Sanskrit
पिताऽसि लोकस्य चराचरस्य त्वमस्य पूज्यश्च गुरुर्गरीयान् । न त्वत्समोऽस्त्यभ्यधिकः कुतोऽन्यो लोकत्रयेऽप्यप्रतिमप्रभावः ॥
pitā'si lokasya carācarasya tvam asya pūjyaś ca gurur garīyān na tvatsamo'sty abhyadhikaḥ kuto'nyo lokatraye'py apratimaprabhāvaḥ
Translation
Father of worlds, of all that moves and stands, Worthier of reverence than the Guru's self, There is none like to Thee. Who passeth Thee? Pre-eminent Thy power in all the worlds.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Having just confessed the impropriety of “friend,” Arjuna doesn’t abandon relational language altogether — he reaches instead for hierarchies that can actually hold what he’s now seen: father, and something owed even more reverence than a guru. Both relationships still involve closeness, but closeness organized by asymmetry rather than by the easy equality “sakhā” implied. It’s a necessary correction before verse 44’s plea, which will ask Krishna to bear with him using exactly the intimate comparisons — father and son, friend and friend — this verse has just finished re-ranking rather than discarding.