Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 10, Verse 40: Krishna to Arjuna — Vibhūti-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  There is no end to my divine manifestations (divyā vibhūtayaḥ), O scorcher of enemies — the Īśvara who is the self of all (sarvātman) cannot be bounded in enumeration by anyone. What has been declared here is a sampling (uddeśataḥ), a single region of an infinity that cannot be spoken or known. The catalogue is a gesture toward totality, not a boundary drawn around it.

  divergence: Advaita reads the verse as epistemological humility about the infinite: even omniscient inquiry cannot reach an end, because the manifest is the One appearing as many without exhausting itself.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  There is no terminus to my divine, auspicious (kalyāṇī) manifestations, O Arjuna — what has been spoken here is a compressed summary using certain characterizing attributes (uPādhayaḥ), not the fullness of Bhagavān's self-disclosure. The beloved devotee is invited to discover ever-wider vistas of glory; the list is an opening door, not a closed room.

  divergence: Viśiṣṭādvaita emphasises the auspicious quality (kalyāṇatva) of every vibhūti — each is a mode of Bhagavān's infinite perfection, inviting continued bhakti-expansion rather than intellectual closure.

• Madhvadvaita

  Hari's divine glories are without boundary; the jīva (individual soul), forever ontologically distinct from the Lord, cannot exhaust description of what belongs solely to the sovereign Hari. The summary given is for the worshipper's practical orientation — it does not imply that the devotee's knowledge can ever equal the Lord's self-knowledge.

  divergence: Dvaita uniquely stresses that the inexhaustibility of vibhūti is proof of Hari's absolute independence (svātantrya) — the jīva's epistemic limit here is not a shared limit but a mark of the eternally dependent nature of all non-Hari realities.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Kṛṣṇa draws the section to a close (upasaṃhāra): these divine vibhūtis have been named by name only (nāmamātreṇa vastu-saṃkīrtanam) — the naming itself is the act of worship, not an exhaustive description. Even what has been named is infinite; the catalogue is a fragment of a fragment, offered as prasāda to kindle recognition.

  divergence: Śuddhādvaita's characteristic move: the listing of vibhūtis is itself a form of kīrtana (sacred naming), expressing the Puṣṭi-mārga principle that even description of Kṛṣṇa participates in his līlā.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Because vibhūti is endless (ananta), the vibhūtis cannot be declared in their totality (sākalyena vaktuṃ na śakyante) — what is given here is a compressed summary (saṃkṣepataḥ), offered so that the devotee gains enough of a foothold to begin worship. The limit is in speech, not in the Lord.

  divergence: Śrīdhara's bhakti-philological register holds both ends simultaneously: the Lord's infinity is cause for wonder, and the partial disclosure is cause for gratitude — typical of the balanced, non-combative voice of the traditional bhakti commentator.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  O *parantapa* — you who generate torment (*tāpa*) in outer enemies, the *kāma-krodha-lobha-ādī* (*kāma*, desire; *krodha*, anger; *lobha*, greed, and the rest — here named as the true adversaries — *mama divyānāṃ vibhūtīnām antaḥ iyattā nāsti*: my divine *vibhūti*s have no finite measure, no countable limit. Consequently, *sarvajñenāpi sā śakyate jñātuṃ vaktuṃ vā* — even by the omniscient one, those *vibhūti*s cannot be fully known or declared. The reason: *sarvajñatā* has *san-mātra* (pure Being alone) as its domain (*san-mātra-viṣayatvāt sarvajñatāyāḥ*), and what is infinite within Being exceeds even that scope. *Eṣa tu tvāṃ praty uddeśataḥ ekadeśena prokto vibhūter vistāro mayā* — what I have disclosed is directed specifically toward you (*tvāṃ prati*), set forth by way of indication (*uddeśataḥ*), one portion (*ekadeśa*) of the full expanse. The *paramā prīti* (highest love) of *bhakti* is not dissolved by this admission of inexhaustibility; rather, the personal address *tvāṃ prati* makes the partial gift an act of *rasa*, devotional intimacy within the *jñāna* of non-dual Being.

  divergence: Restored from Madhusūdana's own phrasing: *iyattā nāsti*, *sarvajñenāpi sā śakyate jñātuṃ vaktuṃ vā*, *san-mātra-viṣayatvāt sarvajñatāyāḥ*, *tvāṃ praty uddeśata ekadeśena prokto vibhūter vistāraḥ*. The prior cell paraphrased these moves without quoting them; the devotional reading of *tvāṃ prati* is retained as Madhusūdana's own, not a projected supplement.