In the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna initially requests Krishna to show his universal form. When Krishna obliges, Arjuna responds by describing and glorifying the theophany, identifying it to be the universal form. Yet toward the end of his description, he asks, “Who am I seeing?” Or put more simply, he asks the majestic vision, “Who are you?”

Why does Arjuna ask for the identity of a vision that he has already identified? Because the vision contained something that he hadn’t asked for or expected. He had requested to see the form that pervaded all of space, but Krishna also revealed a vision that pervaded time, that is, the vision showed what would happen in the future. 

What Krishna showed extra was the kala-rupa, the form of the Divine as Time. This form displayed the fate of those on the battlefield: everyone except the Pandavas would be destroyed. Because this vision was so ghastly, it unnerved Arjuna. His alarm was all the more so because this destructive vision was utterly unexpected. When he had asked to see the universal form, it was primarily so that Krishna could visually depict his glories, specifically those glories that he had verbally described in the Gita’s previous chapter. Essentially, he wanted aids for increasing his remembrance of Krishna. But the sudden change in the nature of the vision from showing divine majesty to showing massive devastation left him understandably alarmed. 

Thus, what he asked to be identified was this unfamiliar feature in the vision before him. And that’s why Krishna answered by identifying that form as Time (11.32). 

One-sentence summary:

Though Arjuna had sought to see and had identified the universal form of Krishna, he couldn’t identify Krishna’s additional vision of his form as time. 

Think it over:

  • Why does Arjuna ask Krishna to show the universal form?
  • Why does Krishna’s revelation confuse Arjuna?
  • Why does Arjuna ask for the identity of a vision that he has already identified? 

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11.31: O Lord of lords, so fierce of form, please tell me who You are. I offer my obeisances unto You; please be gracious to me. You are the primal Lord. I want to know about You, for I do not know what Your mission is.

To know more about this verse, please click on the image