Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 11, Verse 39
वायुर्यमोऽग्निर्वरुणः शशाङ्कः
प्रजापतिस्त्वं प्रपितामहश्च।
नमो नमस्तेऽस्तु सहस्रकृत्वः
पुनश्च भूयोऽपि नमो नमस्ते।।
प्रजापतिस्त्वं प्रपितामहश्च।
नमो नमस्तेऽस्तु सहस्रकृत्वः
पुनश्च भूयोऽपि नमो नमस्ते।।
vāyur yamo ’gnir varuṇaḥ śaśāṅkaḥ
prajāpatis tvaṁ prapitāmahaś ca
namo namas te ’stu sahasra-kṛtvaḥ
punaś ca bhūyo ’pi namo namas te
also searched as "vayur yamo agnir varunah shashankah"
Translation
(a) You are Yayu, Yama, Agni, Varuna, Sashanka, Prajapati, and the great-grandsire.
(b) Hail to You a thousand times! Hail to You again and yet again!
Vāṇi's rendering
You are wind and death, fire, sea, and moon; father of creatures, and their grandsire's father. A thousand bows — and a thousand more.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| वायुःvāyuḥ | the wind (appears as vāyur before the next word) |
| यमःyamaḥ | death, the lord who ends |
| अग्निःagniḥ | fire (the initial a is swallowed by the preceding o) |
| वरुणःvaruṇaḥ | the waters, the sea |
| शशाङ्कःśaśāṅkaḥ | the moon, the hare-marked one |
| प्रजापतिःprajāpatiḥ | the father of all creatures |
| त्वम्tvam | you are |
| प्रपितामहःprapitāmahaḥ | the grandsire's own father, older than the maker |
| चca | and |
| नमःnamaḥ | a bow, a bending |
| नमःnamaḥ | a bow — said twice |
| तेte | to you |
| अस्तुastu | let there be (the a is absorbed after namas te) |
| सहस्रकृत्वःsahasra-kṛtvaḥ | a thousand times over |
| पुनःpunaḥ | again |
| चca | and |
| भूयःbhūyaḥ | yet more, once more |
| अपिapi | even, still (the a is absorbed after bhūyo) |
| नमःnamaḥ | a bow |
| नमःnamaḥ | a bow — twice again |
| तेte | to you |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11 Verse 39 mean?
Arjuna names the great powers — wind, death, fire, the waters, the moon, the father of creatures — and finds that every name lands on Krishna. Having exhausted the list, he stops describing and starts bowing. The verse ends in repetition because reverence, past a certain point, has nothing left but repetition.
What does vayur yamo agnir varunah shashankah mean?
It is Arjuna's roll-call of the elemental gods: wind, the lord of death, fire, the sea, the moon. Each ruled a separate corner of the old world. Arjuna sees all those corners folded into one form standing before him, and the separateness of the gods quietly ends.
Why does Arjuna bow a thousand times instead of once?
Because one bow would imply he had measured what he was bowing to. Sahasra-kṛtvaḥ — a thousand times — and then punaś ca bhūyo 'pi, again and still again. The counting is not arithmetic. It is the sound of a man who cannot find the place where praise should stop.
What does prapitamaha mean here?
Grandsire's father. Brahmā, the creator, is already called pitāmaha, the grandfather of all beings. Arjuna reaches past him. He is saying that whatever stands at the origin, Krishna stands before it — there is no ancestor left to point to beyond this.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Arjuna starts by naming. Wind, death, fire, the waters, the moon — the old gods, each with a domain, each a way of holding the vastness inside a word. Then the names run out. What follows is not a better name; it is bowing, and then bowing again, and then a thousand times, and then more. The verse itself stammers — namo namas te, twice in one line, twice again in the next. This is what praise does when it stops trying to be accurate. You have felt it, when something was too large to thank properly and you simply lowered your head.