📿 Shloka Collection

Tatraika-stham Jagat Kritsnam

Gita 11.13 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11 — Vishwarupa Darshana Yoga
तत्रैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं प्रविभक्तमनेकधा ।
अपश्यद्देवदेवस्य शरीरे पाण्डवस्तदा ॥
Tatraika-stham jagat kritsnam pravibhaktam anekadhaa
Apashyad Devadevasya sharire Pandavas tadaa
तत्र एकस्थम्
there, in one place
प्रविभक्तम् अनेकधा
divided into many parts
देवदेवस्य शरीरे
in the body of the God of gods
पाण्डवः
the son of Pandu (Arjuna)

What Arjuna saw next defies ordinary logic. The entire universe — divided into its countless parts, every kind of being, every realm — was gathered in one place, within the single body of the God of gods. Sanjay reports it simply: the son of Pandu saw it, right then and there.

Hold two ideas at once. The universe is vast — galaxies, oceans, forests, deserts, beings beyond count. And all of it, every last fragment, was visible within one form. Not crammed or compressed, but present — the way a single mirror can hold an entire landscape without shrinking it. The diversity remained. The unity contained it.

The phrase 'pravibhaktam anekadhaa' — divided into many parts — is the key. It is not that differences disappeared. Stars were still stars; rivers were still rivers; beings were still distinct. But they were all held within one body. Unity did not erase multiplicity. It held it.

This shloka returns to Arjuna's direct experience after Sanjay's thousand-suns simile in 11.12. It confirms that the vision was not abstract light but a detailed, recognizable view of the entire cosmos — structured, differentiated, yet unified.

The description 'Devadevasya' — God of gods — signals that even the great devas (Indra, Agni, Vayu) are contained within this form. Krishna is not one god among many. He is the source of them all.

Chapter 11 · 13 / 55
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