Bg. 11.39 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

वायुर्यमोऽग्न‍िर्वरुण: शशाङ्क: प्रजापतिस्त्वं प्रपितामहश्च । नमो नमस्तेऽस्तु सहस्रकृत्व: पुनश्च भूयोऽपि नमो नमस्ते ॥ ३९ ॥

Verse text

vāyur yamo ’gnir varuṇaḥ śaśāṅkaḥ prajāpatis tvaṁ prapitāmahaś ca namo namas te ’stu sahasra-kṛtvaḥ punaś ca bhūyo ’pi namo namas te

Synonyms

vāyuḥ — air ; yamaḥ — the controller ; agniḥ — fire ; varuṇaḥ — water ; śaśa-aṅkaḥ — the moon ; prajāpatiḥ — Brahmā ; tvam — You ; prapitāmahaḥ — the great-grandfather ; ca — also ; namaḥ — my respects ; namaḥ — again my respects ; te — unto You ; astu — let there be ; sahasra-kṛtvaḥ — a thousand times ; punaḥ ca — and again ; bhūyaḥ — again ; api — also ; namaḥ — offering my respects ; namaḥ te — offering my respects unto You.

Translation

You are air, and You are the supreme controller! You are fire, You are water, and You are the moon! You are Brahmā, the first living creature, and You are the great-grandfather. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto You a thousand times, and again and yet again!

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

39. You are Vāyu, Yama, Agni, Varuṇa, the moon, Prajāpati, and the great grandfather. I offer respects to You a thousand times, and again I offer respects to You.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

39. You are Vāyu, Yama, Agni, Varuṇa, the moon, Brahmā, and the father of Brahmā. I offer respects to You a thousand times, and again I offer respects to You.

Purport

The Lord is addressed here as air because the air is the most important representation of all the demigods, being all-pervasive. Arjuna also addresses Kṛṣṇa as the great-grandfather because He is the father of Brahmā, the first living creature in the universe.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

All words describe only You. You are all devatās, represented by the list from Vāyu to the moon god. You are Brahmā (prajāpati). Brahmā is the grandfather and You are his father, so you are the great grandfather. All these forms are You, since You are spread out in Vāyu and others by being their cause, since you are the possessor of spiritual and material energies. You are like gold spread in bangles and other objects made of gold. Since You are worthy of respect by all, I offer respects to You. A thousand times I offer respects to You, and again I offer respects to You.

Surrender Unto Me

Arjuna in so much reverence by seeing this universal form, wants to offer Krsna something. But Krsna is everything, so he can't find anything to offer Him. So he chooses to offer Krsna his respectful obeisances.