Bhagavad Gita—Chapter Ten

The Yoga of Divine glories

The Holy Lord said:
Now hear from Me the supreme word
Which I speak to you, Mighty-Armed,
For you are beloved to Me.
I speak desiring your welfare. (1)

Neither the multitude of gods
Or great seers know My origin.
In truth I am the source of the
Gods, as well as of the great seers. (2)

He who knows Me as birthless and
Beginningless, the world’s Great Lord–
He alone among mortals is
Undeluded and freed from sins. (3)

Reason, knowledge, non-delusion,
Forbearance, truth, restraint of sense,
Calmness, happiness, misery,
Birth, death, fear, also fearlessness, (4)

Non-injury, and contentment,1
Austerity, benevolence,
Both good repute and ill repute–
All these arise from Me alone. (5)

The ancient Seven Great Rishis2
And Four Manus,3 with pow’rs like Me,
Were born of My mind, and from them
Are all the creatures in this world. (6)

He who knows all these manifold
Manifestations of My pow’r
And glory, becomes established
In yoga–there can be no doubt. (7)

I am the origin of all,
And from Me ev’rything evolves–
Thinking thus, the wise worship Me
With consciousness all filled with love. (8)

With minds and lives intent on Me,
Enlightening4 one another,
And speaking of Me constantly,
They are content and do rejoice. (9)

To them, the constantly steadfast,
Worshipping Me with affection,
I bestow the buddhi-yoga
By which they shall come unto Me. (10)

Out of compassion for them, I,
Abiding in their hearts, destroy
The darkness born of ignorance
By the shining lamp of knowledge. (11)

Arjuna said:
Supreme Brahman, Supreme Abode,
Supreme Purifier, Divine,
Eternal Person, the First God,
The Birthless and All-pervading– (12)

Thus all the sages declare You:
Narad’,5 Asita Devala,6
And Vyasa7–and now do You, too,
Yourself declare it unto me. (13)

I regard all this that You say
To me as true, O Keshava.
In truth, neither gods nor demons
Know of Your manifestation. (14)

For You know Yourself by Yourself,
O You, the Supreme Purusha8:
Source of beings, Lord of beings,
God of gods, Ruler of the world. (15)

You should now describe completely
Your divine manifestations
By which, pervading all these worlds,
You do abide within all things. (16)

How may I know You, O Yogi,
Always meditating on You?
In what aspects of Your Being
Are You to be thought of by me? (17)

Explain to me in more detail
Your pow’rs and manifestations.
I am never satiated
In hearing Your amrit-like9 words. (18)

The Holy Lord said:
Listen! I shall tell you of My
Divine Self-manifestations;
But only the chief ones, because
There is no end to My expanse. (19)

I am the Self abiding in
The heart of all beings; I am
The beginning, the middle, and
Also the end of all beings. (20)

I am Vishnu10 of Adityas;11
The Sun among luminaries;
I am Marichi of Maruts;12
Among the stars I am the Moon. (21)

Of Vedas, the Sama Veda;13
I am Indra14 among the gods;
Of the senses I am the mind;
Intelligence in all beings. (22)

Among the Rudras,15 Shankara;16
Kuber17 of yakshas,18 rakshasas;
Of Vasus19 I am Pavaka;20
And of mountains Meru21 am I. (23)

And of priests, O son of Pritha,
Know Me the chief, Brihaspati;22
Of generals I am Skanda;23
Among the waters, the ocean. (24)

Of great Rishis24 I am Bhrigu;25
Of words, the one-syllabled OM;
Of Yajñas,26 the Japa27 Yajña;28
Of immovables: Himalayas. (25)

Of trees I am the Ashwattha;29
Of Deva-rishis, Narada;
Of Gandharvas,30 Chitraratha;31
Among siddhas,32 Sage Kapila.33 (26)

Among horses, Uchchaishravas34
Who was born of the Amrita;
Of elephants, Airavata;35
And among men I am the king. (27)

