A devotional verse · devotional in mood · builds on earlier teachings
“The supreme one is known fully only by the supreme one.”
O Supreme Person, you alone know yourself by yourself, O source of all beings, lord of all beings, divine of the divine, ruler of the world.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyby oneself alone · by the self · the self · you know · you · O Supreme Person · O source of beings · O lord of beings · O divine of the divine · O ruler of the world
Arjuna praises Krishna as the Supreme Person who alone fully knows his own nature and rules over all beings.
Arjuna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Vibhuti Yoga" (The Yoga of Divine Glories).
Verse 15 sits in Chapter 10 of the Bhagavad Gita — Vibhuti Yoga, "The Yoga of Divine Glories". The chapter has 42 verses in total.
A young doctor watches the senior surgeon in an emergency and cannot follow every decision, yet the whole team steadies around her. Arjuna feels something like that before Krishna: knowledge he cannot reach, only acknowledge.
Did you like this verse?
Krishna alone knows himself by himself, Arjuna says, calling him source and lord of all beings.
What this verse means
Arjuna praises Krishna as the Supreme Person who alone fully knows his own nature and rules over all beings.
Context & commentary
Arjuna has begun to see Krishna as the Supreme Person behind all existence, more than a charioteer. He bows in awe and says that Krishna alone fully knows his own nature, while all beings depend on him.
What it looks like today
A young doctor watches the senior surgeon in an emergency and cannot follow every decision, yet the whole team steadies around her. Arjuna feels something like that before Krishna: knowledge he cannot reach, only acknowledge.
“Some things you cannot fully explain; you can only bow to them.”
Explore related themes: purushottama (14 verses), bhagavan (11 verses)