Bhagavad Gita 11.25
Spoken by Arjuna · Verse 25 of 55 · Arjuna's Journey
दंष्ट्राकरालानि च ते मुखानि दृष्ट्वैव कालानलसन्निभानि। दिशो न जाने न लभे च शर्म प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ॥
daṃṣṭrākarālāni ca te mukhāni dṛṣṭvaiva kālānalasannibhāni| diśo na jāne na labhe ca śarma prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa ||
Tusked mouths blazing like fires of Time — losing all direction, all peace; be gracious, O Deveśa, O World's Abode!
Word by word (3)
- kālānala-sannibhāni
- — resembling the fires of Time / like the fires of cosmic dissolution · Kāla = Time personified, the black force of dissolution, Death; anala = fire (from ana + la, that which has sufficient vital force to consume — not ordinary fire but elemental consuming-fire); sannibhāni = resembling, akin to. Kāla-anala = Time's fire = the PRALAYA fire that dissolves the cosmos at the end of each cosmic cycle. This is not destructive fire but DISSOLUTION fire — the force that completes cosmic cycles by consuming what has been manifested, making space for the next creation. In V11.32 Krishna will say 'kālo'smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt' (I am Time, destroyer of worlds). Arjuna is seeing that identity HERE, in the mouths, before Krishna names it.
- diśo na jāne
- — I do not know the directions / I lose all sense of direction · Diśaḥ = the directions (four cardinal + four diagonal = aṣṭa-diśā in Indian cosmology). Na jāne = I do not know. The loss of directional awareness represents the ultimate spatial disorientation — more extreme than mere fear. In Indian cosmology, the four directions anchor all orientation. To lose this is to lose the fundamental orienting structure of existence. Compare V2.7: na jāne dharmaṃ (I do not know dharma) — that was moral disorientation; here diśo na jāne is spatial-cosmic disorientation. Both are epistemic collapses at different scales. V11.25 is the deepest — when even space loses its structure, there is nothing external to orient by.
- prasīda deveśa jagan-nivāsa
- — be gracious / be propitious, O Lord of Gods, O Abode of the Universe! · Prasīda = pra (forth) + √sad (to sit) = 'sit down favorably toward me' = be propitiated, be gracious, take pity. The same root gives prasāda (divine grace — what flows when the Divine 'sits' toward you). Deveśa = deva (deity/the shining) + īśa (sovereign) = Sovereign of the Gods. Jagan-nivāsa = jagat (the moving/living universe) + nivāsa (abode, dwelling, home) = Abode/Home of the Universe. The paradox: the very form that terrifies and disorients Arjuna is also jagan-nivāsa — the HOME of all existence. Arjuna is asking the earthquake to be gentle — but he knows it is both the destroyer and the ground of all being.
Seeing Your mouths, terrible with tusks, blazing like the fires of cosmic dissolution, I lose all sense of direction and find no refuge. Be gracious, O Lord of gods, O abode of the worlds.
A modern analogy
Like standing at the edge of a black hole's event horizon — the gravity that will consume you is the same gravity that holds the entire galaxy together. Your sense of 'which way is up' dissolves completely. All you can do is call out to the force itself: 'Please be gentle.'
Sit with this: Arjuna loses all sense of direction (diśo na jāne) but still manages to pray 'prasīda.' Have you ever been so utterly lost that the only sane act was simply to ask for mercy? What is the relationship between complete lostness and the possibility of genuine prayer?
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Having seen Thy mouths which are fearful with tusks and resemble Time's Fires, I know not the four quarters, nor do I find peace; be Thou gracious, O Lord of Gods and Abode of the Universe! [1]
Having seen Thy mouths, fearful with tusks, blazing like Pralaya-fires, I know not the four quarters, nor do I find peace; have mercy, O Lord of the Devas, O Abode of the universe. [4]
Fierce as those flames which shall consume, at close of all, Earth, Heaven! Ah me! I see no Earth and Heaven! Thee, Lord of Lords! I see. [7]
And seeing your mouths terrible by the jaws, and resembling the fire of destruction, I cannot recognise the various directions, I feel no comfort. Be gracious, O lord of gods! who pervadest the universe. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Many mouths, eyes, arms, bellies, terrible tusks — Your vast form terrifies the worlds; I too tremble!
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!
At the end of each cosmic age, all beings return to My prakriti — at the next dawn, I send them forth again.
I am your student. My mind is bewildered about what is right. Teach me.
Crowned, mace-bearing, disc-in-hand — show me again that four-armed form, O Thousand-Armed, O Universal Form!
Enjoy the gifts of existence without giving back — the Gita calls that theft. Participate, don't just consume.
Verse 25 of 55 · back to Chapter 11