Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11, Verse 19

Chapter 11 – Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga · Speaker: Arjuna

Sanskrit verse

अनादिमध्यान्तमनन्तवीर्य-
मनन्तबाहुं शशिसूर्यनेत्रम् ।
पश्यामि त्वां दीप्तहुताशवक्त्रं
स्वतेजसा विश्वमिदं तपन्तम् ॥

Transliteration

anādimadhyāntamanantavīryam anantabāhuṃ śaśisūryanetram .
paśyāmi tvāṃ dīptahutāśavaktraṃ svatejasā viśvamidaṃ tapantam ॥

Meaning

I see You without beginning, middle or end, of infinite power, with countless arms, with the moon and the sun as Your eyes, with a mouth like blazing fire, scorching this whole universe with Your own radiance.

Word meanings

अनादिमध्यान्तम् – without beginning, middle or end
अनन्तवीर्यम् – of infinite power and valour
अनन्तबाहुम् – of endless arms
शशिसूर्यनेत्रम् – whose eyes are the moon and the sun
पश्यामि – I see
त्वाम् – You
दीप्तहुताशवक्त्रम् – whose mouth is a blazing sacrificial fire
स्वतेजसा – by Your own radiance
विश्वम् – the universe
इदम् – this
तपन्तम् – heating, scorching

Anvaya (word order)

अनादिमध्यान्तम् अनन्तवीर्यम् अनन्तबाहुम् शशिसूर्यनेत्रम् दीप्तहुताशवक्त्रम् स्वतेजसा इदम् विश्वम् तपन्तम् त्वाम् पश्यामि ।

Explanation

Arjuna continues his awed description of the Cosmic Form. In verse 16 he confessed that he could find no beginning, middle or end to it; now he states it as a truth about the Lord: You are anādi-madhyānta, beyond every boundary of time. The form is not merely very large; it is of a different order altogether, the Infinite appearing within the field of vision.

The image of the sun and moon as the Lord’s eyes is ancient. The Mundaka Upanishad describes the cosmic Person with fire as His head and the sun and moon as His eyes. The lights by which the world is seen are themselves the organs of His seeing. This fulfils the teaching of Chapter 10, where Krishna said He is the radiant sun among lights and the moon among the stars; what was there taught in words is here beheld directly.

Yet a new note enters: the mouth of blazing fire and the radiance that scorches the universe. Fire is the mouth of sacrifice, receiving every offering, but it is also the power that consumes. The vision is beginning to turn from wonder towards dread, preparing for the devouring mouths of verses 25 to 30.

Shankara reads such descriptions as the glory of Ishvara manifest through His own power of maya, ultimately the one Brahman shining as all. Ramanuja takes the form as the Lord’s real, divine body, with all sentient and insentient beings as His body. Both agree that Arjuna’s repeated paśyāmi, ‘I see’, marks direct experience granted by the divine eye of verse 8, not inference.

Context

From verse 15 onward Arjuna, overwhelmed, describes and praises the Universal Form he has been granted to see. Verse 18 named the Lord as the imperishable and eternal Person; this verse dwells on His infinite, fiery majesty, and verse 20 goes on to describe how that form pervades all space and terrifies the three worlds.

Life lesson

Before a reality that has no beginning or end, our small anxieties lose their size. Seeing the sun and moon as the eyes of the Divine teaches us to treat the light and beauty of nature with reverence, as glimpses of something far greater.

Key terms

Anādi-madhyānta: without beginning, middle or end; beyond time
Ananta-vīrya: of boundless power
Śaśi-sūrya-netra: having the moon and sun as eyes
Hutāśa: fire, literally ‘eater of oblations’