Mūla — the verse
Gita Press numberingTranslation
Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣyaO Vishnu, indeed, upon seeing Your form touching the heavens, blazing with many colors, open-mouthed, with fiery, large eyes, I become terrified in my mind and do not find steadiness and peace.
हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda
हे विष्णो! आकाश के साथ स्पर्श किये हुए देदीप्यमान अनेक रूपों से युक्त तथा विस्तरित मुख और प्रकाशमान विशाल नेत्रों से युक्त आपको देखकर भयभीत हुआ मैं धैर्य और शान्ति को नहीं प्राप्त हो रहा हूँ।।
Pronunciation — Vaamshii
from VaamshiiWord by word
padārthaMeaning — Questions & Solutions
from Q&A with KnAArjuna 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.