Chapter 11: The Universal Form

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 11.46

kirīṭinaḿ gadinaḿ cakra-hastam

icchāmi tvāḿ draṣṭum ahaḿ tathaiva

tenaiva rūpeṇa catur-bhujena

sahasra-bāho bhava viśva-mūrte

SYNONYMS

kirīṭinam — with helmet; gadinam — with club; cakra-hastam — disc in hand; icchāmiI wish; tvām — You; draṣṭumto see; ahamI; tathā evain that position; tena evain that; rūpeṇa — form; catuḥ-bhujena — four-handed; sahasra-bāhoO thousand-handed one; bhava — just become; viśva-mūrteO universal form.

TRANSLATION

O universal form, O thousand-armed Lord, I wish to see You in Your four-armed form, with helmeted head and with club, wheel, conch and lotus flower in Your hands. I long to see You in that form.

PURPORT

In the Brahma-saḿhitā (5.39) it is stated, rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan: the Lord is eternally situated in hundreds and thousands of forms, and the main forms are those like Rāma, Nṛsiḿha, Nārāyaṇa, etc. There are innumerable forms. But Arjuna knew that Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead assuming His temporary universal form. He is now asking to see the form of Nārāyaṇa, a spiritual form. This verse establishes without any doubt the statement of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead and all other features originate from Him. He is not different from His plenary expansions, and He is God in any of His innumerable forms. In all of these forms He is fresh like a young man. That is the constant feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who knows Kṛṣṇa becomes free at once from all contamination of the material world.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness