🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 11.20

Chapter 11 · विश्वरूपदर्शनयोग · Viśvarūpa-Darśana-Yoga · "The Yoga of the Universal-Form Vision" · Verse 20 of 55

← BG 11.19↑ Chapter 11 hub · Bhagavad-Gītā indexBG 11.21 →

🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition

11.20 Alone thou fillest all the quarters of the sky, earth and heaven, and the regions between. O Almighty Lord! Seeing Thy marvellous and awe-inspiring Form, the spheres tremble with fear.

Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society

11.20 This space between the earth and the heaven and all the arters are filled by Thee alone; having seen this, Thy wonderful and teriible form, the three worlds are trembling with fear, O great-souled Being.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school

11.20 Hi, indeed; idam, this; antaram, intermediate space; dyavaprthivyoh, between heaven and earth; ca, as also; sarvah, all; the disah, direction; vyaptam, are pervaded; tvaya, by You; ekena, alone, who have assumed the Cosmic form. Mahatman, O exalted One, who by nature are high-minded; the lokatrayam, three worlds; pravyathitam, are struck with fear, or are perturbed; drstva, by seeing; idam, this; abdhutam, strange, astonishing; ugram, fearful, terrible; rupam, form; tava, of Yours. Therefore, now, in order to clear that doubt which Arjuna earlier had-as in, 'whether we shall win, or whether they shall coner' (2.6)-, the Lord proceeds with the idea, 'I shall show the inevitable victory of the Pandavas.' Visualizing that, Arjuna said: 'Moreover-'.

Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school

11.20 The terms, 'heaven and earth,' imply all the upper and lower worlds. The 'Antara', or that between heaven and earth, denotes the space between them in which are located all the worlds. You alone pervade all the space and all the arters. 'Beholding Your marvellous and teriible form,' beholding Your form of infinite length and extent, marvellous and terrible, the three worlds are trembling. Gods headed by Brahma, the Asuras, the manes, the Siddhas, the Gandharvas, the Yaksas, and Raksasas have come with a desire to see the battle. All the 'three worlds' consisting of these friendly, antagonistic and neutral beings are extremely frightened. 'Mahatman' means one, the dimension of whose mind has no limits. It has to be understood that like Arjuna, other beings also were granted by the Lord the divine eye capable of directly perceiving the Form which supports the universe. If it be asked why, the reply is that it was for demonstrating to Arjuna His sovereignty. Hence it is stated here: 'Beholding Your marvellous and terrible form, O Mahatman, the three worlds are greatly overwhelmed with fear.'

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly

11.20. This space in between the heaven and the earth as well as all the directions are pervaded singly by You; seeing this wondrous form of Yours as such, O Exalted Soul, the triple world is very much frightened.

🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद

For the Hindi-aware seer · Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's translation · a high-readability modern Hindi rendering · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur tradition. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page for the 102-year-living Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī Mahātmā.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī tradition · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur · highest modern Hindi reading

।।11.20।। हे महात्मन् ! यह स्वर्ग और पृथ्वीके बीचका अन्तराल और सम्पूर्ण दिशाएँ एक आपसे ही परिपूर्ण हैं। आपके इस अद्भुत और उग्ररूपको देखकर तीनों लोक व्यथित (व्याकुल) हो रहे हैं।

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors

11.20 द्यावापृथिव्योः of heaven and earth? इदम् this? अन्तरम् interspace? हि indeed? व्याप्तम् is filled? त्वया by Thee? एकेन alone? दिशः arters? च and? सर्वाः all? दृष्ट्वा having seen? अद्भुतम् wonderful? रूपम् form? उग्रम् terrible? तव Thy? इदम् this? लोकत्रयम् the three worlds? प्रव्यथितम् are trembling with fear? महात्मन् O greatsouled Being.Commentary Thee In Thy Cosmic Form.The space and the arters This denotes that the Lord has filled the whole universe of animate and inanimate objects.In order to remove the doubt entertained by Arjuna as to his success (Cf.II.6) Lord Krishna makes him feel now that victoyr for the Pandavas is certain.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)

Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship

11.20 Sri Abhinavagupta did not comment upon this sloka.

Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching

।।11.20।। विराट् पुरुष समस्त जगत् को व्याप्त किये हुए है? और देशकाल का भी अपना स्वतन्त्र अस्तित्व नहीं है। वे भी इस सत्य पर ही आश्रित हैं। हमें यह नहीं भूलना चाहिए कि यहाँ वर्णित विषयवस्तु अनन्त है? सनातन है। इसीलिए यहाँ अर्जुन कहता है? अकेले आपके द्वारा स्वर्ग और पृथ्वी के मध्य का आकाश और समस्त दिशाएं व्याप्त हैं।विश्व की एकता को सरलता से ग्रहण नहीं किया जा सकता। जो जितना ही अधिक उसे समझता है? उसका वर्णन करने में उतना ही अधिक वह लड़खड़ाता है। इतने विशाल और भव्य सत्य को देखकर परिच्छिन्न बुद्धि का कम्पित हो जाना स्वाभाविक ही है।अर्जुन कहता है? इस अद्भुत और भयंकर रूप को देखकर तीनों लोक भय कम्पित हो रहे हैं। यह एक मनोवैज्ञानिक सत्य है कि प्रत्येक मनुष्य जगत् को उसी रूप में देखता है जैसा कि वह स्वयं होता है। यथा दृष्टि तथा सृष्टि। विराट् का दर्शन करके अर्जुन भयभीत हुआ और उस मनस्थिति में जब वह जगत् को देखता है? तो तीनों लोक भी विस्मित और भय कम्पित दिखाई देते हैं। व्यासजी की यह विशेषता है कि विशाल और गम्भीर विषयवस्तु के वर्णन में व्यस्त होते हुए भी वे मनुष्य के मूलभूत आचरण को भूलते नहीं हैं और उनके ये सूक्ष्म निरीक्षण ही इस अतुलनीय सौन्दर्य और अपरिमेय गम्भीर चित्र को वास्तविकता की आभा प्रदान करते हैं।

🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या

Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · one of the great modern Hindi vyākhyās of the Gītā · direct, pure, deeply Vedāntic · the modern Sanātana-jāgaraṇa. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page · 1904-2005 · Corner 1 Mādhurya operational anchor · whose 6-lakṣaṇa-śaraṇāgati IS Constitutional Principle 24.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · Hindi vyākhyā · the modern bilingual anchor

।।11.20।। व्याख्या--'महात्मन्'-- इस सम्बोधनका तात्पर्य है कि आपके स्वरूपके समान किसीका स्वरूप हुआ नहीं, है नहीं, होगा नहीं और हो सकता भी नहीं। इसलिये आप महात्मा अर्थात् महान् स्वरूपवाले हैं।

🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā

This is verse 20 of 55 in Chapter 11 · Viśvarūpa-Darśana-Yoga (The Yoga of the Universal-Form Vision)
Chapter theme: Krishna reveals His universal-form · BG 11.5 paśya me pārtha rūpāṇi
Ṣaṭka grouping: TAT-Ṣaṭka (BG 7-12 · the Lord)
Chapter hub: /visvarupa-kala
⭐ Mahābhārata anchor: this verse is also MBh 6.33.20 (Bhīṣma-Parva · the BG in its full narrative home)

Bhagavad-Gītā Detail Source-Anchor Spine

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📚 Cite this verse · Academic citation formats

APA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. (n.d.). Bhagavad-Gītā 11.20. Vidhyāmitra. Retrieved 2026-07-29, from https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/11/20

Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 11.20." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-07-29. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/11/20.

MLA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 11.20." Vidhyāmitra, 2026, https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/11/20.

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🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷

सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)