Sanskrit
नभः स्पृशं दीप्तमनेकवर्णम् व्यात्ताननं दीप्तविशालनेत्रम् । दृष्ट्वा हि त्वां प्रव्यथितान्तरात्मा धृतिं न विन्दामि शमं च विष्णो ॥
nabhaḥspṛśaṃ dīptam anekavarṇaṃ vyāttānanaṃ dīptaviśālanetram dṛṣṭvā hi tvāṃ pravyathitāntarātmā dhṛtiṃ na vindāmi śamaṃ ca viṣṇo
Translation
Radiant, Thou touchest heaven, rainbow-hued, with opened mouths and shining vast-orbed eyes. My inmost self is quaking, having seen, my strength is withered, Vishnu, and my peace.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
“Pravyathitāntarātmā” — the inner self itself shaking, not just the body — marks the point where Arjuna’s distress stops being describable in the purely physical terms of chapter 1 (dry mouth, trembling limbs) and becomes something closer to existential vertigo: loss of dhṛti (steadiness, the very quality praised in the sthitaprajña portrait of chapter 2) and śama (peace). The address “Viṣṇu” here, not “Krishna,” is pointed — he’s naming the cosmic aspect precisely because the familiar name no longer feels adequate to what’s in front of him.