Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11, Verse 16

Chapter 11 – Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga · Speaker: Arjuna

Sanskrit verse

अनेकबाहूदरवक्त्रनेत्रं
पश्यामि त्वां सर्वतोऽनन्तरूपम् ।
नान्तं न मध्यं न पुनस्तवादिं
पश्यामि विश्वेश्वर विश्वरूप ॥

Transliteration

anekabāhūdaravaktranetraṃ paśyāmi tvāṃ sarvato.anantarūpam .
nāntaṃ na madhyaṃ na punastavādiṃ paśyāmi viśveśvara viśvarūpa ॥

Meaning

I see You everywhere, boundless in form, with countless arms, bellies, mouths and eyes. O Lord of the universe, O Cosmic Form, I see no end in You, no middle, and no beginning.

Word meanings

अनेक – many
बाहु – arms
उदर – bellies
वक्त्र – mouths
नेत्रम् – having eyes
पश्यामि – I see
त्वाम् – You
सर्वतः – on every side
अनन्तरूपम् – of infinite form
न – not
अन्तम् – end
न – not
मध्यम् – middle
न – nor
पुनः – again, also
तव – Your
आदिम् – beginning
पश्यामि – do I see
विश्वेश्वर – O Lord of the universe
विश्वरूप – O You whose form is the universe

Anvaya (word order)

विश्वेश्वर विश्वरूप, अनेक-बाहु-उदर-वक्त्र-नेत्रम् सर्वतः अनन्त-रूपम् त्वाम् पश्यामि; तव न अन्तम् न मध्यम् न पुनः आदिम् पश्यामि ।

Explanation

Arjuna is overwhelmed by the sheer boundlessness of the form. He sees arms, bellies, mouths and eyes without number. Each can be read symbolically: arms for action, bellies for sustenance and holding, mouths for speech and enjoyment, eyes for knowledge and witnessing. Every act, every enjoyment and every knowing in all creatures belongs to this one form.

The second half of the verse goes deeper still: no end, no middle, no beginning. Notice that Arjuna begins with the end, as though searching first for an edge, then for a centre, then for a starting point, and finding none. What has no boundary in space has none in time either. Ordinary perception recognizes things by their limits; here there are no limits, so the form as a whole can never be grasped.

The two names Arjuna uses are significant. Vishveshvara, Lord of the universe, speaks of sovereignty and control; Vishvarupa, whose form is the universe, speaks of identity with the world. Shankara harmonizes them by holding that the Lord is both the efficient and the material cause of the world. Ramanuja explains that the universe is His body and He its indwelling ruler, so He is at once its Lord and its form. Madhva lays stress on lordship, the world being entirely dependent on Him.

The Taittiriya Upanishad defines Brahman as satyam jnanam anantam, truth, knowledge, infinity. Arjuna now sees that infinity with his own eyes.

Context

The second verse of Arjuna’s hymn. In 11.15 he listed the beings within the cosmic form; here he describes the form’s own limitlessness. In 11.17 he will speak of its weapons and blazing light.

Life lesson

The infinite can never be fully held by a finite mind; accepting this is the beginning of faith. Seeing every action, enjoyment and insight as belonging to the Divine frees us from the narrow sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’.

Key terms

Anantarupa: of infinite form, without limit
Vishveshvara: Lord and ruler of the universe
Adi-madhya-anta: beginning, middle and end; the limits of time and space