Chapter 10 · Verse 35·Spoken by Krishna
बृहत्साम तथा साम्नां गायत्री छन्दसामहम्। मासानां मार्गशीर्षोऽहमृतूनां कुसुमाकरः
bṛihat-sāma tathā sāmnāṁ gāyatrī chhandasām aham māsānāṁ mārga-śhīrṣho ’ham ṛitūnāṁ kusumākaraḥ
Among the Sama hymns, I am the Brihat-sama. Among meters, I am the Gayatri. Among the months, I am Margashirsha. Among the seasons, I am spring, when the flowers come.
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
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Convergence
rishna keeps naming his vibhutis, his special glories, by picking the finest member of each class. He has already said elsewhere that among the Vedas he is the Samaveda; here he zooms in further. Among the Saman chants he names the Brihat-saman as himself. The commentators identify this as a particular chant set to the words of a specific Rik verse (most cite the line beginning 'we invoke you indeed'), and they note it is used as an after-praise chant (prishtha-stotra) in a great soma rite, sung in praise of Indra as the Lord of all. Krishna is that chant because it stands supreme among the Samans.
Braided from 15 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas
Among the meters (chhandas, the fixed syllabic patterns that shape Vedic verses) Krishna is the Gayatri. The commentators dwell on why this meter is the best of all. It is the verse that confers the 'second birth' on the twice-born: the initiated student is reborn through the Gayatri, so it is called the mother of that spiritual birth. Several add a further reason drawn from scripture: when the meters flew to fetch the Soma, only the Gayatri succeeded, carrying back both the lost syllables and the Soma itself, which is why it is held to pervade all the pressings of the rite. Some go further still and quote the Chandogya that 'the Gayatri is indeed all this that has come to be,' treating it as an embodiment of Brahman. Because of this supremacy, Krishna is the Gayatri.
Braided from 14 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda
Among the twelve months Krishna is Margashirsha. The commentators explain the name and the choice: it is the month in which the full moon joins the Mrigashira constellation, and it is singled out for its richness in fresh, ripe grain and produce, and for being free of harsh cold and heat, so it brings happiness. Some note that in older reckoning the year began with this month, giving it the place of honor.
Braided from 10 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Vedānta Deśika · Śrī Puruṣottama · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Vallabhācārya · Śrīla Baladeva
Among the six seasons Krishna is the flower-bringing spring (kusumakara, literally the 'mine' or maker of flowers). The commentators praise it as the most delightful season, the source of all fragrant flowers, free of extremes of cold and heat. Several anchor its sacredness in scriptural injunctions that ritual acts belong to spring: the brahmin's initiation, the setting up of the sacred fires, and the seasonal sacrifices are all to be begun in spring, which is called the brahmin's own season. Because it surpasses the other seasons in loveliness and auspiciousness, Krishna is the spring.
Braided from 13 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda
Across all four items the underlying logic is the same and the commentators state it openly: Krishna is not claiming to be every chant, meter, month, or season, but the best, the chief, the most excellent member of each class. The recurring word is supremacy or excellence (shraishtha). The vibhuti is shown wherever some thing stands at the head of its kind, because that pre-eminence is itself a trace of the divine.
Braided from 7 commentators
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Ramsukhdas · Śrī Puruṣottama
Divergence
Bhakti
These devotional commentators read the season specially as a marker of the Lord's eternal play. For one, spring is not only auspicious by scripture and delightful even to lifeless things, but is the unceasing condition of Vrndavana, so contemplating spring is contemplating the divine lover-Lord himself, the very ground of his perpetual lila. For the other, the spring excels the other seasons in part because it is the occasion of the Lord's own festivals. On this reading the glory of spring points past natural beauty to Krishna's own playful presence.
Vallabhācārya · Śrīla Baladeva
Śuddhādvaita
This school frames each item explicitly as a 'vibhuti,' a glory meant for the devotee's contemplation. The Gayatri is to be meditated upon by the Lord's servants precisely because it makes his own form known, and Margashirsha is his glory because it is a time fit for the fulfillment of desires and for enjoyment. The list is read less as cosmology and more as a set of supports the devotee is to dwell on to reach the Lord.
Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
A Seeker Asks
If these are all just 'the best of their kind,' why would Krishna call the spring season or a particular month a special glory of God at all?
The point is exactly that pre-eminence itself is the clue. Krishna is not claiming to be every season or month, but the chief, most excellent member of each class, and the commentators repeatedly call this its supremacy or excellence. Wherever something stands clearly at the head of its kind, that very standing-out is presented as a trace of the divine.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Ramsukhdas
So the spring and Margashirsha are not chosen at random. The commentators give concrete reasons grounded in scripture and life: spring is the season scripture appoints for sacred beginnings, the initiation, the kindling of the fires, the seasonal sacrifices, and Margashirsha is the month rich in fresh grain and free of harsh extremes, once honored as the start of the year. Their excellence is real and recognizable, which is why it can serve as a window.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrī Ānandagiri · Swami Sivananda
And for the devotional commentators the glory is even more direct: spring is named as a glory because it is the very ground of the Lord's eternal play and the occasion of his festivals, so that dwelling on it is dwelling on him. The ordinary excellence of a season opens onto Krishna's own presence.
Vallabhācārya · Śrīla Baladeva
Contemplation
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