किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रहस्त मिच्छामि त्वां द्रष्टुमहं तथैव। तेनैव रूपेण चतुर्भुजेन सहस्रबाहो भव विश्वमूर्ते ॥
kirīṭinaṃ gadinaṃ cakrahasta micchāmi tvāṃ draṣṭumahaṃ tathaiva| tenaiva rūpeṇa caturbhujena sahasrabāho bhava viśvamūrte ||
Crowned, mace-bearing, disc-in-hand — show me again that four-armed form, O Thousand-Armed, O Universal Form!
Word by word (3)
- kirīṭinaṃ gadinaṃ cakra-hastam
- — Crowned, bearing the mace, with disc in hand · Kirīṭinam = the crowned one (kirīṭa = crown, diadem — the ornamental crown of the divine king; kirīṭin = one who wears the crown; same root as kirīṭī = Arjuna's epithet in V11.35, meaning 'the diademed one' — so both the devotee and the deity share this crown-epithet). Gadinam = bearing the mace (gadā = mace/club — one of Viṣṇu's four iconic attributes; gadā represents divine authority and the power to destroy adharma; gadin = mace-bearer). Cakra-hastam = with disc in hand (cakra = disc, wheel, the Sudarśana-cakra — Viṣṇu's spinning weapon/symbol of cosmic time and divine will; hasta = hand; cakra-hasta = cakra-in-hand). These three attributes define the four-armed Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa form: crown + mace + disc + lotus (the fourth is implied). Arjuna is asking to move from the cosmic/thousand-armed viśva-rūpa back to the more recognizable saumya (gentle) four-armed divine form.
- tenaiva rūpeṇa catur-bhujena / sahasra-bāho bhava viśva-mūrte
- — Become again with that same four-armed form, O Thousand-Armed, O Universal Form! · Tenaiva rūpeṇa = with/by that very form (instrumental; tena = by that; eva = exactly, precisely; rūpeṇa = instrumental of rūpa = form). Catur-bhujena = four-armed (catur = four; bahu/bhujena = arm; catuṣ-bāhu = four-armed). Sahasra-bāho = O Thousand-Armed! (sahasra = thousand; bāhu = arm — the same epithet used throughout Ch.11 for the cosmic form). Viśva-mūrte = O Universal Form! (viśva = all/universe; mūrti = form; viśva-mūrte = vocative). The paradox: Arjuna addresses the cosmic form by its cosmic epithets (Thousand-Armed, Universal-Form) while asking it to CONTRACT back to the four-armed form. He acknowledges the cosmic dimension even while asking for the accessible one.
- icchāmi tvāṃ draṣṭum ahaṃ tathaiva
- — I wish to see You just as before · Icchāmi = I wish/desire (from √iṣ = to wish; icchā = wish, desire; icchāmi = I wish). Tvāṃ = You (accusative). Draṣṭum = to see (infinitive of √dṛś). Tathaiva = just as before / in exactly that same way (tathā = thus, in that way; eva = exactly, precisely). Arjuna uses the word icchāmi (I desire) — a key word. Earlier in Ch.1.32-35 Arjuna said icchāmi (I do not desire victory, pleasure, kingdoms) to articulate his refusal. Now in V46 icchāmi articulates his desire for the familiar-divine form. The same root word that expressed refusal at the start (desirelessness = surrender to despair) now expresses desire-for-the-known-divine (desirousness = surrender to love). The arc of icchā: from 'I don't want' (Ch.1) to 'I want THIS' (V46).
Arjuna makes his final request in the cosmic-vision episode: please appear again in the familiar four-armed divine form — with crown, mace, and disc. He addresses the cosmic form by its cosmic names (Thousand-Armed, Universal Form) even while asking it to return to a form human eyes can bear.
A modern analogy
Like asking a great teacher who has just revealed something overwhelming and infinite about the universe: 'Thank you for showing me that. Now please come back and sit across from me at the table as my teacher again — I need the relationship I can hold.'
Sit with this: Arjuna wants the four-armed divine form rather than the cosmic. Why might a familiar form be spiritually necessary even if a grander form is 'more true'? Is there something in your spiritual practice that provides structure or familiarity — and why does that matter?
V46 initiates the three-stage contraction of the divine form: viśva-rūpa (cosmic, thousand-armed) → catur-bāhu (four-armed, the iconic Viṣṇu) → dvibāhu mānuṣa (two-armed human, V51's content). This structural three-stage return is the Gita's teaching-by-form: the Absolute is accessible at all three levels, but the human form is the one that allows the TEACHING to continue. The cosmic vision was a direct perception; the charioteer-teacher is the one who speaks. The spiritual journey requires BOTH: the overwhelming expansion (V11.1-V11.45) that shatters limited self-conception, AND the return to the accessible-relational (V46 onwards) that allows living and practice.
Advaita lens
The three-stage contraction from cosmic → four-armed → human is the Advaitic theory of manifestation in reverse: from the unmanifest Absolute (para-brahma, represented by the viśva-rūpa's formlessness-containing-all-forms) through the divine saguṇa form (four-armed Viṣṇu = saguna-brahma with specific attributes) to the fully manifest human form (dvibāhu mānuṣa = Brahman in human form = the condition of possibility for the Gita's teaching). Each contraction loses 'scope' but gains 'relatability.' The Gita's implicit argument: the most accessible form of Brahman is also the most teachable.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
I wish to see Thee as before, crowned, possessed of the club, with the discus in the hand, in Thy former form only, having four arms, O Thousand-armed, O Universal Form. [1]
Diademed, bearing a mace and a discus, Thee I desire to see as before. Assume that same four-armed Form, O Thou of thousand arms, of universal Form. [4]
Be merciful, and show The visage that I know; Let me regard Thee, as of yore, arrayed With disc and forehead-gem, With mace and anadem, Thou that sustainest all things! Undismayed Let me once more behold The form I loved of old, Thou of the thousand arms and countless eyes! This frightened heart is fain To see restored again My Charioteer, in Krishna's kind disguise. [7]
I desire to see Thee as before, crowned and bearing the mace and the discus. Assume thy four-armed form, O thou of a thousand arms, O thou of universal form. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Behold, O son of Pṛthā, My forms by hundreds and thousands — divine, of varied colors and shapes!
Your natural eyes cannot see Me — I give you the divine eye; behold My supreme Yoga-power.
Trembling, hands folded, crown on head, voice choked — Arjuna bows again and again and speaks to Kṛṣṇa!
Beholding Your gentle human form, O Janārdana — now I am composed; my mind restored, I have come back to my own nature!
Approach the teacher with prostration, inquiry, and service. The knowers of truth will instruct you in jñāna.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.