BHAGAVAD-GITA 11:3

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 11:3

 

evam etad yathattha tvam

atmanam paramesvara

drastum icchami te rupam

aisvaram purusottama

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

evam--thus; etat--this; yatha--as it is; attha--have spoken;

tvam--You; atmanam--Yourself; parama-isvara--O Supreme Lord;

drastum--to see; icchami--I wish; te--Your; rupam--form;

aisvaram--divine; purusa-uttama--O best of personalities.

 

TRANSLATION

 

O greatest of all personalities, O supreme form, though I see You here

before me in Your actual position, as You have described Yourself, I

wish to see how You have entered into this cosmic manifestation. I

want to see that form of Yours.

 

PURPORT

 

The Lord said that because He entered into the material universe by

His personal representation, the cosmic manifestation has been made

possible and is going on. Now as far as Arjuna is concerned, he is

inspired by the statements of Krsna, but in order to convince others

in the future who may think that Krsna is an ordinary person, Arjuna

desires to see Him actually in His universal form, to see how He is

acting from within the universe, although He is apart from it.

Arjuna's addressing the Lord as purusottama is also significant. Since

the Lord is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is present within

Arjuna himself; therefore He knows the desire of Arjuna, and He can

understand that Arjuna has no special desire to see Him in His

universal form, for Arjuna is completely satisfied to see Him in His

personal form of Krsna. But the Lord can understand also that Arjuna

wants to see the universal form to convince others. Arjuna did not

have any personal desire for confirmation. Krsna also understands that

Arjuna wants to see the universal form to set a criterion, for in the

future there would be so many imposters who would pose themselves as

incarnations of God. The people, therefore, should be careful; one who

claims to be Krsna should be prepared to show his universal form to

confirm his claim to the people.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.