यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमेव वा | तत्तदेवावगच्छ त्वं मम तेजोऽंशसम्भवम् ||४१||
yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṃ śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā | tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṃ mama tejo'ṃśa-sambhavam || 41 ||
Whatever being has excellence, prosperity, or power — know it as born from a fragment of My splendor.
Word by word (3)
- yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṃ
- — Whatever being that has vibhūti (divine excellence/power) · yad yad = whatever whatever (double relative pronoun — 'in every case where'; yad = which, what; the doubled yad emphasizes universality: 'in whatever case, in every case where'). vibhūtimat = having vibhūti (vibhūti + -mat = 'possessing vibhūti, endowed with vibhūti'; vibhūti = divine power, excellence, concentrated divine expression — from vi + bhū = to flourish supremely). sattvaṃ = being, creature, entity (sattva = 'a being, a creature, an existence' — from √as/bhū = to be; sattva = 'that which has being'; also means the quality of sattva/clarity, but here used in the sense of 'being, entity'). 'Whatever being that is endowed with vibhūti (excellence)' — this is the universal generalization that V10.19-V10.40's specific catalogue was training toward. The specific vibhūtis (Viṣṇu, Gaṅgā, Prahlāda, Vyāsa, silence, jñāna...) were examples; V10.41's yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṃ = 'whatever being has any of that — any excellence at all.' V10.41 is the rule; V10.20-V10.40 were the training examples.
- śrīmat ūrjitam eva vā
- — Beautiful/prosperous, or powerful/mighty · śrīmat = endowed with śrī (śrī + -mat = 'having śrī, prosperous, auspicious, beautiful, glorious'; śrī = 'prosperity, beauty, glory, auspiciousness, Lakṣmī'; śrīmat = 'the beautiful/glorious/auspicious one'; a standard honorific in Sanskrit — Śrīmad Bhagavad Gita = 'the glorious Bhagavad Gita'). ūrjitam = powerful, mighty, vigorous (ūrjita = 'endowed with ūrja = strength, energy, vigor'; ūrjita = 'the powerful one, the vigorous one' — from ūrja = nourishment/strength, related to Greek 'urgency'). eva = indeed (emphatic). vā = or. Three qualities: (1) vibhūtimat = having concentrated divine excellence, (2) śrīmat = beautiful/prosperous/auspicious, (3) ūrjitam = powerful/mighty. These three span the full spectrum of recognizable excellence: V10.41 is saying — wherever you recognize excellence in any form (achievement, beauty, power) — in ALL those cases, understand it as the divine's tejas-fragment.
- tat tad eva avagaccha tvaṃ mama tejaḥ aṃśa sambhavam
- — Know all that as arising from a fragment of My tejas (splendor/power) · tat tad eva = all that, precisely that (double demonstrative echoing yad yad — 'whatever whatever... all that, all that exactly'); the doubling mirrors the opening: every case where excellence appears is covered by this principle. avagaccha = know, understand (second person imperative of ava + √gam = to go; avagaccha = 'go toward understanding, know clearly' — a direct instruction to Arjuna). tvaṃ = you (emphatic). mama = My (genitive of aham). tejaḥ = splendor, power, fiery energy (tejas = 'the sharp/brilliant one' — from √tej = to sharpen; tejas = fiery energy, brilliance, power, dignity; tejas is the quality of concentrated concentrated power-and-brilliance, of the shining that is also the burning; tejas is the quality that V10.36's tejaḥ tejasvinām pointed to). aṃśa = a portion, a fragment, a share (aṃśa = 'a part, a portion, a fraction' — from √aṃś = to divide; aṃśa = the fragment of a whole). sambhavam = arising from, born from (sambhava = 'arising, originating' — from sam + √bhū = to become together, to arise from; sambhava = 'the arising, the origination'). 'Know all that as arising from a portion of My tejas.' This is V10.41's teaching in its complete form: every manifestation of excellence — beauty, power, achievement, concentrated divine quality — is mama tejoṃśasambhavam: arising from a PORTION (aṃśa) of the divine's tejas. Not from the divine itself directly, not identical with the divine, but from a FRACTION. This preserves the divine's transcendence (the divine is infinite; the vibhūtis are its fractions) while asserting its immanence (the divine's tejas is present in every excellence).
