Sanskrit
तत्रैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं प्रविभक्तमनेकधा । अपश्यद्देवदेवस्य शरीरे पाण्डवस्तदा ॥
tatraikasthaṃ jagat kṛtsnaṃ pravibhaktam anekadhā apaśyad devadevasya śarīre pāṇḍavas tadā
Translation
There Pândava beheld the whole universe, divided into manifold parts, standing in one in the body of the Deity of Deities.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
This verse confirms, from the narrator’s side, that Krishna’s promise in verse 7 has actually been delivered — “ekasthaṃ,” standing in one, answered by “pravibhaktam anekadhā,” divided in manifold ways. The paradox is stated as flatly as prose: totality and multiplicity occupying the same body at the same instant, with no attempt to resolve the tension between the two before moving on. Arjuna’s own reaction, starting next verse, is the text’s actual resolution of that tension — not philosophical argument, but bodily response.