Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga
Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga • 55 verses
Krishna grants Arjuna divine vision to behold his universal cosmic form — an overwhelming, terrifying, magnificent vision of the totality of existence. This is the climactic revelation of the Gita, showing God as both the destroyer and sustainer of all.
Chapter Overview
Arjuna has been told what Krishna is. Now he asks to see it, and immediately regrets it.
He is given a different kind of sight, and what opens in front of him has no edges. Countless faces, countless arms, no beginning and no end, blazing like a thousand suns rising at once. Gods and sages stand within it. Arjuna's hair stands on end.
Then he sees the part that breaks him. The warriors from both armies are pouring into that mouth like rivers running into the sea, like moths flying into a flame — already consumed, though the battle has not started. Krishna names himself: Time, grown mature, come forth to destroy.
Arjuna begs it to stop. He apologises for every casual thing he ever said, every meal shared, every joke made with someone he took for a friend.
The form withdraws. Krishna returns as he was, and the chapter's real answer is quiet — this is not seen by study or austerity or offering, only by love.
Key Verses
अर्जुन उवाच | मदनुग्रहाय परमं गुह्यमध्यात्मसंज्ञितम् | यत्त्वयोक्तं वचस्तेन मोहोऽयं विगतो मम ||११-१||
arjuna uvāca . madanugrahāya paramaṃ guhyamadhyātmasaṃjñitam . yattvayoktaṃ vacastena moho.ayaṃ vigato mama ||11-1||
Arjuna said: By this word (explanation) of the highest secret concerning the Self which Thou hast spoken, for the sake of blessing me, my delusion is gone.
भवाप्ययौ हि भूतानां श्रुतौ विस्तरशो मया | त्वत्तः कमलपत्राक्ष माहात्म्यमपि चाव्ययम् ||११-२||
bhavāpyayau hi bhūtānāṃ śrutau vistaraśo mayā . tvattaḥ kamalapatrākṣa māhātmyamapi cāvyayam ||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||
(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||
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.
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||
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.