Sanskrit
किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रिणं च तेजोराशिं सर्वतो दीप्तिमन्तम् । पश्यामि त्वां दुर्निरीक्ष्यं समन्ताद् दीप्तानलार्कद्युतिमप्रमेयम् ॥
kirīṭinaṃ gadinaṃ cakriṇaṃ ca tejorāśiṃ sarvato dīptimantam paśyāmi tvāṃ durnirīkṣyaṃ samantād dīptānalārkadyutim aprameyam
Translation
Shining, a mass of splendour everywhere, with discus, mace, tiara, I behold: blazing as fire, as sun dazzling the gaze, from all sides in the sky, immeasurable.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
“Durnirīkṣyam” — hard to look at, painful to the sight — is the operative word here, and it’s a precise physical claim, not a figure of speech: this is a description of a light source bright enough to injure the eye that’s looking at it, matched to fire and sun in the same breath. The recognizable iconography (mace, discus, diadem — the standard attributes of Vishnu images) is still present, but it’s been scaled up past the point where it’s comfortable to view, which is exactly Arjuna’s complaint building through the verses ahead.