Bhagavad Gita 11.44
तस्मात्प्रणम्य प्रणिधाय कायं प्रसादये त्वामहमीशमीड्यम् | पितेव पुत्रस्य सखेव सख्युः प्रियः प्रियायार्हसि देव सोढुम् ||
tasmāt praṇamya praṇidhāya kāyaṁ prasādaye tvām aham īśam īḍyam | piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuḥ priyaḥ priyāyārhasi deva soḍhum ||
Translation
Therefore, bowing and prostrating my body, I crave your grace, O lord adorable. As a father to a son, as a friend to a friend, as a lover to a beloved, please bear with me, O god.
Reflection
From whom are you asking the kind of forbearance that intimacy itself grants?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eleven
Therefore, bowing and prostrating my body, I crave your favour, you the lord adorable. As a father to a son, as a friend to a friend, as a lover to a beloved, please bear with me, O god. Piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuh priyah priyaya arhasi deva soḍhum. The three relations are named in order. Father and son. Friend and friend. Lover and beloved. Each relation contains the readiness of the senior to bear with the junior. Soḍhum, to forgive, to bear. The verb means to put up with. Arjuna asks for the kind of forbearance that intimate relationships allow. The verse has done something rare. It has placed the cosmic form inside the registers of the most ordinary affection, and asked that one bear with the other in those registers.