35

Then tell me who thou art, with form so dire.
To thee I bow. Be gracious, God supreme!

I ask to know thy primal life, for this,
Thy form evolved (e), I cannot understand.

THE HOLY ONE spoke.

Lo! I am old and world-destroying Time (ƒ),
Here manifest to slay the race of men.

Of all these warriors, formed in hostile ranks,
Except thyself, there shall not one survive.
Wherefore, arise! gain glory for thyself.
Subdue thy foes and gain an ample sway!
My arm already hath destroyed them all.
Be but my instrument, left-handed one!
Strike thou at Bhishma, Droņa, Karņa too,
At Jayadratha,1 and the warriors all,

For they are slain by Me. Be not dismayed.
Fight! thou shalt conquer in the field thy foes.

SANJAYA spoke.

Having heard these words of Keśava,2 he who bears a tiara, lifting up his hands, making salutations and trembling, again spoke thus to Krishna, bowing down and stammering, overwhelmed with fear.

ARJUNA spoke.

The world, O Krishna! justly hath delight

In thy great glory and obeys thy law.

1 King of the Sindhavas, who dwelt in the country of the Indus. He was finally killed by Arjuna in

a desperate conflict, after the fall of Bhishma.

2 The hairy one, i.e., Krishņa. 3 Arjuna.

The Rakshas flee on every side through fear,
And troops of Siddhas all bow down to thee.
Why should they not adore thee, Soul supreme?
More reverend e'en than Brahmā,1 primal Cause,
O infinite Lord of Gods! the world's abode,2
Thou undivided art, and life in forms

And formless life thou art (g), o'er all supreme.
Thou art the First of gods, the ancient Sire,
The treasure-house supreme of all the worlds,
The Knowing and the Known, the highest seat.
From thee the All has sprung, O boundless Form!
Varuņa, Vayu, Agni, Yama thou,3

The Moon; the Sire (h), and Grandsire too of men.
All hail to thee, a thousand times all hail!
Again and yet again, all hail to thee!
All hail to thee before, all hail behind;

All hail on every side, O mighty All!

The Infinite in power, of boundless force,
The All thou dost embrace; then thou art All.
If thinking thee my friend, I cried aloud,
O Yadava ! O Krishna! or O Friend!
Not knowing this thy wondrous majesty,
From carelessness, or even in my love;
If I dishonoured thee at times in mirth,
When sporting, lying, sitting, or at meals,
Alone, O Holy One! or with an host,
I pray thee pardon it, Eternal Lord!
Father of all this fixed and moving world,

1 Brahmā proceeded from the Supreme Bramhă, whom Krishna represents.

2 Because all things dwell in him. 3 The gods of ocean, air, and fire,

and the judge of the lower regions respectively.

4 So called because in his human nature he belonged to the tribe of Yadu.

Of weightier honour than the Guru (¿) bears,1
None is thine equal. Who in all the worlds.
Surpasses thee, O thou of boundless power?
Wherefore, saluting thee and bending low,
I ask thy grace, O Lord, whose praise is meet.
Be gracious then, O God! as sire to son,
As friend to friend, as lover to the loved.
This marvel having seen, ne'er seen before,
My heart rejoices, yet is moved by fear.
Show me that other form alone, O God!
Be gracious, Lord of gods! the world's great seat!
I would behold thee, as of old, arrayed
With diadem and club, and disk in hand.
Take to thyself again thy four-armed form,
Thou of the thousand arms and endless forms!

THE HOLY ONE spoke.

By favour, through my mystic form divine (j),
Arjuna! thou my form supreme hast seen,
Resplendent, universal, infinite,

Primeval, seen before by none but thee.

Yet not by Vedas, nor by sacrifice,

By study, alms, good works, or rites austere,
Can this my form be seen by mortal man,
O Prince of Kurus! but by thee alone.

66

1 A spiritual teacher, extravagantly honoured. By reverencing his mother, one gains this world; by reverencing his father, the intermediate world; and by constant attention to his guru, the world of Brahinā " (Manu ii. 233). The world of Brahma is the highest heaven.

2 Śankara and Śrīdhara connect adhyayana (reading or study) with the words Veda and sacrifice, explaining the passage as if the study of these things was here meant, and also not a right study of them. [My copy of Sridhara's Commentary has atirekena; Telang has vyatirekena ]

Be not afraid or in thy mind distressed

From having seen this awful form of mine,
But, freed from fear and with a joyful heart,
See now that other form of mine again.

SANJAYA spoke.

50 Vasudeva, having thus addressed Arjuna, caused his proper form to appear again, and the great Spirit, becoming once more of a gentle form, consoled him that had been affrighted.

55

ARJUNA spoke.

Having seen this thy gentle human form, O destroyer of foes! I have now become composed in mind and have returned to (my proper) nature.

THE HOLY ONE spoke.

This form of me that thou hast seen is one hard to see. Even the gods constantly desire to see this form.

Not by Vedas, nor by austerities, nor by gifts, nor by sacrifice, can I be seen as thou hast seen me now.

But by exclusive worship may I thus be known and seen in truth and be obtained (entered), O slayer of foes! He who does everything for Me, whose supreme object I am, who worships Me, being free from attachment and without hatred to any creature, this man, Arjuna! comes to Me.

Thus the Bhagavad Gītā, Reading the Eleventh, whose title is

“THE MANIFESTATION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM."

PHILOLOGICAL NOTES.

(a) Māhātmyam. "Magnanimitas" (Lassen and Burnouf); "greatness" (Thomson); "majestät" (Lorinser). The reference is certainly to the instances of greatness or excellence in the preceding chapter.

(b) Nidhāna, treasure or treasury. Sankara explains it by paramāsraya, chief asylum or receptacle.

(c) Purusha, literally the Male, as the divine generator of all.

(d) Pushkalābhiḥ. "Hymnis perpulcris" (Lassen). Sankara explains the word as meaning complete, full (sampūrṇa). The word means complete, but also great, excellent, distinguished. Burnouf has "dans de sublimes cantiques."

(e) Prarittim, lit. going forth, either in action or being. Lassen's translation is "Haud presagio equidem quidnam pares." Telang's, "Thy deeds I understand not." Srīdhara and Sankara interpret it by ceshta, movement, action. I think it means here the developed being by which the god was made manifest.

(f) Kāla, time, and sometimes death. Lassen and Burnouf accept the former, and Thomson the latter meaning. In the Atharva-Veda, Kāla is accounted a god, and hymns are addressed to it. In the Vishnu Purāņa (v. 6), Time is a portion of Hari (Vishnu). "Afterwards that which is described as the part of Hari, which has the nature of Time, infused into those beings direful sin" (Sans. T. i. 62). Ananda seems to accept the meaning, "death," for he says that the meaning is, "I am Kāla, because I destroy the lives of all." Sridhara has a similar explanation.

(9) Sadasat tat param yat. "Enti et non-enti quod subest"

I