Vedapedia - Bhagavad Gita As It Is (1972)

BG 11.41–42

सखेति मत्वा प्रसभं यदुक्तं हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेति
अजानता महिमानं तवेदं मया प्रमादात्प्रणयेन वापि
यच्चावहासार्थमसत्कृतो ’सि विहारशय्यासनभोजनेषु
एको ’थ वाप्यच्युत तत्समक्षं तत्क्षामये त्वामहमप्रमेयम्

sakheti matvā prasabhaṃ yad uktaṃ
he kṛṣṇa he yādava he sakheti
ajānatā mahimānaṃ tavedaṃ
mayā pramādāt praṇayena vāpi
yac cāvahāsārtham asatkṛto ’si
vihāraśayyāsanabhojaneṣu
eko ’tha vāpy acyuta tatsamakṣaṃ
tat kṣāmaye tvām aham aprameyam

SYNONYMS

TRANSLATION

I have in the past addressed You as “O Kṛṣṇa,” “O Yādava,” “O my friend,” without knowing Your glories. Please forgive whatever I may have done in madness or in love. I have dishonored You many times while relaxing or while lying on the same bed or eating together, sometimes alone and sometimes in front of many friends. Please excuse me for all my offenses.

PURPORT

Although Kṛṣṇa is manifested before Arjuna in His universal form, Arjuna remembers his friendly relationship with Kṛṣṇa and is therefore asking pardon and requesting Him to excuse him for the many informal gestures which arise out of friendship. He is admitting that formerly he did not know that Kṛṣṇa could assume such a universal form, although He explained it as his intimate friend. Arjuna did not know how many times he may have dishonored Him by addressing Him as “O my friend, O Kṛṣṇa, O Yādava,” etc., without acknowledging His opulence. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind and merciful that in spite of such opulence He played with Arjuna as a friend. Such is the transcendental loving reciprocation between the devotee and the Lord. The relationship between the living entity and Kṛṣṇa is fixed eternally; it cannot be forgotten, as we can see from the behavior of Arjuna. Although Arjuna has seen the opulence in the universal form, he could not forget his friendly relationship with Kṛṣṇa.