Sanskrit
मा ते व्यथा मा च विमूढभावो दृष्ट्वा रूपं घोरमीदृङ्ममेदम् । व्यपेतभीः प्रीतमनाः पुनस्त्वम् तदेव मे रूपमिदं प्रपश्य ॥
mā te vyathā mā ca vimūḍhabhāvo dṛṣṭvā rūpaṃ ghoram īdṛṅ mamedam vyapetabhīḥ prītamanāḥ punas tvam tad eva me rūpam idaṃ prapaśya
Translation
Be not bewildered, be thou not afraid, Because thou hast beheld this awful Form; Cast fear away, and let thy heart rejoice; Behold again Mine own familiar shape.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The plea Arjuna made back in verse 45 — show me the other form — is granted here without any further test or condition attached. Krishna doesn’t ask Arjuna to hold steady inside the terror a little longer or prove anything further; the comfort is immediate, “vyapetabhīḥ,” fear-departed, offered as soon as the lesson (kālo’smi, then grace, then the limits of practice) has actually landed. It’s a small but real point about how this chapter treats mercy — not as a reward earned through endurance, but as something given the moment it’s needed.
Lessons
Personal
- When you're overwhelmed, the first useful move is often just steadying yourself, not immediately trying to extract a lesson from the experience — meaning can come later.
Professional
- After a genuinely rough incident or setback at work, lead the retro with reassurance for the people involved before diving into root-cause analysis — both matter, but not in the same breath.
Family & Social
- Offering comfort to someone frightened or overwhelmed doesn't require waiting until they've 'earned' it by holding themselves together — this verse gives comfort immediately, on request, with no test attached.