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Chapter 11 · Verse 6
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 11, Verse 6

पश्यादित्यान्वसून्रुद्रानश्विनौ मरुतस्तथा। बहून्यदृष्टपूर्वाणि पश्याश्चर्याणि भारत॥

paśyādityānvasūnrudrānaśvinau marutastathā | bahūnyadṛṣṭapūrvāṇi paśyāścaryāṇi bhārata ||

Word by Word 12 words
पश्य
dṛś / paś to see, to behold

behold! see!

आदित्यान्
aditi the boundless one, mother of gods

the Adityas, the twelve solar gods

वसून्
vas to dwell, to shine

the Vasus, the eight gods of the elements

रुद्रान्
rud to roar, to cry

the Rudras, the eleven storm gods

अश्विनौ
aśva horse in possessing

the two Ashvins, the divine twin horsemen

मरुतः
mṛ / mar to shine, to gleam

the Maruts, the gods of the winds

तथा
tathā so, likewise

likewise, as well

बहूनि
bahu many

many

अदृष्टपूर्वाणि
a not dṛś to see pūrva before

never seen before

पश्य
dṛś / paś to see, to behold

behold! see!

आश्चर्याणि
ā towards car to move, to be wondrous

wonders, marvels

भारत
bharata descendant of Bharata

O descendant of Bharata, Arjuna

says: behold the Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the two Ashvins, and the Maruts too, and behold many marvels never seen before, . Inside his one form, Krishna is showing whole families of shining gods, and wonder upon wonder that no human eye had ever looked upon.

कथा

All the Shining Families

An original story

's voice grew warm with welcome, like someone throwing open the doors of a great house and inviting a guest to meet the whole family at once.

"Look, ," he said. "Look closely now."

And there, gathered within 's single form, were the bright hosts of heaven — every god that the ancient songs had ever named.

"These are the Adityas," said, and saw twelve great beings of pure light, the lords of the sun, one for each turning of the year, blazing like twelve dawns standing side by side.

"And these are the Vasus." Eight shining ones, the keepers of the elements: the earth, the water, the fire, the wind, the wide sky, and the lights of the heavens, each holding its piece of the world.

"And these," said , as a deeper, rolling sound filled the air, "are the Rudras." Eleven mighty gods of the storm, roaring like thunder over distant hills, fierce and grand.

"Here are the two Ashvins" — the divine twins, the horsemen of the morning and evening, riders who race ahead of the sunrise carrying healing in their hands.

"And these are the Maruts" — the wind-gods, dozens of them, gleaming and swift, the gusts that bend the trees and chase the clouds across the monsoon sky.

's eyes went wide. He had grown up hearing the names of all these gods in the temple chants and the grandmothers' tales. He had imagined them his whole life. But no one, no sage, no king, no in his cave, had ever actually *seen* them gathered together in one place.

"Many wonders," said softly. "Marvels no one has ever beheld before. They are all here, . Not far away in some distant heaven. Here. In me."

understood, with a shiver of awe, what was teaching him. All the countless gods that people worshipped at their countless shrines — the sun-gods and the storm-gods and the wind-gods and the healers — were not rivals scattered across the sky. They were all faces of the One. Like the many rooms of a single great house, all opening off the same shining hall.

And the hall was himself.

चिन्तनम्

Have you ever met a whole big family at once — grandparents, aunts, cousins — and realised they all belong together? What does it feel like to see many different people who are really all one family?