Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11, Verse 41

Chapter 11 – Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga · Speaker: Arjuna

Sanskrit verse

सखेति मत्वा प्रसभं यदुक्तं
हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेति ।
अजानता महिमानं तवेदं
मया प्रमादात्प्रणयेन वापि ॥

Transliteration

sakheti matvā prasabhaṃ yaduktaṃ he kṛṣṇa he yādava he sakheti .
ajānatā mahimānaṃ tavedaṃ mayā pramādātpraṇayena vāpi ॥

Meaning

Whatever I have rashly said — ‘O Krishna, O Yadava, O friend’ — thinking of You merely as a friend, not knowing this greatness of Yours, whether out of carelessness or out of affection —

Word meanings

सखा इति – as a friend
मत्वा – thinking, regarding
प्रसभम् – rashly, presumptuously
यत् – whatever
उक्तम् – was said
हे कृष्ण – O Krishna
हे यादव – O descendant of Yadu
हे सखे – O friend
इति – thus
अजानता – by one not knowing
महिमानम् – greatness
तव – Your
इदम् – this
मया – by me
प्रमादात् – from carelessness
प्रणयेन – from affection, intimacy
वा अपि – or even

Anvaya (word order)

तव इदम् महिमानम् अजानता मया सखा इति मत्वा प्रमादात् प्रणयेन वा अपि, हे कृष्ण, हे यादव, हे सखे इति प्रसभम् यत् उक्तम् —

Explanation

At the very summit of praise Arjuna’s mind turns suddenly to the past. The One before whom gods, sages and the perfected now bow trembling is the same person he has treated for years as a companion and equal. The realisation fills him with embarrassment and remorse. This verse and the next form a single sentence: here he names the fault, and in 11.42 he asks forgiveness.

‘O Krishna, O Yadava, O friend’ — these are ordinary, household forms of address: a personal name, a clan name, and a word of friendship. Having just called Him the Infinite, Lord of the gods and Abode of the world, Arjuna now finds his old casual speech unfitting. Prasabham suggests boldness, speaking without restraint, sometimes even insisting or ordering.

He gives two causes, and the distinction is beautiful: pramada, carelessness, forgetting who Krishna really was; and pranaya, the deep affection that dissolves formality. Ramanuja observes that it is the Lord’s own quality of saulabhya, accessibility, that leads Him to come as a man and become a friend; the devotee then sometimes mistakes that ease for a limit. In the later devotional traditions this very friendship, sakhya, is honoured as one of the sweetest modes of love for God.

The verse thus holds the tension between aishvarya, divine majesty, and madhurya, divine intimacy. ‘Not knowing this greatness of Yours’ recalls 9.11, where Krishna said that the deluded disregard Him when He dwells in a human form, not knowing His higher nature.

Context

After the hymn of 11.36–40 Arjuna’s tone shifts from praise to apology. This verse runs on into 11.42, where he explicitly asks for forgiveness.

Life lesson

Closeness often makes us take the great for granted — whether God, a teacher or our parents. Let love remain, but never let it lose reverence and gratitude.

Key terms

Pramada: carelessness, forgetting true worth
Pranaya: affectionate intimacy
Sakhya: loving God as a friend
Mahima: the Lord’s majesty and greatness