Bhagavad Gita 10.19
श्रीभगवानुवाच | हन्त ते कथयिष्यामि दिव्या ह्यात्मविभूतयः | प्राधान्यतः कुरुश्रेष्ठ नास्त्यन्तो विस्तरस्य मे ||
śrī-bhagavān uvāca | hanta te kathayiṣyāmi divyā hy ātma-vibhūtayaḥ | prādhānyataḥ kuru-śreṣṭha nāsty anto vistarasya me ||
Translation
The Deity said: Yes, I will tell you my divine glories, but only the chief ones, O best of the Kurus. There is no end to my full extent.
Reflection
Where do you over-promise and lose the trust a clean limit would earn?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Ten
Krishna accepts and immediately limits. Yes, He will tell. But only the chief ones, the pradhanyatah, the principal among them. There is no end to His extent. The verse models the right way to give a teaching of this kind. Promise what can be promised; refuse the impossible promise. The catalogue that follows will be long but the teacher has already named its boundary. The student will receive a representative list rather than an exhaustive one, and this is the only kind of list that could actually be given. The honest framing also protects the student. Receiving a finite list keeps the contemplation grounded in particular forms rather than dissipated into a vague all. The next two dozen verses will work with that grounding.