Sanskrit
पश्यामि देवांस्तव देव देहे सर्वांस्तथा भूतविशेषसङ्घान् । ब्रह्माणमीशं कमलासनस्थमृषींश्च सर्वानुरगांश्च दिव्यान् ॥
paśyāmi devāṃs tava deva dehe sarvāṃs tathā bhūtaviśeṣasaṅghān brahmāṇam īśaṃ kamalāsanastham ṛṣīṃś ca sarvān uragāṃś ca divyān
Translation
Within Thy Form, O God, the Gods I see, all grades of beings with distinctive marks; Brahma, the Lord, upon His lotus-throne, the Rishis all, and Serpents, the Divine.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna finally speaks, and the meter itself changes under him — from the anuṣṭubh couplets used everywhere so far to a longer triṣṭubh line, which the poem holds for most of the rest of the vision. It’s a formal signal as much as a stylistic one: ordinary description has run out, and what follows through verse 50 needs the extra room. The catalogue itself opens with Brahmā enthroned on the lotus — the creator god, here demoted to just one more inhabitant of Krishna’s body. The metre changes here from anuṣṭubh couplets to the longer triṣṭubh, held for most of the vision — a formal signal that ordinary description has run out. Brahmā the creator is demoted to one more inhabitant of Krishna’s body.
Study deeper
Word by word
- paśyāmi devāṃs tava deva deheपश्यामि देवांस् तव देव देहे
- I see the gods in your body, O God (paśyāmi + devān + tava + deva + dehe)
- sarvāṃs tathā bhūtaviśeṣasaṅghānसर्वांस् तथा भूतविशेषसङ्घान्
- all the hosts of the various kinds of beings (sarvān + tathā + bhūta-viśeṣa-saṅghān)
- brahmāṇam īśaṃ kamalāsanasthamब्रह्माणं ईशं कमलासनस्थं
- Brahmā the lord, seated on the lotus (brahmāṇam + īśam + kamala-āsana-stham)
- ṛṣīṃś ca sarvān uragāṃś ca divyānऋषींश् च सर्वान् उरगांश् च दिव्यान्
- and all the sages, and the divine serpents (ṛṣīn + ca + sarvān + uragān + ca + divyān)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The switch from anuṣṭubh to the longer triṣṭubh line isn’t decoration — it’s the poem admitting that its default container has run out of room for what needs saying, and it changes the container rather than compress the content to fit. The insight generalizes past poetry: sometimes the right response to something too large for your usual format isn’t to squeeze it in, it’s to change formats.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When something you're trying to express keeps overflowing your usual way of talking about it — a quick update, a casual mention — consider that the format itself is undersized, not that you're explaining it badly; switch to a longer, more deliberate form instead of forcing it smaller.
Professional
- When a status update keeps needing more room than the standard one-liner in the weekly report, don't compress it to fit — escalate the format itself, to a dedicated writeup or a live discussion, rather than losing the substance to fit the container.
Family & Social
- When a conversation with someone close keeps outgrowing the quick check-in you usually have, change the format — a real sit-down instead of a hallway exchange — rather than trying to compress something important into a container too small for it.
Ask yourself
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