Gita : Ch-10. Slo-15.

Srimad Bhagavad-Gita :


Chapter-10. ( Vibhuthi-yogam )


Slokam-15 : ( Indeed, You alone know Yourself by Your own potencies, O origin of all, Lord of all beings, God of gods, O Supreme Person, Lord of the universe!  )


svayamevatmanatmanam   vettha   tvam   purushottama,


bhutabhavana   bhutesa   devadeva   jagatpate.


bhavana  bhutesa  =  the  cause  of  the  origin  and  Lord  of  all  living  and  non-living  entities;

deva-deva  jagat-pate  =  Lord  of  all  deva-s  ( demigods ),  and  Lord  of  the  entire  universe;

purushottama  =  hey,  greatest  of  all  Purusha-s;

tvam  svayam  evam  =  you  only  know  yourself,  that  too;

atmana  atmanam  vettha  =  by Own Self,  without  any  external request ( connection ).



Lord Krishna is being addressed here as Purusottama meaning the Supreme Personality and it is being confirmed that only He can be cognisant of His own Self by His own knowledge and none other.

The words bhuta-bhavana means universal father denoting the progenitor of all beings.

The word bhutesa means the Lord of all beings indicating the absolute controller.

The words jagat-pate refers to Jagannatha the Lord and master of creation.

The words deva-deva means God of gods and instructs that even as the demigods excel in innumerable auspicious qualities of form, beauty, aesthetics, etc. over lower and lower creations such as human, animal, birds and reptiles.

In the same way the Supreme Lord excels over all of the demigods and any other conceivable god as well.



O' Purusottama meaning the Supreme personality is being used to address Lord Krishna in the vocative case and is being elaborated further by four additional epithets describing His ultimate position as progenitor of all beings, Lord of all beings, Lord of lords and Lord of the universe.

In conclusion it is stated that only the Supreme Lord knows Himself by the power of His Self and none else.



So it is clear that only the Supreme Lord Krishna can know Himself, only by Himself and no one else and nothing else is capable.

Out of venerable and great reverence Arjuna addresses Lord Krishna with vocative epithets such as purusottama the greatest personality, bhutesa the Lord of all beings, deva-deva the God of Gods, jagat-pate the Lord of the universe protector of all the worlds.



Arjuna herein confirms that persons of faithless and demonic nature cannot understand Krishna.

He is not even known by the demigods, so what to speak of the so-called scholars of this modern world?

By the grace of the Supreme Lord, Arjuna has understood that the Supreme Truth is Krishna and that He is the perfect one.

One should therefore follow the path of Arjuna.

He received the authority of Bhagavad-gita.

As described in the Fourth Chapter, the parampara system of disciplic succession for the understanding of Bhagavad-gita was lost, and therefore Krishna reestablished that disciplic succession with Arjuna because He considered Arjuna His intimate friend and a great devotee.

Therefore, as stated in our Introduction to Gitopanishad, Bhagavad-gita should be understood in the parampara system.

When the parampara system was lost, Arjuna was again selected to rejuvenate it.

The acceptance of Arjuna of all that Krishna says should be emulated; then we can understand the essence of Bhagavad-gita, and then only can we understand that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

To be continued   ...