Among weapons, the Thunderbolt;36
Among cows I am Kamadhuk;37
The cause of offspring, Kandarpa;38
Of serpents I am Vasuki.39 (28)

Of Nagas40 I am Ananta;41
Of water beings, Varuna;42
Of pitris43 I am Aryaman;44
Of controllers I am Yama.45 (29)

Of demons46 I am Prahlada;47
Among measurers I am Time;
Among beasts I am the lion;
Among birds I am Garuda.48 (30)

Of purifiers I am Wind;
Among warriors I am Rama;49
Of fishes I am the dolphin;
Of rivers I am the Ganges.50 (31)

Of manifestations I am
Beginning, middle, and the end;
Of knowledge, knowledge of the Self;
Of disputants I am logic. (32)

Among letters, the letter A;
Of compounds I am the dual;
I am inexhaustible Time;
I the Sustainer, the All-formed. (33)

I am all-destroying death and
Origin of all that shall be.
I am fame, prosperity, speech,
Mem’ry, wisdom, courage, patience. (34)

Of chants I am Brihatsaman;51
Of meters I am Gayatri;52
Of months I am Margashirsha;53
Of seasons, the season of flow’rs.54 (35)

The gambling of the fraudulent,
The splendor of the splendorous;
I am victory and effort;
I am sattwa of the sattwic. (36)

Among Vrishnis,55 Vasudeva;56
Of Pandavas, Dhananjaya;
Among sages I am Vyasa;
Among the rishis, Ushanas.57 (37)

The sceptre of authorities,
Strategy of the ambitious,
Of secret things I am silence;
The knowledge of knowers am I. (38)

Whate’er the seed of all beings,
That also am I, Arjuna.
No thing, moving or unmoving,
Can e’er exist apart from Me. (39)

Arjuna, there is no end of
My divine manifestations.
What I have spoken unto you
Is but an example of them. (40)

Whatever is glorious or
Prosperous or yet powerful,
Understand that springs from but a
Fraction of My radiant Pow’r. (41)

Of what value is it for you
To know all this, O Arjuna?
I ever support this whole world
By just one portion of Myself. (42)

Om Tat Sat
Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the tenth discourse entitled: The Yoga of Divine Glories.

More chapters of the Bhagavad Gita:

• Introduction
• Chapter One—The Yoga of the Despondency of Arjuna
• Chapter Two—Sankhya Yoga
• Chapter Three—The Yoga of Action
• Chapter Four—The Yoga of Wisdom
• Chapter Five—The Yoga of Renunciation of Action
• Chapter Six—The Yoga of Meditation
• Chapter Seven—The Yoga of Wisdom and Realization
• Chapter Eight—The Yoga of Imperishable Brahman
• Chapter Nine—The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Kingly Secret
• Chapter Ten—The Yoga of Divine glories
• Chapter Eleven—The Yoga of the Vision of the Cosmic Form
• Chapter Twelve—The Yoga of Devotion
• Chapter Thirteen—The Yoga of the Distinction Between the Field and the Knower of the Field
• Chapter Fourteen—The Yoga of the Division of the Three Gunas
• Chapter Fifteen—The Yoga of the Supreme Spirit
• Chapter Sixteen— Yoga of the Division between the Divine and the Demoniacal
• Chapter Seventeen—The Yoga of the Division of Threefold Faith
• Chapter Eighteen—The Yoga of Liberation by Renunciation

• Sri Maharshi Gita—An arrangement of verses of the Bhagavad Gita made by Sri Ramana Maharshi that gives an overview of the essential message of the Gita.
• The Maharshi Gita sung in english. – This is an arrangement of verses of the Bhagavad Gita made by Sri Ramana Maharshi that gives an overview of the essential message of the Gita. Arranged according to the meter of the original Sanskrit text and sung to a classical Gita melody used to chant the Gita every morning in our ashram and in most of the ashrams of India. Sung by the monks of Atma Jyoti Ashram.

• To hear online audio files of the above translation of the Gita, click here.

