Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 10, Verse 16: Krishna to Arjuna — Vibhūti-Yoga
Tell me fully of your divine self-manifestations, by which you pervade and sustain these worlds, for only you know the measure of your own glory.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
Arjuna requests Kṛṣṇa to declare, without remainder (aśeṣeṇa), those divine self-manifestations (ātma-vibhūtayaḥ) by which the Lord pervades and sustains these worlds. Śaṅkara reads ātma-vibhūtayaḥ as the Lord's own sovereign greatness (māhātmya-vistara), not personal attributes separate from the Self — the vibhūtis are the expanse of the one ātman itself. The question is thus: 'Declare fully how the undivided Brahman appears differentiated as these worlds.'
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
Arjuna asks Kṛṣṇa to himself manifest (vyañjaya) those vibhūtis that are uniquely His own (tvad-asādhāraṇyaḥ) — no other can describe them because no other encompasses them. Rāmānuja underscores that Bhagavān pervades the worlds through specific modes of inner-regulation (niyamana-viśeṣaiḥ), not mere abstract omnipresence; the vibhūtis are the particular governing acts of the antaryāmin. Only the niyantā can enumerate His own niyamana.
- Madhvadvaita
Madhva's terse gloss reads vibhūtayaḥ as 'diverse existences' (vividha-bhūtayaḥ) — Hari's vibhūtis are the multiplicity of distinct beings that He brings forth, each utterly dependent on Him. On this reading the verse is Arjuna's acknowledgment that only Hari, who is categorically different from all jīvas, can enumerate the degrees of dependence among His creatures. The request is not for a catalogue of powers but for clarity on the ontological hierarchy that flows from Hari alone.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Because even the devas do not know Kṛṣṇa's vibhūtis (as just stated in 10.14–15), He alone is fit to declare them — hence vaktum arhasi. Vallabha specifies that these vibhūtis arise from Kṛṣṇa's own aṃśas (svāṃśa-bhavana-rūpaiḥ) and are qualitative attributes (guṇa-bhūtāḥ) as well as forms that are His very self (tadātma-bhūtāḥ); by these the three worlds are pervaded. The vibhūtis are thus not merely powers but self-expressions of Kṛṣṇa's ānanda-svarūpa in the mode of līlā.
- Śrīdharabhakti
Śrīdhara grounds the request in epistemology: Kṛṣṇa alone knows His own self-manifestation (tavābhivyaktiṃ tvam eva vetsi), which is why He alone is qualified (yogyaḥ) to declare it fully. The divine vibhūtis (ātmanas tava divyāḥ atyadbhutāḥ) are wondrous beyond ordinary comprehension; the qualifier divyā signals that they exceed the range of sense-perception and inference. The bhakta's request is thus an act of surrender — only the Beloved knows the full measure of His own glory.
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
Madhusūdana holds the two poles in tension: the vibhūtis are both necessarily knowable (avaśyaṃ jñātavyāḥ — every sādhaka must know them) and unknowable to the non-omniscient (asarvajñair jñātum aśakyāḥ). This double bind — must-know, cannot-know — is dissolved only by Kṛṣṇa's own disclosure. The sarvajña alone can declare what the finite mind must receive as grace. Omniscience (sarvajñatva) is here simultaneously a logical predicate of Brahman and the devotional ground for surrender.