BG 10.23 — Vibhūti-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 10.23Chapter 10 · Vibhūti-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

रुद्राणां शंकरश् चास्मि वित्तेशो यक्षरक्षसाम् ।

वसूनां पावकश्चास्मि मेरुः शिखरिणामहम् ॥

rudrāṇāṃ śaṃkaraś cāsmi vitteśo yakṣa-rakṣasām

vasūnāṃ pāvakaścāsmi meruḥ śikhariṇām aham

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Among the Rudras I am Śaṅkara, among Yakṣas and Rākṣasas I am Kubera, among the Vasus I am Agni, and among peaked mountains I am Meru.

ekras · bhāṣya

Among the Rudras, Shamkara; among yakshas and rakshasas, Kubera the lord of wealth; among the Vasus, Pavaka — the fire; among peaked mountains, Meru. Four classes, four representative anchors.

Shankara reads each pick precisely. Among the eleven Rudras, Shamkara — Shiva himself, the chief. Among the yakshas and rakshasas — semi-divine and demonic — Vitta-isha, Kubera, the lord of wealth. Among the eight Vasus, Pavaka — Agni, the purifier and the most active. Among the shikharin mountains — the peaked ones — Meru, the cosmic axis. Each pick is the dominant figure of its class, accessible to the meditator's recognition.

Madhusudana reads the catalog technique unchanged: the chief member, the most evident vibhuti. Each domain offers a particular kind of grandeur — Shamkara's sovereignty over Rudras, Kubera's over wealth-spirits, Pavaka's over the Vasus, Meru's over mountains — and Krishna names himself precisely in that grandeur.

Ramanuja reads each pick as a sharira-mode through which Bhagavan's specific cosmic role becomes visible.

Madhva keeps the bheda-frame: each is a paratantra channel through which Hari's distinct sovereignty is recognized.

Vallabha reads through pushti-marga: each is the prasada's most operative channel in its domain.

Shridhara reads the verse cleanly: four classes, four chief anchors.

Context

where

Chapter 10 · Vibhūti-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 10.22

Among the Vedas I am the Sāma-veda, among gods Indra, among the senses the mind, and in all beings the spark of awareness.

What's going on

Among the Rudras I am Śaṅkara, among Yakṣas and Rākṣasas I am Kubera, among the Vasus I am Agni, and among peaked mountains I am Meru.

Sūtras through this verse (21)

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

10.21Highest of each kind.───→here10.23───→10.39No exception outside Me.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned alonebetween

10.11I dispel the dark of unknowing for them.───→here10.23───→18.65By My grace, you reach Me through what is given.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalC

Vision is the structural centerbetween

10.18Even more detail asked, Abhinava already framed.───→here10.23───→11.1Instruction yields, experience opens up.

show all 21

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesbetween · v2

9.29Equal to all───→here10.23───→10.36Sattva of the strong

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)between

10.1His glory becomes the chapter's evidence.───→here10.23───→11.1The aiśvarya-delusion now to be removed.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionbetween

10.10I give the buddhi-yoga to those who love.───→here10.23───→11.54Undivided love beholds it.

RāmānujaclassicalI

Vibhūti as evidence for antaryāminbetween

10.21Highest of every kind.───→here10.23───→10.39No exception is possible.

Ekrasmodernforgiveness

Forgivenessapproach · other

───→here10.23───→12.13Friendly, compassionate

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourexit · v2

8.12Om at the close───→here10.23───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayexit

9.32Women, śūdras, all, also reach the goal.───→here10.23───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingexit

8.7Without a clean mind, steady remembrance fails.───→here10.23───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitexit

8.14Remembrance comes only from constant daily practice.───→here10.23───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherbetween

10.1Royal knowledge, royal secret, Kāśirāja.───→here10.23───→11.1I worship the unborn, the self-luminous teacher.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanbetween

10.8From Me everything flows; wise ones know this and worship.───→here10.23───→11.55The crystal verse names the saguṇa in absolute form.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartbetween

10.20I am the Self in every heart.───→here10.23───→13.17The Knowable lives as the inner light.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here10.23───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingbetween

9.13The great know Me as beginning of beings.───→here10.23───→10.42With one part I pervade this whole world, and stand.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

10.20I am the Self seated in every heart.───→here10.23───→13.2'Cāpi' marks two — not one identity.

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlybetween

10.14Faith comes only from the Lord's own giving.───→here10.23───→11.55Grace-soul acts only when the Lord wills.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalI

Anugraha: grace as the active powerapproach

───→here10.23───→11.8The eye is given; seeing is grace.

