Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 11

tatrakastham jagatkritsnam pravibhaktamanekadhaa |
apashyaddevedasya shareere paandavastadaa || 13 ||
 
Then, the Paandava saw the entire universe with many divisions located in one place in the body of that lord of lords.
 
tatra : that
ekastham : located in one place
jagat : universe
kritsnam : entire
pravibhaktam : with many divisions
anekadhaa : several
apashyat : saw
devedasya : lord of lords
shareere : in the body
paandavaha : the Paandava
tadaa : then
 
Previously, Arjuna was overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of Ishvara’s cosmic form. There was so much going on, so many shapes and forms, that he did not know where to look. He took some time to get accustomed to the radiance emitted from that form. Now that his vision became a little clearer, he saw the entire universe with the earth, the sky, the oceans, animals, plants, trees and humans in one tiny corner of that vast cosmic form.
 
Sant Jnyanadeva provides some illustrations to convey the how small the universe looked. It was like a few atoms on Mount Meru, a few bubbles in the vast ocean and an ant-hill on planet earth. Such was the vastness of the cosmic form that even our universe looked puny. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, we see a similar description. Yashoda saw herself and her village in a tiny corner of the universe that was situated in the yawning toddler Shri Krishna’s mouth.
 
In this shloka, Arjuna quite literally saw “the big picture”. Like us, he was concerned and preoccupied with his problems, his challenges and his worries. He now came face to face with “ananta koti brahmanda naayaka”, the lord of an infinite number of universes. When Arjuna saw Ishvara’s cosmic form, he realized that the universe is nothing but a small fraction of Ishvara’s creation. The tiny wave realized how huge the ocean really is.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 20, Chapter 2

na jaayate mriyate vaa kadaachinnaayam bhootvaa bhavitaa vaa na bhooyaha |
ajo nityaha shaashvatoyam puraano na hanyate hanyamaane shareere || 20 ||
 
It (the eternal essence) is neither born, nor does it ever die; nor is it that having come into existence, it will again cease to exist. It is birthless, eternal, changeless and primeval, it is not slain when the body is killed.
 
na : not
jaayate : born
mriyate : dies
vaa : and
kadaachita : ever
na : not
ayam : this
bhootvaa : having come into existence
abhavitaa : ceases to be
vaa na : it is not the case that
bhooyaha : again
ajaha : birthless
nityaha : timeless
shaashvataha : changeless
puraano : primeval
na hanyate : slain
hanyamaane : when slain
shareere : the body
 
This shloka reinforces the attributes of the eternal essence that we have seen so far, that it is eternal and changeless. Any material object, including the human body, goes through six types of modifications: birth, exist, change, grow, decay, and to perish. The eternal essence is beyond all these modifications, hence it is changeless.
 
Two additional qualities of the eternal essence are provided here. The first is that it is birthless. It is logical that it should be birthless, otherwise it could not be eternal and timeless. And since it is birthless, it would have always existed, therefore it is primeval.
 
Note the change in meter to highlight the importance of this shloka.
 
Footnotes
1. "Om namoji aadya" is the very first ovi or stanza of the Jnyaneshwari. Sant Jnyaneshwar invokes the primeval quality of the eternal essence by using the word "aadya" which means primeval.