Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 11: The Vision of the Cosmic Form

Bhagavad Gita 11.12

divi sūryasahasrasya bhavedyugapadutthitā | yadi bhāḥ sadṛśī sā syādbhāsastasya mahātmanaḥ ||

If the light of a thousand suns were to rise in the sky all at once, it might resemble the splendour of that great being.

Modern context

This is one of the most famous images in the Gita: the light of a thousand suns rising at once. Even this comparison is offered tentatively, 'it might resemble'. Language admits that it is failing. The image has entered world culture. In 1945, watching the first atomic test, the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer recalled lines from this chapter. A vision of overwhelming power found an echo in the most overwhelming human power ever made.