Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11, Verse 7

Chapter 11 – Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

इहैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं पश्याद्य सचराचरम् ।
मम देहे गुडाकेश यच्चान्यद् द्रष्टुमिच्छसि ॥

Transliteration

ihaikasthaṃ jagatkṛtsnaṃ paśyādya sacarācaram .
mama dehe guḍākeśa yaccānyad draṣṭumicchasi ॥

Meaning

Behold now, O Gudakesha, the entire universe, with all that moves and does not move, gathered together here in My body — and whatever else you wish to see.

Word meanings

इह – here
एकस्थम् – standing together in one place
जगत् – the universe
कृत्स्नम् – entire, whole
पश्य – behold
अद्य – now, today
सचराचरम् – with the moving and the unmoving
मम – My
देहे – in the body
गुडाकेश – O conqueror of sleep (Arjuna)
यत् – whatever
च – and
अन्यत् – else, other
द्रष्टुम् – to see
इच्छसि – you wish

Anvaya (word order)

हे गुडाकेश, अद्य इह मम देहे एकस्थम् स-चर-अचरम् कृत्स्नम् जगत् पश्य, यत् च अन्यत् द्रष्टुम् इच्छसि (तत् अपि पश्य) ।

Explanation

Here the central idea of the cosmic vision comes into focus: ihaikastham, the whole universe ‘standing in one place’, within a single body. Ordinarily the world appears scattered across space and time — mountains here, oceans there, the past behind us, the future ahead. Krishna declares that all of it, moving and unmoving, is present together in His one form. What He stated at the close of chapter ten (10.42) — ‘I stand sustaining this whole universe with a single fragment of Myself’ — is about to become visible.

Mama dehe, ‘in My body’, is a key phrase for Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita. For him the entire universe of conscious beings (chit) and insentient matter (achit) is literally the body of the Lord, and He is its Self. Shankara reads the same words as describing a form manifested through the Lord’s maya, in which the whole world of name and form is contained within Brahman, its substratum. However they differ on the reality of the world, both agree that nothing lies outside the Lord.

Yac chanyad drashtum icchasi — ‘and whatever else you wish to see.’ Shankara links this to the doubt Arjuna expressed in 2.6: whether his side would win or the other. The answer will come in this very vision, when in 11.26–27 Arjuna sees the Kaurava warriors rushing into the Lord’s mouths. The epithet Gudakesha, ‘conqueror of sleep’, suggests that only one who has mastered inertia and heedlessness is fit for such a vision.

Context

After the countless forms and divine orders of verses 5–6, Krishna now invites Arjuna to see the whole cosmos in His single body. In the next verse He explains that this cannot be seen with ordinary eyes.

Life lesson

The world that appears fragmented is held together in one Divine reality; recognising this unity eases fear and isolation. Deep truth reveals itself to those who have overcome sloth and heedlessness.

Key terms

Gudakesha: conqueror of sleep; an epithet of Arjuna
Ekastha: standing together in one place, unified
Sacharachara: all that moves and all that is fixed
Deha: here, the Lord’s cosmic body containing all worlds