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Adhyāyas / Viśvarūpa-Darśana Yogaḥ / verse 23

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
रूपं महत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रं महाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादम्। बहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालं दृष्ट्वा लोकाः प्रव्यथितास्तथाऽहम्
rūpaṁ mahat te bahu-vaktra-netraṁ mahā-bāho bahu-bāhūru-pādam bahūdaraṁ bahu-danṣhṭrā-karālaṁ dṛiṣhṭvā lokāḥ pravyathitās tathāham
Triṣṭubh (I t u s)(!!) irregular in source

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

O Mighty-Armed One, seeing Your immense form with many mouths, eyes, arms, thighs, feet, bellies, and teeth, the creatures are struck with terror, and so am I.

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

हे महाबाहो! आपके बहुत मुख तथा नेत्र वाले, बहुत बाहु, उरु (जंघा) तथा पैरों वाले, बहुत-ंंसी उदरों वाले तथा बहुतसी विकराल दाढ़ों वाले महान् रूप को देखकर सब लोग व्यथित हो रहे हैं और उसी प्रकार मैं भी (व्याकुल हो रहा हूँ)।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
रूपम् महत्ते बहु वक् त्र नेत्रम्
महा बाहो बहु बाहूरु पादम् (!!)
बहू दरम् बहु दंष्ट्रा करालम् (!!)
दृष्ट्वा लोका# प्रव्‌ यथितास् तथा हम् (!!)
॥ २३ ॥
Pāda meters: Indravajrā, t, Upendravajrā, Śālinī — I = Indravajrā, u = Upendravajrā, s = Śālinī pāda
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
rūpamform
mahatmagnificent
teyour
bahumany
vaktramouths
netrameyes
mahā-bāhomighty-armed Lord
bahumany
bāhuarms
ūruthighs
pādamlegs
bahu-udarammany stomachs
bahu-danṣhṭrāmany teeth
karālamterrifying
dṛiṣhṭvāseeing
lokāḥall the worlds
pravyathitāḥterror-stricken
tathāso also
ahamI

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
11.15–11.31The Magnificent, the Magnanimous and the Mighty.

Arjuna beholds all the gods and hosts of beings within the one Form; Brahmā on his lotus, the sages, the celestial serpents; boundless, without beginning, middle or end; with innumerable arms, faces, eyes; blazing immeasurably, “if a thousand suns were to rise at once in the sky”. Then the vision turns terrible: the warriors of both armies rushing into the flaming mouths, some crushed between the teeth, “as moths rush headlong into a blazing fire to their destruction”. The description moves deliberately from wonder (the beauty and vastness) to terror (the devouring) — because the Real is both. A God who is only sweetness is a sentimental idol; the true Absolute contains creation and destruction, the nursery and the crematorium. Arjuna is being shown the whole, not the comfortable half.