लेलिह्यसे ग्रसमानः समन्ता ल्लोकान्समग्रान्वदनैर्ज्वलद्भिः। तेजोभिरापूर्य जगत्समग्रं भासस्तवोग्राः प्रतपन्ति विष्णो ॥
lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantā llokānsamagrānvadanairjvaladbhiḥ| tejobhirāpūrya jagatsamagraṃ bhāsastavogrāḥ pratapanti viṣṇo ||
Licking all around, You devour all worlds with blazing mouths — Your fierce splendors scorch the universe, O Viṣṇu!
Word by word (3)
- lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantāt lokān samagrān vadanair jvaladbhiḥ
- — You lick intensely, devouring from all sides all worlds completely with blazing mouths · Lelihyase = intensive/desiderative form of √lih (to lick) — the reduplicated form leli- indicates repeated, intense licking. This is one of the most visceral verbs in the Gita. Grasamānaḥ = devouring, swallowing (√gras = to eat/swallow greedily, to engulf). The two actions are simultaneous: licking (lelihyase) AND devouring (grasamānaḥ). Samantāt = from all sides, on every side. Samagrān = completely, totally (samagra = having all parts, entire). The cosmic form is not selective — it devours ALL worlds COMPLETELY from ALL SIDES. This is the totality of pralaya.
- tejobhiḥ āpūrya jagat samagram
- — having filled the whole universe with Your splendors/radiance · Tejobhiḥ = with splendors, radiances, energies (tejas = fire, brilliance, vital energy, power; tejas = one of the pañca-mahābhūta = fire element; plural = the multiple fires/radiances). Āpūrya = having filled, having pervaded (from ā + √pṝ = to fill; āpūrya = gerund = having filled). Jagat samagram = the entire universe. Paradox: the consuming form (lelihyase grasamānaḥ) also FILLS the universe (āpūrya). Destruction and filling are simultaneous — the same tejobhiḥ (radiance) that scorches also illuminates. This is the fundamental paradox of the Viśvarūpa: it is both annihilating and pervading.
- bhāsas tavogrāḥ pratapanti viṣṇo
- — Your fierce rays/splendors scorch all, O Viṣṇu! · Bhāsaḥ = rays, splendors, gleams of light (from √bhā = to shine, illuminate; plural = multiple radiances). Ugra = fierce, terrible, dreadful (ugra has appeared in V11.20 as the first ugra; now it qualifies the splendors/rays themselves). Pratapanti = they scorch intensely (pra + √tap = to heat; tapas = ascetic heat; pratap = to heat intensely, to scorch). Viṣṇo = O Viṣṇu! — second Viṣṇu address (first was V24). The verse closes Arjuna's entire description block (V15-V30) with ugra (fierce) and Viṣṇu — both words connecting back to earlier moments: ugra (V20's first ugra) and Viṣṇo (V24's first address). Ring structure closes.
Arjuna reaches the climax of his description: the cosmic form is actively licking and devouring all worlds from every side with blazing mouths, while its fierce radiance fills and scorches the entire universe. This is the close of Arjuna's 16-verse description (V15-V30) before he asks 'Who are You?'
A modern analogy
Like a black hole that simultaneously devours all surrounding matter AND emits fierce jets of radiation that fill and heat the surrounding galaxy — destruction and radiation are the same event at different scales.
Sit with this: V30 says the cosmic form simultaneously DEVOURS all worlds AND FILLS the universe with radiance — destruction and filling at once. Is there a way to understand great destruction as also a kind of radical filling or completion?
V30 closes Arjuna's 16-verse description of the cosmic form (V15-V30) with the two most active verbs of the entire sequence: lelihyase (You lick with intensity) and grasamānaḥ (devouring). All previous description has been visual/attribute-based (nabhaḥspṛśam, aneka-varṇam, bahu-daṃṣṭrā-karālam etc.); V30 switches to active verbal action. The cosmic form is no longer merely appearing — it is ACTING, and the action is total consumption. Yet the paradox (tejobhiḥ āpūrya = having filled with radiance) prevents a purely nihilistic reading: the consuming fire also illuminates and fills. This is sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya (creation-maintenance-dissolution) compressed into one verse: the consuming mouths = pralaya; the filling radiance = sthiti (maintenance); what follows (V32: kālo'smi) will reveal the next moment of sṛṣṭi (creation through Arjuna's action). The ugra of V30 and the prasīda of V25 form the outer brackets: terror and petition — and V31 will bridge them with a question.
Karma-Yoga lens
For karma yoga, V30 is the pre-action revelation: the lelihyase (licking) and grasamānaḥ (devouring) show that the cosmos is ALREADY acting — already consuming. Arjuna's hesitation to fight was based on the premise that HE would be the cause of destruction. V30 dismantles this premise: destruction is cosmic action, already underway. Arjuna's role (V33: nimitta-mātra = merely instrument) is to participate in what is already determined. The karma yogi acts as an aligned instrument, not as a self-appointed cause.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
[No separate entry — see V31] Thou lickest up and devourest the worlds on all sides with Thy flaming jaws; filling the universe with Thy effulgence, O Vishnu, Thy fierce rays burn (everything). [1]
Swallowing all the worlds on every side with Thy flaming mouths, Thou art licking Thy lips. Thy fierce rays, filling the whole world with radiance, are burning, O Vishnu! [4]
Thou, that hast fashioned men, devourest them again, one with another, great and small, alike! The creatures whom Thou mak'st, with flaming jaws Thou tak'st, lapping them up! Lord God! Thy terrors strike from end to end of earth, filling life full, from birth to death, with deadly, burning, lurid dread! Ah, Vishnu! make me know why is Thy visage so? [7]
Swallowing all these men from every side, thou lickest them with thy flaming mouths. Filling the whole universe with thy energy, thy fierce splendors, O Vishnu, are heating everything. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Sun and moon Your eyes, blazing fire Your mouth, infinite in power — heating the whole universe with Your radiance!
You alone fill the space between heaven and earth — three worlds tremble beholding Your marvellous, awful form!
Sky-touching, blazing, many-hued, mouth wide open, eyes aflame — seeing You, O Viṣṇu, I find no courage and no peace!
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.