Sanskrit
किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रिणं च तेजोराशिं सर्वतो दीप्तिमन्तम् । पश्यामि त्वां दुर्निरीक्ष्यं समन्ताद् दीप्तानलार्कद्युतिमप्रमेयम् ॥
kirīṭinaṃ gadinaṃ cakriṇaṃ ca tejorāśiṃ sarvato dīptimantam paśyāmi tvāṃ durnirīkṣyaṃ samantād dīptānalārkadyutim aprameyam
Translation
Shining, a mass of splendour everywhere, with discus, mace, tiara, I behold: blazing as fire, as sun dazzling the gaze, from all sides in the sky, immeasurable.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
“Durnirīkṣyam” — hard to look at, painful to the sight — is the operative word here, and it’s a precise physical claim, not a figure of speech: this is a description of a light source bright enough to injure the eye that’s looking at it, matched to fire and sun in the same breath. The recognizable iconography (mace, discus, diadem — the standard attributes of Vishnu images) is still present, but it’s been scaled up past the point where it’s comfortable to view, which is exactly Arjuna’s complaint building through the verses ahead. Durnirīkṣyam — “hard to look at, painful to sight” — is a physical claim, not a figure of speech: a light source bright enough to injure the eye. Viṣṇu’s standard iconography (mace, discus, diadem) is present but scaled past comfort.
Study deeper
Word by word
- kirīṭinaṃ gadinaṃ cakriṇaṃ caकिरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रिणं च
- crowned, mace-bearing, discus-bearing (kirīṭinam + gadinam + cakriṇam + ca)
- tejorāśiṃ sarvato dīptimantamतेजोराशिं सर्वतो दीप्तिमन्तं
- a mass of light, blazing on all sides (tejaḥ-rāśim + sarvataḥ + dīpti-mantam)
- paśyāmi tvāṃ durnirīkṣyaṃ samantādपश्यामि त्वां दुर्निरीक्ष्यं समन्ताद्
- I see you, hard to look at on every side (paśyāmi + tvām + durnirīkṣyam + samantāt)
- dīptānalārkadyutim aprameyamदीप्तानलार्कद्युतिं अप्रमेयं
- with the radiance of blazing fire and sun, immeasurable (dīpta-anala-arka-dyutim + aprameyam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Up to now the description has mostly stayed on the object — how many arms, how many mouths. “Durnirīkṣyam” shifts the description onto what happens to the observer instead: not just how vast the form is, but that looking at it causes pain. That’s a meaningful transition — the vision stops being described purely in its own terms and starts being measured by its effect on the one perceiving it, which is exactly the axis the rest of Arjuna’s speech will run on.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When you're trying to convey how much something affected you, don't just describe the thing itself — describe what it did to you on contact; the effect on you is often the more honest measure of magnitude than any description of the object alone.
Professional
- When reporting the severity of an incident, include not just the scale of the technical fault but its measured effect on the people and systems that encountered it — impact on the observer is often the more decision-relevant number than raw magnitude.
Family & Social
- When explaining to someone why an experience mattered so much, describe what it did to you, not just what the experience objectively was — the effect on you is often what actually communicates the weight of it.
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