pitaasi lokasya characharasya
    twamasya poojyashcha gururgareeyaan
    na twatsamostyabhyadhikah kuto'nyo
    lokatraye’pyapratimaprabhaava // 43 //

You  are the father of this world, moving and unmoving; the object of their worship;  You, the greatest Guru, for there exists none who is equal to You; for how can  there be another, superior to You in the three worlds, O Being of incomparable  greatness.

Our  experiences in the three states of existence - waking, dream and deep sleep -  are the interpretations of the same Eternal from the levels of gross, subtle  and the causal bodies. The Truth that illumines these experiences is everywhere  one and the same. Hence there cannot be anything superior to That.

tasmaatpranamya pranidhaaya kaayam
    prasaadaye twaamahameeshameedyam
    piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuh
    priyah priyaayaarhasi deva sodhum // 11.44  //

Therefore,  bowing down, prostrating my body before you, I crave Your forgiveness, adorable  Lord! As a father forgives his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved,  even so should You forgive me, O Deva.

God  as a father is a familiar conception in all religions. The Supreme is not to be  regarded as a transcendent mystery but as close to us as a father to the son, a  friend to the friend or as a lover to the beloved. These human relations find  in God their fullest realization.

adrishtapoorvam hrishito'smi drishtwaa
    bhayena cha pravyathitam mano me
    tadeva me darshaya deva roopam
    praseeda devesha jagannivaasa // 11.45  //

I  am delighted having seen what was never seen before; and yet my mind is  distressed with fear. Show me that previous form only, O God; have mercy, O God  of Gods, O Abode of the Universe.

Even  though Arjuna experienced immense joy on seeing the Cosmic Form of The Lord yet  the sudden expansion of consciousness caused in him great fear and distress.  Hence he prays to Sri Krishna to resume His usual form and give up the  terrifying aspects of the transcendent and the universal.

kireetinam gadinam chakrahastam
    icchaami twaam drashtumaham tathaiva
    tenaiva roopena chaturbhujena
    sahasrabaaho bhava vishwamoorte // 11.46  //

I  desire to see You as before, crowned, bearing a mace, with a discus in the  hand, in Your former form only, having four arms, O Thousand Armed Cosmic Being  !

Arjuna  describes the exact form in which he wants Sri Krishna to appear before him.  The four hands of God represent the four facets of the inner instruments in Man  Viz. mind, intellect, chitta and the ego-sense. Blue color represents the  Infinite. Yellow clothes mean the earth. Thus the Infinite clothed in the  finite leading the life through four inner instruments is the symbolism of Lord  Vishnu.  In short Arjuna wants The Lord  to appear before him in a serene form with quiet attitude.

THE LORD'S GRACE AND ASSURANCE

sri bhagavan uvaacha
    mayaa prasannena tavaarjunedam
    roopam param darshitamaatmayogaat
    tejomayam vishwamanantamaadhyam
    yanme twadanyena na drishtapoorvam // 11.47  //

Sri  Bhagavan said
    O  Arjuna, by My grace, through My own Yoga power, I have shown you this Supreme  Form, resplendent, universal, infinite and primeval, which none but you have  ever seen.

The  revelation of the Lord depends upon His grace alone, besides His lordly power  in the Godhead; man cannot force it by his efforts. The Lord has shown His  grace on Arjuna because he is His beloved devotee.

na vedayajnaadhyayanairna daanair
    na cha kriyaabhirna tapobhirugraih
    evam roopah shakya aham nriloke
    drashtum twadanyena kurupraveera // 11.48  //

Neither  by the study of the Vedas and sacrifices, nor by gifts, nor by rituals, nor by  severe austerities, can I be seen in this form (Universal Form) in the world of  men by any one else but you, O great hero of the Kurus.

By  human endeavor through knowledge, austerities, sacrifices etc., one can see a  particular aspect of Godhead. But Arjuna has seen the Lord in His Universal  Form, reconciling all the aspects of divinity at one and the same time and in  one and the same vision.

In  an indescribable oneness are revealed all the facets of the Godhead - spirit  and matter, being and becoming, creation and destruction, infinite and finite,  space and time, past and future. This vision is granted only to the devotee who  adores the Lord with single-minded, all-consuming, and unswerving love.

maa te  vyathaa maa cha vimoodhabhaavo
    drishtwaa  roopam ghorameedringmamedam
    vyapetabheeh  preetamanaah punastwam
    tadeva me  roopamidam prapashya // 11.49 //

Be  not afraid nor bewildered on seeing such a terrible form of Mine as this; with  your fear dispelled and with gladdened heart, now behold again this former Form  of Mine.

The  Lord saw Arjuna in a state of distress and terror. Therefore, He withdrew the  Cosmic Form and assumed once more His usual gentle form. He consoled Arjuna and  spoke to him with kindness. The microcosmic representation of Truth in the form  of gentle and smiling Sri Krishna is macrocosmic Universal Form representing  the essence in all forms and names.