📿 Shloka Collection

Rupam Mahatte Bahuvaktranetram

Gita 11.23 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11 — Vishwarupa Darshana Yoga
रूपं महत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रं महाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादम् ।
बहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालं दृष्ट्वा लोकाः प्रव्यथितास्तथाहम् ॥
Rupam mahatte bahuvaktranetram mahabaho bahubahoorupadam
Bahudaram bahudamshtrakaralam drishtva lokah pravyathitastataham
बहुवक्त्रनेत्रम्
with many mouths and eyes
बहुबाहूरुपादम्
with many arms, thighs, and feet
बहूदरम्
with many bellies
बहुदंष्ट्राकरालम्
terrible with many fangs
लोकाः प्रव्यथिताः
the worlds are trembling, deeply shaken
तथा अहम्
and so am I

Until now, Arjuna has been listing who is watching. Now he describes what they are watching. And the details are staggering: countless mouths, countless eyes, countless arms and legs, countless bellies — and rows of terrible fangs. This is not a gentle vision. This is the raw totality of existence staring back.

Arjuna does not hide behind bravery. He says it plainly: the worlds tremble, and I tremble with them. There is an honesty in this admission that is easy to miss. This is the greatest warrior of his age, the winner of divine weapons, the student of Drona and Indra. And he is shaking. Not from weakness — from the sheer, uncontainable enormity of what stands before him.

The word 'karalam' — terrible, fearsome — will echo through the coming shlokas. The Vishwarupa is not simply big. It is terrifying in the way that a storm at sea is terrifying: not because it means harm, but because it reveals how vast the forces of existence truly are.

This shloka is in the Trishtup meter. The address 'Mahabaho' (mighty-armed one) is used here for Krishna — an address Arjuna typically receives from Krishna. The reversal underlines the scale of what he is seeing.

The next shloka (11.24) deepens Arjuna's personal distress further. He will say that his inner self is shaken and he can find neither courage nor peace.

Chapter 11 · 23 / 55
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