Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 11, Verse 3: Krishna to Arjuna — Viśvarūpa-Darśana-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Arjuna accepts without reservation that Kṛṣṇa has described himself exactly as he is — the supreme sovereign (paramēśvara) — and no alternative framing is possible. Yet even granting full cognitive assent, Arjuna is moved by a desire to behold with the senses that form replete with jñāna (knowledge), aiśvarya (lordly power), śakti (potency), bala (strength), vīrya (heroic vigour), and tejas (luminous energy) — the Vaiṣṇava form called the aiśvara-rūpa. For Śaṅkara this request is not a spiritual advance; it is a concession to the empirical plane: Arjuna, not yet established in the highest non-dual knowledge, momentarily exercises the lower faculty of perception rather than resting in the understanding alone.

  divergence: Śaṅkara: 'jñānaiśvaryaśaktibala-vīryatejobhiḥ saṃpannam aiśvaraṃ vaiṣṇavaṃ rūpam' — the aiśvara form is defined by these six attributes; desire to see it marks the realm of saguṇa cognition.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Arjuna receives Kṛṣṇa's self-declaration as settled truth: 'just as you yourself say it, so it is (evam etat).' But hearing that Kṛṣṇa is paramēśvara — the very ocean of compassion for those who take refuge (āśritavātsalya-jaladhi) — ignites a direct longing: Arjuna wants to behold (sākṣātkartum) the rūpa that is uniquely Kṛṣṇa's own, manifesting the incomparable roles of ruler, sustainer, creator, destroyer, bearer, repository of auspicious qualities, supreme excellence, and absolute otherness from all else. This longing is itself a movement of bhakti, not doubt; the very address 'Puruṣottama' signals that Arjuna already knows Kṛṣṇa surpasses all puruṣas and trusts that such a request cannot go unfulfilled.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: 'tava aiśvaraṃ tvad-asādhāraṇaṃ … sarvasyapraśāsitṛtve pālay itṛtve sraṣṭṛtve saṃhartṛtve bhartṛtve kalyāṇaguṇākaratve paratartve sakaleтaravisajātīyatve ca avasthitaṃ rūpaṃ draṣṭum icchāmi.'

• Madhvadvaita

  Arjuna acknowledges that Kṛṣṇa's self-description is perfectly true — the eternally independent Hari is categorically distinct from every jīva. This acknowledgement is itself an act of correct understanding, which Dvaita prizes: no jīva's intellect can grasp Hari's form by its own power, so the desire to see is simultaneously an admission of dependence and a petition that only Hari can grant. The aiśvara form is not an attribute Kṛṣṇa acquires; it is his intrinsic, eternal nature that the jīva can only receive by Hari's free grace (anugraha).

  divergence: No Madhva commentary is available for this verse. Rendering is constructed from established Dvaita doctrinal principles (jīva-Brahma-bheda, svatantra-Hari, anugraha-dependence) applied to the verse's structure.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Arjuna's words carry no trace of doubt — 'I have no disbelief in this' (aviśvāso mama nāsti) — and so the request to see is pure jijñāsā born of delight. Vallabha hears Arjuna say: 'The aiśvara form, called yoga, is precisely that incomparable sovereignty (tādṛśam aiśvaryaṃ yogākhyaṃ) which I desire to behold.' The address 'Puruṣottama' carries Arjuna's confidence that one such as himself, beloved in Kṛṣṇa's līlā, cannot remain with an unfulfilled longing (mādṛśas tvayi sati na siddha-manoratho bhavitum arhati). The desire is itself prasāda — Kṛṣṇa's own gift working inside Arjuna's heart.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'mādṛśas tvayi sati na siddha-manoratho bhavitum arhatīti bhāvaḥ' — the devotee beloved of Kṛṣṇa cannot remain with an unfulfilled wish.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara reads the verse as Arjuna grounding his request in everything he has just heard: the coming-forth and dissolution of beings (bhavāpyayau), and Kṛṣṇa's declaration 'I pervade all this' (viṣṭabhyāham idaṃ kṛtsnam). Arjuna says he does not disbelieve any of it, yet out of kautūhala — a kind of reverent wonder — he yearns to see Kṛṣṇa's own form endowed with jñāna, aiśvarya, śakti, bala, vīrya, and tejas. The bhakti voice here is one of wonder that knows it believes and yet cannot help but want to see: faith intensifies rather than removes the longing.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'kautūhalād ahaṃ draṣṭum icchāmi' — the desire arises from reverent wonder, not disbelief, and it follows directly from Arjuna having heard and accepted the earlier teaching.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana holds both registers open at once. Kṛṣṇa has described himself with and without limiting adjuncts (sopādhikena nirūpādhikena ca) — both the conditioned sovereign and the unconditioned Absolute — and Arjuna assents to both without a shadow of disbelief. Yet Arjuna wants to 'become fulfilled' (kṛtārthī-bubhūṣayā) through direct vision of the wondrous aiśvara form replete with the six-fold perfection. The address 'Puruṣottama' is not rhetorical: it signals to the omniscient, inner-dweller (sarvajña, sarvāntaryāmin) that Arjuna's faith is complete and his longing is vast — both truths Kṛṣṇa already knows and will answer.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'sopādhikena nirūpādhikena ca niratiśayaiśvaryeṇa ātmānaṃ tvam āttha … kṛtārthī-bubhūṣayā draṣṭum icchāmi … sarvajñatvāt … sarvāntaryāmitvāc ca sūcayati.'