Bhagavad Gita Commentary by Swami Nirmalananda:

1. The Battlefield of the Mind 2. The Smile of Krishna 3. Right But Wrong 4. Birth and Death–The Great Illusions 5. Experiencing The Unreal 6. The Unreal and the Real 7. The Body and the Spirit 8. Know the Atman! 9. Practical Self-Knowledge 10. Perspective on Birth and Death 11. The Wonder of the Atman 12. The Indestructible Self 13. “Happy The Warrior” 14. The Virtues of Karma Yoga 15. Religiosity Versus Religion 16. Perspective on Scriptures 17. How Not To Act 18. How To Act 19. How To Be Miserable; How To Be Free 20. Wisdom About the Wise 21. Wisdom about both the Foolish and the Wise 22. The Way of Peace 23. Calming the Storm 24. First Steps in Karma Yoga 25. From the Beginning to the End 26. The Real “Doers” 27. Our Spiritual Marching Orders 28. Freedom From Karma 29. “Nature” 30. Swadharma 31. In the Grip of the Monster 32. “Devotee and Friend” 33. The Eternal Being 34. Worshippers and the Worshipped 35. Caste and Karma

36. Action–Divine and Human 37. The Mystery of Action and Inaction 38. The Wise in Action 39. Sacrificial Offerings 40. The Worship of Brahman 41. The Core Problem 42. Action–Renounced and Performed 43. Freedom (Moksha) 44. The Brahman-Knower 45. The Goal of Karma Yoga 46. The Will of the Wise 47. The Yogi’s Retreat 48. The Yogi’s Inner Life 49. Union With Brahman 50. The Yogi’s Future 51. Success in Yoga 52. The Net and Its Weaver 53. Those Who Seek God 54. Those Who Worship God and the Gods 55. The Veil in the Mind 56. The Big Picture 57. The Sure Way To Realize God 58. Day, Night, and the Two Paths 59. The Supreme Knowledge 60. Universal Being

and more as it is posted.

2) The Seven Rishis are great Beings who exist at the top of creation and supervise it. [Go back]

3) The Manus were the progenitors of the human race. [Go back]

4) This can also mean “awakening” spiritually. [Go back]

5) Narada: A primeval sage to whom some of the verses of the Rig Veda are attributed. [Go back]

6) Another ancient sage, composer of some of the hymns of the Rig Veda. [Go back]

7) Vyasa: One of the greatest sages of India, commentator on the Yoga Sutras, author of the Mahabharata (which includes the Bhagavad Gita), the Brahma Sutras, and the codifier of the Vedas. [Go back]

8) Purushottama. Purusha means “person” in the sense of a conscious spirit. Both God and the individual spirits are purushas, but God is the Adi (Original, Archetypal) Purusha, Parama (Highest) Purusha, and the Purushottama (Best of the Purushas). [Go back]

9) Amrita: That which makes one immortal. [Go back]

10) Vishnu: “The all-pervading;” God as the Preserver. [Go back]

11) Adityas: Solar deities. [Go back]

12) The Maruts are the presiding deities of winds and storms, and Marichi is their chief. [Go back]

13) The Sama Veda is a compilation of Rig Veda hymns that have been pointed for singing. [Go back]

14) Vasava: Indra, the king of the lesser “gods” (demigods). [Go back]

15) The Rudras are Vedic deities of destruction for renewal. [Go back]

16) “The Auspicious One.” A title of Shiva. [Go back]

17) Vittesha: Kubera, the god of wealth. [Go back]

18) Yaksha: There are two kinds of yakshas: 1) semidivine beings whose king is Kubera, the lord of wealth, or 2) a kind of ghost, goblin, or demon. [Go back]

19) The Vasus are eight Vedic deities characterized by radiance. [Go back]

20) Agni: The Vedic god of fire. [Go back]

21) Meru: The mountain, of supreme height, on which the gods dwell, or the mountain on which Shiva is ever seated in meditation. Said to be the center of the world, supporting heaven itself. Obviously a yogic symbol. [Go back]

22) Brihaspati: The guru–priest and teacher–of the gods. [Go back]

