Chapter 10: The Opulence of the Absolute
Bg 10.19
TEXT 19
sri-bhagavan uvaca
hanta te kathayisyami
divya hy atma-vibhutayah
pradhanyatah kuru-srestha
nasty anto vistarasya me
SYNONYMS
sri bhagavan uvaca—the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; hanta—yes; te—unto you; kathayisyami—I shall speak; divyah—divine; hi—certainly; atma-vibhutayah—personal opulences; pradhanyatah—principally; kurusrestha—O best of the Kurus; na asti—there is no; antah—limit; vistarasya—to the extent; me—My.
TRANSLATION
The Blessed Lord said: Yes, I will tell you of My splendorous manifestations, but only of those which are prominent, O Arjuna, for My opulence is limitless.
PURPORT
It is not possible to comprehend the greatness of Krsna and His opulences. The senses of the individual soul are imperfect and do not permit him to understand the totality of Krsna's affairs. Still the devotees try to understand Krsna, but not on the principle that they will be able to understand Krsna fully at any specific time or in any state of life. Rather, the very topics of Krsna are so relishable that they appear to them as nectar. Thus they enjoy them. In discussing Krsna's opulences and His diverse energies, the pure devotees take transcendental pleasure. Therefore they want to hear and discuss them. Krsna knows that living entities do not understand the extent of His opulences; He therefore agrees to state only the principal manifestations of His different energies. The word pradhanyatah (principal) is very important because we can understand only a few of the principal details of the Supreme Lord, for His features are unlimited. It is not possible to understand them all. And vibhuti, as used in this verse, refers to the opulences by which He controls the whole manifestation. In the Amara-kosa dictionary it is stated that vibhuti indicates an exceptional opulence.
The impersonalist or the pantheist cannot understand the exceptional opulences of the Supreme Lord nor the manifestations of His divine energy. Both in the material world and in the spiritual world His energies are distributed in every variety of manifestation. Now Krsna is describing what can be directly perceived by the common man; thus part of His variegated energy is described in this way.