LORD IS THE SEED AND PERFECTION OF ALL THAT IS
arjuna uvaacha
param brahma param dhaama pavitram paramam bhavaan
purusham shaashvatam divyamaadidevamajam vibhum // 10.12 //
Arjuna said
You are the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Abode (or the Supreme Light), the Supreme Purifier, the Eternal, Divine Person, the Primeval God, Unborn and Omnipresent.
aahustwaam rushayah sarve devarshinaaradastathaa
asito devalo vyaasah swayam chaiva braveeshi me // 10.13 //
All the sages have thus declared You as also the Devarshi Narada; so also Asita, Devala and Vyasa and now the same You Yourself are telling me.
Arjuna tells Sri Krishna that he was taught much earlier the same ideas as He has been telling him now such as Supreme Brahman, Supreme Abode, Supreme Purifier, Eternal, Self-luminous Purusha, First Deva, Birthless and All Pervading. These were also declared by the ancient Rishis like Asita, Devala and Vyasa and by the Deva Rishi Narada. Hence he wonders how Sri Krishna who is standing before him be Himself the Infinite, the Supreme, the Birthless and the All pervading.
Param Brahman - The highest Self, the pure and attributeless Absolute completely free from the limiting adjuncts. Param Dhama - The Supreme Light, the Supreme Abode, the substratum. Pavitram Paramam - He who destroys ignorance which is the very cause for all dualities.
sarvametadritam manye yanmaam vadasi keshava
na hi te bhagavan vyaktim vidurdevaa na daanavaah // 10.14 //
I believe all this that You say to me as true, O Keshava, verily O Bhagavan, neither the Devas nor the Danavas know your manifestation (identity).
In Bhagavan exist in fullness all wisdom, dispassion, lordship, virtue, wealth and omnipotence. He also knows the origin and dissolution and the future of all beings. He is omniscient.
Arjuna admits the truth of what has been declared and proclaims his conviction that Sri Krishna who is speaking to him is the Supreme Godhead, the Absolute. He confirms by his own experience to the truth revealed by the seers who have seen It and become one with It. Abstract truths uttered by the sages become now luminous intuitions and glowing experiences of one's own being.
swayamevaaatmanaa'tmaanam vettha twam purushottama
bhootabhaavana bhootesha devadeva jagatpate // 10.15 //
Verily, You Yourself know Yourself by Yourself, O Purushottama (Supreme Person), O Source and Lord of all beings, O God of Gods, O Ruler of the world.
The Self cannot be known as an object through the instruments of knowing. It cannot be understood as an object either by the best or the worst in us. The Self being itself Awareness or Knowledge no other knowledge is required to know It. Thus Arjuna says `You Yourself know Yourself by Yourself'.
Purushottama: The best or the most glorious among the Purushas who is the source of beings, The Lord of the beings, God of the gods and the ruler of the world. It means the Self of all the selves, the one without any second, the Supreme Self.
vaktumarhasyasheshena divyaa hyaatmavibhootayah
yaabhir vibhootibhir lokaanimaamstwam vyaapya tishthasi // 10.16 //
You should indeed tell, without reserve, of Your Divine glories by which You exist, pervading all these worlds.
katham vidyaamaham yogimstwaam sadaa parichintayan
keshu keshu cha bhaaveshu chintyo'si bhagavan mayaa // 10.17 //
How shall I, ever meditating, know You O Yogin? In what aspects, O Blessed Lord, are You to be thought of by me.
vistarenaaatmano yogam vibhootim cha janaardana
bhooyah kathaya triptirhi shrinvato naasti me'mritam // 10.18 //
Tell me again in detail, O Janardana, of your Yoga-power and Immanent glory; for I am not satisfied in hearing your nectar-like speech.
After expressing his wonder on what Sri Krishna was telling him all along Arjuna now directly asks The Lord: What exactly are The Lord's divine manifestations in the world of plurality? In what aspects of nature where The Lord's presence is more clearly manifest? In what various aspects he should think of Him to help his meditation?
Arjuna, full of anxiety to listen (Jigyasa), tells The Lord that he is not satisfied with His invigorating nectar-like words of Discourses and requests Him to tell him in detail His Yogic power and eminent glory. This shows that Arjuna has come to realize that the whole creation is nothing but the manifestation of the Lord’s powers and no one but the Lord himself knows their mystery. So he desires to learn about those powers from the Lord Himself.
By divine glory or manifestation or Vibhooti is meant the formative forces or spiritual powers which give to each object its essential nature. The Gita does not set up an opposition between Brahman and the world, between the Ineffable Reality and its inadequate expression. It gives a comprehensive spiritual view. Worship of the Absolute is difficult for embodied beings. It is easier to approach the Supreme through Its relations with the world and this method is more natural. The nature of the Supreme in man and the universe is veiled by the series of becomings. Man has to discover his spiritual unity with God and so with all His creatures.
sri bhagavaan uvaacha
hanta te kathayishyaami divyaa hyaatmavibhootayah
praadhaanyatah kurushreshtha naastyanto vistarasya me // 10.19 //
Sri Bhagavan said
Very well, now I will declare to you My divine glories but only of those which are prominent, O the best of Kurus. There is no end to their detailed description.
Sri Krishna in the rest of this Chapter explains to Arjuna exhaustively the identity of the Self (i.e. His identity) in individual beings and things and in their combinations. The Lord makes it clear His supreme importance in individual beings and things and emphasizes the fact that without Him none of the constituent members of a community will have any organized existence.
God is infinite and His manifestation is infinite. He manifests Himself in the universe through innumerable forms. Each form is a symbol of an attribute of the Lord. The true seer finds each finite form carrying in it its own revelation of the infinite.