The Divine contains endless forms.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
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||
Use this verse to expand divine imagination.
Meaning
The Lord said: Behold My forms, hundreds and thousands, divine, varied, and of many colors and shapes.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Krishna begins revealing countless divine forms.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
The Vishvarupa is not a single small image. It is multiplicity held in divinity. This verse expands the reader’s imagination beyond narrow forms of God.
Read the traditional 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.
In daily life
Do not restrict Krishna to one limited mental picture.
A devotee may worship one form while respecting the Divine’s infinite expressions.
Try this today
Reflect on Krishna as infinite and many-formed.
Krishna’s forms are infinite and wondrous.Reflect
How limited is my image of Krishna?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘नानावर्णाकृतीनि’ mean in this verse?
The Gita on divine, in other chapters
- Verse 14.27The deathless Absolute, eternal righteousness, and perfect bliss all rest in the Divine — so to love God is to reach the ground of all freedom.
- Verse 2.29Approach the question of your own true nature with wonder and humility rather than intellectual certainty — the self exceeds all its definitions.
- Verse 18.74 · SanjayaSacred wisdom rightly received stirs not cool detachment but thrilled, reverent wonder.
- Verse 10.19The Divine's glories are endless — what is named is only a doorway pointing toward the boundless beyond.
Swipe left for 11.6 · Reality is larger than what we have seen.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 11.5
Who says Bhagavad Gita 11.5, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 11.5, in Chapter 11, Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga (Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 11.5 mean?
The Lord said: Behold My forms, hundreds and thousands, divine, varied, and of many colors and shapes. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 11.5 for daily life?
Do not restrict Krishna to one limited mental picture. A devotee may worship one form while respecting the Divine’s infinite expressions.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 11.5 mean?
पश्य — behold; मे रूपाणि — My forms; पार्थ — O Arjuna (son of Pritha); शतशः — by the hundreds; सहस्रशः — by the thousands.
Where does verse 11.5 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 5 of 55 in Chapter 11, Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga. The next verse is 11.6.