Sanskrit
त्वमक्षरं परमं वेदितव्यम् त्वमस्य विश्वस्य परं निधानम् । त्वमव्ययः शाश्वतधर्मगोप्ता सनातनस्त्वं पुरुषो मतो मे ॥
tvam akṣaraṃ paramaṃ veditavyam tvam asya viśvasya paraṃ nidhānam tvam avyayaḥ śāśvatadharmagoptā sanātanas tvaṃ puruṣo mato me
Translation
Lofty beyond all thought, unperishing, Thou treasure-house supreme, all-immanent; eternal Dharma's changeless Guardian, Thou; as immemorial Man I think of Thee.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A brief change of register: after two verses of pure sensory report, Arjuna reaches for theological vocabulary — akṣara (the imperishable), dharma-goptā (guardian of eternal law), sanātana puruṣa (the eternal Man). It reads as an attempt to steady himself by naming the thing in familiar terms he already has, before the description resumes its escalation in verse 19. The anchoring doesn’t hold for long. A brief change of register: Arjuna reaches for theology — akṣara, dharma-goptā, sanātana puruṣa — trying to steady himself by naming the thing in familiar terms. The anchoring does not hold; BG 11.19 resumes the escalation.
Study deeper
Word by word
- tvam akṣaraṃ paramaṃ veditavyamत्वं अक्षरं परमं वेदितव्यं
- you are the supreme Imperishable, the one to be known (tvam + akṣaram + paramam + veditavyam)
- tvam asya viśvasya paraṃ nidhānamत्वं अस्य विश्वस्य परं निधानं
- you are the supreme resting-place of this universe (tvam + asya + viśvasya + param + nidhānam)
- tvam avyayaḥ śāśvatadharmagoptāत्वं अव्ययः शाश्वतधर्मगोप्ता
- you are imperishable, guardian of the eternal dharma (tvam + avyayaḥ + śāśvata-dharma-goptā)
- sanātanas tvaṃ puruṣo mato meसनातनस् त्वं पुरुषो मतो मे
- you are the eternal Person, in my view (sanātanaḥ + tvam + puruṣaḥ + mataḥ + me)
Commentary
Site Commentary
For one verse, Arjuna stops reporting what he’s seeing and starts reciting what he already knows — akṣara, dharma-goptā, sanātana puruṣa are received categories, not fresh description. It’s a recognizable move: when direct experience gets too intense to keep narrating moment to moment, reaching for familiar, general language is a way to regain footing. The text is honest that it’s a temporary measure — verse 19 pulls him straight back into specific, escalating sensory detail.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When a raw experience gets too intense to keep processing moment by moment, it's okay to retreat briefly into familiar, general language to steady yourself — just recognize it as a pause, not a permanent resolution, because the specific feeling will likely need to be faced again.
Professional
- Under real pressure — an outage, a hard negotiation — falling back on rehearsed frameworks and familiar terminology for a moment is a legitimate way to regain composure; just don't mistake that pause for having actually resolved the specific problem still in front of you.
Family & Social
- When an emotional conversation gets too intense to stay present in, it's fine to retreat briefly to calmer, more general language to catch your breath — just be honest with the other person that you'll need to come back to the specific, harder part.
Ask yourself
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