BG 10.26 — Vibhūti-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 10.26Chapter 10 · Vibhūti-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

अश्वत्थः सर्ववृक्षाणां देवर्षीणां च नारदः ।

गन्धर्वाणां चित्ररथः सिद्धानां कपिलो मुनिः ॥

aśvatthaḥ sarva-vṛkṣāṇāṃ devarṣīṇāṃ ca nāradaḥ

gandharvāṇāṃ citrarathaḥ siddhānāṃ kapilo muniḥ

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

meaning

Among all trees I am the sacred fig; among divine seers, Nārada; among the gandharvas, Citraratha; and among the perfected ones, the sage Kapila.

ekras · bhāṣya

Among trees, the ashvattha — the sacred fig; among deva-rishis, Narada; among gandharvas, Chitra-ratha; among siddhas, Kapila. Four classes, four chiefs.

Shankara reads each pick precisely. The ashvattha is the long-lived, sacred tree under whose shade many shastric scenes unfold. Narada moves between lokas as the deva-rishi. Chitra-ratha is the chief of the gandharva musicians. Kapila is the founder of Samkhya, the great muni among the perfected. Each is the operating chief of its class.

Madhusudana reads the technique consistently: chief member, recognition-anchor.

Ramanuja reads each as Bhagavan's sharira-mode in its domain — the most evident locus where Krishna's vibhuti is concentrated.

Madhva reads on the bheda-frame: each is paratantra, each channels recognition.

Vallabha reads through pushti-marga: each is prasada's chosen channel in its class.

Shridhara reads cleanly: four more anchors for the meditator's recognition.

Context

where

Chapter 10 · Vibhūti-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 10.25

Among the great seers I am Bhṛgu; among words, the one imperishable syllable Om; among sacrifices, the quiet repetition of the name; among the unmoving, the Himalayas.

What's going on

Among all trees I am the sacred fig; among divine seers, Nārada; among the gandharvas, Citraratha; and among the perfected ones, the sage Kapila.

Sūtras through this verse (21)

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

10.21Highest of each kind.───→here10.26───→10.39No exception outside Me.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned alonebetween

10.11I dispel the dark of unknowing for them.───→here10.26───→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.───→here10.26───→11.1Instruction yields, experience opens up.

show all 21

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesbetween · v2

9.29Equal to all───→here10.26───→10.36Sattva of the strong

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

10.1His glory becomes the chapter's evidence.───→here10.26───→11.1The aiśvarya-delusion now to be removed.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionbetween

10.10I give the buddhi-yoga to those who love.───→here10.26───→11.54Undivided love beholds it.

RāmānujaclassicalI

Vibhūti as evidence for antaryāminbetween

10.21Highest of every kind.───→here10.26───→10.39No exception is possible.

Ekrasmodernforgiveness

Forgivenessapproach · other

───→here10.26───→12.13Friendly, compassionate

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourexit · v2

8.12Om at the close───→here10.26───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayexit

9.32Women, śūdras, all, also reach the goal.───→here10.26───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingexit

8.7Without a clean mind, steady remembrance fails.───→here10.26───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitexit

8.14Remembrance comes only from constant daily practice.───→here10.26───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherbetween

10.1Royal knowledge, royal secret, Kāśirāja.───→here10.26───→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.───→here10.26───→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.───→here10.26───→13.17The Knowable lives as the inner light.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here10.26───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingbetween

9.13The great know Me as beginning of beings.───→here10.26───→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.───→here10.26───→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.───→here10.26───→11.55Grace-soul acts only when the Lord wills.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalI

Anugraha: grace as the active powerapproach

───→here10.26───→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 ───→here10.26───→

Śabda · lemmas (11 unique · 11 occurrences)

