If Kṛṣṇa is the bīja (seed) of all beings rather than their creator-from-outside, what becomes of the distinction between creature and Creator — and does that distinction even need to survive?

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/7/10.

Śaṅkara reads buddhi here as viveka-śakti (discernment), while Vallabha reads it as cid-ātmikā (consciousness-natured) — which understanding of intelligence does your own practice make most sense of?

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/7/10.

The verse places bīja, buddhi, and tejas in one breath: why does a verse about ultimate causality include psychological and social qualities like discernment and boldness?

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/7/10.

Madhva insists Hari is niyāmaka (regulator), not the bīja's substance itself — does sovereignty require identity, or can a governor remain genuinely distinct from what it governs?

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/7/10.

Śrīdhara's anuṣyūta (threaded continuously through all effects) suggests the divine is not a first-cause that then steps back — what does it mean to live inside a continually threaded causality?

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/7/10.

Madhusūdana names the bīja as avyākṛta (the unmanifest matrix) and then identifies it with the personal Kṛṣṇa — is this a philosophical sleight of hand, or does it resolve something the purely impersonal reading cannot?

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/7/10.

All six schools agree that tejas (brilliance, prāgalbhya) belongs to Kṛṣṇa rather than to individuals who display it — what are the practical consequences of understanding your own confidence as borrowed rather than self-generated?

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/7/10.

BG 7.10 — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 7.10Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Pārtha · anuṣṭubh

बीजं मां सर्वभूतानां विद्धि पार्थ सनातनम् ।

बुद्धिर् बुद्धिमतामस्मि तेजस् तेजस्विनामहम् ॥

bījaṃ māṃ sarva-bhūtānāṃ viddhi pārtha sanātanam

buddhir buddhimatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham

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

meaning

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold.

ekras · bhāṣya

Know Me, Partha, as the sanatana bija of all beings; in those endowed with buddhi I am the buddhi; in the radiant, the tejas. Three identifications: bija of all, buddhi in the discriminating, tejas in the radiant. Sanatana — eternal — is the verse's emphasis: the bija does not perish with each individual; it is what passes through.

Shankara reads bija precisely. The sanatana bija of all beings is the single primal ground from which each sprout of existence draws its possibility. Among the discriminating, Krishna is the very viveka-shakti — the power of discernment — that is the interior faculty of the antahkarana. Among the tejasvis, Krishna is the tejas itself, not the body that radiates.

Madhusudana sharpens the metaphysics. The single sanatana bija is not multiple or perishable per individual — it is the avyakrita — unmanifest matrix — bija-independent and beyond particulars, and that is precisely Krishna. Buddhi as tattva-atattva-viveka-samarthya — the capacity to discern real from unreal — is the buddhi the verse names; tejas similarly is the prabhava-rupa, not the optical brightness alone.

Ramanuja reads the three identifications as Krishna's shesha-modes: all these sovereign excellences arise from Krishna, are constituted as his sharira, abide in him as their indwelling Self. He is their prakara, mode and qualifier — the very reality in which seed, intelligence, and brilliance hold their being.

Madhva reads each domain as having its own intrinsic svabhava, with Hari as the niyamaka — the regulator and sovereign director — the supreme sara-bhokta pervading the bodies of those who meditate on these qualities.

Vallabha names that bija-chaitanya as the cause of all jivas, present in mixed and unified form alike — the chid-atmika buddhi is Krishna, the tejah in the radiant is the chid-rupa expressing.

Context

where

Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Pārtha

preceded by — BG 7.9

I am the pure fragrance of earth, the brightness in fire, the life in every creature, and the discipline in those who practice austerity.

What's going on

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold.

Sūtras through this verse (64)

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.───→here7.10───→8.4Adhiyajña is Viṣṇu, not the worshipper.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

7.1First hexad ends, middle hexad opens.───→here7.10───→13.1Two niṣṭhās, three kāṇḍas — keystone.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

7.7Nothing higher than Me; I string it all.───→here7.10───→9.4World in Me, not Me in it.

show all 64

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here7.10───→7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.───→here7.10───→12.1Avyakta follows the manifest rūpa.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.───→here7.10───→8.3Akṣara is Viṣṇu, not quality-less.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitbetween

4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.───→here7.10───→7.21Other deities give what Viṣṇu permits.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātrabetween

7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.───→here7.10───→11.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.4.78 settles aneka-.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhabetween

3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.───→here7.10───→7.13Nanu vijñāna-rūpaṁ — canonical shape.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.───→here7.10───→11.16Aneka- means many; no upacāra needed.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.───→here7.10───→9.1Single-verse prelude names the secret of secrets.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

7.1The bhakti-ṣaṭka opens the third stage.───→here7.10───→13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

