📿 Shloka Collection

Akhyahi Me Ko Bhavan

Gita 11.31 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11 — Vishwarupa Darshana Yoga
आख्याहि मे को भवानुग्ररूपो नमोऽस्तु ते देववर प्रसीद ।
विज्ञातुमिच्छामि भवन्तमाद्यं न हि प्रजानामि तव प्रवृत्तिम् ॥
Akhyahi me ko bhavan ugra-rupo namostute devavara prasida
Vijnatumicchami bhavantam adyam na hi prajanami tava pravrittim
आख्याहि
tell me, please reveal
कः भवान्
who are You
उग्ररूपः
of terrible form
नमः अस्तु ते
salutations to You
देववर प्रसीद
O greatest of devas, be gracious
आद्यम्
the Primal One, the Original
तव प्रवृत्तिम्
Your activity, Your purpose

Everything has been building to this question. Arjuna has seen the devas enter. He has watched warriors crushed between teeth. He has described rivers, moths, fire. And now, shaking, prostrating, he asks the only question that matters: 'Who are You?'

Notice what Arjuna adds: 'I do not understand Your purpose.' He knows this is Krishna. He has no doubt about the identity. But the intent behind this devastating form — the reason for all this destruction — that is what he cannot grasp. It is one thing to see a fire. It is another to understand why it burns.

The address 'Devavara' — greatest of the devas — and the plea 'Prasida' — be gracious — tell us that Arjuna is not demanding an answer. He is asking from his knees. This is the posture of a devotee who has reached the limit of his own understanding and has no recourse but the grace of the one before him.

This shloka is in the Trishtup meter. Arjuna's question here is the pivot of the entire chapter. Everything before it is the vision. Everything after it is the meaning of the vision. Krishna's answer in 11.32 — 'I am Time' — is one of the most quoted lines in all of Indian scripture.

The word 'adyam' (the Primal One, the Original) echoes 11.38 where Arjuna will call Krishna 'Adi-devah, Purushah Puranah' — the Original God, the Ancient Being. The recognition is already forming even as the question is asked.

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