Bhagavad Gita 11.51

dṛṣṭvedaḿ mānuṣaḿ rūpaḿ

tava saumyaḿ janārdana

idānīm asmi sańvṛttaḥ

sacetāḥ prakṛtiḿ gataḥ

 

Seeing your form, so gentle and kind,

A divine peace has entered my mind.

Freed from confusion, steady and sane,

I am restored to my own self again.

 

My dear Lord, in a war, the deadliest weapons are those that don’t look like weapons. Such is the weapon of beauty, with which the force of illusion has conquered souls far wiser than me.

My dear Lord, I have tried and failed countless times in countless lifetimes to fight against the weapon of illusory beauty with the defensive shield of my intelligence. When confronted with the weapon of beauty, I, like countless souls before me and after me, end up lowering my guard instead of raising it. Beauty numbs and dumps my intelligence–and then dumps me into deeper illusion.

The only counter, O Lord, to illusory beauty is the weapon of real beauty. And that weapon is possessed only by you, O Lord. It is your eternal and transcendental form that is the reservoir of all beauty.

Please, my Lord, reveal a glimpse of your supreme beauty and conquer my heart. If you encounter reluctance in my heart for turning toward you and seeking shelter in you, overpower that reluctance by using by far the most lethal weapon in all of existence—your beauty.

Fill my head and heart with the conviction that being conquered by you is my supreme victory.

***

11.51 When Arjuna thus saw Kṛṣṇa in His original form, he said: O Janārdana, seeing this humanlike form, so very beautiful, I am now composed in mind, and I am restored to my original nature.