रूपं महत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रं महाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादम् । बहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालं दृष्ट्वा लोकाः प्रव्यथितास्तथाहम् ॥
rūpaṃ mahatte bahuvaktranetraṃ mahābāho bahubāhūrupādam | bahūdaraṃ bahudaṃṣṭrākarālaṃ dṛṣṭvā lokāḥ pravyathitāstathāham ||
Translation
Seeing Your great form with many mouths and eyes, O mighty-armed one, with many arms, thighs, and feet, with many bellies, with many terrible fangs — the worlds are terrified, and so am I.
Interpretation
Arjuna's personal experience of terror enters his hymn: drshthva lokas pravyathita — the worlds are terrified — and then the deeply personal: tatha aham (and so am I). After verses of objective description, Arjuna admits his own fear. The terrifying aspects of the cosmic form: bahu-damshra-karam — many terrible fangs, fierce and dreadful. This is not the benevolent cosmic form of verse 10-12 alone; this is the terrifying face of the infinite — the destroyer as well as the creator. Creation and destruction are aspects of the same reality.