सञ्जय उवाच -
एवमुक्त्वा ततो राजन्महायोगेश्वरो हरिः ।
दर्शयामास पार्थाय परमं रूपमैश्वरम् ।। ११.९ ।।

sañjaya uvāca -
evam-uktvā tato rājan-mahā-yogeśvaro hariḥ |
darśayām-āsa pārthāya paramaṁ rūpam-aiśvaram || 11.9 ||

At this point, it is significant that Vyasadeva brings Sanjaya to the scene, as if to provide a timely interception. In response to Arjuna’s appeal and submission, Krishna poses himself magnificently. Moved deeply by it, Arjuna too stands in full piety and resignation to see what Krishna would do. His ordinary vision is replaced by the new perception gifted by Krishna. What follows is highly exciting, exhilarating, impregnated with lofty message and import. Sanjaya says:

O King! Stating thus, Lord Hari, who is the great Yogesvara, revealed to Arjuna, the son of Prtha, that supreme divine form.

Sanjaya speaks to Dhrtarashtra, who in the beginning had intercepted him by enquiring, “Tell me what transpired in the battlefield, between my sons and those of Pandu”. What would the soldiers assembled in a war field do, except battling? But Dhrtarashtra was not obviously wanting to know whether they did fight or not. For the war had already begun and some crucial days had also passed in fighting. The King’s enquiry therefore virtually meant “what other than fighting did take place in Kurukshetra, as a prelude or otherwise”.

Sanjaya, in answer, relates the exceptional course of events that transpired after the last minute war cries were raised by both parties, and the discharge of arrows was about to commence. Arjuna who had Krishna as his charioteer, suddenly changed his mood and began to wonder about the very nature and consequences of the war. This led to an array of moral and philosophical doubts and questions in him. It was in pursuit of addressing this sudden crisis of Arjuna, that the Bhagavad Gita dialogue became necessary.

The Sage Author, before the war became an event, felt it expedient to gift Sanjaya the special power to see – without being himself seen by others – all the events on the battlefield. As a result, Sanjaya started moving freely everywhere in Kurukshetra to find out what all was going on overtly and covertly in both sides. In the process, he also was an observer of the Arjuna-Krishna dialogue, of which Visvarupa pradarsana was an integral part.