If the light of a thousand suns were to blaze forth all at once in the sky, it might resemble the splendor of that great Being.
दिवि सूर्यसहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदुत्थिता | यदि भाः सदृशी सा स्याद्भासस्तस्य महात्मनः ||११-१२||
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The Bhagavad Gita, translated and commentated by S. Radhakrishnan, is one of the most scholarly and accessible English renderings of Hinduism's most beloved scripture — the dialogue between Arjuna and Lord Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Radhakrishnan, philosopher and statesman, brings both rigorous intellectual insight and genuine spiritual depth to his translation and notes. This edition is treasured for its ability to illuminate the Gita's universal spiritual teaching across cultural and philosophical boundaries.
- Author
- Sanjaya
- Tradition
- Hindu
- Source text
- Bhagavad Gita
- Chapter
- Bhagavad Gita 11.12
- Verse / page
- BG.11.12
- Topics
- Divine LightVisionGod
Same theme, different voices
There the sun does not shine, nor the moon and stars; these lightnings do not shine—how then this fire? When he shines, everything shines after him; by his light all this shines.
न तत्र सूर्यो भाति न चन्द्रतारकं नेमा विद्युतो भान्ति कुतोऽयमग्निः । तमेव भान्तमनुभाति सर्वं तस्य भासा सर्वमिदं विभाति ॥ १५॥
People quarrel over the very name of God. A man who describes the Almighty as Ram is found to be always ready to quarrel with the other who calls it Allah. Why do they fight when Ram and Allah are one and the same? This is so because we have not allowed the divine light to enter our minds, enter our lives.
The goal of moral discipline is to cleanse the heart of passion and resentment, until it becomes like a clear mirror, reflecting the light of God.