Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 10, Verse 41: Krishna to Arjuna — Vibhūti-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Whatever being in the world is possessed of vibhūti (sovereign radiance), whatever is endowed with śrī (luminous prosperity) or ūrjita (surging power) — know all that, without remainder, as born of a single fraction (aṃśa) of My tejas (brilliance). Yet even this enumeration leaves something unsaid: the entire universe is held firm (viṣṭabhya) by one quarter of My being, the Puruṣa who stands as all creatures — as the Vedic text declares, 'pādo'sya viśvā bhūtāni.' Multiplicity of vibhūti is thus a concession to the seeker still moving toward jñāna; the final knowledge is that the one Brahman sustains all by a fragment of Itself.

  divergence: Śaṅkara subordinates the vibhūti list to the pāda-verse: multiplicity dissolves into non-dual Brahman holding all in one quarter.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Whatever category of beings (bhūtajāta) is vibhūtimat — possessed of the divine sovereignty that belongs to the Lord's body of cit and acit — and whatever is śrīmat (radiant with wealth, beauty, auspiciousness) or ūrjita (roused to noble endeavour) — know each such thing to be born from an aṃśa of My tejas, understood as the niyamana-śakti (governance-power) of My acintya-śakti (inconceivable power). The Lord does not merely cause these excellences from outside; they inhere in beings as His viśeṣaṇa (qualifying attributes), since all sentient and material reality constitutes His body (śarīra). Thus to perceive glorious beings is to perceive the Lord's own body glowing with His inner tejas.

  divergence: Rāmānuja's śarīra-ātma relation makes glorious beings literal limbs of the Lord; Śaṅkara sees only the Brahman-pāda substratum.

• Madhvadvaita

  Whatever is vibhūtimat refers specifically to Viṣṇu and His avatāras, whose very svarūpa (intrinsic form) is Kṛṣṇa's own; all other beings — the Rudras, Indra, the kings — are tejoyukta (infused with tejas) only as aṃśa-bearers, never as svayaṃ Bhagavān. The Bhāgavata itself is the authority: 'Kṛṣṇas tu Bhagavān svayam' — Rāma, Kapila, Yajña, and all avatāras are svāṃśa-kalā; the ṛṣis and devas are vibhūti-kalā bearing a fraction only. Therefore no being other than Kṛṣṇa-Viṣṇu should be equated in status: the jīva remains eternally and essentially dependent (paratantra), and even Brahmā and Rudra receive their excellence as a delegated share.

  divergence: Madhva draws a sharp ontological boundary: avatāras = svarūpa, ṛṣi-deva = aṃśa-bearers; collapsing this distinction is the error all other schools commit.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Sattva here — whether cit (conscious) or acit (inert) — whatever is śrīmat (adorned with beauty) or ūrjita (abounding in anna-samṛddhi, the fullness of nourishment) — is to be known as born from an aṃśa of My tejas, which is itself saccidānanda (being-consciousness-bliss), manifesting as the inner ruler (antaryāmin) of all jīvas and jaḍas by a single fraction of My acintya-yoga-śakti (inconceivable power of union). In the Puṣṭi-mārga understanding, this aṃśa-manifestation is Kṛṣṇa's own līlā-prasāda (graceful play) — the world's glory is not a diminished reflection but the living overflow of His bliss; the devotee who perceives this receives it as direct anugraha (grace).

  divergence: Vallabha uniquely glosses ūrjita as anna-samṛddhi (abundance of nourishment), reading the verse through the lens of Kṛṣṇa's līlā-world where even material plenty is prasāda.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Whatever thing (vastu-mātra) — any object, being, or phenomenon — is vibhūtimat (possessed of aiśvarya, lordly excellence), śrīmat (endowed with sampatti, wealth), or ūrjita (distinguished by prabhāva, bala, or similar qualities) — know each and every such thing to be born from an aṃśa of My tejas (prabhāva, radiance). Śrīdhara reads this as the Lord speaking an upasaṃhāra (summary closure) for the hearer who still wishes for a complete accounting: no single vibhūti exhausts the Lord's glory, but every glimpse of excellence in the world is a reliable pointer (upadeśa-setu) back to the source.

  divergence: Śrīdhara keeps the range of sattva maximally broad (vastu-mātra — any object whatsoever), making the verse a universal epistemological bridge: wherever excellence appears, Bhagavān is the source.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  This verse functions as an upalakṣaṇa (synecdoche, representative pointer) gathering together even the vibhūtis Kṛṣṇa has not yet explicitly named. Whatever prāṇī (sentient being) is vibhūtimat (possessed of aiśvarya), śrīmat (endowed with lakṣmī — wealth, beauty, or luminosity), or ūrjita (surpassing others through bala and related excellences) — know that too to be born from an aṃśa of My tejas (śakti). Madhusūdana holds both registers simultaneously: the jñāna register recognises that tejas is the one non-dual śakti; the bhakti register delights in each vibhūti as Kṛṣṇa's personal self-disclosure, so that adoration of excellence anywhere is adoration of the Beloved.

  divergence: Madhusūdana explicitly frames the verse as upalakṣaṇa — a pointer rather than an exhaustive list — allowing the synthesis school to hold jñāna (one śakti) and bhakti (personal self-disclosure) without contradiction.