Bhagavagd Gita - Session 34- Track 3404

I shall first read only Sanskrit now because this is the most poetic passage of the Bhagavad Gita:

anekavaktranayanamanekādbhutadarśanam |
anekadivyābharaṇaṁ divyānekodyatāyudham ||10||(XI)

divyamālyāmbaradharaṁ divyagandhānulepanam |
sarvāścaryamayaṁ devamanantaṁ viśvatomukham ||11||(XI)

divi sūryasahasrasya bhavedyugapadutthitā |
yadi bhāḥ sadṛśī sā syād bhāsastasya mahātmanaḥ ||12||(XI)

tatraikasthaṁ jagat kṛtsnaṁ pravibhaktamanekadhā |
apaśyad devadevasya śarīre pāṇḍavastadā ||13||(XI)

tataḥ sa vismayāviṣto hṛṣṭaromā dhanañjayaḥ |
praṇamya śirasā devaṁ kṛtāñjalir abhāṣata ||14||(XI)

anekavaktra, he sees now anekavaktra, numerous faces; nayanamanekādbhutadarśanam, before his eyes he saw so many faces, each one wonderful to see. anekadivyābharaṇaṁ, the ornaments, divine ornaments of various kinds; divyānekodyatāyudham, all of them who were ready to fight and they were arranged in the opposite camps. (XI, 10)

divyamālyāmbaradharaṁ: divyamālyām, there were garlands on the body of the Supreme, garlands which were divine; divyagandhānulepanam, the fragrance was divine, it was emanating from this divine form. sarvāścaryamayaṁ, everything was wonderful; devamanantaṁ, the infinite Divine; viśvatomukham, whose faces are spread everywhere. (XI, 11)

divi sūryasahasrasya bhavedyugapadutthitā |
yadi bhāḥ sadṛśī sā syād bhāsastasya mahātmanaḥ ||12||(XI)

This verse has become one of the most famous verses in the world. I will first translate for you then I will tell you why it has become so famous.

sūryasahasrasya divi bhavedyugapadutthitā: utthitā means ‘rising’; yadi means ‘if’. “If thousand suns were to rise at once in the sky and the lustre of thousands suns rising in the sky was to be compared with that light of the supreme Divine manifesting, then perhaps that would be similar. The lustre and the light and the fire that was manifest were, as it were, comparable to thousands suns which have arisen suddenly in the sky.”

This one became famous because when atom bomb was first cast, Oppenhiemer who was one of the scientist responsible for the manufacture of this bomb, he has described when he saw it, he quoted this verse, Oppenhiemer himself and he said that the amount of light which manifested at that time in the sky were like thousands suns rising at once suddenly: because of that reason, this verse has become very famous.

divi sūryasahasrasya bhavedyugapadutthitā |
yadi bhāḥ sadṛśī sā syād bhāsastasya mahātmanaḥ ||12||(XI)

tatraikasthaṁ jagat kṛtsnaṁ pravibhaktamanekadhā | There stood the whole world united, even though this world itself is divided in so many divisions, all this, apaśyad devadevasya śarīre pāṇḍavastadā, Arjuna saw all this in the body of the supreme Lord, devadevasya śarīre. (XI, 13)

tataḥ sa vismayāviṣto hṛṣṭaromā dhanañjayaḥ |,

As a result dhanañjaya was greatly surprised, hṛṣṭaromā, in great happiness, in great rejoicement even his hair began to stand on end. And then, praṇamya śirasā devaṁ, now comes the delight, when you see the Divine then you come to have the real devotion, praṇamya śirasā, then he bowed down, kṛtāñjalir, then he folded his hands, abhāṣata.

Then he said (XI, 14):

paśyāmi devāṁs tava deva dehe sarvāṁs tathā bhūtaviśeśasaṅghān |
brahmāṇam īśaṁ kamalāsanastham ṛṣīṁś ca sarvān uragāṁś ca divyān ||15||(XI)

Arjuna now says: “I am seeing Ô Deva, Ô Lord, dehe, in your body I am seeing devāṁ, all the gods I see; tathā bhūtaviśeśasaṅghān, I see all creatures united together; brahmāṇam īśaṁ, I see also Brahma who is seated, kamalāsanastham, who is seated in the lotus; ṛṣīṁś ca, I see the Rishis and I see all those who are devotees and who are divine.”