Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 10, Verse 15: Krishna to Arjuna — Vibhūti-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  You alone, O Puruṣottama (supreme among persons), know yourself by yourself — knowing the Lord endowed with unsurpassed knowledge, sovereignty, and all other powers (niratiśaya-jñāna-aiśvarya-bala-ādi-śaktimat). No other being can comprehend you from outside, for the object and instrument of this knowing are identical. The epithets — Bhūtabhāvana (cause of all beings), Bhūteśa (ruler of all beings), Devadeva (god of gods), Jagatpate (lord of the universe) — are not ornamental; they specify the dimensions of what cannot be known except by the knower himself.

  divergence: Śaṅkara: 'svayam eva ātmanā ātmānaṃ vettha jānāsi tvaṃ niratiśaya-jñāna-aiśvarya-bala-ādi-śaktimat īśvaraṃ Puruṣottama' — the self-reflexive structure of the verse is the doctrine: Brahman as subject and object of its own knowledge, inaccessible from without.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  O Puruṣottama, you know yourself by your own knowledge (svena eva jñānena) — the epithets expanding the content of that self-knowledge outward: Bhūtabhāvana (originator of all beings), Bhūteśa (regulator of all), Devadeva (supreme divinity even above the devas who already surpass humans and animals in auspicious qualities). Just as devas surpass humans in beauty and excellence (saundarya-sauśīlya-ādi-kalyāṇa-guṇa-gaṇa), you surpass all devas in those same qualities without limit — O Jagatpate, master of the universe.

  divergence: Rāmānuja's explicit comparison: 'yathā manuṣya-mṛga-pakṣi-sarīsṛpādīn saundarya-sauśīlya-ādi-kalyāṇa-guṇa-gaṇaiḥ daivatāni atītya vartante tathā tāni sarvāṇi daivatāni api taiḥ taiḥ guṇaiḥ atītya vartamāna' — a graduated hierarchy of auspicious qualities, Bhagavān at the apex.

• Madhvadvaita

  The verse's epithets converge on the identity of Pūrṇa Brahman (paripūrṇam): you are called supreme because you are bṛhat (vast, from √bṛh, to grow), the one who causes growth — as affirmed by śruti ('bṛhad bṛhatyā bṛṃhayati'). Your being 'vibhu' (all-pervasive) is grounded in the Vāruṇa-śākhā testimony ('vibhu prabhu prathamaṃ mehanāvataḥ'). Self-knowledge here is Hari's own infinite cognition, entirely inaccessible to jīvas who are eternally and essentially distinct.

  divergence: Madhva pivots from the verse epithets to Vedic śruti proof-texts (Taittirīya, Ṛgveda Vāruṇa-śākhā, Mahābhārata 13.149.9) establishing Brahman's fullness, pervasiveness, and causation — confirming the epithets by independent scriptural testimony.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  You know yourself by yourself alone — not through any other means or instrument (na sādhanāntareṇa). The knowing and the known are identical with your own svarūpa (essential nature), requiring no external sādhana. This is the fullness of Kṛṣṇa's svayaṃ-prakāśa (self-luminosity): the bhakta who approaches through Puṣṭi-mārga's grace does not manufacture this knowing but is drawn into its light as prasāda.

  divergence: Vallabha is concise: 'svayam eva vettha iti tad apy ātmanā, na sādhanāntareṇa' — the emphasis on ātmanā (by himself alone) ruling out all external instruments is the doctrinal pivot; self-knowledge here is svarūpa-jñāna, not acquired cognition.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  You alone know yourself by yourself — no other knows you, and even that knowing is by your own power alone (svenaiva vettha), not by any external means (na sādhanāntareṇa). Arjuna's repeated and reverent addresses are not decorative: Puruṣottama (supreme person), Bhūtabhāvana (origin of all beings), Bhūteśa (regulator of beings), Devadeva (illuminator of the devas as the sun illuminates), Jagatpate (sustainer of the universe) — these are hetu-garbha (reason-carrying) epithets, each containing the warrant for why Kṛṣṇa alone can be known only by himself.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'atyādareṇa bahudhā saṃbodhayati… puruṣottamatve hetu-garbhāṇi saṃbodhanāni' — the epithets are logically laden, not merely affectionate; 'devānām ādityādīnāṃ deva prakāśaka' glosses Devadeva as the illuminator of illuminators.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Because you are the origin of all and impossible to know for others, you alone know yourself — both your nirūpādhika (unconditioned) aspect as the inner witness beyond objectification, and your sopādhika (conditioned) aspect endowed with unsurpassed knowledge and sovereignty. Madhusūdana's escalating quartet of addresses reveals a theological architecture: Bhūtabhāvana (father of all) → Bhūteśa (regulator) → Devadeva (object of worship even for all worshipped beings) → Jagatpate (sustainer through Veda-promulgation) — each step answering a residual insufficiency in the previous relationship, culminating in the recognition that you are simultaneously father, teacher, king, and the one worthy of worship by all.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'pitā api kaścin neṣṭas tatrāha heBhūteśa… niyantā api kaścin nārādhyas tatrāha he Devadeva… ārādhyo api kaścin na pālayitṛtvena patis tatrāha he Jagatpate' — the four epithets form a dialectical ascent, each negating the insufficiency of the prior category.