Sanskrit
एवमेतद्यथाऽऽत्थ त्वमात्मानं परमेश्वर । द्रष्टुमिच्छामि ते रूपमैश्वरं पुरुषोत्तम ॥
evam etad yathāttha tvam ātmānaṃ parameśvara draṣṭum icchāmi te rūpam aiśvaraṃ puruṣottama
Translation
O supreme Lord, even as Thou describest Thyself, O best of beings, I desire to see Thy Form omnipotent.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The formal request finally lands: not more description, but sight itself — draṣṭum icchāmi, “I wish to see.” The address “Puruṣottama,” Supreme Person, is notable because it’s the exact title chapter 15 will later spend an entire discourse unpacking; here it’s dropped in almost casually, ahead of the text actually earning it. Arjuna is asking to verify a claim by direct perception rather than take it on report — a very different mode from the reasoned argument Krishna has been building since chapter 2. Draṣṭum icchāmi — “I wish to see” — shifts the whole dialogue’s mode from reasoned argument to direct perception. “Puruṣottama” is dropped in casually here, four chapters before BG 15 earns the title.
Study deeper
Word by word
- evam etad yathāttha tvamएवं एतद् यथात्थ त्वं
- so it is, as you declare yourself (evam + etat + yathā + āttha + tvam)
- ātmānaṃ parameśvaraआत्मानं परमेश्वर
- your Self, O supreme Lord (ātmānam + parama-īśvara)
- draṣṭum icchāmi te rūpamद्रष्टुं इच्छामि ते रूपं
- I wish to see your form (draṣṭum + icchāmi + te + rūpam)
- aiśvaraṃ puruṣottamaऐश्वरं पुरुषोत्तम
- the sovereign [form], O Supreme Person (aiśvaram + puruṣottama)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Every teaching from chapter 2 onward has asked Arjuna to accept an argument; this is the one moment he asks instead for evidence he can check with his own faculties. It’s a small but real admission that reasoning, however sound, has a ceiling — at some point a person wants to see the thing itself, not just be persuaded that it’s there. Krishna doesn’t treat the request as a failure of faith; he grants it immediately, in the very next breath.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- It's not a failure of trust to eventually want to verify something for yourself that you've only accepted on someone else's word — asking to see the evidence directly, after genuinely engaging with the argument, is a legitimate next step, not a step backward.
Professional
- When a stakeholder has followed your reasoning for months and then asks to see the data or the system directly rather than take another briefing, treat that as a natural escalation of trust, not as doubt — give them the direct look rather than another argument.
Family & Social
- If someone you love has patiently accepted your explanations for a while and then asks to actually see or experience the thing you've been describing, take that as their way of getting closer to understanding, not as a rejection of what you've already told them.
Ask yourself
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