Chapter 11, Verse 41
सखेति मत्वा प्रसभं यदुक्तं हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेति | अजानता महिमानं तवेदं मया प्रमादात्प्रणयेन वापि ||११-४१||
sakheti matvā prasabhaṃ yaduktaṃ he kṛṣṇa he yādava he sakheti . ajānatā mahimānaṃ tavedaṃ mayā pramādātpraṇayena vāpi ||11-41||
Meaning
11.41 Whatever I have presumptuously said from carelessness or love, addressing Thee as O Krishna! O Yadava! O Friend! regarding Thee merely as a friend, unknowing of this, Thy greatness.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
A tender new note enters Arjuna's hymn: remorse. Having seen Krishna's true majesty, he looks back on their long friendship and feels the weight of his easy familiarity. All those times he called out casually — 'Hey Krishna! Hey Yadava! Hey friend!' — were spoken sakha iti matva, treating the Supreme Lord as merely an equal companion. He confesses this was done ajanata, in ignorance of Krishna's real greatness.
Yet notice how he names the cause: pramadat pranayena va api — 'through carelessness, or through love'. Even his familiarity was rooted in genuine affection. This is the poignant heart of the verse. Intimacy with the Divine is not wrong; it is precious. But the vision has shown Arjuna that the friend beside him is also the Lord of all worlds. True devotion holds both truths at once — the nearness of love and the reverence due to greatness. His remorse is itself a deepening of relationship, not its loss.
💡 Key Takeaway
Loving intimacy with the Divine is precious, yet it deepens when joined with reverence for its true greatness.
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.
एवमेतद्यथात्थ त्वमात्मानं परमेश्वर | द्रष्टुमिच्छामि ते रूपमैश्वरं पुरुषोत्तम ||११-३||
evametadyathāttha tvamātmānaṃ parameśvara . draṣṭumicchāmi te rūpamaiśvaraṃ puruṣottama ||11-3||
11.3 (Now) O Supreme Lord, as Thou hast thus described Thyself, O Supreme Person, I wish to see Thy divine form.
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.