Chapter 11, Verse 5
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||
Meaning
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.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna grants the request and the revelation begins. The single word pasya — 'behold' — marks the turning point of the chapter. The intimate charioteer-friend now invites Arjuna to see what no human eye has witnessed: rupani satasah atha sahasrasah, forms in hundreds and thousands, nana-vidhani — endlessly varied, divine, of every colour and shape.
This multiplicity is itself a teaching. The one Krishna is not confined to a single appearance; the entire spectrum of creation, every being and form, lives within Him. Where Arjuna asked to see 'a' form, Krishna offers the infinite. The diversity of the world we so often experience as fragmentation is here revealed as the manifold expression of a single source. Before the terror of the next verses, there is first this wonder: the Divine contains all, and nothing exists outside it.
💡 Key Takeaway
The infinite variety of the world is not chaos but the manifold expression of one divine source.
Related Verses
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.
न तु मां शक्यसे द्रष्टुमनेनैव स्वचक्षुषा | दिव्यं ददामि ते चक्षुः पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम् ||११-८||
na tu māṃ śakyase draṣṭumanenaiva svacakṣuṣā . divyaṃ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ paśya me yogamaiśvaram ||11-8||
11.8 But thou art not able to behold Me with these thine own eyes; I give thee the divine eye; behold My lordly Yoga.