V41: yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṃ śrīmad ūrjitam (whatever being has vibhūti/excellence, prosperity, or power) + tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṃ mama tejoṃśasambhavam (know ALL that as arising from a fragment of My tejas). This is the synthesis principle that the entire vibhūti catalogue (V10.20-V10.40) was training toward: the 20+ specific examples were practice in recognition; V10.41 gives the universal principle — wherever you see excellence in ANY form, that is the divine's tejas concentrated in that being. The recognition practice is now portable: you don't need the catalogue; you need the recognition.
A modern analogy
V10.41's tejoṃśasambhavam (arising from a portion of My radiance) parallels the physics of light: the sun radiates in all directions; a focused magnifying glass concentrates that radiant energy to a point that can ignite a fire. The fire is 'born from a fragment of the sun's energy' — aṃśasambhavam. Every vibhūti (concentrated excellence) is like that focused point: born from a fragment of the infinite divine radiance, not all of it (the sun doesn't diminish), not separate from it (the fire's energy IS solar energy), but a concentrated expression of a portion of it.
What it does NOT mean
V10.41's mama tejoṃśasambhavam (arising from a fragment/portion of My tejas) is NOT saying all beings are identical with the divine. The word aṃśa (portion, fragment) is philosophically precise: a fragment of the divine's tejas — not the tejas itself. The Advaita/Vishishtadvaita/Dvaita traditions all interpret this differently (Advaita: appearances within the One; Vishishtadvaita: body-parts of the divine; Dvaita: real but dependent). But all three agree on V10.41's central claim: wherever excellence appears, the divine's tejas is present as its source.
Take with you
- V10.41 as a daily recognition practice: the synthesis of the vibhūti teaching in one instruction — 'wherever excellence appears, know it as the divine's tejas-fragment.' Starting today: whenever you notice excellence in any person, natural phenomenon, creative work, or event — pause and briefly recognize: 'This is mama tejoṃśasambhavam — a concentrated expression of the divine's own power.' This transforms envy into recognition, and reverence into a constant state.
- V10.41's three-quality check for recognizing vibhūtis: V10.41 gives three markers of the divine's tejas-presence: (1) vibhūtimat = has concentrated excellence/power in its domain, (2) śrīmat = has beauty, prosperity, auspiciousness, (3) ūrjitam = has vigor/might/energy. When you encounter a being or phenomenon with any of these three qualities strongly expressed — that is the divine's tejas-fragment at work. The three markers are the recognition criteria.
- V10.41 as a completion of the vibhūti catalogue practice: having studied the 20+ specific vibhūtis (V10.20-V10.40), now practice V10.41: without referring to the catalogue, look at your world today and identify 5 things that are vibhūtimat (excellent), śrīmat (beautiful/prosperous), or ūrjitam (powerful/mighty). For each, briefly recognize: tejoṃśasambhavam (this is born from the divine's radiant fragment). This is the transfer of training from examples to principle.
