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

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Among the eleven Rudras I am Śaṅkara; among Yakṣas and Rākṣasas I am Kubera (vit-teśa, lord of wealth). Among the eight Vasus I am Pāvaka (Agni, the purifier); among mountains bearing peaks I am Meru. These vibhūtis (divine glories) do not assert a plurality of Brahman — they direct the discriminating intellect (viveka-buddhi) toward the one Ātman whose power alone activates every category of being. The multiplicity of named excellences is provisional; the nāma-rūpa dissolves for the jñānin who sees only the undifferentiated Consciousness behind each supreme instance.

  divergence: Śaṅkara identifies the eleven Rudras, the eight Vasus, and the group 'yakṣa-rakṣasām' precisely, then closes with meru as superlative among shikhar-bearing ranges — all stated tersely as pointing-fingers, not as objects of meditation in themselves.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  I am Śaṅkara, the most auspicious among the eleven Rudras, and Vaiśravaṇa (Kubera) among Yakṣas and Rākṣasas. Among the eight Vasus I am Pāvaka; among peak-adorned mountains I am Meru. Bhagavān is the inner controller (antaryāmin) of each named being — Śaṅkara's auspiciousness, Kubera's sovereignty over wealth, Agni's purifying splendor, and Meru's towering elevation are all modes (prakāras) of His śarīra (body-soul composite). The devotee who meditates on Bhagavān through these supremely excellent forms cultivates the bhakti-yoga that culminates in prapatti.

  divergence: Rāmānuja supplies 'shikara-śobhinām' (peak-adorned, beautiful-peaked mountains) as a qualifier for parvatas, and includes the interrogative 'aham?' — emphasizing personal Bhagavān-identity rather than impersonal power.

• Madhvadvaita

  Among the Rudras, *Śaṅkara* (the auspicious Rudra) — not *Rudra* generically but the most *paratantra* (eternally dependent) and *bhakti*-saturated among them, highest in Hari-proximity within that class. Among Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, *Vitteśa* Kubera, whose lordship over wealth holds only by Hari's *anugraha* (grace). Among the eight Vasus, *Pāvaka* (fire), whose purifying power conveys oblations to Hari and is thus the Vasu whose function is most directly Hari-facing. Among *śikhariṇām* (peaked mountains), Meru — its axial eminence real, not illusory, yet ontologically dependent. In each case the *vibhūti* (divine manifestation) is the highest *paratantra* existent within its class: *rudrāṇāṃ śaṃkaraś cāsmi vitteśo yakṣa-rakṣasām | vasūnāṃ pāvakaścāsmi meruḥ śikhariṇām aham*. The named being possesses its excellence not as *svatantra* (independently real, self-sufficient) but as granted and sustained by Hari alone. *Pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction) stands intact: Hari is not Śaṅkara, not Kubera, not Pāvaka, not Meru — each is genuinely distinct yet entirely Hari-dependent. The *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy) orders even these eminent beings beneath Hari, and recognition of each *vibhūti* as such is itself an act of *bhakti* directed toward the sole *svatantra*.

  divergence: Madhva and Jayatīrtha are silent on this śloka. The reading voices Dvaita *siddhānta* — *pañca-bheda*, *taratamya*, *paratantra* dependency, the non-identity of *vibhūti* and Hari — directly off the mūla without attributing specific moves to either commentator.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Among the eleven Rudras, Śaṅkara is foremost because he is mūla-vaiṣṇava (the Rudra who holds Kṛṣṇa as root-reality) — I am he. Kubera is my koṣa-adhikārī (treasurer of the divine household), administering the prasāda-wealth that flows from my will. Among the Vasus, Pāvaka is Agni who faces Bhagavān directly as mouth (mukha-bhūta) — my own instrument of receiving havis. All these distinctions are Kṛṣṇa's own līlā-rasa unfolding in the manifest world; to recognise them as such is itself a form of puṣṭi-bhakti.

  divergence: Vallabha highlights Śaṅkara's Vaiṣṇava dignity ('vaiṣṇavatvena mānanīyaḥ'), Kubera as 'koṣādhikārī' (treasury official), and Agni as 'bhagavan-mukha-bhūta' — consistently reading each manifestation as functionary within Kṛṣṇa's household economy.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Among the Rudras I am Śaṅkara; Rākṣasas are grouped with Yakṣas because of their shared quality of cruelty (krūratva-sāmya), and among that combined class I am Kubera (vit-teśa). Among the Vasus I am Pāvaka, the fire. Among the high-peaked mountains (ucchrīta, those rising eminently) I am Meru. Śrīdhara notes the grouping of Rākṣasas with Yakṣas as a point of precise philological justification — the Bhagavān who encompasses even the fierce and cruel classes does so to reveal that no order of existence falls outside His sovereign glory.

  divergence: Śrīdhara's distinctive contribution is the explicit reason for the Yakṣa-Rākṣasa pairing: 'rākṣasānām api krūratvādi-sāmyāt yakṣaiḥ saha ekīkṛtya nirdeśaḥ' — by similarity of cruelty etc. they are grouped together for the purpose of instruction.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Among the eleven Rudras I am Śaṅkara; among Yakṣas and Rākṣasas I am Vit-teśa Kubera (dhana-adhyakṣa, overseer of wealth). Among the eight Vasus I am Pāvaka-Agni; among the exceedingly high (atyucchrīta) peak-bearing mountains I am Sumeru. Madhusūdana holds both registers simultaneously: Kṛṣṇa's self-identification reveals the Brahman that is pure Consciousness while also nourishing the devotee's rasa — the same Awareness that is the Vedāntic substratum is here clothed in the most beloved and magnificent forms, feeding the bhakta's heart even as it instructs the Vedāntin's mind.

  divergence: Madhusūdana supplies 'su-meru' (the auspicious Meru) and 'atyucchrīta' (exceedingly elevated), adding qualitative intensity that the other commentators omit, consistent with his rasa-sensitivity alongside jñāna-orientation.