Bhagavad Gita -Srila Prabhupada 450

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is -Shri Shrimad A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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The Opulence of the Absolute
Chapter 10: Verse-19

sri-bhagavän uväca
hanta te kathayisyämi divyä hy ätma-vibhütayah
prädhänyatah kuru-srestha nästy anto vistarasya me [1]

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead 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 limited 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 the devotees as nectar. Thus the devotees 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 prädhänyatah (“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 vibhüti, 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 vibhüti indicates an exceptional opulence.

The impersonalist or pantheist cannot understand the exceptional opulences of the Supreme Lord nor the manifestations of His divine energies. 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.


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References

  1. sri-bhagavän uväca=the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; hanta=yes;
    te=unto you; kathayisyämi=I shall speak; divyäh=divine; hi=certainly; ätma-vibhütayah=personal opulences; prädhänyatah=which are principal;
    kuru-srestha=O best of the Kurus; na asti=there is not; antah=limit; vistarasya=to the extent; me=My.

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