मा ते व्यथा मा च विमूढभावःदृष्ट्वा रूपं घोरमीदृङ्ममेदम् ।व्यपेतभीः प्रीतमनाः पुनस्त्वंतदेव मे रूपमिदं प्रपश्य ॥
mā te vyathā mā ca vimūḍhabhāvaḥdṛṣṭvā rūpaṁ ghoramīdṛṅmamedamvyapetabhīḥ prītamanāḥ punastvaṁtadeva me rūpamidaṁ prapaśya
Thou shouldst envisage this tremendous vision without pain, without confusion of mind, without any sinking of the members. Cast away fear and let thy heart rejoice, behold again this other form of mine.
Compiled rendering · Anilbaran Roy
AI translation
Essays on the Gita
The Godhead in answer to Arjuna’s prayer reassumes his11·50 own normal Narayana image, svakaṁ rūpam, the desired form of grace and love and sweetness and beauty. But first he declares the incalculable significance of the other mighty Image which he is about to veil. “This that thou now seest,” he tells him,11·47 “is my supreme shape, my form of luminous energy, the universal, the original which none but thou amongst men has yet seen. I have shown it by my self-Yoga. For it is an image of my very Self and Spirit, it is the very Supreme self-figured in cosmic existence and the soul in perfect Yoga with me sees it without any trembling of the nervous parts or any bewilderment and confusion of the mind, because he descries not only what is terrible and overwhelming in its appearance, but also its high and reassuring11·49 significance. And thou also shouldst so envisage it without fear, without confusion of mind, without any sinking of the members; but since the lower nature in thee is not yet prepared to look upon it with that high strength and tranquillity, I will reassume again for thee my Narayana figure in which the human mind sees isolated and toned to its humanity the calm, helpfulness11·52–54 and delight of a friendly Godhead. The greater Form” — and this is repeated again after it has disappeared — “is only for the rare highest souls. The gods themselves ever desire to look upon it. It cannot be won by Veda or austerities or gifts or sacrifice; it can be seen, known, entered into only by that bhakti which regards, adores and loves Me alone in all things.”
