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Chapter 11 · The Universal Form · 55 verses

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Krishna’s natureChapter 11 · The Universal Form
11.411.6

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 11.5

Krishna grants divine sight and reveals His form

श्रीभगवानुवाच

पश्य मे पार्थ रूपाणि शतशोऽथ सहस्रश: ।

नानाविधानि दिव्यानि नानावर्णाकृतीनि च ॥ ५ ॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

paśya me pārtha rūpāṇi

śataśo ’tha sahasraśaḥ

nānā-vidhāni divyāni

nānā-varṇākṛtīni ca

Translation

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, O son of Pṛthā, see now My opulences, hundreds of thousands of varied divine and multicolored forms.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

Seeing Kṛṣṇa’s Universal Form

  1. 1Kṛṣṇa asks Arjuna to see His hundreds of thousands of varied, divine, multicolored forms.
  2. 2Prabhupāda explains that the universal form is transcendental but appears temporarily with the material universe, unlike Kṛṣṇa’s eternal spiritual forms.
  3. 3No ordinary person can see this universal form unless Kṛṣṇa gives them the power to see it.

Where we are

In the story

Chapter 11, The Universal Form: krishna grants divine sight and reveals his form.

What it teaches

Theme summary

Recognize Kṛṣṇa as the source of all.

2

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: bhagavān, vibhūti.

3

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 11.5 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to krishna’s nature?

Practice

Notice something excellent and see it as His opulence.

4

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 11.6Krishna grants divine sight and reveals His formBG 11.7Krishna grants divine sight and reveals His formBG 18.78Sañjaya’s concluding certainty

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

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Ask about BG 11.5 — get a simple answer linked to related ideas and verses.

Back to step 3The key ideasNext · Step 5 of 7 · 5 minLive the teachingsBring it into your day with a practice and a question, straight from Prabhupāda's purports.