Vibhuti Yoga
Vibhuti Yoga • 42 verses
Krishna reveals his divine manifestations and glories, showing how his presence can be perceived in the greatest and most excellent examples of everything in creation. This chapter helps the devotee see the divine in the world around them.
Chapter Overview
Chapter 10, Vibhuti Yoga, is Krishna's catalog of divine manifestations — the yoga of divine excellences. After the deep teachings on knowledge, action, and devotion, this chapter shows how to perceive the divine in the visible world.
Arjuna has become increasingly enraptured with Krishna's teachings and asks him to describe his divine manifestations more fully. Krishna obliges with an expansive, poetic list: among the Vedas, he is the Sama Veda; among the gods, he is Indra; among the senses, he is the mind; among the mountains, he is the Himalayas; among rivers, he is the Ganga; among trees, he is the Ashvattha; among animals, he is the lion; among weapons, he is the thunderbolt.
The teaching principle here is subtle but powerful: whatever is most excellent, most magnificent, most awe-inspiring in any category is a direct manifestation of the divine. When you stand before a mountain's majesty and feel something that cannot be named — that is the divine touching you through the mountain's vibhuti.
This transforms how we engage with the world. Instead of a flat, mechanical universe of matter, we inhabit a world shot through with divine presences. Wherever there is excellence — in a great work of music, in the courage of a firefighter, in the devotion of a mother, in the precision of a master craftsperson — the divine is present.
Krishna closes the chapter with the summary statement: 'Whatever is glorious, beautiful, or mighty in any being — know that to have sprung from a spark of my splendor.' This single statement is a complete spiritual practice: seeing the divine in everything excellent.
Key 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.
यो मामजमनादिं च वेत्ति लोकमहेश्वरम् | असम्मूढः स मर्त्येषु सर्वपापैः प्रमुच्यते ||१०-३||
yo māmajamanādiṃ ca vetti lokamaheśvaram . asammūḍhaḥ sa martyeṣu sarvapāpaiḥ pramucyate ||10-3||
10.3 He who knows Me as unborn and beginningless, as the great Lord of the worlds, he, among mortals, is undeluded and he is liberated from all sins.
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.
अहिंसा समता तुष्टिस्तपो दानं यशोऽयशः | भवन्ति भावा भूतानां मत्त एव पृथग्विधाः ||१०-५||
ahiṃsā samatā tuṣṭistapo dānaṃ yaśo.ayaśaḥ . bhavanti bhāvā bhūtānāṃ matta eva pṛthagvidhāḥ ||10-5||
10.5 Non-injury, eanimity, contentment, austerity, beneficence, fame, ill-fame (these) different kinds of alities of beings arise from Me alone.