23) Also known as Subramanya or Karttikeya, the god of war and son of Shiva and Parvati. [Go back]

24) Rishi: Sage; seer of the Truth. [Go back]

25) Bhrigu: An ancient sage, so illustrious that he mediated quarrels among the gods. [Go back]

26) Yajna: Sacrifice; offering; sacrificial ceremony; a ritual sacrifice; usually the fire sacrifice known as agnihotra or havan. [Go back]

27) Japa: Repetition of a mantra. [Go back]

28) In the context of this verse, japa yajna is the offering or sacrifice of continually repeating Om. [Go back]

29) Ashwattha: The pipal (sacred fig) tree, the eternal tree of life whose roots are in heaven. The “world tree” in the sense of the axis of the earth and even of the cosmos. [Go back]

30) Gandharva: A demigod–a celestial musician and singer. [Go back]

31) Chitraratha: The chief of the gandharvas. [Go back]

32) Siddha: A perfected being, an adept, a seer, a perfect yogi. [Go back]

33) Kapila: The great sage who formulated the Sankhya philosophy which is endorsed by Krishna several times in the Bhagavad Gita. [Go back]

34) Uchchaishravas: The name of Indra’s horse (or the horse of the Sun god, Surya), that was born of the amrita that was churned from the ocean by the gods. The name means “high-sounding” and refers to the power of mantra. [Go back]

35) Airavata: The white elephant of Indra that was produced by the churning of the ocean. [Go back]

36) Vajra: the special weapon of Indra, king of the gods. [Go back]

37) Kamadhenu: Wishfulfilling cow produced at the churning of the milk ocean. [Go back]

38) A name of Kamadeva, the god of beauty and love. [Go back]

39) The king of the serpents. He assisted at the churning of the milk ocean. [Go back]

40) Nagas: Astral beings that often interact with human beings, usually taking the form of snakes. (In Sanskrit naga is the word for snake.) [Go back]

41) Ananta: The chief of the Nagas, whose coils encircle the earth and who symbolizes eternity (“ananta” means “without end”), and upon whom Vishnu reclines. [Go back]

42) Varuna: A Vedic deity considered the sustainer of the universe and also the presiding deity of the oceans and water. Often identified with the conscience. [Go back]

43) Pitri: A departed ancestor, a forefather. [Go back]

44) Aryaman: Chief of the Pitris. [Go back]

45) Yama: The Lord of Death, controller of who dies and what happens to them after death. [Go back]

46) Daityas: Demons who constantly war with the gods. Sometimes “races” or nationalities who acted contrary to dharma and fought against the “aryas” were also called demons (daityas or asuras). This was the case with the people among whom Prahlada was born. [Go back]

47) Prahlada: A daitya prince who rejected his daitya heritage and became a devotee of Vishnu. His father, the evil Hiranyakashipu, tortured him and attempted his life because of his devotion and his speaking to others of divine matters, yet he remained steadfast. [Go back]

48) Garuda: A great being who can assume bird form, and therefore considered the king of birds. Often depicted as an eagle, he is the vehicle of Vishnu. [Go back]

49) Rama: An incarnation of God–the king of ancient Ayodhya in north-central India. His life is recorded in the ancient epic Ramayana. [Go back]

50) Ganges: The sacred river–believed to be of divine origin–that flows from high up in the Himalayas, through the plains of Northern India, and empties into the Bay of Bengal. Hindus consider that bathing in the Ganges profoundly purifies both body and mind. [Go back]

51) A type of chant to Indra in the Sama Veda. [Go back]

52) The gayatri meter is found only in the Rig Veda and consists of three lines of eight syllables each. It is considered especially appropriate for mantric invocation of deities before worship. [Go back]

53) A lunar month, roughly the latter half of November and the first half of December. This is the time of ideal weather in India. [Go back]

54) Kusumakaras, “the season of flowers” is a term for Spring. [Go back]

55) The ancestral clan of Krishna. [Go back]

56) Son of Vasudeva–Krishna [Go back]

57) An ancient seer and poet. [Go back]