Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11, Verse 45

Chapter 11 – Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga · Speaker: Arjuna

Sanskrit verse

अदृष्टपूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा
भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे ।
तदेव मे दर्शय देव रूपं
प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ॥

Transliteration

adṛṣṭapūrvaṃ hṛṣito.asmi dṛṣṭvā bhayena ca pravyathitaṃ mano me .
tadeva me darśaya deva rūpaṃ prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa ॥

Meaning

I rejoice at having seen what was never seen before, yet my mind is shaken with fear. Show me, O God, that same form of Yours. Be gracious, O Lord of the gods, Abode of the universe.

Word meanings

अदृष्टपूर्वम् – never seen before
हृषितः – delighted, thrilled
अस्मि – I am
दृष्ट्वा – having seen
भयेन – with fear
च – and yet
प्रव्यथितम् – deeply shaken
मनः – mind
मे – my; to me
तत् एव – that very
दर्शय – show
देव – O God
रूपम् – form
प्रसीद – be gracious
देवेश – O Lord of the gods
जगन्निवास – O Abode of the universe

Anvaya (word order)

अदृष्टपूर्वम् (रूपम्) दृष्ट्वा (अहम्) हृषितः अस्मि, भयेन च मे मनः प्रव्यथितम् । देव, तत् एव रूपम् मे दर्शय । देवेश, जगन्निवास, प्रसीद ।

Explanation

This verse is a strikingly honest portrait of Arjuna’s state. On one side is joy: he has seen what no one has seen before — Krishna will say exactly this in 11.47 — and that is the greatest of blessings. On the other side is fear: warriors rushing into the Lord’s fiery mouths as Time, worlds burning, a radiance without measure. All of it shakes him to the core.

This mixture of delight and dread shows that a finite human mind cannot hold the full majesty of the Infinite for long. In 11.3–4 Arjuna himself asked to see the cosmic form; now, under the weight of that very vision, he asks for the familiar form again. This is not failure but an honest acknowledgement of human nature.

Tad eva rupam, ‘that same form’. Shankara takes it as the earlier, gentle form in which Krishna had been Arjuna’s friend. Ramanuja understands it as the Lord’s own natural, divine four-armed form, which descended as the son of Vasudeva; the next verse makes this explicit. Devotionally there is a deep truth here: dearer to the devotee than infinite majesty is a form he can love and draw near to.

Prasida, ‘be gracious’, repeats the plea of 11.25 and 11.31. The titles Devesha and Jagannivasa echo 11.25 and 11.37, as though Arjuna says: You are lord of all and refuge of all; be gracious to me as well.

Context

After the apology of 11.41–44, Arjuna asks the Lord to withdraw the cosmic form and show His earlier form. In 11.46 he specifies that he wishes to see the four-armed form, crowned and bearing mace and discus.

Life lesson

Even in spiritual experience joy and fear can arise together, and admitting one’s limits is no disgrace. Ask of God what you can hold with love.

Key terms

Adrishta-purva: never seen before
Pravyathita: deeply distressed, shaken
Prasida: be gracious, be pleased