Thou lickest up, devouring all the worlds on every side with Thy flaming mouths. Thy fierce rays, filling the whole world with radiance, are burning, O Vishnu!
In simple words
Arjuna watches the cosmic destruction: "You are licking up and devouring entire worlds with Your flaming mouths. Your fierce burning rays fill the whole universe with unbearable radiance."
लेलिह्यसे(Thou) lickestग्रसमानःdevouringसमन्तात्on every sideलोकान्the worldsसमग्रान्allवदनैःwith mouthsज्वलद्भिःflamingतेजोभिःwith radianceआपूर्यfillingजगत्the worldसमग्रम्the wholeभासःraysतवThyउग्राः
Your reflection
to save your reflections on each verse.
Want to explore this verse deeper?
fierce
प्रतपन्तिare burning
विष्णोO Vishnu
11.30 लेलिह्यसे (Thou) lickest? ग्रसमानः devouring? समन्तात् on every side? लोकान् the worlds? समग्रान् all? वदनैः with mouths? ज्वलद्भिः flaming? तेजोभिः with radiance? आपूर्य filling? जगत् the world? समग्रम् the whole? भासः rays? तव Thy? उग्राः fierce? प्रतपन्ति are burning? विष्णो O VishnuCommentary Vishnu means allpervading? Vyapanasila.
Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.
This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.
Modern
After composing certain verses of the Mahabharata, Vyasa returns to his previous theme. All the creatures of the world are being destroyed as they enter into the mouth of Time. The hunger of this principle of Time is never satisfied. Devouring all the worlds, you are savoring them.
In truth, this verse clarifies the principle behind the three agents of creation, sustenance, and dissolution. Although we imagine these three separately, in reality they are merely three aspects of a single process. We have already seen in detail that the fundamental mystery of existence pervading everywhere is creative destruction.
In a cinema hall, a reel of different images is projected before a light source. The image that has moved away from before it we may call dead, and the one that appears before us we may consider born. Because of this continuous stream of birth and death occurring ceaselessly, an impression of an unbroken narrative is created on the screen before us. Separated by space and time, objects, all living beings, events and circumstances come into our experience and pass away, and the continuity of their coming and going we call existence or life.
The above thought is expressed in the Puranas in the language of the mutual trinity—Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh. When Arjuna, through the vision of this knowledge, beholds that luminous, radiant, cosmic form, he becomes nearly blinded by the fierce light of that Cosmic Being.
Because you are of fierce form, therefore—