Bhagavad Gita 11.31
आख्याहि मे को भवानुग्ररूपो नमोऽस्तु ते देववर प्रसीद | विज्ञातुमिच्छामि भवन्तमाद्यं न हि प्रजानामि तव प्रवृत्तिम् ||
ākhyāhi me ko bhavān ugra-rūpo namo'stu te deva-vara prasīda | vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṁ na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim ||
Translation
Tell me who you are, of fierce form. Salutation to you, O best of gods, be gracious. I wish to know you, the primal one, for I do not understand your activity.
Reflection
When did you last stop praising long enough to ask the named one what He is doing?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eleven
Tell me who you are, of fierce form. Salutation to you, best of gods, be gracious. I wish to know you, the primal one, for I do not understand your activity. Akhyahi me ko bhavan. Tell me who you are. The seer who has been hymning now stops and asks. The form he has been praising is unmistakably Krishna in one sense, and yet what it is doing he cannot place. Pravritti, activity, is the precise word. He understands the form. He does not understand the activity. The next word will be Krishna's answer, and the answer will name what no other answer in the Gita names. The build of the chapter has been pointed at this question.