← Chapter 11: The Yoga of the Vision of the Universal Form

Verse 11.52

Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit

श्रीभगवानुवाच | सुदुर्दर्शमिदं रूपं दृष्टवानसि यन्मम | देवा अप्यस्य रूपस्य नित्यं दर्शनकाङ्क्षिणः ||५२||

Transliteration (IAST)

śrī bhagavān uvāca | su-durdarśam idaṁ rūpaṁ dṛṣṭavān asi yan mama | devā apy asya rūpasya nityaṁ darśana-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ ||52||

Word-by-Word Meanings

su-durdarśam-very difficult to see

rūpam-form

dṛṣṭavān asi-you have seen

yat mama-which is Mine

devāḥ-the gods

api-even

nityam-always

darśana-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ-desirous of seeing

Translation

The Supreme Lord said: This form of Mine that you have seen is very difficult to behold. Even the gods are ever desirous of seeing this form.

Commentary

Krishna emphasizes the rarity of what Arjuna has witnessed. Even the celestial gods perpetually desire but cannot attain this vision. Shankaracharya explains that this establishes the supreme value of Arjuna's experience and, by extension, the supreme value of the devotion that made it possible.

Themes

bhaktijnana