In Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita, titled Vishwarupa Darshana Yoga, Lord Krishna bestows upon Arjuna the divine vision to witness His cosmic form, a grand and all-encompassing manifestation that transcends ordinary perception. Arjuna, having listened to Krishna's teachings in the previous chapters, becomes spiritually mature enough to comprehend the magnitude of the Supreme Being. With deep humility and devotion, Arjuna requests Krishna to reveal His universal form as the Supreme Reality behind all existence.

Granting Arjuna’s wish, Krishna reveals a form that contains all gods, celestial beings, planets, and elements of creation and destruction—past, present, and future—all within His infinite body. This divine form is awe-inspiring, dazzling with countless faces, arms, weapons, ornaments, and radiant brilliance, blinding like a thousand suns shining at once. Arjuna is overwhelmed with reverence and fear as he witnesses time personified in Krishna, who declares Himself as Kala—Time, the destroyer of worlds. Krishna explains that the great warriors in the battlefield, including Bhishma, Drona, and Karna, are already slain by the force of time, and Arjuna is merely the instrument through which the divine plan unfolds.

Arjuna’s surrender deepens as he realizes that Krishna is not merely his charioteer or friend, but the infinite cosmic Lord Himself. Filled with awe and devotion, Arjuna praises Krishna’s boundless glory and offers apologies for having treated Him casually in the past. The vision humbles Arjuna, dissolving any remaining sense of ego or personal doership. It reinforces the idea that the universe operates under a divine will, and the individual self must align with that cosmic intelligence.

Once the vision is complete, Krishna withdraws His universal form and reassumes His gentle, human form to comfort Arjuna. He reminds Arjuna that such a vision is extremely rare and can only be seen by unwavering devotion (bhakti), not through mere study or rituals. In this way, Chapter 11 serves as a turning point where Arjuna fully recognizes Krishna’s divine nature and commits wholeheartedly to his dharma as a warrior, acting as an instrument of the Divine.

For an Advaitic interpretation, this chapter symbolizes the realization that the individual self (jiva) and the Universal Self (Brahman) are not separate. The cosmic form is a pointer to the truth that all names and forms arise and dissolve within one non-dual consciousness. What Arjuna witnesses is not another "being" outside of himself, but the boundless essence of his own Self, when seen without limitation. The separation between seer and seen collapses in the radiance of the cosmic vision, echoing the Advaitic truth: Aham Brahmasmi – “I am Brahman.”