7.6From these two natures all beings come forth.───→here7.10───→13.2The kṣetra-knower in every field is the Lord himself.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractbetween

7.1The play-Person of every form opens chapter 7.───→here7.10───→9.32The unsheltered run to their cowherd-Lord.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.───→here7.10───→7.14Surrender is the only way past the Lord's māyā.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

7.1The gloss-stage opens with chapter seven.───→here7.10───→13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here7.10───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

7.1Middle hexad named: tat-padārtha begins.───→here7.10───→12.20Middle hexad closes; tat-pada sealed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

7.1Lord answers a question Arjuna did not ask.───→here7.10───→8.1Recap-and-bind: Ch 8 carries Ch 7 forward.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

7.1Doubt about refuge, blocked by mad-āśraya.───→here7.10───→13.1Boundary protected by stylized doubt.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelbetween

7.2Bhakti's fruit is jñāna itself.───→here7.10───→12.12Bhakti's gradient ends in jñāna.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.───→here7.10───→13.1Prakṛti's autonomy blocked at boundary. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.───→here7.10───→13.1Same discipline at the keystone chapter.

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

7.1Open the second ṣaṭka: mind clung to Me.───→here7.10───→9.1The royal secret of the second ṣaṭka.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśabetween

7.5Higher nature: conscious selves.───→here7.10───→7.13Modes hide the higher.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.───→here7.10───→7.14Māyā is real wonder, not unreality.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.───→here7.10───→7.14Surrender alone crosses the māyā.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningbetween

7.1First six unfold 'you,' middle six unfold 'that.'───→here7.10───→12.20The middle six are sealed and finished.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here7.10───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.───→here7.10───→7.16The lover-knower stands at the top of the four.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherbetween

7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.───→here7.10───→8.1I take refuge in Kāśirāja, the king of Kashi.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here7.10───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here7.10───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanapproach

───→here7.10───→9.22I myself am the Lord, the Self of all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicapproach

───→here7.10───→9.13Great souls take refuge in divine nature.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.───→here7.10───→7.21Whatever form is worshipped, I steady it.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorbetween

2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga split: not two methods, two angles.───→here7.10───→7.18The jñānin is dearest; not interchangeable.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

7.1'Mayy āsakta-manāḥ' resolves the 6.47 hint.───→here7.10───→9.1Chapter 7's residue of wonder forces 9's disclosure.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homebetween

6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.───→here7.10───→7.14Only undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

4.11However they come, I meet them so.───→here7.10───→7.16Four kinds of seekers, all good-hearted.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.───→here7.10───→7.21I am the one who steadies your chosen faith.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here7.10───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workbetween

3.33Even the wise act by their own nature.───→here7.10───→7.12The modes come from the Lord, not in Him.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterbetween

7.1Mind on Me, refuge wholly in Me.───→here7.10───→9.22For the undivided I personally provide.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.───→here7.10───→7.15The demonic never come near to Me.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here7.10───→

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

Prapatti — bhakti's access for those the long path defeatsapproach

───→here7.10───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here7.10───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here7.10───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here7.10───→8.5Whoever remembers Me at the last reaches Me.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it werebetween

4.9My birth and acts are not of this world.───→here7.10───→7.14Divine illusion is hard to cross alone.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingbetween

5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.───→here7.10───→7.30The cosmic and the rite-Lord are one Lord, known together.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

7.1Together they cover everything to be known.───→here7.10───→11.18Sat names the union of the two powers.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.───→here7.10───→7.24Failure of seeing, not absence of presence.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessbetween

2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.───→here7.10───→7.12Modes from the Lord — the Lord not in them.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here7.10───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalH

Bhakti as non-dual recognitionapproach

───→here7.10───→9.22Consciousness tending its own self-knowing modes.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldexit

5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.───→here7.10───→

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.───→here7.10───→12.6Saukarāyaṇa-śruti ranks the personal route.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.───→here7.10───→7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

7.5Above the inert is Lakṣmī, the holder of souls.───→here7.10───→7.13The modes hide the One who deploys them.

