Bhagavad-gītā 11.7
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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iha
—
here
Locative adverb. Not somewhere else, not in some abstract sphere — here, in this body in front of you. The Gītā's vision is incarnational, not escapist.
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eka - stham
—
in one place
Compound: 'standing as one.' The whole universe is gathered into a single locus. This is the verse's most startling claim — totality without distribution.
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jagat
—
the universe
From jam, 'to move' — literally, 'the moving.' Yet Kṛṣṇa immediately adds sa-carācaram, including the unmoving. Even etymology is gathered up and exceeded.
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kṛtsnam
—
complete
Adjective meaning 'whole, without remainder.' Nothing is excluded — no continent, no being, no era. Kṛtsnam closes every loophole the mind might use to localise.
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guḍākeśa
—
O conqueror of sleep
Vocative for Arjuna. The conqueror of sleep is precisely the one who can stay awake through such a vision; Kṛṣṇa addresses him by the capacity he is about to exercise.
No one can see the entire universe while sitting in one place. Even the most advanced scientist cannot see what is going on in other parts of the universe. But a devotee like Arjuna can see everything that exists in any part of the universe. Kṛṣṇa gives him the power to see anything he wants to see, past, present and future. Thus by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna is able to see everything.
On this occasion (iha), this universe, which is impossible for you to see completely even if you wander within it for millions of years, is situated in just one part of My body (eka-stham). See that universe and whatever else you desire to see, such as your victory or defeat (yac ca anyat), in My body, which is the shelter of the universe, being its cause.
See now everything in this whole universe with its moving and non-moving entities situated within one place in My body, because it is impossible for you to see all these forms even by wandering through the universe for thousands of years. Therefore, at one time, in one place, see these by My mercy. See also whatever else you desire to see. See My form as the shelter of the universe, as the cause of the pradhāna and mahat tattva, and see your victory and others’ defeat, as well as other things.
Krishna’s Description
COMMON THEME: Krishna responds by offering to show Arjuna, the opulences He described in Chapter 10
PLEASE NOTE: All points of the purports are included as the sub-points; as such there are no individual ‘Focus of
Learning’ sections for these verses.
(a) Qualification to see the Lord
(a) Why Arjuna requests Krishna to show His Universal Form (4 points):
1. To establish Krishna’s divinity for all (11.1 purport)
2. To convince others, although he does not have any personal desire and is completely
satisfied to see Him in His personal form of Krishna (11.3 purport)
3. To avoid imposters - Wants to set a criteria for in the future there will be so many imposters
who will pose as incarnations of God (11.3 purport)
4. Arjuna, as a responsibility, wants to substantiate Krishna’s statement – so that in the future
people can understand that Krishna “not only theoretically or philosophically”, but ‘actually’
presented Himself as such to Arjuna – Arjuna fulfils his responsibility because he is the
beginning of the Parampara (11.8 purport)
KRISHNA’S DESCRIPTION OF HIS OWN UNIVERSAL FORM
11.7 इह in this? एकस्थम् centred in one? जगत् the universe? कृत्स्नम् whole? पश्य behold? अद्य now? सचराचरम् with the moving and the unmoving? मम My? देहे in body? गुडाकेश O Gudakesa? यत् whatever? च and? अन्यत् other? द्रष्टुम् to see? इच्छसि (thou) desirest.Commentary Anyat Other whatever else. Your success or defeat in the war? about which you,have entertained a doubt. (Cf.II.6)
- Practice the contemplation: all of creation is within Kṛṣṇa.
- Don't fragment the universe; recognize its integration in Him.
- Use this seeing during ordinary perception.
- When did I last sense the universe as integrated within Him?
- What practice opens that sensing?
A single window opens onto the entire sky — the window has not grown, the sky has not shrunk, but through that frame the whole heaven is given. Kṛṣṇa's body is that window: one place where the moving and the unmoving are simultaneously held.
Suspecting her child of eating clay, Yaśodā asked Him to open His mouth. Within that small aperture (SB 10.8) she saw the planets, mountains, oceans, the wind, fire, the moon, the stars — and herself standing in Vraja inside His mouth.
This is precisely what Kṛṣṇa offers Arjuna in 11.7: ihaika-sthaṁ jagat kṛtsnam — the entire jagat in one place. The mother received this vision in tenderness; the warrior is about to receive it in awe.
My note
Source: vedabase.io