Sanskrit
रुद्राणां शङ्करश्चास्मि वित्तेशो यक्षरक्षसाम् । वसूनां पावकश्चास्मि मेरुः शिखरिणामहम् ॥ २३ ॥
rudrāṇāṃ śaṅkaraś cāsmi vitteśo yakṣarakṣasām vasūnāṃ pāvakaś cāsmi meruḥ śikhariṇām aham
Translation
And of the Rudras Shañkara am I; Vittesha of the Yakshas and Râkshasas; and of the Vasus I am Pâvaka; Meru of high mountains am I.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Deities and geography packed into four categories across two lines — Shankara among the Rudras, Vittesha among Yakshas and Rakshasas, Pavaka (fire) among the Vasus, Meru among mountains. The pace of enumeration is picking up here compared to the two-category verses that preceded it. Four categories in two lines: the list tightens here, moving quickly through pantheon and landscape alike. Meru, the world-axis mountain, is the geographic counterpart of the sun in BG 10.21.
Study deeper
Word by word
- rudrāṇāṃ śaṅkaraś cāsmiरुद्राणां शङ्करश् चास्मि
- among the Rudras I am Śaṅkara (rudrāṇām + śaṅkaraḥ + ca + asmi)
- vitteśo yakṣarakṣasāmवित्तेशो यक्षरक्षसां
- among Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, the Lord of wealth (vitta-īśaḥ + yakṣa-rakṣasām)
- vasūnāṃ pāvakaś cāsmiवसूनां पावकश् चास्मि
- among the Vasus I am fire (vasūnām + pāvakaḥ + ca + asmi)
- meruḥ śikhariṇām ahamमेरुः शिखरिणां अहं
- among peaked mountains, Meru (meruḥ + śikhariṇām + aham)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Where verses 20-22 needed a full line or more to establish a single category, this verse rattles off four in the same span — Rudras, Yakshas-and-Rakshasas, Vasus, mountains — with no slowing down to elaborate. The list itself is teaching by pace here: once the underlying pattern of category-then-best-member is absorbed, Krishna trusts a compressed list to carry as much weight as an unpacked one.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Once you've internalized the pattern behind a habit or practice, let your explanation of it to yourself compress — you don't need to re-derive the full reasoning every time you repeat it. Trust the shorthand once the method is genuinely absorbed.
Professional
- Once a team has clearly grasped the reasoning behind a process, stop re-explaining it in full each time — a compressed reminder carries the same weight as a lengthy walkthrough once the underlying method has actually landed.
Family & Social
- Once a shared understanding is established with someone close to you, trust a brief signal instead of a full explanation every time — over-explaining a point that's already landed can read as not trusting them to have understood it.
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