Chapter 11 · Verse 21·Spoken by Arjuna
अमी हि त्वां सुरसङ्घाः विशन्ति केचिद्भीताः प्राञ्जलयो गृणन्ति। स्वस्तीत्युक्त्वा महर्षिसिद्धसङ्घाः स्तुवन्ति त्वां स्तुतिभिः पुष्कलाभिः
amī hi tvāṁ sura-saṅghā viśhanti kechid bhītāḥ prāñjalayo gṛiṇanti svastīty uktvā maharṣhi-siddha-saṅghāḥ stuvanti tvāṁ stutibhiḥ puṣhkalābhiḥ
These hosts of gods enter into you. Some, struck with fear, praise you with folded hands. Crying out, May it be well, the bands of great sages and perfected ones extol you with abundant hymns.
Word by Word
Saved for this reading session
Three movements · tap a label to switch
Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
Synthesis · a glossed leaf
machine-assisted draft, pending review
Convergence
rjuna is still describing the overwhelming cosmic form (vishva-rupa), and here he reports what the beings of the universe are doing in its presence. He names three responses. First, the hosts of gods (sura-sangha) are entering the form. Second, some, gripped by fear, stand with their palms joined together in the gesture of reverence (pranjali) and call out praise. Third, the assemblies of great seers (maharshi) and perfected beings (siddha) pronounce the word 'svasti,' meaning 'may there be welfare,' and then praise the Lord with full, abundant hymns. The verse is thus a picture of the whole field of creation reacting at once.
Braided from 14 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
Several commentators stress that the word 'pushkala,' describing the hymns, means full, complete, and rich in meaning. These are not casual words but praises packed with significance, setting forth the Lord's qualities in abundance. The seers and siddhas are not merely frightened spectators; they respond with deliberate, weighty adoration.
Braided from 6 commentators
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrī Puruṣottama · Swami Sivananda · Śrīla Baladeva
A number of the older commentators read the verse as the moment when Krishna shows Arjuna the outcome of the coming war, settling his anxiety about who will win. On this reading the form makes plain that the Lord is the one who lightens the burden of the earth: the warriors who are really gods come down in human shape, and even the figures who are the earth's burden, are being drawn into him. The destruction is already underway, and the seers, sensing the destructive omens, pronounce 'svasti' to ward off harm to the worlds.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri
The seers and siddhas are identified by some as specific knowers and saints, such as Narada among the seers and Kapila among the perfected ones. Their cry of 'svasti' is read as a prayer for the welfare of all the worlds, offered because they have come to witness the battle and have seen the signs of impending destruction. Their praise is an act of blessing the universe even as they adore the Lord.
Braided from 6 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Swami Sivananda · Śrīla Baladeva · Śrī Puruṣottama
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
These commentators read the 'entering' (vishanti) as the dissolution of beings into the cosmic form, that is, their destruction. The gods who have come down in human form to fight, and by an added word-division even the asuras who are the earth's burden, Duryodhana and the rest, are seen entering the Lord the way moths fly into a fire, drawn unseen toward death. On this reading the verse is fundamentally about the form as the all-consuming devourer that shows Arjuna the certain outcome of the war and the Lord's work of relieving the earth of its load.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri
Viśiṣṭādvaita
Here the gods enter not in destruction but with delighted minds, drawing near the Lord because they behold him as the support of the whole universe. The frightened ones who praise do so 'in conformity with their knowledge,' and the seers and siddhas are described as knowers of the truth of the higher and lower reality who offer praise fitting to the Blessed One. The verse is read as a tripartite display of how the cosmic field responds: the gods approaching, the fearful praising, and the wise pronouncing the auspicious word, all as fitting devotion toward the supreme person who upholds all.
Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika
Bhakti
These commentators read the 'entering' as taking refuge in the Lord out of fear and devotion. The striking point they draw out is that the very gods to whom people normally pray are themselves now praying for shelter to the cosmic form, which is to say to Vasudeva. The frightened ones stand at a distance with folded hands and cry 'jaya jaya, raksha raksha,' that is, 'victory, victory, protect us, protect us.' One voice deepens this into a prayer of beings who confess they are drowning in the ocean of ignorance, ensnared by worldly and even heavenly pleasures, and who resign themselves wholeheartedly to the Lord's will, since none but he can deliver them.
Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar
Śuddhādvaita
This commentator reads the whole scene as an order of refuge that holds even within the cosmic display. The 'hi' particle marks fitness: it is fitting that the gods come for shelter to the Purushottama, the supreme person. The gods take refuge, the asuras with cupped, bound hands cry 'protect, protect,' and the seers and siddhas hymn fullness by saying 'svasti, may there be welfare for us.' All three classes turn toward the one Purushottama, and the same Lord receives them all.
Śrī Puruṣottama
Modern
This commentator brings in the detail that Arjuna had once visited the heavenly world (svarga) and become acquainted with some of these gods, so he recognizes them now as they appear to enter the Lord's form. The deeper teaching drawn out is that all these gods arise from the Lord alone, abide in him alone, and return into him alone. The 'entering' is read as their return to their source, an illustration that the Lord is the origin, support, and final ground of all the powers of the cosmos.
Swami Ramsukhdas
A Seeker Asks
When the verse says the gods are entering the Lord, is this their annihilation or their worship, and why do the commentators read it so differently?
The Sanskrit verb 'vishanti,' to enter, genuinely supports both readings, which is why the schools part ways here rather than because one is careless. Some commentators hear it as dissolution: beings drawn into the cosmic form the way moths fly into fire, which fits the larger chapter where the form is also the devourer of worlds and shows Arjuna the war's certain outcome.
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri
Other commentators hear the same word as drawing near in refuge and delight: the gods approach the Lord because they behold him as the support of the universe, and the striking note is that the very gods people usually pray to are themselves now seeking shelter in him. One voice resolves the tension by reading 'enter' as return to source, since all the gods arise from the Lord, abide in him, and go back into him.
Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Śrī Puruṣottama · Swami Ramsukhdas
What the readings share is more important than where they split. In every case the beings of the cosmos are turning wholly toward the Lord, whether by being absorbed, by taking refuge, or by returning home, and the wise among them respond not with terror alone but with the blessing 'svasti, may there be welfare,' and with full, meaning-rich praise. The vision is finally one of everything resolving into its one ground.
Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrī Puruṣottama · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrīla Baladeva
Contemplation
Let this verse turn into a prayer you can actually pray. The frightened gods do not pretend to be strong; they fold their hands and admit the truth of their condition. As one commentator gives their words, they confess that they have fallen into the great ocean of ignorance, that they are entangled in the snares of worldly and even heavenly pleasures, and that no one but the Lord can lift them out. Their final move is the freeing one: 'We resign ourselves wholeheartedly to Thy will.' When you feel small before something vast, you can do the same. You do not have to manufacture courage or hide your fear. You can join your palms, name honestly where you are caught, and hand yourself over to the one who is the source you came from and the ground you rest in.
Sit with this · Sant Jñāneśvar
Pull up a chair.
You have come to sit with this verse. When you are ready to hear the translators and the commentators in full, tap a name in The seating.