Chapter 10, Verse 33
अक्षराणामकारोऽस्मि द्वन्द्वः सामासिकस्य च | अहमेवाक्षयः कालो धाताहं विश्वतोमुखः ||१०-३३||
akṣarāṇāmakāro.asmi dvandvaḥ sāmāsikasya ca . ahamevākṣayaḥ kālo dhātāhaṃ viśvatomukhaḥ ||10-33||
Meaning
10.33 Among the letters of the alphabets, the letter 'A' I am and the dual among the compounds. I am verily the inexhaustible or everlasting time; I am the dispenser (of the fruits of actions) having faces in all directions.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Among letters Krishna is 'A' (akāra), the first sound, the source from which all speech unfolds — for every spoken syllable begins with the opening of the mouth in that primal vowel. As the root of language, it fittingly symbolizes the root of all manifestation.
He then declares Himself akṣayaḥ kālaḥ — inexhaustible, everlasting Time — and dhātā, the dispenser who apportions the fruits of all actions, viśvato-mukhaḥ, 'facing in every direction.' Here the glory deepens into awe: the Divine is the eternal Time that outlasts all things, and the impartial sustainer who oversees the moral fabric of the cosmos from every side at once. Nothing escapes His view; nothing falls outside His ordering. To contemplate this is to feel both the smallness of the ego and the vast, watchful presence that upholds the whole.
💡 Key Takeaway
The Divine is the everlasting Time and all-seeing sustainer from whom nothing in the cosmos is ever hidden.
Related Verses
श्रीभगवानुवाच | भूय एव महाबाहो शृणु मे परमं वचः | यत्तेऽहं प्रीयमाणाय वक्ष्यामि हितकाम्यया ||१०-१||
śrībhagavānuvāca . bhūya eva mahābāho śṛṇu me paramaṃ vacaḥ . yatte.ahaṃ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyāmi hitakāmyayā ||10-1||
10.1 The Blessed Lord said Again, O mighty-armed Arjuna, listen to my supreme word which I will declare to thee who who art beloved, for thy welfare.
न मे विदुः सुरगणाः प्रभवं न महर्षयः | अहमादिर्हि देवानां महर्षीणां च सर्वशः ||१०-२||
na me viduḥ suragaṇāḥ prabhavaṃ na maharṣayaḥ . ahamādirhi devānāṃ maharṣīṇāṃ ca sarvaśaḥ ||10-2||
10.2 Neither the hosts of the gods nor the great sages know My origin; for in every way I am the source of all the gods and the great sages.
बुद्धिर्ज्ञानमसम्मोहः क्षमा सत्यं दमः शमः | सुखं दुःखं भवोऽभावो भयं चाभयमेव च ||१०-४||
buddhirjñānamasammohaḥ kṣamā satyaṃ damaḥ śamaḥ . sukhaṃ duḥkhaṃ bhavo.abhāvo bhayaṃ cābhayameva ca ||10-4||
10.4 Intellect, wisdom, non-delusion, forgiveness, truth, self-restraint, calmness, happiness, pain, existence or birth, non-existence or death, fear and also fearlessness.