighs, feet, bellies, and terrible teeth, the worlds are terrified, and so am I.
Rudolf Otto's concept of the 'numinous' describes exactly this experience—the holy as both terrifying and fascinating, awe-inspiring and attractive.
Bhagavad Gita
Written about in
- What the Bhagavad Gita says about grief
When Arjuna finally sees the whole of it, his report is that the worlds are terrified and so is he. The Gita does not pretend the view behind death is comforting; it records a man shaking.