Chapter 10Verse 31 of 42

Bhagavad Gita 10.31

पवनः पवतामस्मि रामः शस्त्रभृतामहम् | झषाणां मकरश्चास्मि स्रोतसामस्मि जाह्नवी ||

pavanaḥ pavatām asmi rāmaḥ śastra-bhṛtām aham | jhaṣāṇāṁ makaraś cāsmi srotasām asmi jāhnavī ||

Translation

Among purifiers I am the wind. Among bearers of weapons, Rāma. Among fishes, the Makara. Among streams, the Ganges.

Four more. The wind among purifiers, Rama among bearers of weapons, the Makara among fishes, the Ganges among streams. The wind is the most universal of cleansers, moving where water cannot. Rama is the supreme of those who carry weapons, the kshatriya whose right wielding the tradition holds as the standard. The Makara is the chief of the great fishes, an aquatic figure whose iconography sits in many temple gates. The Ganges is the most sacred of rivers. The verse moves easily between wind, weapon, water-creature, and stream. The point continues to be made by repetition rather than by argument. Wherever there is a class with a chief, the chief is Krishna. The listener will not run out of categories. Krishna has not run out of vibhutis.

Reflection

What four kinds did you walk past today and miss the chief of each?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Ten

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