daḿṣṭrā-karālāni ca te mukhāni
dṛṣṭvaiva kālānala-sannibhāni
diśo na jāne na labhe ca śarma
prasīda deveśa jagan-nivāsa
Translation of Bhagavad Gita 11.25
O Lord of lords, O refuge of the worlds, please be gracious to me. I cannot keep my balance seeing thus Your blazing deathlike faces and awful teeth. In all directions I am bewildered.
Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:
No commentary by Srila Prabhupada.
Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:
No commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur.
Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:
11.25 Looking at Your mouths, extremely terrifying and like cosmic fire at the end of the universe, and operating for the destruction of everything, I have lost the sense of recognising the quarters of the sky, nor do I feel happy and peaceful. O Abode of all the worlds, O Lord of all the Devas, namely, O Overlord of even gods like Brahma! Be gracious unto me. The meaning is: ‘Do act in such a way that I may attain my natural condition. Arjuna’s charioteer (Parthasarathi), thus showing that all the worlds depend upon Him for their existence and activities, showed to the son of Prtha (Arjuna) that what He wanted to do, making Arjuna a mere instrument of His, was to lighten the burden of the earth through the destruction of all those who were of Asuric manifestations and who, in the guise of kings, were presenting themselves as the sons of Dhrtarastra and their followers. Many such embodiments of Asuras were present also in the ranks of Yudhisthira’s followers. And Arjuna, after having realised with the divine eyes, received through His grace, the complete manifestation of the Lord as the Creator etc., witnessed also the slaughter of the followers of the sons of Dhrtarastra etc., in that Lord Himself, who is the Self of all, even though it (the slaughter) had not happened actually according to human calculations. Arjuna continues:
Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:
The visvarupa or divine universal form of Lord Krishna was so terrifying of visage that Arjuna overcome with fear and trepidation was unable to determine the points of the compass and what was up and what was down and being completely distraught beseeches Lord Krishna to relieve his distress with the word prasida meaning please be merciful.
Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:
Those who have achieved moksa or liberation from material existence are divine beings and enter into one of the abodes of the Supreme Lord Krishna determined by their devotion to Him. The Brahmanda Purana states: That divine liberated beings are not subject to the stringent rules of material existence but enter into it and depart from it according to the desire of their own free will.
Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:
Seeing Lord Krishna’s visvarupa or divine universal form with terrifying teeth and unlimited mouths blazing conflagrations like the fires of annihilation at the time of universal destruction. Arjuna totally losing his equilibrium was unable to discern in which direction were the meridians north, south, east and west. He beseeches Lord Krishna with the words deva- isa or O’ Lord of lords and jagat nivasa O’ refuge of the universe and requests Him with the word prasida to be merciful so that he may regain his composure.
Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:
11.25 Drstva eva, having merely seen; te, Your; mukhani, mouths; damstra-karalani, made terrible with (their) teeth; and kala-anala-sannibhani, resembling the fire of Dissolution is kalanala; similar to that; na jane, I have lost; the sense of disah, direction-I do not know the directions as to which is East or which is West; and hence, na labhe, find no; sarma, comfort. Therefore, prasida, be gracious; devesa, O Lord of gods; jagannivasa, O Abode of the Universe! ‘The apprehension which was there of my getting defeated by those offers, that too has cleared away, since-‘
Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:
Sri Abhinavagupta did not comment on this sloka.
Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:
damstra-karalani ca te mukhani
drstvaiva kalanala-sannibhani
diso na jane na labhe ca sarma
prasida devesa jagan-nivasa
Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:
daḿṣṭrā — teeth; karālāni — terrible; ca — also; te — Your; mukhāni — faces; dṛṣṭvā — seeing; eva — thus; kāla-anala — the fire of death; sannibhāni — as if; diśaḥ — the directions; na — not; jāne — I know; na — not; labhe — I obtain; ca — and; śarma — grace; prasīda — be pleased; deva-īśa — O Lord of all lords; jagat-nivāsa — O refuge of the worlds.