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralexit

8.6'Yam yam vapi smaran bhavam.' Whatever state of being one remembers at the last ───→here10.23───→

Śabda · lemmas (12 unique · 14 occurrences)

मेरुः meru — Mt. Meru (the cosmic mountain) · nominative masculine singular noun
शिखरिणाम् śikharin — having peaks; mountain (śikhara + -in) · genitive masculine plural noun

show all 12

च ca ×2 — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
अस्मि √as ×2 — to be (verbal root) · present indicative 1st person singular verb
रुद्राणाम् rudra — Rudra (the fierce Vedic deity / Śiva) · genitive masculine plural noun
शंकरः śaṃkara — Śaṃkara (epithet of Śiva, 'auspicious-maker') · nominative masculine singular noun
वित्तेशः vitteśa — Lord of wealth (vitta + īśa); Kubera · nominative masculine singular noun
यक्ष yakṣa — yakṣa (a class of nature spirits) · compound
रक्षसाम् rakṣas — rākṣasa; demon · genitive neuter plural noun
वसूनाम् vasu — Vasu (a class of eight deities); wealth, treasure · genitive masculine plural noun
पावकः pāvaka — fire; purifier (from √pū 'purify') · nominative masculine singular noun
अहम् mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · nominative singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01Why does Kṛṣṇa choose Śaṅkara — the very deity most often contrasted with Viṣṇu — as his Rudra-vibhūti, and what does this tell us about the theology of divine supremacy in the Gītā?
02Rākṣasas are grouped with Yakṣas here. What principle of classification allows Kṛṣṇa to claim lordship over beings traditionally associated with darkness and cruelty — and what does that say about the scope of divine immanence?

show all 7

03Agni (Pāvaka) is the Vasu-vibhūti. Since Agni is also the ritual mouth that receives offerings, does this śloka encode a theology of sacrifice — that the Bhagavān who receives the oblation and the Bhagavān who identifies with fire are identical?
04Meru is the axis mundi of Purāṇic cosmology. What is the significance of Kṛṣṇa claiming the world-axis as his manifestation — is this a statement about spatial centrality, cosmological stability, or meditative orientation?
05All six schools agree on the same four names yet interpret the purpose of their listing differently. Does the verse's function — as pedagogical vibhūti-yoga — depend on the doctrinal framework the reader brings, or is there a school-neutral reading?
06How should a practitioner relate to these vibhūti declarations in daily contemplative practice: as objects of meditative visualisation, as reminders of Brahman's immanence, or as rhetorical devices to overwhelm the ego's ordinary scale of reference?
07Madhva did not comment on this śloka. What does the silence of a major commentatorial tradition tell us about which verses were considered theologically productive versus structurally transitional in each school's reading?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you encounter a person of exceptional brilliance or integrity — a leader who anchors an institution, a teacher whose clarity elevates everyone around them — practise recognising that excellence as the one Ātman showing through a particular form. The form is not the point; the recognition dissolves the habit of treating superiority as belonging to the person.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

In your professional role, identify which function you fulfil in a larger organism — the way Kubera administers, Agni purifies, or Meru orients. Offering that function as kainkarya (service to the Whole) rather than performance for personal recognition transforms routine competence into bhakti-yoga in the midst of work.

show all 6

Dvaita

Notice that every authority structure you depend upon — financial systems, protective services, the physical geography that anchors your life — is itself dependent on a source beyond itself. Cultivating this perception of derivative-reality prevents idolatry of institutions and keeps gratitude directed at the ultimate source (Hari), not the intermediary.

Śuddhādvaita

Bring the quality of a treasury official (koṣādhikārī) to whatever resources pass through your hands — money, time, information, influence. You did not create these; you hold them in administration for Kṛṣṇa's household. This re-frames scarcity anxiety: you are not the owner running short, you are the steward doing your job.

Bhakti

When you encounter people from groups usually feared or marginalised — Śrīdhara's point is that even the Rākṣasas fall under Bhagavān's vibhūti. Letting this perception soften habitual aversion is a devotional practice: the refusal to exempt any human being from divine immanence.

Advaita-Bhakti

In moments of aesthetic overwhelm — standing before a mountain range, listening to music of extraordinary power, or meeting a teacher whose depth humbles you — allow the beauty to be a two-channel experience simultaneously: the rasa (flavour, emotional resonance) AND the recognition that this intensity is Consciousness meeting itself. Neither suppress the feeling into philosophy nor lose the philosophy in the feeling.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 10, Verse 23: Krishna to Arjuna — Vibhūti-Yoga