In this shloka, lord Shiva is introducing us to the Vishnu element. It is Vishnu, who showed his Vishwaroopa in his avatar as lord Krishna.
When Arjuna thus pleaded in Chapter 11- Vishwaroopa Darshana Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita – ‘O Parameshwara, whatever you describe about yourself, verily you are like that. O Purushothama, I want to see your Ishwara Roopa — the great cosmic divine form. O Prabhu, if you think it is possible for me to see it, then, please O Yogeshwara, show me your imperishable form and immutable self form’.
Sri Bhagavan replied, ‘O Partha, see hundreds of my forms. These are of diverse divine forms, of diverse colours, shapes and sizes. O Bharata, see the different manifestations of Aditya, Vishnu, Ashwini Kumara, Maruta and many wonderful forms that no one has ever seen before. O Gudakesha, see all the movables and immovable and anything else you want to see. All are unified in my body. But you cannot see me with your shielded eyes. Behold my divine power of yoga!’
After having spoken thus, Maha Yogeshwara, Shri Hari displayed his supreme godly form to Arjun.
He showed a form with numerous mouths and eyes, with numerous wonderful sights, with numerous divine ornaments, with numerous divine uplifted weapons. Wearing divine garlands, necklaces and apparel, anointed with divine unguents, astounding from every way, the all-wonderful resplendent, endless, facing all sides.
If the splendour of a thousand suns was to blaze all at once, simultaneously, in the sky, that would be like the splendour of that mighty being.
There Arjun saw in the body of the supreme deity, god of gods, the whole universe with all its infinite parts, divided in different ways, as united in one form.
Then, Arjuna, filled with wonder, astonished, surprised, with his hair standing on end, bowed down his head to the supreme god and spoke with joined palms.
He said, ‘O Deva (god), I see all the gods in your body. I can see the special union of various classes of living beings, Brahma, the god of creation is seated on the lotus, all the rishis and celestial serpents. O! supreme lord of the universe, I see many arms, bellies, faces, eyes and the limitless form of you. O Vishwaroopa (cosmic universal form), I cannot see your beginning, middle or end. I see you wearing diadem, holding a mace, discus, a mass of radiance shining everywhere from all sides, difficult to be seen. You are blazing as a fire from all sides like the limitless lustre of the sun. You are the imperishable, the supreme being worthy to be known. You are the great treasure house of this universe. You are the imperishable protector of the eternal dharma. In my opinion, you are the ancient Primordial Purusha. I see you without beginning, middle or end, infinite in power of endless arms, the sun and the moon being in your eyes, the burning of fire in your mouth, heating the whole universe with your radiance. You fill this space between earth and the heavens and all the quarters alone. Having seen this, your wonderful and terrific form, the three worlds are trembling with fear, O Mahatman (supreme soul)’.
Today, we are all in the position of Arjuna. We must pray to the guru to make us eligible to see his divine cosmic form.
When the guru manifests himself in the cosmic form, he powers us with the powers of heightened awareness as well as universal consciousness. The guru makes our intellect razor-sharp. He fills us with inspiration to understand joy.
— Excerpt from The Force of Nirvana
by Shri Shri Nimishananda