Chapter XI · Śloka 44
तस्मात्प्रणम्य प्रणिधाय कायं
प्रसादये त्वामहमीशमीड्यम् |
पितेव पुत्रस्य सखेव सख्युः
प्रियः प्रियायार्हसि देव सोढुम् ||
प्रसादये त्वामहमीशमीड्यम् |
पितेव पुत्रस्य सखेव सख्युः
प्रियः प्रियायार्हसि देव सोढुम् ||
tasmāt praṇamya praṇidhāya kāyaṃ
prasādaye tvām aham īśam īḍyam |
piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuḥ
priyaḥ priyāyārhasi deva soḍhum ||
prasādaye tvām aham īśam īḍyam |
piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuḥ
priyaḥ priyāyārhasi deva soḍhum ||
Therefore, bowing down and prostrating my body before You, O adorable Lord, I seek Your grace. As a father bears with a son, as a friend with a friend, as a lover with the beloved, please bear with me, O God.
In his petition Arjuna invokes the three tenderest human relationships — father and son, friend and friend, lover and beloved — to ask for the forbearance only intimacy can give. He has discovered that terror and love can occupy the same moment.