Bg 11.3
evam etad yathāttha tvam ātmānaṁ parameśvara
draṣṭum icchāmi te rūpam aiśvaraṁ puruṣottama
Bg 11.4
manyase yadi tac chakyaṁ mayā draṣṭum iti prabho
yogeśvara tato me tvaṁ darśayātmānam avyayam
Translation
3. (Now) O Supreme Lord! As you have thus described Yourself, I wish to see (actually) Your Form Divine, O PURUSHOTTAMA.
4. If you, O Lord, think it possible for me to see It, do You please, then, O Lord of YOGAS, show me Your Imperishable Self-form.
Commentary
Indicating by a familiar idiom in Sanskrit, "So be it" (evam-etat), Arjuna accepts the technical thesis that has been declared by the Lord. Intellectually, it has been satisfactorily proved that the Lord is immanent in all names and forms. Still the intellect awaits the baptism of a demonstration. Therefore Arjuna says, "I DESIRE TO SEE YOUR ISHWARA-FORM." He is Ishwara who in Himself, expresses omnipotence, infinite wisdom, strength, virtue and splendour; these are the six qualities that are described in our shastras as forming the characteristic features of the God-principle.
This was the occasion on which Krishna decided to show to Arjuna that the LORD IS NOT ONLY IMMANENT in all forms, but He is also the vehicle or receptacle in which all names and forms have their existence and play --- HE IS ALSO TRANSCENDENT. Though, with the enthusiasm of a fanatic believer in intellectualism, Arjuna demands a demonstration, he immediately realises that his audacity has, perhaps, crossed the frontiers of decency.
HE IS TRYING TO SMOOTHEN HIS WORDS OUT IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA:
The demand in the previous stanza has been repeated here, with a dignified humility and pure reverence. In our ordinary life, in all our respectful appeals and humble petitions we use such phrases as: "If I may be permitted to say," "I shall be much obliged if," "I have the honour to submit," "If I may have the leave to say so," etc. The Pandava Prince, as a result of a second thought, as it were, smoothens his solider-like abrupt language used in the previous stanza and says that the Lord's IMMUTABLE Universal Form may be shown to him --- "IF YOU THINK I AM CAPABLE OF SEEING IT."
The modesty and reverence shown here are not expressions of a faked emotion for cheap fulfilment of desires. This is evident from the term he is using in addressing the Lord in the verse. In the first line we find Krishna being addressed as "O Lord" (Prabho), and in the following line He is again addressed as "the Lord of Yogas" (Yogeshwara). These clearly indicate that Arjuna has come to feel that Krishna is not a mere mortal teacher, capable of giving only some intellectual ventilations and spiritual discourses, but that "He is Himself Divine and a Master-of-Yoga," and therefore, he is capable of fulfilling the request, if the "teacher" in Krishna is satisfied that the "student" in Arjuna will be benefited by such a demonstration.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
evam etad yathāttha tvam ātmānaṁ parameśvara
draṣṭum icchāmi te rūpam aiśvaraṁ puruṣottama
Bg 11.4
manyase yadi tac chakyaṁ mayā draṣṭum iti prabho
yogeśvara tato me tvaṁ darśayātmānam avyayam
Translation
3. (Now) O Supreme Lord! As you have thus described Yourself, I wish to see (actually) Your Form Divine, O PURUSHOTTAMA.
4. If you, O Lord, think it possible for me to see It, do You please, then, O Lord of YOGAS, show me Your Imperishable Self-form.
Commentary
Indicating by a familiar idiom in Sanskrit, "So be it" (evam-etat), Arjuna accepts the technical thesis that has been declared by the Lord. Intellectually, it has been satisfactorily proved that the Lord is immanent in all names and forms. Still the intellect awaits the baptism of a demonstration. Therefore Arjuna says, "I DESIRE TO SEE YOUR ISHWARA-FORM." He is Ishwara who in Himself, expresses omnipotence, infinite wisdom, strength, virtue and splendour; these are the six qualities that are described in our shastras as forming the characteristic features of the God-principle.
This was the occasion on which Krishna decided to show to Arjuna that the LORD IS NOT ONLY IMMANENT in all forms, but He is also the vehicle or receptacle in which all names and forms have their existence and play --- HE IS ALSO TRANSCENDENT. Though, with the enthusiasm of a fanatic believer in intellectualism, Arjuna demands a demonstration, he immediately realises that his audacity has, perhaps, crossed the frontiers of decency.
HE IS TRYING TO SMOOTHEN HIS WORDS OUT IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA:
The demand in the previous stanza has been repeated here, with a dignified humility and pure reverence. In our ordinary life, in all our respectful appeals and humble petitions we use such phrases as: "If I may be permitted to say," "I shall be much obliged if," "I have the honour to submit," "If I may have the leave to say so," etc. The Pandava Prince, as a result of a second thought, as it were, smoothens his solider-like abrupt language used in the previous stanza and says that the Lord's IMMUTABLE Universal Form may be shown to him --- "IF YOU THINK I AM CAPABLE OF SEEING IT."
The modesty and reverence shown here are not expressions of a faked emotion for cheap fulfilment of desires. This is evident from the term he is using in addressing the Lord in the verse. In the first line we find Krishna being addressed as "O Lord" (Prabho), and in the following line He is again addressed as "the Lord of Yogas" (Yogeshwara). These clearly indicate that Arjuna has come to feel that Krishna is not a mere mortal teacher, capable of giving only some intellectual ventilations and spiritual discourses, but that "He is Himself Divine and a Master-of-Yoga," and therefore, he is capable of fulfilling the request, if the "teacher" in Krishna is satisfied that the "student" in Arjuna will be benefited by such a demonstration.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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