Bhagavad Gita Verse 22, Chapter 11

rudraaditya vasavo ye cha saadhyaa vishveshvinau marutashchoshmapaascha |
gandharvayakshaasurasiddhasanghaa veekshante tvaam vismitaashchaiva sarve || 22 ||
 
The hosts of Rudraas and Adityaas, the Vasus, the Saadhyaas, the Vishwadevaas, the Ashwini Kumaaraas, the Maruts, the Ushmapaas, the Gandharvas, the Yakshas, the Asuras and the Siddhas, all of them are amazed, observing you.
 
rudraaditya : the Rudraas and Adityaas
vasavaha : the Vasus
ye : those
cha : and
saadhyaa : the Saadhyaas
vishve : the Vishwadevaas
ashvinau : the Ashwini Kumaraas
marutaha : the Maruts
cha : and
ushmapaahaa : the Ushmapaas
cha : and
gandharva : the Gandharvas
yaksha : the Yakshas
asura : the Asuras
siddha : the Siddhas
sanghaa : hosts of
veekshante : are observing
tvaam : you
vismitaahaa : amazed
cha : and
eva : only
sarve : all
 
Previously, Arjuna had heard about Ishvara manifesting as deities in the universe. Now, in the cosmic form, he is able to see them clearly enough to recognize who they are. For most people during Arjuna's time, deities were worshipped but were inaccessible, they were invisible. Arjuna was clearly delighted to see those deities that were only invoked and worshipped in rituals. Even though these deities may have had meaning to Arjuna, they may not have meaning to many of us. So let's look more closely at these deities from our standpoint.
 
We may not worship the Vedic and Puraanic deities mentioned in this shloka, but we do worship material deities. If we want a telephone connection, we approach the telephone company. If we want an internet connection, we approach the internet service provider. If we want to admit a child into school, we approach the principal of that school. Broadly speaking, when we want to access something that is beyond our reach, we approach a deity and convince them to give us access to what we desire.
 
In all these cases, there are three aspects - the individual, the object of desire, and the deity that connects the individual to the object of desire. In many ancient texts, it is said that the universe split into 3 parts during the process of creation. The individual is known as the "adhyaatma", the world of objects known as the "adhibhoota" and the presiding deity that connects the two, the "adhidaiva".
 
It is said that we should worship a deity if we are seeking to acquire certain traits. If one wants to acquire strength and power, he should appease that adhidaiva who presides over a storehouse of strength. So we see that seekers of power worship Lord Hanumaan. Seekers of dispassion worship Lord Shiva. Seekers of knowledge worship Sarasvati and so on.
 
So when we begin practicing meditation, we can choose a deity that we have a particular attraction to. Some people love to worship Shri Krishna in his childhood for, whereas some people worship Lord Shiva in his serene form. It does not matter which deity we choose as long as we use the deity to ultimately take our meditation all the way up to Ishvara.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 6, Chapter 11

pashyaadityaanvasoonrudraanaashvinau marutastathaa |
bahoonyadrishtapoorvaani pashyaashcharyaani bhaarata || 6 ||
 
Behold the Aadityaas, the Vasus, the Rudraas, the Ashvinis as well as the Maruts, O Bhaarata. Behold the many astonishing (sights) that were invisible until now.
 
pashya : behold
adityaan : the Aadityaas
vasoon : the Vasus
rudraan : the Rudraas
ashvinau : the Ashvinis
marutaha : the Maruts
tathaa : as well as
bahooni : many
adrishta : invisible
poorvaani : until now
pashya : behold
aashcharyaani : astonishing
bhaarata : O Bhaarata
 
Shri Krishna continues to describe the Vishwa-roopa, the universal form of Ishvara. He now points to the deities and the demi-gods that are seen in his form, but were also mentioned as his divine expressions in the previous chapter. These were the twelve Aadityaas, the eight Vasus, the eleven Rudraas, the two Ashvinis and the forty-nine Maruts.
 
Arjuna would only have read about these deities in the scriptures. Now, he was fortunate enough to see those deities with those own eyes. Shri Krishna calls this fact to his attention by saying that these sights were invisible or inaccessible to everyone else but Arjuna. Also, Shri Krishna repeatedly says “pashya” or behold, to underscore this point.
 
If a teenager who is an ardent fan of Spiderman somehow manages to meet him in person, what would his reaction be? It is astonishment, “aascharya”, which is defined as “that which makes us go aah”, that which makes our mouth wide open for a very long time. Shri Krishna, further describing his form, says that these sights are nothing short of pure astonishment.