If the light of a thousand suns were to rise at once together in the sky, it might be comparable to the splendor of that great form of the Self.

Divi sūrya-sahasrasya — of a thousand suns in the sky — Arjuna seeks an analogy for the indescribable brilliance. Bhaved yugapad utthitā — were to rise simultaneously.

Yadi bhāḥ sadṛśī — if such light were comparable — it could barely equal it. Sā syāt — it might be. Bhāsaḥ tasya mahātmanaḥ — the splendor of that great form of the Self.

This analogy fails: the material sun has an origin; the viśvarūpa is self-illuminated.