The Divine Comedy and the Bhagavad Gita: Journeys Toward Divine Love
Texts capable of transcending centuries and cultures
“The universal form of this interwoven knot I believe I saw, for in describing it I feel a deeper joy expanding within me.” (Dante) — AI Image by Author (Bing).
Counted among the supreme achievements in the mystic and spiritual written works across all ages, a pair of compositions rise as towering markers illuminating the strenuous yet requisite trek of the human spirit towards the radiance of illumination and unification with the divine force: the revered masterwork The Divine Comedy authored by Dante Alighieri, and the venerable ancient Hindu sacred text known as the Bhagavad Gita.
As these words take shape beneath my keyboard, my heart brims with profound awe and reverence for the immeasurable worth of these two undying classical treasures. At the initial glimpse, they may appear as holding intrinsic differences so profound as to render them almost incompatible and irreconcilable.
Inner dialogue
Yet, as I delved deeper into my analysis, an increasingly strong intuition took shape within me: these texts are linked by a common mystical core, by an extraordinary inner “dialogue” capable of transcending centuries and cultures to lead us all towards the same, sublime goal: the experience of the divine and universal Love that moves everything and encompasses all. It is an intuition that struck me profoundly, like a gradual but powerful revelation.
The protagonists of this initiatory journey, Dante and Arjuna, are indeed portrayed as souls in an initial condition of “dark wood,” lost in existential doubts and earthly passions. But it is precisely this state of crisis that makes their spiritual rebirth possible, a path of purification and abnegation that will ultimately lead them to the supreme mystical epiphany. In re-reading these descriptions, I cannot help but see myself reflected in their wanderings and inner struggles as if they were the mirror of my spiritual battles.
Canto XXXIII of Paradise
In Dante’s case, this transcendent culmination is described in its highest manifestation in the final verses of Canto XXXIII of Paradise, words that made me tremble with sacred awe as I reread them:
“Oh abbondante grazia ond’ io presunsi
ficcar lo viso per la luce etterna,
tanto che la veduta vi consunsi!
Nel suo profondo vidi che s’interna,
legato con amore in un volume,
ciò che per l’universo si squaderna:
sustanze e accidenti e lor costume
quasi conflati insieme, per tal modo
che ciò ch’i’ dico è un semplice lume.
La forma universal di questo nodo
credo ch’i’ vidi, perché più di largo,
dicendo questo, mi sento ch’i’ godo.”(Paradiso, XXXIII, 87–100)
“Oh abundant grace from which I presumed
To fix my gaze on the eternal light,
So that my sight was consumed therein!
In its depths, I saw internalized,
Bound together in love into one volume,
What through the universe lies unravelled:
Substances and accidents and their dispositions
As if fused in such a way
That what I say is but a simple glimmer.
The universal form of this interwoven knot
I believe I saw, for in describing it
I feel a deeper joy expanding within me.”
Knot
Dante is admitted to contemplate the “universal form of this knot” that binds every element of creation, spiritual and material, into a single luminous source of uncreated Love. A reality so vast and ineffable that even the Poet admits to grasping only a “simple glimmer” of it, a partial glimpse. Yet this vision represents the mystical apex of his journey, the reward for the unspeakable toils and sufferings endured in traversing the otherworldly realms. Reading these verses, I too felt pervaded by a shiver of reverence and wonder, as if I could glimpse for an instant what Dante beheld.
Cosmic form
An entirely analogous experience, although declined with the imagery and symbolic language of the Hindu tradition, is the one lived by the noble warrior Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. Here, after invoking the help of his mentor Krishna, he reveals himself to Arjuna in all his cosmic majesty, in a description that left me speechless with its overwhelming visionary power:
“O lotus-eyed one, I have heard from You in detail about the appearance and disappearance of every living entity, as realized through Your inexhaustible glories.
If You think that I am able to behold Your cosmic form, O my Lord, O master of all mystic power, then kindly show me that universal self.
