Bhagavad Gita 11.5
श्रीभगवानुवाच | पश्य मे पार्थ रूपाणि शतशोऽथ सहस्रशः | नानाविधानि दिव्यानि नानावर्णाकृतीनि च ||
śrī-bhagavān uvāca | paśya me pārtha rūpāṇi śataśo'tha sahasraśaḥ | nānā-vidhāni divyāni nānā-varṇākṛtīni ca ||
Translation
The Deity said: Behold my forms, O son of Pritha, by hundreds and by thousands, of various kinds, divine, of various colours and shapes.
Reflection
Where do you reduce a teacher to one image when the showing is many?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eleven
Pashya. Behold. Krishna does not refuse. He opens the door at once and tells Arjuna where to look first. My forms, by hundreds and by thousands, of many kinds, divine, of many colours and shapes. The plural is the first warning. This will not be one striking shape but a teeming multiplicity. Nana-vidhani, of many kinds. Divyani, divine. Nana-varnakritini, of many colours and figures. Arjuna had asked for the form of sovereign power. Krishna shows him that the form will not be reducible to a single image. Sovereignty in Krishna is not the rule of one figure over a still scene. It is the standing of all figures and all scenes in one body. The plural prepares the next plural.