📿 Shloka Collection

Kasmachchate Na Nameran

Gita 11.37 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11 — Vishwarupa Darshana Yoga
कस्माच्च ते न नमेरन्महात्मन् गरीयसे ब्रह्मणोऽप्यादिकर्त्रे ।
अनन्त देवेश जगन्निवास त्वमक्षरं सदसत्तत्परं यत् ॥
Kasmachcha te na nameran mahatman gariyase brahmanopyaadi-kartre
Ananta devesha jagannivasa tvamaksharam sadasat tatparam yat
कस्मात्
why
न नमेरन्
would they not bow
महात्मन्
O great soul
गरीयसे
to the one who is greater
ब्रह्मणः अपि आदिकर्त्रे
even than Brahma, to the Original Creator
अनन्त देवेश
O Infinite One, O Lord of the devas
अक्षरम्
the imperishable
सत् असत् तत् परम् यत्
that which is beyond both being and non-being

Arjuna turns rhetorical. It is not really a question — it is an argument in the form of one. Why would anyone not bow before You? You are greater than Brahma, the creator himself. You are the original source from which even the creator emerged. The question answers itself.

Then Arjuna reaches for the highest philosophical language he knows: 'Sat-asat-tat-param-yat' — that which is beyond both being and non-being. This is the language of the Upanishads. 'Sat' is existence. 'Asat' is non-existence. And Krishna, Arjuna says, is beyond both. Not simply the sum of what exists and what does not, but something that transcends the categories entirely.

The addresses pile up — Mahatman, Ananta, Devesha, Jagannivasa. Each one is a window into a different aspect of the infinite. Great Soul. Boundless One. Lord of all devas. Dwelling-place of the universe. Arjuna is circling something too vast to capture in a single name, so he keeps offering more, the way a person describing the ocean might speak of its depth, its breadth, its color, and still feel they have not said enough.

This shloka is in the Trishtup meter. The phrase 'sat-asat-tat-param-yat' directly echoes Upanishadic formulations of Brahman. Arjuna is equating Krishna with the ultimate reality described in the oldest texts of Indian philosophy.

In the next shloka (11.38), Arjuna will continue building this theological portrait: 'You are the original God, the ancient Being, the supreme treasure of this universe, the knower and the known.'

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