Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 11, Verse 12

दिवि सूर्यसहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदुत्थिता |
यदि भा: सदृशी सा स्याद्भासस्तस्य महात्मन: || 12||

divi sūrya-sahasrasya bhaved yugapad utthitā
yadi bhāḥ sadṛiśhī sā syād bhāsas tasya mahātmanaḥ

divi—in the sky; sūrya—suns; sahasrasya—thousand; bhavet—were; yugapat—simultaneously; utthitā—rising; yadi—if; bhāḥ—splendor; sadṛiśhī—like; sā—that; syāt—would be; bhāsaḥ—splendor; tasya—of them; mahā-ātmanaḥ—the great personality

divi surya-sahasrasya bhaved yugapad utthita
yadi bhah sadrishi sa syad bhasas tasya mahatmanah

Translation

BG 11.12: If a thousand suns were to blaze forth together in the sky, they would not match the splendor of that great form.

Commentary

Sanjay now describes the effulgence of the universal form. To give an idea of its dazzling radiance, he compares it to thousands of suns blazing simultaneously in the midday sky. Actually, God’s effulgence is unlimited; it cannot be quantified in terms of the effulgence of the sun. However, narrators often describe the unknown by extrapolating from the known. The simile of a thousand suns expressed Sanjay’s perception that the splendor of the cosmic form had no parallels.