The Blessed Lord said: My dear Arjuna, O son of Prtha, behold now My opulences, hundreds of thousands of varied divine forms, multicolored like the sea.O best of the Bharatas, see here the different manifestations of Adityas, Rudras, and all the demigods. Behold the many things which no one has ever seen or heard before.
Whatever you wish to see can be seen all at once in this body. This universal form can show you all that you now desire, as well as whatever you may desire in the future. Everything is here completely.
But you cannot see Me with your present eyes. Therefore I give to you divine eyes by which you can behold My mystic opulence.
Arjuna saw in that universal form unlimited mouths and unlimited eyes. It was all wondrous. The form was decorated with divine, dazzling ornaments and arrayed in many garbs. He was garlanded gloriously, and there were many scents smeared over His body. All was magnificent, all-expanding, unlimited. This was seen by Arjuna.
If hundreds of thousands of suns rose at once into the sky, they might resemble the effulgence of the Supreme Person in that universal form.”
Absolute
Like Dante before the “knot” that contains the essence of creation, Arjuna is awestruck by this manifestation of the Absolute in forms that transcend all human representation. An all-encompassing epiphany that forces him to abandon every illusion of separateness to experience directly the profound unity that binds all things. As I meditated on these passages, it seemed to me that I could perceive the echoes of an ancient wisdom that crosses millennia, almost resonating within my very soul.
It is the supreme revelation, the unio mystica that every authentic spiritual quest must necessarily culminate in. The direct vision of the metaphysical essence of the universe as an indivisible whole, an immense tangle or “knot” of interconnected energies and forms vivified by a single source of absolute consciousness and unconditional love. Writing these lines filled me with a profound sense of awe and reverence as if I were for a moment tasting that same mystical experience.
Harmony
For Dante, this “knot” of being appears as a perfect harmony in which every element finds its raison d’être and its predetermined place in the divine cosmic order. For Arjuna, on the other hand, faithful to the non-dualistic perspective of Advaita Vedanta, this metaphysical unity manifests in a chaotic and indistinct form, devoid of space-time limitations. Yet, despite these different representations, I feel with increasing clarity that both point towards the same ultimate, profound, and inexpressible reality.
Yet beyond the different symbolisms and metaphors used, what the Divine Comedy and the Bhagavad Gita describe is the same supreme spiritual experience: the abandonment of the illusions of separateness in the One-All of the divine, in the ocean of pure consciousness and unconditional love that is the first and last essence of all existence. It is a powerful intuition that grew stronger and stronger within me as I continued my reflection on these sacred texts, almost becoming an unshakable certainty.
Whole
A sublime mystical experience as arduous as demonstrated by the immense efforts of Dante and Arjuna. But it is this initiatory journey of transformation that makes the final epiphany possible, the “joy” that Dante alludes to in recognizing himself as part of that harmonious and perfect whole. Retracing their toils prompted me to question myself deeply about my own inner struggles, the trials that I too must overcome to attain that same supreme realization.
How did this impact my daily life?
Thus, the Divine Comedy and the Bhagavad Gita are much more than literary works in my eyes: they are altars of initiation, maps of the mystical path that leads to union with the divine. In their immortal pages, they show us the way to rediscover our ultimate essence as sparks of the single cosmic fire of Love.
An arduous path, but one that, once undertaken with a pure heart, can only lead us to final bliss: the realization of our divine nature, the abandonment in the ocean of light and love that is the supreme “knot” from which everything emanates and to which everything returns. This is the profound truth that I have come to understand by studying these texts, a knowledge that has touched the innermost chords of my being.
As I conclude this writing, I feel imbued with a sense of immense gratitude for the gift of these mystical revelations handed down through the centuries. My mind already projects beyond, imagining the journey that awaits me to embody in life what I have understood with my intellect. I know that it will be an arduous battle against illusions and earthly passions, but now I feel that I have an infallible compass to guide me: the divine and universal love celebrated by Dante and the sages of all times.
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