नारदः nārada — Nārada (the celestial sage) · nominative masculine singular noun
चित्ररथः citraratha — Citraratha (king of the Gandharvas) · nominative masculine singular noun
अश्वत्थः aśvattha — the sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa); the world-tree · nominative masculine singular noun
मुनिः muni — sage, silent ascetic (from √man 'think') · nominative masculine singular noun · also at 5.6

show all 11

सर्व sarva — all, entire · compound
वृक्षाणाम् vṛkṣa — tree · genitive masculine plural noun
देवर्षीणाम् devarṣi — divine sage (deva + ṛṣi) · genitive masculine plural noun
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
गन्धर्वाणाम् gandharva — celestial musician · genitive masculine plural noun
सिद्धानाम् siddha — perfected, accomplished; a class of celestial beings · genitive masculine plural noun
कपिलः kapila — Kapila (founder of Sāṃkhya); also: tawny · nominative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01Why does Kṛṣṇa choose the aśvattha (sacred fig) above all trees — and what does it mean for a living being to be the best of its kind rather than beyond its kind?
02Nārada is a deva who became a ṛṣi through mantra-sight: what does that crossing of categories (divine birth, human practice of perception) reveal about the relationship between lineage and realization?

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03The siddhas are defined by birth-instant realization — no sādhana, no accumulation. What challenge does this pose for effort-based spiritual frameworks, and how do the six schools resolve it differently?
04Madhva's commentary almost entirely bypasses aśvattha, Nārada, and Citraratha to argue exclusively about Kapila. What does selective commentary reveal about how a tradition decides which vibhūti is theologically live and which is merely illustrative?
05Vallabha's Kapila is an avatāra and originator of puṣṭi-sarga; Śaṅkara's Kapila is the pre-eminent congenital siddha; Madhva's Kapila is the bliss-natured Vedic deity. Same name, three incompatible referents. How should a reader navigate a tradition where the same word indexes entirely different entities across schools?
06The vibhūti-yoga chapter catalogues divine excellences in beings — not divine beings separately from world but Kṛṣṇa as the peak within each category. What is the practical difference between worshipping a tree as a symbol of the divine and recognizing the divine as the structural supremacy within the tree?
07Nārada carries a dual identity as devarṣi and as the paradigm bhakta (visible in Vallabha's 'mahā-bhāgavata' gloss). What does it mean that the supreme exemplar of devotion is also — simultaneously — a being of celestial lineage?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you encounter a person of unusual natural intelligence or integrity — someone who seems to have 'always been that way' — Śaṅkara's framing invites you to recognize congenital excellence not as luck or genetics but as Brahman's own fullness showing through a particular form. The practical move: stop explaining away excellence with biography, and let it redirect you toward the ground it points at.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's Nārada is 'supremely devoted' before he is 'supremely talented.' In any professional or community setting, Viśiṣṭādvaita asks you to rank people not by skill alone but by the quality of their service-orientation — whom are they ultimately serving? The person closest to selfless kainkarya (dedicated service) is, in this framework, the vibhūti worth learning from.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's compressed focus on Kapila is a lesson in knowing which argument matters. He ignores three of four examples because only one — the identity of Kapila — is contested and load-bearing for his theological project. The everyday application: in any debate or planning session, identify which point is actually in dispute and concentrate your energy there rather than scoring points on the uncontested periphery.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's Nārada 'embodies both maryādā and puṣṭi-rasa' — discipline and delight together, neither cancelling the other. The practical invitation is to find, in your own life, the person or practice that gives you both structure and joy simultaneously. That combination, in Puṣṭi-mārga's idiom, is the taste (rasa) of the divine — not pleasure as escape from discipline but as its fulfillment.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's siddhas are people who grasped paramārtha-tattva 'from birth.' The bhakti application is not to be discouraged by your own apparent lack of such natural facility, but to recognize that the tradition preserves such exemplars precisely to show what realization looks like when fully arrived — so you know what direction you are walking. Nārada remains the model devarṣi because he walked that direction most completely.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's expansive gloss — 'and of other plants' alongside trees, 'whose very nature is music' for gandharvas — is an instruction in fine-grained attention. The synthesis of jñāna and bhakti he performs is not a grand theological system but a habit of looking carefully: every category has a peak, every quality has a fullest expression, and recognizing it precisely (not vaguely) is how devotion and discernment reinforce each other in daily perception.

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 26: Krishna to Arjuna — Vibhūti-Yoga