📿 Shloka Collection

Aneka-bahudara-vaktra-netram

Gita 11.16 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11 — Vishwarupa Darshana Yoga
अनेकबाहूदरवक्त्रनेत्रं पश्यामि त्वां सर्वतोऽनन्तरूपम् ।
नान्तं न मध्यं न पुनस्तवादिं पश्यामि विश्वेश्वर विश्वरूप ॥
Aneka-bahudara-vaktra-netram pashyami tvam sarvato'nanta-rupam
Nantam na madhyam na punas tavadim pashyami Vishveshvara Vishvarupa
अनेकबाहूदरवक्त्रनेत्रम्
having countless arms, bellies, mouths, and eyes
सर्वतः अनन्तरूपम्
infinite form on every side
विश्वेश्वर
O Lord of the universe
नान्तं न मध्यम् न आदिम्
no end, no middle, no beginning

Arjuna tries to take in the form and cannot find its edges. Countless arms, countless bellies, countless mouths, countless eyes — stretching in every direction without limit. "I see no end of you, O Vishveshvara. No middle. No beginning." It is the experience of standing inside infinity and looking for a wall that does not exist.

When you stand at the edge of the sea, you can at least see the horizon — a line where water meets sky. But in the Vishwarupa, there is no horizon. Arjuna looks for a boundary — the point where the form starts, or the center around which it is organized, or the edge where it stops — and finds none. The form simply continues.

This is the first time Arjuna uses the word 'Vishvarupa' directly — the universal form. And he pairs it with 'Vishveshvara' — Lord of the universe. Both names acknowledge what is now beyond question: this is not a vision of a powerful being. It is a vision of everything that exists, held in one living form.

The idea that the divine has no beginning, middle, or end echoes the Upanishadic description of Brahman. Arjuna is experiencing firsthand what the Mundaka and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads describe philosophically.

This is the first shloka where Arjuna addresses Krishna as 'Vishvarupa.' The name will recur in his stuti, becoming a refrain that anchors his astonishment.

Chapter 11 · 16 / 55
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