11.25 I lose my bearings Arjuna speaks
दंष्ट्राकरालानि च ते मुखानि दृष्ट्वैव कालानलसन्निभानि
दिशो न जाने न लभे च शर्म प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास
danṣhṭrā-karālāni cha te mukhāni
dṛiṣhṭvaiva kālānala-sannibhāni
diśho na jāne na labhe cha śharma
prasīda deveśha jagan-nivāsa
Seeing your mouths, terrible with their teeth, like the fires of the world's ending, I lose my bearings and find no shelter. Have mercy, lord of gods, refuge of the worlds.
Explanation
Arjuna asked for this.
Four verses into really looking, he cannot bear it: I lose my bearings and find no shelter. And then: have mercy.
It is worth staying with how fast this happened. He wanted the vision, was warned only that his eyes were inadequate, and is now begging for it to stop.
Going further
Word by word
- danṣhṭrā
- teeth
- karālāni
- terrible
- cha
- and
- te
- your
- mukhāni
- mouths
- dṛiṣhṭvā
- having seen
- eva
- indeed
- kāla-anala
- the fire of annihilation
- sannibhāni
- resembling
- diśhaḥ
- the directions
- na
- not
- jāne
- know
- na
- not
- labhe
- I obtain
- cha
- and
- śharma
- peace
- prasīda
- have mercy
- deva-īśha
- The Lord of lords
- jagat-nivāsa
- The shelter of the universe
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Arjuna asked for this. Four verses in, he cannot bear it: I lose my bearings and find no shelter.
It is worth staying with how badly the vision goes. He requested it in 11.3, was warned in 11.8 that his own eyes were insufficient, and by 11.25 he is begging for it to stop. The Gita does not present the cosmic form as a reward.