Bhagavad Gita Verse 44, Chapter 11

tasmaatpranamya pranidhaaya kaayam prasaadaye tvaamahameeshameedyam |
piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuhu priyaha priyaayaarhasi deva sodhum || 44 ||
 
Therefore, prostrating my body, bowing down, I beg you to be pleased, O Ishvara, worthy of worship. Like a father tolerates his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved, so should you tolerate (me), O Lord.
 
tasmaat : therefore
pranamya : bow
pranidhaaya : prostrating
kaayam : body
prasaadaye : pleased
tvaam : you
aham : I
eesham : Ishvara
eedyam : worthy of worship
pitaa : father
eva : like
putrasya : son
sakhaa : friend
eva : like
sakhyuhu : friend
priyaha : lover
priyaahaa : beloved
arhasi : should
deva : O Lord
sodhum : tolerate
 
This shloka evokes an illustration from The Mundaka Upanishad of two birds sitting on the branch of a tree. The two birds are friends. One bird, symbolizing the human condition, is completely engrossed in enjoying the fruit of the tree. This bird doesn’t realize that it has developed an attachment to the fruit, and that the fruit will eventually become the cause of its sorrow. Similarly, we do not realize that the more we get stuck in objects, the more the objects get stuck to us. The Gita has repeatedly pointed out this theme.
 
Now, the second bird on that branch symbolizes the Ishvara principle. It does not get attached to the fruit, it simply watches the show as a passive onlooker. The first bird is so engrossed in its sense enjoyments that it never pays attention to the second bird. Like Arjuna, and like all of us, the first bird is stuck in the delusion of the material world. The moment the first bird stops its indulgence and looks at the second bird, its bondage is snapped. Without the help of this Ishvara principle, we cannot extricate ourselves from the pull of the senses. For most of us, this Ishvara principle is our teacher, our guru.
 
So through this shloka, we are instructed to completely surrender ourselves in prostration to that Ishvara principle. When Arjuna undertook a “saashtaanga namaskaara”, a total surrender of his body through prostration, he referred to SHri Krishna as his friend, recalling the illustration of the two birds who were friends. Arjuna asked for a father’s forgiveness, a friend’s forgiveness and the beloved’s forgiveness - three categories of forgiveness since he wanted all of these from Shri Krishna.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 35, Chapter 11

Sanjaya uvaacha:
etatchchutvaa vachanam keshavasya kritaanjalirvepamaanaha kireetee |
namaskritvaa bhooya evaaha krishnam sagadgadam bheetabheetaha pranamya || 35 ||
 
Sanjaya said:
Hearing this statement of Keshava, the crowned one with folded palms, trembling, offered salutations, bowed, and even though fear struck, addressed Krishna in a choked voice.
 
etat : this
shrutvaa : hearing
vachanam : statement
keshavasya : of Keshava
kritaanjalihi : folded palms
vepamaanaha : trembling
kireetee : the crowned one
namaskritvaa : offered salutations
bhooyaha : then
eva : even
aaha : addressed
krishnam : Krishna
sagadgadam : choked voice
bheetabheetaha : fear struck
pranamya : bowed
 
While Arjuna experienced a high degree of fear mixed with confusion in the first chapter, he now demonstrated tremendous gratitude and joy after knowing that the war had been pre-ordained in his favour. The fear had not subsided fully, that is why his voice was choked and his body was trembling. Since there was a bit of a gap between Shri Krishna proclamation and Arjuna’s next statement, Sanjaya stepped in to narrate this shloka.
 
Shri Shankaraachaarya in his commentary adds an extra dimension to Sanjaya’s interjection. Since Shri Krishna had already declared the upcoming death of the Kaurava army’s star warriors, Dhritraashtra could still have had one last opportunity to end the war at this very moment. Without saying it explicitly, Sanjaya asked: would he issue a command to stop the war now? He used the word “crown” to imply that Arjuna’s coronation as the crown prince of the kingdom was not too far away.
 
Unfortunately, Sanjaya’s plea fell on deaf ears. Dhritraashtra’s attachment to his sons was so great that even a revelation from Ishvara himself could not unsettle it. But even he knew that the fate of his sons was already sealed. The downward spiral caused by attachment has been illustrated with several examples in earlier chapters of the Gita. Perhaps this example of Dhritraashtra is one of the most hard hitting ones, since attachment to family is something that all of us identify with.
 
So then, what did Arjuna say to Shri Krishna? We shall see next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 14, Chapter 11

tataha sa vismayaavishto hrishtaromaa dhananjaya |
pranamya shirasaa devam kritaanjalirabhaashata || 14 ||
 
Thereafter, filled with bewilderment, his hair standing on end, Dhananjaya, with folded hands, bowed his head to the lord and began to speak.
 
tataha : thereafter
saha : he
vismaya : bewilderment
avishtaha : filled with
hrishtaromaaha : hair standing on end
dhananjaya : Dhananjaya
pranamya : bowed
shirasaa : his head
devam : to the lord
kritaanjalihi : with folded hands
abhaashata : said
 
So far, Arjuna was reeling under the shock of viewing the cosmic form of Ishvara. Sanjaya paints a wonderful picture of Arjuna’s reaction to this earth-shattering event. Filled with awe and astonishment, Arjuna’s body reacted with goose bumps. Once the extent of the shock receded to some extent, he gained back his faculties and mustered the energy to start speaking again.
 
Another aspect of this shloka is revealed by the phrase “bowed his head to the lord”. Arjuna, scion of the great Kuru dynasty was a proud warrior, one of the finest archers in the land. There were few instances in his life where he faced a situation that would have humbled him. Seeing the entire universe in one tiny corner of the cosmic form put his accomplishments in the right perspective, taking all his pride away. He realized that he was nothing, his greatness was nothing compared to the glory of that infinite Ishvara.
 
So whenever we feel we have accomplished something great, whenever our ego starts to puff up, or even when we feel our personal problems are weighing down upon us, we should do what Arjuna did: fold our hands and bow our head to Ishvara. Our feats and problems are tiny compared to the expanse and power of Ishvara’s universe.
 
Arjuna begins to describe Ishvara’s cosmic form in the next shloka.