Yoga through Beholding the Cosmic Form of God
Verse 11.40
नमः पुरस्तादथ पृष्ठतस्ते नमोऽस्तु ते सर्वत एव सर्व। अनन्तवीर्यामितविक्रमस्त्वं सर्वं समाप्नोषि ततोऽसि सर्वः।।11.40।।
namaḥ purastād atha pṛiṣhṭhatas te namo ’stu te sarvata eva sarva ananta-vīryāmita-vikramas tvaṁ sarvaṁ samāpnoṣhi tato ’si sarvaḥ
Word Meanings
namaḥ—offering salutations; purastāt—from the front; atha—and; pṛiṣhṭhataḥ—the rear; te—to you; namaḥ astu—I offer my salutations; te—to you; sarvataḥ—from all sides; eva—indeed; sarva—all; ananta-vīrya—infinite power; amita-vikramaḥ—infinite valor and might; tvam—you; sarvam—everything; samāpnoṣhi—pervade; tataḥ—thus; asi—(you) are; sarvaḥ—everything
Translation · English
Salutations to You in front and behind! Salutations to You on every side! O All! You, infinite in power and prowess, pervade all; therefore You are all.
Deep Meaning · English
In this verse, Arjuna moves beyond the dualistic relationship of devotee and deity to recognize the radical omnipresence of the Divine. By bowing in all directions—front, back, and everywhere—he symbolically dissolves the notion of a 'spatial' God. He realizes that if God is infinite, there cannot be a place where God is not, nor can there be an 'other' to whom he bows, for the object of his worship is the very ground of his own existence. This is the culmination of the Vishvarupa Darshana, where the ego's separation from the Supreme begins to collapse into a state of total surrender. Philosophically, Arjuna touches upon the non-dual reality where Brahman (the Absolute) is the substratum of all creation. By acknowledging Krishna’s 'infinite power' (ananta-vīrya) and 'immeasurable prowess' (amita-vikrama), Arjuna understands that the diversity of the universe is merely a manifestation of the Divine’s immanence. Because Krishna permeates everything (sarvaṁ samāpnoṣhi), he is logically everything (tato ’si sarvaḥ). This realization shifts the seeker from viewing the world as a collection of separate objects to viewing it as a tapestry of the Divine presence, transforming every action into an act of worship.
True surrender occurs when the devotee recognizes that since God pervades the entire universe, every direction is the face of the Divine and every experience is a communion with the Absolute.
Connected Verses
Describes the Supreme as having hands, feet, and faces everywhere, echoing Arjuna's experience of the Cosmic Form.
Krishna summarizes that the entire universe is supported by a mere fragment of His infinite nature.
Krishna declares that all beings are pervaded by Him, providing the foundational logic for Arjuna's realization.
This verse confirms that the man of wisdom reaches the state where he realizes Vasudeva is all that exists.
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