Chapter 11, Verse 13
तत्रैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं प्रविभक्तमनेकधा | अपश्यद्देवदेवस्य शरीरे पाण्डवस्तदा ||११-१३||
tatraikasthaṃ jagatkṛtsnaṃ pravibhaktamanekadhā . apaśyaddevadevasya śarīre pāṇḍavastadā ||11-13||
Meaning
11.13 There, in the body of the God of gods, Arjuna then saw the whole universe resting in one, with its many groups.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Now the narration turns from Sanjaya's description to Arjuna's direct experience: apasyat, 'he saw'. With the divine eye granted to him, Arjuna beholds the whole universe — jagat krtsnam — resting in one place within the body of the deva-deva, the God of gods. The cosmos that seemed scattered across endless space he now witnesses gathered into a single living form.
The phrase pravibhaktam anekadha — 'divided into many' yet 'resting in one' — captures the great paradox at the heart of the vision. The world's infinite diversity and its underlying unity are seen together, at once. This is the realization the entire Gita points toward: multiplicity and oneness are not rivals but two faces of the same truth. What philosophy can only describe, Arjuna here perceives directly. The many are real, and yet they abide forever in the One.
💡 Key Takeaway
The countless forms of the world and their hidden unity are, in truth, seen as one.
Related Verses
श्रीभगवानुवाच | पश्य मे पार्थ रूपाणि शतशोऽथ सहस्रशः | नानाविधानि दिव्यानि नानावर्णाकृतीनि च ||११-५||
śrībhagavānuvāca . paśya me pārtha rūpāṇi śataśo.atha sahasraśaḥ . nānāvidhāni divyāni nānāvarṇākṛtīni ca ||11-5||
11.5 The Blessed Lord said Behold, O Arjuna, forms of Mine, by the hundreds and thousands, of different sorts, divine, and of various colours and shapes.
पश्यादित्यान्वसून्रुद्रानश्विनौ मरुतस्तथा | बहून्यदृष्टपूर्वाणि पश्याश्चर्याणि भारत ||११-६||
paśyādityānvasūnrudrānaśvinau marutastathā . bahūnyadṛṣṭapūrvāṇi paśyāścaryāṇi bhārata ||11-6||
11.6 Behold the Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the two Asvins and also the Maruts; behold many wonders never seen before, O Arjuna.
इहैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं पश्याद्य सचराचरम् | मम देहे गुडाकेश यच्चान्यद् द्रष्टुमिच्छसि ||११-७||
ihaikasthaṃ jagatkṛtsnaṃ paśyādya sacarācaram . mama dehe guḍākeśa yaccānyad draṣṭumicchasi ||11-7||
11.7 Now behold, O Arjuna, in this, My body, the whole universe centred in one including the moving and the unmoving and whatever else thou desirest to see.