Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 11, Verse 8: Krishna to Arjuna — Viśvarūpa-Darśana-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  You cannot see Me in My cosmic form — the one bearing the universal appearance (viśvarūpadhara) — through this very ordinary eye that is your own natural organ of perception (prākṛta svacakṣus). I therefore grant you a divine eye (divya cakṣus); through it, behold My yogam aiśvaram — the superlative power of the Lord's yogic sovereignty, an excess of yoga-śakti (yogaśaktyatiśaya).

  divergence: Śaṅkara: 'dīvyam dadāmi te cakṣuḥ — yenatv śakyase draṣṭum tad dīvyam'; yogam aiśvaram glossed as yogaśaktyatiśaya.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  I shall display the entire cosmos within a single locus of My body; yet you, with your natural eye (prākṛta svacakṣus) — which grasps only bounded and measured objects — cannot see Me in that mode: utterly distinct from everything else (sakala-itara-visajātīya), immeasurable (aparimeya). I grant you a divine, non-natural (aprākṛta) eye, the instrument of My vision; through it, behold My yogam aiśvaram — My ananta-jñāna and My ananta-vibhūti in their fullness.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: 'skaletara-visajātīyam aparimeyam draṣṭum na śakyase'; yogam aiśvaram = 'anantajñānādiyogam anantavibhūtiyogam ca'.

• Madhvadvaita

  You are incapable of seeing Me — Hari, the supreme independent reality — through your own natural eye, which is a finite instrument belonging to the bound jīva (jīva-svacakṣus). I grant you a divine eye; through it, behold My yogam aiśvaram, the sovereignty that belongs exclusively to Hari and to no other, since the jīva's vision is always dependent on His will.

  divergence: ABSENT — Madhva bhāṣya not recorded for this verse; rendering extrapolated from dvaita siddhantas.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Your natural eye — bound by rule (niyamatas) to grasp only limited, measured objects (parimita-grāhin) — cannot see Me in My form of imperishable sovereignty (akṣara-aiśvarya-rūpa). I therefore grant you a divine eye whose nature is non-natural knowledge (aprākṛta-jñāna-ātmaka); through it, behold My yogam aiśvaram — the entirety of distinct attributes residing in My own svarūpa (mat-svarūpa-gata), which you must see directly (sākṣāt kuru).

  divergence: Vallabha: 'mām akṣaraiśvaryarūpam draṣṭum na śakyase'; 'aprākṛtajñānātmakadaśanasādhanaṃ cakṣur dadāmi'; 'mat-svarūpa-gatam … sākṣāt kuru'.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  With your own fleshly eye (carmacakṣus) — the natural organ of the body — you are not capable, will not be capable, of seeing Me. I therefore grant you a divine, supramundane, knowledge-natured eye (divyam alaukikaṃ jñānātmakaṃ cakṣus). Through it, behold My yogam aiśvaram — My singular, extraordinary power to accomplish the impossible (aghaṭita-ghaṭanā-sāmarthya).

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'carmacakṣuṣā māṃ draṣṭuṃ na śakyase'; yogam aiśvaram = 'aghaṭitaghaṭanāsāmarthyam'.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Through this natural eye — the eye that is established by one's own inherent nature (svabhāva-siddha) — you are simply not capable of seeing Me in My divine form (divya-rūpa). I grant you a divine (aprākṛta), non-natural eye capable of perceiving My divine form; through it, behold My yogam aiśvaram — the superlative excess (atiśaya) of the capacity to accomplish the impossible (aghaṭana-ghaṭanā-sāmarthya) — which is the extraordinary, uniquely mine (asādhāraṇa) yoga of the Lord.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'svabhāvasiddhena cakṣuṣā māṃ divyarūpaṃ draṣṭum na śakyase'; yogam aiśvaram = 'aghaṭanaghṭanāsāmarthyātiśayam … asādhāraṇam'; grammatical note on śyan-chāndasa preserved.