Mūla — the verse
Gita Press numberingTranslation
Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣyaAmong weapons I am the thunderbolt; among cows I am Kamadhenu. I am Kandarpa, the Progenitor, and among serpents I am Vasuki.
हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda
मैं शस्त्रों में वज्र और धेनुओं (गायों) में कामधेनु हूँ, प्रजा उत्पत्ति का हेतु कन्दर्प (कामदेव) मैं हूँ और सर्पों में वासुकि हूँ।।
Pronunciation — Vaamshii
from VaamshiiWord by word
padārthaThemes
from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad GītāMeaning — Questions & Solutions
from Q&A with KnAK runs through creation naming Himself as its summit in each order: among the Ādityas, Viṣṇu; among lights, the radiant sun; among the Vedas, the Sāma; among the gods, Indra; among the senses, the mind; of living beings, consciousness itself; among mountains, Meru; of priests, Bṛhaspati; of waters, the ocean; of words, the single syllable Om; of sacrifices, the japa-yajña; of the immovable, the Himālaya; of trees, the aśvattha; of rivers, the Ganges; of sciences, the science of the Self (adhyātma-vidyā). Two touches deserve note. First, He claims not only the noble but the ambiguous: “I am the gambling of the fraudulent” (dyūtaṃ chalayatām asmi) — even the cleverness of cheats is a spark of His power, misused. There is nothing anywhere, high or low, that is not some fraction of His energy. Second, He ends the list on the moral note: “I am the victory, I am the effort, I am the goodness of the good (sattvaṃ sattvavatām)” (10.36). The catalogue is a training exercise: whatever most excellent thing the mind lands on, it is bidden to see through it to the One whose splendour it is.