Chapter 11, Verse 3
एवमेतद्यथात्थ त्वमात्मानं परमेश्वर | द्रष्टुमिच्छामि ते रूपमैश्वरं पुरुषोत्तम ||११-३||
evametadyathāttha tvamātmānaṃ parameśvara . draṣṭumicchāmi te rūpamaiśvaraṃ puruṣottama ||11-3||
Meaning
11.3 (Now) O Supreme Lord, as Thou hast thus described Thyself, O Supreme Person, I wish to see Thy divine form.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Here Arjuna makes his great request. He affirms evam etat — 'it is just as You have said' — fully accepting the truth of Krishna's words. Yet acceptance gives birth to a new desire: drastum icchami, 'I wish to see'. He longs to behold the aisvara rupa, the form of majesty and sovereignty.
Notice the two grand titles he uses: Paramesvara, Supreme Lord, and Purushottama, the Highest Person. Arjuna's intellect has acknowledged Krishna's supremacy; now his heart wants the seal of direct experience. This is a profoundly human moment. We may trust a truth completely and still yearn to encounter it for ourselves. The Gita does not condemn this hunger as faithlessness — it treats it as devotion ripening into the readiness for revelation. Krishna will honour the request, but only after gifting Arjuna the eyes able to bear it.
💡 Key Takeaway
Faith that is genuine is not afraid to ask for direct experience of the truth it already trusts.
Related Verses
भवाप्ययौ हि भूतानां श्रुतौ विस्तरशो मया | त्वत्तः कमलपत्राक्ष माहात्म्यमपि चाव्ययम् ||११-२||
bhavāpyayau hi bhūtānāṃ śrutau vistaraśo mayā . tvattaḥ kamalapatrākṣa māhātmyamapi cāvyayam ||11-2||
11.2 The origin and the destruction of beings verily have been heard by me in detail from Thee, O lotus-eyed Lord, and also Thy inexhaustible greatness.
मन्यसे यदि तच्छक्यं मया द्रष्टुमिति प्रभो | योगेश्वर ततो मे त्वं दर्शयात्मानमव्ययम् ||११-४||
manyase yadi tacchakyaṃ mayā draṣṭumiti prabho . yogeśvara tato me tvaṃ darśayātmānamavyayam ||11-4||
11.4 If Thou, O Lord, thinkest it possible for me to see it, do Thou, then, O Lord of the Yogins, show me Thy imperishable Self.
ततः स विस्मयाविष्टो हृष्टरोमा धनञ्जयः | प्रणम्य शिरसा देवं कृताञ्जलिरभाषत ||११-१४||
tataḥ sa vismayāviṣṭo hṛṣṭaromā dhanañjayaḥ . praṇamya śirasā devaṃ kṛtāñjalirabhāṣata ||11-14||
11.14 Then, Arjuna, filled with wonder and with his hair standing on end, bowed down his head to the God and spoke with joined palms.