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

4.16Even the wise are confused───→here7.10───→7.14Cross the maya

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here7.10───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologybetween

4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I───→here7.10───→7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev

Śabda · lemmas (12 unique · 13 occurrences)

विद्धि √vid — to know; to find (verbal root) · present imperative 2nd person singular verb · also at 2.17, 3.15, 3.32, 4.13, 4.14, 4.32 +16
पार्थ pārtha — son of Pṛthā (Kuntī); epithet of Arjuna · vocative masculine singular noun · also at 1.25, 1.26, 1.28, 1.29, 1.30, 2.3 +40
अस्मि √as — to be (verbal root) · present indicative 1st person singular verb · also at 1.22, 10.21, 10.22, 10.24, 10.28, 10.31 +5
तेजस्विनाम् tejasvin — brilliant, energetic (tejas + -vin) · genitive masculine plural noun

show all 12

माम्·अहम् mad ×2 — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · accusative singular noun / nominative singular noun
बीजम् bīja — seed · accusative neuter singular noun
सर्व sarva — all, entire · compound
भूतानाम् bhūta — being, creature; element; past, gone · genitive neuter plural noun
सनातनम् sanātana — eternal, perpetual; primeval (sanā 'always' + -tana) · accusative neuter singular noun
बुद्धिः buddhi — intellect, intelligence, discriminating faculty · nominative feminine singular noun
बुद्धिमताम् buddhimat — (buddhi + -mat: intellect) · genitive masculine plural noun
तेजः tejas — splendor, brilliance, energy · nominative neuter singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If Kṛṣṇa is the bīja (seed) of all beings rather than their creator-from-outside, what becomes of the distinction between creature and Creator — and does that distinction even need to survive?
02Śaṅkara reads buddhi here as viveka-śakti (discernment), while Vallabha reads it as cid-ātmikā (consciousness-natured) — which understanding of intelligence does your own practice make most sense of?

show all 7

03The verse places bīja, buddhi, and tejas in one breath: why does a verse about ultimate causality include psychological and social qualities like discernment and boldness?
04Madhva insists Hari is niyāmaka (regulator), not the bīja's substance itself — does sovereignty require identity, or can a governor remain genuinely distinct from what it governs?
05Śrīdhara's anuṣyūta (threaded continuously through all effects) suggests the divine is not a first-cause that then steps back — what does it mean to live inside a continually threaded causality?
06Madhusūdana names the bīja as avyākṛta (the unmanifest matrix) and then identifies it with the personal Kṛṣṇa — is this a philosophical sleight of hand, or does it resolve something the purely impersonal reading cannot?
07All six schools agree that tejas (brilliance, prāgalbhya) belongs to Kṛṣṇa rather than to individuals who display it — what are the practical consequences of understanding your own confidence as borrowed rather than self-generated?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a moment of sharp clarity cuts through confusion — a problem suddenly resolved, a deception seen through — pause before claiming authorship. Śaṅkara locates viveka-śakti not in the ego but in the antaḥkaraṇa as an expression of Brahman. Treat each such moment as an impersonal event: 'intelligence fired here,' not 'I was smart.' Over time this erodes the habit of identifying with mental events and creates the soil for genuine vairāgya (dispassion).

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Before a significant decision or conversation, recall that your buddhi and any tejas you feel are Bhagavān's śarīra — the capacities you are about to exercise belong to the Lord who constitutes your inner self. Ask: 'What does the indwelling ātman want done through this situation?' This transforms deliberation from ego-strategy into kainkarya (service), which is Rāmānuja's goal: every act of intelligence rendered as an act of the Lord thinking through His own body.

show all 6

Dvaita

In any domain — study, leadership, competition — recognize Hari as niyāmaka: the governing force behind both your capacity and its outcome. Madhva's upāsana (worship) prescription here is specific: meditate on Hari as sarabhoktā who pervades the tejas you feel, so that the act of drawing on your strength becomes an act of remembrance rather than self-assertion. The Gītākalpa verse cited by Madhva says this meditation yields jñāna even for those who seek without desire — use tejas consciously as a ground for practice.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's aham-ātmakam (having the nature of I-am) suggests that the very sense of 'I am present, I am awake' is already Kṛṣṇa's caitanya (consciousness) present in you. In Puṣṭi-mārga practice this becomes permission for joy: you are not borrowed from the divine and expected to return it neutrally — you are the divine's own sammiśrarūpa (co-present form) expressing itself. Meet each morning's alertness as Kṛṣṇa's arrival, not as your own resource to manage.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's sajātīya insight — that the bīja produces offspring of the same kind, threaded anuṣyūta through all effects — applies directly to mentorship and teaching. Whatever genuine understanding or boldness you transmit to students is not your personal invention but the same divine bīja expressing its capacity through the chain. This should reduce both pride in transmission (it is not yours) and anxiety about inadequacy (the thread carries through you, not from you).

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's protas construction — 'the discriminating are strung into Me as their buddhi-ground' — offers a practice for intellectual work: when you reach the limit of your reasoning and feel the mind go quiet before a hard problem, that silence is the avyākṛta becoming briefly visible. Rather than forcing through, sit in that threshold. Madhusūdana's synthesis says the personal Kṛṣṇa and the impersonal ground are the same reality — so devotional surrender and rigorous inquiry can both be responses to the same moment.

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 7, Verse 10: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga