Sacred Beholding (Darśana)
To see the divine and be seen in return — a sacred exchange of sight that conveys grace.
Darśana means 'seeing' — and in devotional life it is a charged, reciprocal seeing: the worshipper beholds the deity in the image, or a revered saint, and is beheld in return, and the very exchange of sight is held to convey blessing. To 'take darśana' of a deity or a holy person is itself the goal of much temple-going and pilgrimage. (Confusingly, the same Sanskrit word, in a different register, names a philosophical 'view' or school — as in the six darśanas.) Here the devotional sense is meant.
Key passages(10)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
Overjoyed am I to have seen what I saw never before; yet my mind is distracted with terror. Show me, O Deva, only that Form of Thine. Have mercy, O Lord of Devas, O Abode of the universe.
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Be not afraid nor bewildered, having beheld this Form of Mine, so terrific. With thy fears dispelled and with gladdened heart, now see again this (former) form of Mine.
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
'Yagnavalkya,' he said, 'everything here is reached by day and night, everything is overcome by day and night. By what means then is the sacrificer freed beyond the reach of day and night?' Yagnavalky
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