Chapter 10 · Verse 37·Spoken by Krishna
वृष्णीनां वासुदेवोऽस्मि पाण्डवानां धनंजयः। मुनीनामप्यहं व्यासः कवीनामुशना कविः
vṛiṣhṇīnāṁ vāsudevo ’smi pāṇḍavānāṁ dhanañjayaḥ munīnām apyahaṁ vyāsaḥ kavīnām uśhanā kaviḥ
Among the Vrishnis I am Krishna; among the Pandavas, Arjuna. Among the sages I am Vyasa; among the seers, Ushanas.
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
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Convergence
rishna names four eminences within four classes, and the commentators agree on who they are. Among the Vrishnis (the Yadava clan, the descendants of Yadu) he is Vasudeva. Among the Pandavas he is Dhananjaya, which is Arjuna himself, the very man he is addressing. Among the munis (sages, those given to deep reflection) he is Vyasa, the compiler of the Veda, also called Krishna Dvaipayana or Badarayana. And among the kavis (here meaning seer-poets, the wise) he is Ushanas, who is identified by name as Shukra. The verse is one more entry in the chapter's roll of vibhutis, the special manifestations through which the one Lord can be recognized.
Braided from 13 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrī Ānandagiri
The commentators unpack what kind of excellence each name marks, so the list is not just four names but four peaks. A muni is not simply a quiet person but one whose habit is manana, sustained reflection, one who by pondering comes to see the truth of the meaning of things; Vyasa is the foremost of these, the sage who reflects on the meaning of the Veda. A kavi is read not as a versifier but as a seer of far sight, a discerner of subtle meaning, one who shows faultless sound and word; Ushanas-Shukra is the foremost of these. In each class the Lord is to be recognized as the chief, the one who stands at the top of the kind.
Braided from 9 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrīla Baladeva · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrī Puruṣottama · Vallabhācārya
A striking feature here is that the Lord names himself and names Arjuna in the same breath. By 'among the Vrishnis I am Vasudeva' he points to his own present form, the friend and teacher standing beside Arjuna; by 'among the Pandavas I am Dhananjaya' he names the listener himself as a vibhuti. Several commentators feel the warmth of this: the devotee is drawn right into the vibhuti-roll alongside the Lord, and Arjuna, hearing himself named, is meant to take it as the Lord drawing him into the contemplative field. Vedantadeshika and Sridhara especially read the doubled naming as the chapter's quiet intimacy, the bhakta enrolled beside the divine.
Braided from 8 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīla Viśvanātha
Because Krishna is here naming his own incarnational form, the commentators take care to say in what sense this counts as a 'glory' (vibhuti) rather than just the Lord being himself. The point of listing the Lord directly, several say, is so that he may be contemplated in that very form; the naming is for the sake of meditation. Ramanuja puts it that being the son of Vasudeva is itself the glory here, since there is nothing higher to point beyond it. Ramsukhdas adds the balancing note that this naming is from the standpoint of the world: in his own essential nature (svarupa) he is none other than Bhagavan himself, and indeed every vibhuti in this chapter is, in truth (tattva), of the very form of the Supreme.
Braided from 7 commentators
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Ramsukhdas · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
Divergence
Bhakti
The Gaudiya commentators insist that 'Vasudeva' here cannot mean Krishna's own original supreme form, because that form, being the source itself, cannot be counted as a mere glory among glories. So Vasudeva is read as the son of Vasudeva understood as Sankarshana (Balarama), or as the father Vasudeva named as the Lord's manifestation. The reasoning is grammatical and theological together: the suffix that forms 'Vasudeva' is the self-referential one (Panini 5.4.38), and since the verse does not say 'among the Vrishnis I myself am,' it is not meant to point to Krishna's own svarupa. Even where avatara-forms like Vamana or Kapila are directly the Lord, they are listed as glories only because they are portions that have not displayed all their powers, or so that one may meditate on them in that form.
Śrīla Baladeva · Śrīla Viśvanātha
Dvaita
The Dvaita reading mines the names etymologically to show the Lord's all-pervasiveness. 'Vasudeva' is parsed from the root vas: he covers all (acchadayati), he causes all to dwell (vasayati), and he himself dwells (vasati); the Moksha-dharma is cited, 'I cover the whole world like the sun with its rays, and I am the dwelling-place of all beings, therefore I am Vasudeva.' Likewise 'Vyasa' is parsed not merely as the sage but as 'one distinguished above all and gone on every side,' that is, the all-pervader; scripture is quoted that he is below and above, behind and in front, to the south and the north, standing within and without all that is seen or heard, as Narayana pervading everything. So even the proper names are read as titles of God's omnipresence.
Madhvācārya · Śrī Jayatīrtha
Śuddhādvaita
Vallabha reads the verse through vibhuti as concentrated divine power and offers an alternative on the Vrishni name. He glosses Dhananjaya's excellence as the unswerving exertion of the resolute who hold firm toward the fruit, and he notes the elders' teaching that 'born in Vasudeva's house I am the dharma-formed, elsewhere I am the mere one.' He also offers a second reading of 'Vasudeva': it may be the son of Vasudeva who is Balabhadra (Balarama) who is the Lord's vibhuti. He grounds Arjuna's inclusion in the old identification that Nara is a portion of Narayana, so the Pandava named is genuinely a divine portion.
Vallabhācārya
A Seeker Asks
If Krishna is the supreme Lord standing right there, why does he file himself and even his own friend Arjuna into a list of 'glories' as though they were items alongside everything else?
The naming is a teaching device, not a demotion. Several commentators say the Lord lists himself directly here precisely so that he may be contemplated in that very form; the entry exists for the sake of meditation, to give the mind a face to hold.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīla Baladeva
The standpoint matters. From the world's side these are glories one can pick out and recognize; from the side of his own essential nature Krishna is none other than Bhagavan himself, and in truth every vibhuti in the chapter is of the very form of the Supreme. The list does not reduce him; it translates him into terms the world can see.
Swami Ramsukhdas
Arjuna's inclusion is the intimate point, not a category error. By naming his listener as Dhananjaya among the Pandavas in the same breath as naming himself, the Lord draws the devotee into the contemplative field, enrolling the bhakta beside the divine; the old teaching that Nara is a portion of Narayana shows the named friend is a genuine divine portion, not a stranger slipped into the roll.
Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Vallabhācārya
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