Sanskrit
अदृष्टपूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे । तदेव मे दर्शय देव रूपम् प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ॥
adṛṣṭapūrvaṃ hṛṣito'smi dṛṣṭvā bhayena ca pravyathitaṃ mano me tad eva me darśaya deva rūpam prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa
Translation
I have seen that which none hath seen before, My heart is glad, yet faileth me for fear; Show me, O God, Thine other Form again— Mercy, O God of Gods, home of all worlds—
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Ten verses of formal praise give way, in a single line, to the plainest request in the whole chapter: show me the other form. “Hṛṣito’smi,” I am glad, sits directly next to fear in the same breath, exactly the paired reaction verse 21 first noted in the gods and verse 36 argued was the correct response — but here it’s no longer being defended as fitting, it’s being used as the reason to ask for the vision to end. This is the turning point of the whole speech: everything from verse 15 onward has moved toward this moment, and everything from here to verse 50 moves back. Ten verses of praise give way, in one line, to the plainest request in the chapter: show me the other form. Hṛṣito ‘smi, “I am glad,” sits next to fear in the same breath — the paired reaction, now used as the reason to ask the vision to end. The turning point of the whole speech.
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Word by word
- adṛṣṭapūrvaṃ hṛṣito'smi dṛṣṭvāअदृष्टपूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा
- having seen what was never seen before, I am glad (adṛṣṭa-pūrvam + hṛṣitaḥ + asmi + dṛṣṭvā)
- bhayena ca pravyathitaṃ mano meभयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे
- and yet my mind trembles with fear (bhayena + ca + pravyathitam + manaḥ + me)
- tad eva me darśaya deva rūpamतद् एव मे दर्शय देव रूपं
- show me, O God, that [other] form (tat + eva + me + darśaya + deva + rūpam)
- prasīda deveśa jagannivāsaप्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास
- be gracious, O Lord of gods, abode of the world (prasīda + deva-īśa + jagat-nivāsa)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Arjuna doesn’t ask Krishna to keep the vision and simply remove the fear from it — he asks for the form itself to end. That request implies something about scale: at this magnitude, gladness and terror apparently can’t be pulled apart and experienced separately, so the only way to keep one is to lose both, and he chooses to lose both rather than keep either.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Some experiences that are genuinely good for you also come bundled with real fear, and you can't always request the good part alone — sometimes the honest choice is admitting you need the whole intensity to end, rather than pretending you could edit out just the discomfort.
Professional
- A high-stakes opportunity — a stretch role, a major launch — often arrives with excitement and dread fused together; if you find yourself wanting to opt out, be honest that you're opting out of both at once rather than telling yourself you only wanted to avoid the fear.
Family & Social
- An intense family moment — a hard but honest conversation, a big reunion — can carry real joy and real anxiety together, inseparably; it's fine to ask for a pause from the whole intensity rather than pretending you could have kept just the good part.
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