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I desire to see Thee as before, crowned, bearing a mace, with the discus in hand, in Thy former form only, having four arms, O thousand-armed, Cosmic Form (Being).

I wish to see you as before, wearing a crown, holding a mace and discus in hand. Take on that same four-armed form, thousand-armed one whose body is the universe.

Arjuna specifies the form he wants: crowned, holding mace and discus, with four arms. This is the traditional image of Vishnu, and it has puzzled readers, since in the epic Krishna normally appears to Arjuna in two-armed human form. Some readers understand the request as asking first for a gracious divine form before the fully human one; others take the four-armed form as Krishna's own true appearance, which Arjuna had perhaps glimpsed before. Either way, the contrast is sharp: Arjuna addresses the thousand-armed universal form and asks it to become the four-armed one he can approach.