Verse 11.18
त्वमक्षरं परमं वेदितव्यं
त्वमस्य विश्वस्य परं निधानम् ।
त्वमव्ययः शाश्वतधर्मगोप्ता
सनातनस्त्वं पुरुषो मतो मे ॥
Transliteration
tvamakṣaraṃ paramaṃ veditavyaṃ
tvamasya viśvasya paraṃ nidhānam |
tvamavyayaḥ śāśvatadharmagoptā
sanātanastvaṃ puruṣo mato me ||
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3
Translation
Thou art the Imperishable, the Supreme Being, worthy to be known. Thou art the great treasure-house of this universe; Thou art the imperishable protector of the eternal Dhrama; Thou art the Primal Person, I deem.
From the owner's sheet · +1 more
You are the imperishable, the supreme to be known; you are the final resting place of this universe. You are the undying guardian of eternal dharma; you are, I believe, the primeval person.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08 · +1 more
Word by word
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08
Explanation
Arjuna pauses from describing to declare what the form means. Krishna is the akṣara, the imperishable, the highest object of knowledge; the ultimate support or treasury of the universe; the undying protector of eternal dharma; the primordial person (puruṣa). The phrase guardian of eternal dharma links the vision to the battlefield: Arjuna's struggle concerns dharma, and here he recognises its ultimate protector. The words I believe show that this is Arjuna's own conviction, arrived at through what he sees. Vision is turning into understanding.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08