अर्जुन उवाच | परं ब्रह्म परं धाम पवित्रं परमं भवान् | पुरुषं शाश्वतं दिव्यमादिदेवमजं विभुम् || १२ ||
arjuna uvāca paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum
arjunaḥ uvāca—Arjuna said; param—supreme; brahma—Brahman; param—supreme; dhāma—abode; pavitram—pure; paramam—supreme; bhavān—You; puruṣam—person; śāśvatam—eternal; divyam—divine; ādi-devam—the original God; ajam—unborn; vibhum—the greatest.
“Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the supreme abode, the supreme purifier. You are the eternal, divine person — the primordial God, unborn and all-pervading.”
Arjuna's declaration here is not mere flattery but an expression of dawning realization. Each epithet — Param Brahma, Param Dhāma, Pavitram Paramam — progressively strips away any limited notion of the Divine. By the time this verse is complete, no finite category remains. This is the student recognizing, in the person of the teacher, the infinite itself.
Moments of genuine recognition of the sacred — in a teacher, in nature, in a piece of music, in another person's eyes — are glimpses of the same reality Arjuna is expressing here. Do not dismiss these moments as emotion. They are foretastes of a recognition that practice and grace will eventually make permanent.