Bg. 11.46 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रहस्त- मिच्छामि त्वां द्रष्टुमहं तथैव । तेनैव रूपेण चतुर्भुजेन सहस्रबाहो भव विश्वमूर्ते ॥ ४६ ॥

Verse text

kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakra-hastam icchāmi tvāṁ draṣṭum ahaṁ tathaiva tenaiva rūpeṇa catur-bhujena sahasra-bāho bhava viśva-mūrte

Synonyms

kirīṭinam — with helmet ; gadinam — with club ; cakra-hastam — disc in hand ; icchāmi — I wish ; tvām — You ; draṣṭum — to see ; aham — I ; tathā eva — in that position ; tena eva — in that ; rūpeṇa — form ; catuḥ-bhujena — four-handed ; sahasra-bāho — O thousand-handed one ; bhava — just become ; viśva-mūrte — O 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.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

46. I wish to see You wearing a crown, holding a club and cakra. O thousand-armed one, form of the universe, appear with that four-armed form.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

46. I wish to see You wearing a crown, holding a club and cakra. O thousand armed one, form of the universe, appear with that four-armed form.

Purport

In the Brahma-saṁhitā (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, Nṛsiṁha, 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.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Moreover, when you show Your form with power, show that powerful form filled with the highest rasa, which gives joy to the mind and eyes of people like us, which we saw before, in the form of the son of Vasudeva for performing human like pastimes— and not the majestic form which is distasteful to our mind and eye, revealed as the universal form, related to pastimes with the devatās, which was never seen before. With this intention Arjuna speaks. I desire to see that same form with a crown of valuable jewels (tathā eva) which we saw previously sometimes, and which Your parents saw when You were born. O form of the universe, now having thousands of hands, withdraw that form and appear (bhava) in that form with four hands.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

In this verse Arjuna specifies that form he wants to see. O thousand armed Lord! O form of the universe! This is Your form at present. Internalizing that form, manifest Your form with four hands, like an divine actor.