Chapter 11 · Verse 12·Spoken by Sanjaya
दिवि सूर्यसहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदुत्थिता। यदि भाः सदृशी सा स्याद्भासस्तस्य महात्मनः
divi sūrya-sahasrasya bhaved yugapad utthitā yadi bhāḥ sadṛiśhī sā syād bhāsas tasya mahātmanaḥ
Saved for this reading session
Three movements · tap a label to switch
Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
Word by Word
Reading set · 5 translations · 3 commentaries
Translation · 5 voices
Should the effulgence of a thousand suns blaze forth simultaneously in the sky, that might be akin to the radiance of that exalted One.
Swami Gambiranandaafter Śaṅkara's bhāṣya· paired with Śaṅkara
If a thousand suns were to rise at once in the sky, the resulting splendour would be like the splendour of that mighty One.
Swami Adidevanandaafter Rāmānuja's bhāṣya· paired with Rāmānuja
If the splendour of a thousand suns were to burst forth at once in the sky, would that be equal to the splendour of that Mighty Self?
Dr. S. Sankaranarayanafter Madhva's bhāṣya· paired with Madhva
If the splendour of a thousand suns were to blaze out simultaneously in the sky, that would be the splendour of that mighty being.
Swami SivanandaThe Bhagavad Gita
Could a thousand suns blaze forth together, it would be but a faint reflection of the radiance of the Lord God.
Shri Purohit SwamiThe Geeta
If in the sky, in mid-air, or in the third heaven, the simultaneous radiance of a thousand suns risen all at once were to arise: that radiance, if it were so, would be like the radiance of that great Self in His universal form; and if it were not, then the radiance of the universal form itself surpasses it. Further.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.
This is to show the measurelessness of the splendour. The meaning is that He is of the own form of undecaying splendour.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
The word 'thousand' denotes the endless. Even that is meant only to convey the idea, like the phrase 'with the valour of Indra' and the like. So the supplementary hymns of the Rigveda say, 'of endless power, supreme, of endless valour, and of endless splendour, and beyond even that'; and the strength of this follows from the great purport. There is no purpose at all in a statement of measure.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.