Sanskrit
स्थाने हृषीकेश तव प्रकीर्त्या जगत्प्रहृष्यत्यनुरज्यते च । रक्षांसि भीतानि दिशो द्रवन्ति सर्वे नमस्यन्ति च सिद्धसङ्घाः ॥
sthāne hṛṣīkeśa tava prakīrtyā jagat prahṛṣyaty anurajyate ca rakṣāṃsi bhītāni diśo dravanti sarve namasyanti ca siddhasaṅghāḥ
Translation
Hrishîkesha! in Thy magnificence Rightly the world rejoiceth, hymning Thee; The Râkshasas to every quarter fly In fear; the hosts of Siddhas prostrate fall.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna speaks again, but the register has changed completely — this opens a sustained hymn of praise that runs to verse 46, replacing the earlier verses’ raw, disoriented reporting with something closer to formal stotra composition. The opening word, “sthāne,” rightly or fittingly, is a small but deliberate move: instead of just describing the world’s terror and joy, Arjuna is now arguing that these reactions are the correct ones. Fear and devotion appear again as simultaneous responses, exactly as they did in verse 21, but now Arjuna is the one making the case for why both are warranted. A sustained hymn of praise begins here, running to BG 11.46 — formal stotra replacing raw reporting. Sthāne, “rightly, fittingly,” is the move: Arjuna now argues that the world’s terror and joy are the correct responses.
Study deeper
Word by word
- sthāne hṛṣīkeśa tava prakīrtyāस्थाने हृषीकेश तव प्रकीर्त्या
- fittingly, O Hṛṣīkeśa, at your glory (sthāne + hṛṣīkeśa + tava + prakīrtyā)
- jagat prahṛṣyaty anurajyate caजगत् प्रहृष्यत्य् अनुरज्यते च
- the world rejoices and is drawn to [you] (jagat + prahṛṣyati + anurajyate + ca)
- rakṣāṃsi bhītāni diśo dravantiरक्षांसि भीतानि दिशो द्रवन्ति
- the demons flee in fear to every quarter (rakṣāṃsi + bhītāni + diśaḥ + dravanti)
- sarve namasyanti ca siddhasaṅghāḥसर्वे नमस्यन्ति च सिद्धसङ्घाः
- and all the hosts of the perfected bow down (sarve + namasyanti + ca + siddha-saṅghāḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
“Sthāne” does something subtle: Arjuna isn’t just still afraid, he is now building the case for why fear itself is the correct response — including, presumably, his own. There’s a shift here from experiencing a reaction to arguing for its legitimacy, which is a different kind of composure than calm; it’s someone who has stopped merely reacting and started reasoning about the reaction while still inside it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- You can move from simply feeling overwhelmed to reasoning about why that feeling is a legitimate response to what's happening — that shift, from raw reaction to examined reaction, is itself a kind of steadying, even while the feeling is still present.
Professional
- After a genuinely alarming incident, once the immediate reaction has been reported, articulate why that level of concern was actually proportionate to what happened — validating the team's reaction with reasoning helps people trust their own read of future warning signs.
Family & Social
- If you or someone you love reacted strongly to something, it helps to move past 'that was a big reaction' into explaining specifically why the reaction fit the situation — naming the reasoning tends to make people trust themselves more, not less.
Ask yourself
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