śhrī-bhagavān uvācha
su-durdarśham idaṁ rūpaṁ dṛiṣhṭavān asi yan mama
devā apy asya rūpasya nityaṁ darśhana-kāṅkṣhiṇaḥ
śhrī-bhagavān uvācha — the Supreme Lord said;
su-durdarśham — exceedingly difficult to behold;
idam — this;
rūpam — form;
dṛiṣhṭavān asi — that you are seeing;
yat — which;
mama — of mine;
devāḥ — the celestial gods;
api — even;
asya — this;
rūpasya — form;
nityam — eternally;
darśhana-kāṅkṣhiṇaḥ — aspiring to see;
In this verse, Lord Krishna is talking to Arjuna about the special form that he is witnessing. Krishna mentions that this form is really hard to see, even for powerful beings called demigods, who are like gods in some ways. They are always looking for chances to see this amazing form.
The earlier verse talked about how not everyone can see this universal form of God. People usually try to reach the divine through practices like studying scriptures, fasting, or doing good deeds, but simply doing those things doesn’t guarantee you will see Him. You need something deeper, which is called 'bhakti,' or devotion.
Here, when Krishna says his form is 'sudurdarsam,' it means that it’s not just rare, it’s really, really special and hard to grasp visually. Think about it like seeing a rare diamond; it’s beautiful and hard to find at the same time.
Krishna explains that his two-armed form, the one most familiar to people, is even harder to see. This is surprising because you might think that the more you practice spirituality, the more you can see divine forms. However, Krishna emphasizes that even important celestial beings, like Brahma and Shiva—who have great spiritual power—desire to witness Him and often come down to see Him when He is born on earth, for example, in the story of Krishna’s birth.
In short, this verse highlights that seeing Krishna in His most loved two-armed form is incredibly special and precious, so much so that even demigods yearn for a glimpse of it. This craving to experience God’s true form shows how divine and unique this experience is, which is far beyond what regular human efforts can achieve alone. Only true devotion can lead to such an experience.