Bhagavad Gita 11.39
Spoken by Arjuna · Verse 39 of 55 · Arjuna's Journey
वायुर्यमोऽग्निर्वरुणः शशाङ्कः प्रजापतिस्त्वं प्रपितामहश्च। नमो नमस्तेऽस्तु सहस्रकृत्वः पुनश्च भूयोऽपि नमो नमस्ते ॥
vāyuryamo'gnirvaruṇaḥ śaśāṅkaḥ prajāpatistvaṃ prapitāmahaśca| namo namaste'stu sahasrakṛtvaḥ punaśca bhūyo'pi namo namaste ||
Vāyu, Yama, Agni, Varuṇa, the Moon, Prajāpati, the Great-Grandfather — salutation a thousand times, and more!
Word by word (3)
- vāyur yamo'gnir varuṇaḥ śaśāṅkaḥ
- — You are Vāyu (wind), Yama (death), Agni (fire), Varuṇa (water/order), the Moon (śaśāṅka) · Five cosmic forces: Vāyu = the wind god, vital breath (prāṇa), the invisible mover of all things; Yama = the god of death and dharma, the cosmic law-keeper; Agni = the fire god, the transformer, the witness of all rituals; Varuṇa = the water god, the cosmic order (ṛta), the guardian of cosmic law; Śaśāṅka = the moon (śaśa = hare + aṅka = mark = the hare-marked = moon; identified by the alleged hare-shape in the full moon). Together these five represent: air, death, fire, water, and light — the complete material and metaphysical cycle. Compare V11.19's śaśi-sūrya-netram (sun and moon as eyes) — now the moon IS one of the divine identities, not just an anatomical feature.
- prajāpatisvaṃ prapitāmahaśca
- — You are Prajāpati and the Great-Grandfather · Prajāpati = Lord of creatures, the Progenitor (prajā = creatures, offspring; pati = lord). This is Brahmā in his creative function — the progenitor of all species. Prapitāmahaḥ = Great-Grandfather (pra = intensifier; pitāmaha = grandfather = father's father; prapitāmaha = father's grandfather = the great-grandfather of all beings). This epithet places the Divine one generation BEYOND the grandfather (Brahmā = the grandfather of all; Paramātman = the great-grandfather). The conceptual move: Prajāpati (creator) → Brahmā (grandfather) → prapitāmaha (great-grandfather) = an infinite regress of origination stopped only by the Absolute. The Divine is older than the creator of creators.
- namo namas te'stu sahasra-kṛtvaḥ punaś ca bhūyo'pi namo namas te
- — Salutation, salutation — a thousand times — and again and again, salutation, salutation to You! · Namo namas te = salutation, salutation to You (doubled namas = intensified reverence). Sahasra-kṛtvaḥ = a thousand times (sahasra = thousand; kṛtvas = times, occasions). Punaś ca = and again. Bhūyaḥ api = and more still (bhūyas = more abundantly). The quadrupled salutation (namo + namas + namo + namas) echoes through the verse like a mantra. The endless multiplication (a thousand times + again + more + again) = the recognition that praise cannot exhaust what is praiseworthy. This is the bhakti principle: the devotee's love responds to the infinite by aspiring to infinite praise, knowing it will always be insufficient.
Arjuna catalogs the divine cosmic functions — wind, death, fire, water, moon, progenitor, great-grandfather — and then breaks into pure praise: salutation a thousand times, again and again. The catalog of names concludes in the overflow of devotional acknowledgment.
A modern analogy
Like listing everything you owe to someone — breath, sustenance, beauty, consciousness, mortality — and then finding that the list is so vast that you stop making a list and just say 'thank you' repeatedly, knowing it's never enough.
Sit with this: Arjuna finds that salutation a thousand times still isn't enough — so he says 'and again and again.' Have you ever felt that gratitude exceeded any possible expression? What does it feel like when appreciation overflows the capacity of language?
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Thou art Vayu, Yama, Agni, Varuna, the Moon, Prajapati, and the Great Grand-Father. Hail! Hail to Thee! a thousand times, and again and again hail! hail to Thee! [1]
Thou art Vayu, Yama, Agni, Varuna, the Moon, the Lord of creatures, and the Great-grandfather. Salutation, salutation to Thee a thousand times; and again and again salutation to Thee. [4]
Vayu Thou art, and He who keeps the prison of Narak, Yama dark; and Agni's shining spark; Varuna's waves are Thy waves. Moon and starlight are Thine! Prajapati art Thou, and 'tis to Thee they knelt in worshipping the old world's far light, the first of mortal men. Again, Thou God! again a thousand thousand times be magnified! [7]
Thou art Vayu, Yama, Agni, Varuna, the Moon, Prajapati, and the great-grandfather. Hail to thee a thousand times, hail to thee again and again. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Of the Ādityas I am Viṣṇu; among lights the radiant sun; among Maruts, Marīci; among stars, the moon.
Among Nāgas I am Ananta; among water-beings, Varuṇa; among the ancestors, Aryamā; among those who judge, Yama.
Sun and moon Your eyes, blazing fire Your mouth, infinite in power — heating the whole universe with Your radiance!
I am the Father, Mother, Sustainer, Grandfather, Purifier, the knowable, OM — and the three Vedas.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.
Verse 39 of 55 · back to Chapter 11