SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
dhyAvApruthivyOr idham antharam hi vyAptham thvayaikEna dhiSaS cha sarvA: |
dhrushtvAdbhutham rUpam ugram thavEdham lOkathrayam pravyathitham mahAthman ||
word-by-word meaning
dhyAvApruthivyO: idham antharam – the space between the higher worlds and lower worlds
sarvA dhiSaS cha – all directions
thvayA EkEna – by you only
vyAptham hi – haven’t been pervaded?
mahAthman – Oh one with unlimited will!
thava – your
idham ugram adhbhutham rUpam dhrushtvA – seeing this amazingly fierce divine form
lOka thrayam – three types of people [the favourable ones, unfavourable ones and the unconcerned ones]
pravyathitham – have become fearful
Simple Translation
Haven’t the space between the higher worlds and lower worlds, and all directions been pervaded by you only? Oh one with unlimited will! Seeing this amazingly fierce divine form of yours, the three types of people [the favourable ones, unfavourable ones and the unconcerned ones] of this world, have become fearful.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘Indeed, is the interval between the heavens
(above) and earth (below), and every direction, filled by Yourself alone. At sight of this, —Your Marvellous Awful Form— all the Three Worlds, O Great Soul! are panic-struck.’
The terms, heaven and earth, imply all the upper and all the lower worlds (respectively). ‘The interval between’ is to mean the intervening plenum or space. In the spaces in which all the globes dwell, and in every direction, are You and You alone extended.
Your marvellous Awful Form is solely by reason of its infinite pervasion, ineffably awe-inspiring.
All the three worlds: the worlds inhabited by Brahmā etc., the Deva and Asura bands, the Pitṛi-hosts, the Siddhas, the Gandharvas, the Yakshas, the Rakshas etc., —all present now to witness the (impending) conflict (between the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas),— the three worlds distinguished as the habitat of (1) the friendly, (2) the inimical and (3) the middling, beings.
Panic-struck is to be over-terrified or staggered with awe.
Great Soul=One, Whose soul’s (or mind’s) working is unfathomable.
Like unto Arjuna, unto all beings were granted divine sight competent for direct apperception of the Kosmos-enfolding Image (of the Lord). If it be asked why, it is because to prove to Arjuna the extent of His Power.
Hence it is stated:—
‘At sight of this, Your Marvellous Awful Form, all the Worlds Three, O Great Soul! are panic-struck’ (Gītā: XI-20).
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