V10.41 is the synthesis verse of the entire vibhūti teaching — the generalization principle that all 20+ specific examples were training toward. Structure: yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṃ (whatever being has excellence) śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā (beautiful/prosperous or powerful) — these three adjectives (vibhūtimat, śrīmat, ūrjitam) span the full spectrum of recognizable excellence: concentrated excellence in its domain (vibhūti), aesthetic beauty and prosperity (śrī), and raw power and vigor (ūrja). V10.41 is not adding to the catalogue — it is giving the rule under which ALL possible excellence falls. Mama tejoṃśasambhavam is the most precise philosophical statement in the vibhūti teaching: - mama = the divine's (not an impersonal principle) - tejas = fiery radiant power (not mere energy — tejas has the quality of the burning-shining) - aṃśa = a portion, a fragment (not the whole — the fragment-language preserves the divine's transcendence) - sambhavam = arising from (not identical with — the arising implies distinction, even as it implies source-relationship) The philosophical positions that V10.41 supports: - Advaita: tejas = Brahman; aṃśa = apparent fragment within the undivided; the fire seems separate from the sun's light but is the same energy appearing in a condensed form. The distinction is vyāvahārika (conventional), not pāramārthika (ultimate). - Vishishtadvaita: tejoṃśasambhavam = the world is the divine's body, and each excellence is a concentrated expression of the divine's body's quality. Ramanujacharya: the world beings are aṃśas (portions) of the divine in the body-sense. - Dvaita: each being has the divine's tejas causally expressed in their excellence — the tejas of the cause (divine) is concentrated in the effect (being's excellence). Real distinction maintained. All three traditions find their position in mama tejoṃśasambhavam. V10.41 was deliberately phrased to support multiple readings — the teaching's depth includes its interpretive flexibility.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṃ... mama tejoṃśasambhavam = the Advaita teaching in reverse: from the manifestations to the Brahman-ground. The vibhūtis appear distinct (Gaṅgā, Viṣṇu, Prahlāda, silence...) but they are all mama tejoṃśasambhavam — arising from one undivided Brahman-tejas appearing in concentrated form in each. V10.41 is tat tvam asi in the plural: all these concentrated expressions of excellence (tat) are fragmentary expressions of the One Brahman (tvam). The recognition V10.41 calls for — avagaccha (understand/know) — is the beginning of the Advaita recognition: this excellence is not other than Brahman expressing through a particular form.
Bhakti lens
For bhakti, V10.41's mama (My) is the operative word. The bhakta's recognition: all excellence is MINE (the divine's) — the divine is saying 'all this glory is a fragment of MY splendor.' This is the bhakti vision of the world as the divine's expression of creative abundance. The bhakta's joy in recognizing excellence anywhere — in a great garden, a beautiful performance, an act of extraordinary courage — is the joy of recognizing the divine's own tejas expressed. V10.41 is the theological basis for the bhakti practice of seeing beauty as divine beauty, power as divine power, excellence as divine excellence.
Karma-Yoga lens
V10.41 for karma yoga: Tilak's reading — the karma yogi recognizes mama tejoṃśasambhavam in each instance of excellence in the world, then works to make their own actions an increasingly clear expression of the divine's tejas-fragment. The karma yogi's aspiration: not to achieve greatness for personal glory (which would be ahaṅkāra/ego-vibhūti) but to let the divine's tejas express through their actions with increasing purity and concentration. V10.41 is the karma yogi's goal expressed from the divine's perspective: my work is the divine's tejas-fragment expressing through my particular form and path.
Modern parallels
V10.41's tejoṃśasambhavam (arising from a portion of the divine's radiance) parallels the holographic principle in physics: in a hologram, every fragment of the holographic plate contains the complete image, though in reduced resolution. When you cut a hologram in half, each half still contains the whole image — dimmer, less resolved, but complete. Each vibhūti is like a fragment of the holographic plate: it contains the divine's tejas, concentrated in its particular resolution, but participating in the whole.
Practice
V10.41 tejas-recognition meditation (20 minutes): sit quietly. Begin by bringing to mind the most excellent thing you've encountered recently — a person at their peak, a beautiful natural sight, a creative work, an act of extraordinary courage or kindness. Hold it in the mind. Then slowly feel: this excellence is mama tejoṃśasambhavam — the divine's own splendor concentrated in a fragment, expressing through this particular form. Let the recognition deepen: the beauty and power you admire is the divine's own beauty and power expressing through that being's particular path. Hold this recognition for 5 minutes. Then bring to mind your own particular domain of excellence — however modest it may seem. Apply the same recognition: this too is the divine's tejas-fragment expressing through you. Rest in this recognition for 10 minutes. Close with 5 minutes of gratitude for the infinite diversity of the divine's tejas-fragments in the world.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
Whatever being there is great, prosperous, or powerful, that know thou to be a product of a part of My splendour. [4]
Whatever creature is permanent, of good fortune or mighty, also know it to be sprung from a portion of my energy. [6]
For wheresoe'er is wondrous work, and majesty, and might, / From Me hath all proceeded. Receive thou this aright! [7]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
I shall tell you My foremost divine manifestations, O best of Kurus — My nature's extent is without end.
I am the gambling of the fraudulent and the power of the powerful; victory, effort, and the sattva of the sattvika.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
For the protection of the good, destruction of wickedness, establishment of dharma — I come, age after age.