adrsta-purvam hrsito ’smi drishtva
bhayena ca pravyathitam mano me
tad eva me darsaya deva rupam
prasida devesa jagan-nivasa

"After seeing this universal form, which I have never seen before, I am gladdened, but at the same time, my mind is disturbed with fear. Therefore please bestow Your grace upon me and reveal again Your form as the Personality of Godhead, O Lord of lords, O abode of the universe."

First, all the words by which Arjuna addresses the Lord. Deva = Merciful, devesa = Leader of all gods, jagan-nivasa = Supporter of the Universe. Since the Lord is Deva - full of mercy, He ought to pardon Arjuna. The Lord can not direct Arjuna to other gods either, because He was the Leader of all other gods like lord Brahma, lord Shiva, lord Varuna, etc. This is what Swami Desika also told in the sloka 'tvayi rakshati rakshakai kim ananyai' - who else is needed to protect when the Lord has decided to protect? By telling jagan nivasa Arjuna tells that for everyone in the Universe, He was the sole asylum or refuge. Drishtva = [Arjuna has] seen, adrsta-poorvam = earlier unseen, hrsitosmi = delighted [I, Arjuna, am]. Arjuna says that earlier he had never seen such an image [of Viswaroopam] nor heard of. By seeing such unseen and unheard of the image, Arjuna was delighted. At the same time, fear grips him. Me mana = My [Arjuna's] mind, bhayena= out of fear, pravyathitam = shivering. Though Arjuna was wonderstruck at seeing an image seen never before, yet the frightening image caused fear in him. Me = to me [Arjuna], darsaya = show, tad eva rupam = the same image or form [of Sri Krishna], prasida = please favour. Arjuna requests the Lord to return back to His usual form as Sri Krishna. Why Arjuna makes this prayer, has to be connected with Two incidents. One happened in Sri Rama Avatar and the other when Sri Krishna was a Seven-year-old Boy. Sri Rama had destroyed Ravana. All the Devas assembled in the sky, including Dasaratha. All of them prayed the Lord and praised Him. Lord Shiva, lord Brahma, and others were all there. Lord Brahma tells that Sri Rama was none other than Sriman Narayana. His mission was over and so He should return to Sri Vaikuntam. At that time Sri Rama replied that He did not want to be addressed as Devadeva and Sriman Narayana. 'Atmanam manusham manye ramam dasarathatmajam' - 'consider Me [Sri Rama ] as a human and son of Dasaratha'. This is one incident. Next, in Gokulam, Indra wanted to destroy the gopis and gopikas, and so for Seven days continuously poured rain. All gopis, gopikas and the cattle sought the protection of Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna decided to protect them as it was at His persuasion that the annual offerings of food were done to Govardhana hill instead of Indra. Now, Indra was angry as he was deprived of the offering. Sri Krishna told the Yadavas to offer to Govardhana, as He was the inner soul of Govardhana also. So He decided to protect them with the same Govardhana. Alwar says that the Lord protected the stone shower by raising another stone [kalledutthu kan mari katthan கல் எடுத்து கன் மாரி காத்தான்]. Swami Periyavacchan Pillai in his commentary says that since stones were rained, the Lord used another stone to protect. Had it been a shower of oceans, He would have used ocean itself to protect! Even now in Nathdwara, in Rajasthan, the Lord is Sri Govardhana Giridhari. All gopis viewed the Lord with awe. Such a little boy was lifting a huge hill and protecting them. Was He a Deva or Gandharva or Rakshasa or Yaksha? They asked Him. The Lord replied 'na aham deva: na rakshasa: na gandharva: - I [Sri Krishna] am not deva or rakshasa or gandharva'. 'Aham wo bhandavyo jata: - I am one related to you all'. He threatened that if they doubted Him to be any other, then He would drop the hill He was holding and would go away. Sri Krishna told them that He was like one among them all. In both incidents, the same concept is emphasized by both Sri Rama and Sri Krishna. Arjuna reminds Him that since He was one among them, He should pardon Arjuna. Like a father to son, like a friend to another, like a lover to darling, He should show same tolerance and forgive Arjuna. Arjuna has realized the eminence of the Lord and he wants to see the same form he was accustomed to. We will now take leave of Tiruvelukkai Kshetram
                                                                                                    (continued)