Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 10, Verse 8: Krishna to Arjuna — Vibhūti-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  I, Vāsudeva, the supreme Brahman (para-brahman), am the sole origin (prabhava) of the entire phenomenal world. From me alone proceeds the full range of apparent transformation — arising, sustaining, dissolution, and the experiencing of results. Knowing this, the wise (budhāḥ) whose insight is fixed on ultimate reality (paramārtha-tattva) worship me with that very fixedness of mind (bhāva) as their contemplative anchor.

  divergence: Śaṅkara reads bhajana here not as emotional devotion but as the contemplative act of a jñānin who has recognized Brahman as the sole cause; worship is inseparable from knowledge.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  I am the originating cause (prabhava) of the entire variegated universe of sentient and insentient beings (vicitra-cid-acit-prapañca). Everything proceeds from me alone — not as an impersonal ground but as the sovereign whose lordship (aiśvarya) is natural and absolute, inseparable from his auspicious qualities of graciousness, beauty, and parental tenderness (sauśīlya-saundarya-vātsalya). The wise (budhāḥ), knowing this fullness of virtue and power, worship me with a specific movement of the mind (manovṛtti-viśeṣa) — a longing (spṛhā) that makes them lean entirely toward me.

  divergence: Against Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja insists the universe is real as Bhagavān's body (śarīra), not illusion; bhāva is a distinct relational longing, not merely cognitive fixation.

• Madhvadvaita

  I, Hari, am the sole and independent origin of all; everything moves because of me, not merely through me. Certain beings (bhajantaḥ) — those granted eligibility by Hari's own grace — worship me in full awareness of this dependence. The jīva's worship is real, its distinctness from Brahman is eternal and absolute; bhajana is not absorption but submission of a permanently separate will to the supremely independent Lord.

  divergence: Madhva's bhāṣya for this verse is brief (a cluster covering 10.8–10.10); the school's characteristic emphasis is that origination entails the Lord's absolute independence (svātantrya), not any form of non-difference.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  I am the sole origin and activating power (prabhava and pravartaka) of all — this disclosure of my yoga and vibhūti is itself a ripening of knowledge into bhakti. The wise who receive this teaching through an ācārya of the Bhagavān-mārga serve me with bhāva — that is, bhakti — as their whole being: mind surrendered (maccittāḥ), vital forces surrendered (madgata-prāṇāḥ), body surrendered (samarpita-dehāḥ). This is the brahma-sambandha, the complete self-offering that is the Puṣṭi path; their bliss is not in ceremony but in the intimacy of sevā.

  divergence: Vallabha reads the verse as the start of a four-verse arc (10.8–10.11) describing the full maturation of bhakti into sevā-mārga; bhajana is not worship in the liturgical sense but continuous domestic service (sevā), never pūjā-āḍambara.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  I am the source (prabhava) of the entire world through my vibhūtis — the Bhṛgus and other such manifestations are simply my instruments of origination. From me alone proceeds everything described as intellect, knowledge, and freedom from delusion (buddhi, jñāna, asaṃmoha — BG 10.4–5). Knowing this, the discerning ones (vivekīnaḥ, budhāḥ) endowed with loving delight (bhāva = prīti) worship me.

  divergence: Śrīdhara connects this verse explicitly to the vibhūti-enumeration of BG 10.4–5 (buddhi, jñāna, etc.) as emanations; bhajana arises from knowing both origination and the specific qualities that flow from Kṛṣṇa.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  I, the supreme Brahman named Vāsudeva, am the originating cause (upādāna and nimitta) of the entire universe, and its sustaining and dissolution likewise proceed from me. Driven by my inner controller (antaryāmin), all creation moves within its own boundaries without transgressing them. Knowing this, the wise who have grasped ultimate reality through viveka worship me — not with cold cognition alone but with bhāva, a love (prema) whose nature is the very absorption in paramārtha-tattva.

  divergence: Madhusūdana explicitly synthesizes: bhāva is simultaneously jñāna (paramārtha-tattva-grahaṇa) and prema; neither Śaṅkara's purely cognitive bhāva nor Rāmānuja's purely relational longing — both fused in the bhakta-jñānin.