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The vision that Krishna gives Arjuna of his cosmic form, encompassing the whole universe, vast, majestic, and terrifying, forms the most profound section of the Bhagavad-Gita. The description of the “light of a thousand suns” rising in the sky was famously used by Robert Oppenheimer to describe the power of the atom bomb.
1 In thy mercy thou hast told me the secret supreme of thy Spirit, and thy words have dispelled my delusion.
2 I have heard in full from thee of the coming and going of beings, and also of thy infinite greatness.
3 I have heard thy words of truth, but my soul is yearning to see: to see thy form as God of this all.
4 If thou thinkest, O my Lord, that it can be seen by me, show me, O God of Yoga, the glory of thine own Supreme Being.
5 By hundreds and then by thousands, behold, Arjuna, my manifold celestial forms of innumerable shapes and colours.
6 Behold the gods of the sun, and those of fire and light; the gods of storm and lightning, and the two luminous charioteers of heaven. Behold, descendant of Bharata, marvels never seen before.
7 See now the whole universe with all things that move and move not, and whatever thy soul may yearn to see. See it all as One in me.
8 But thou never canst see me with these thy mortal eyes: I will give thee divine sight. Behold my wonder and glory.
9 When Krishna, the God of Yoga, had thus spoken, O king, he appeared then to Arjuna in his supreme divine form.
10 And Arjuna saw in that form countless visions of wonder: eyes from innumerable faces, numerous celestial ornaments, numberless heavenly weapons;
11 Celestial garlands and vestures, forms anointed with heavenly perfumes. The Infinite Divinity was facing all sides, all marvels in him containing.
12 If the light of a thousand suns suddenly arose in the sky, that splendour might be compared to the radiance of the Supreme Spirit.
13 And Arjuna saw in that radiance the whole universe in its variety, standing in a vast unity in the body of the God of gods.
14 Trembling with awe and wonder, Arjuna bowed his head, and, joining his hands in adoration, he thus spoke to his God.
15 I see in thee all the gods, O my God; and the infinity of the beings of thy creation. I see god Brahma on his throne of lotus, and all the seers and serpents of light.
16 All around I behold thy Infinity: the power of thy innumerable arms, the visions from thy innumerable eyes, the words from thy innumerable mouths, and the fire of life of thy innumerable bodies. Nowhere I see a beginning or middle or end of thee, O God of all, Form Infinite!
17 I see the splendour of an infinite beauty which illumines the whole universe. It is thee! with thy crown and sceptre and circle. How difficult thou art to see! But I see thee: as fire, as the sun, blinding, incomprehensible.
18 Thou art the Imperishable, the highest End of knowledge, the support of this vast universe. Thou, the everlasting ruler of the law of righteousness, the Spirit who is and who was at the beginning.
19 I see thee without beginning, middle, or end; I behold thy infinite power, the power of thy innumerable arms. I see thine eyes as the sun and the moon. And I see thy face as a sacred fire that gives light and life to the whole universe in the splendour of a vast offering.
20 Heaven and earth and all the infinite spaces are filled with thy Spirit; and before the wonder of thy fearful majesty the three worlds tremble.
Source: Bhagavad Gita. London: Penguin [http://www.penguin.com], 1962.
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Bhagavad-Gita; Hinduism
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