Topic

Awe

3 verses from the Bhagavad Gita on awe. Explore teachings across 2 chapters.

All Verses

Chapter 11 • Verse 14 →The Yoga of the Vision of the Universal Form

Tatah sa vismayavishto hrshtaroma dhananjayah, pranamya shirasa devam kritanjalir abhasata

Then Arjuna, filled with amazement, his hair standing on end, bowed his head before the Lord, joined his palms, and began to speak.

•Awe and reverence arise naturally before divine vision
•The body responds to genuine spiritual experience
•Humility is the appropriate response to the divine

reverence amazement prayer humility

Chapter 11 • Verse 23 →The Yoga of the Vision of the Universal Form

Rupam mahat te bahu-vaktra-netram maha-baho bahu-bahuru-padam, bahudaram bahu-damshtra-karalam drishtva lokah pravyathitas tathaham

O mighty-armed one, seeing Your massive form with many mouths, eyes, arms, thighs, feet, stomachs, and terrifying fangs, the worlds are trembling, and so am I.

•The vision of the infinite overwhelms all observers
•The cosmic form has both awe-inspiring and terrifying aspects
•Arjuna speaks for all beings in their trembling before the divine

terror trembling massive form many mouths

Chapter 18 • Verse 74 →The Yoga of Liberation and Renunciation

sanjaya uvaca: ity aham vasudevasya parthasya ca mahatmanah samvadam imam asrausam adbhutam roma-harsanam

Sanjaya says: Thus I have heard this wonderful dialogue between Vasudeva and the great-souled Partha, which makes my hair stand on end. Sanjaya's awe bears witness to the sacred power that this dialogue carries even for its narrator.

•Even the narrator Sanjaya is moved to awe by this sacred dialogue
•The Gita's power extends to those who transmit it, not only those who receive it directly
•The dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna is described as adbhuta — wonderful and extraordinary

sanjaya gita dialogue sacred-transmission