Sanskrit
वृष्णीनां वासुदेवोऽस्मि पाण्डवानां धनञ्जयः । मुनीनामप्यहं व्यासः कवीनामुशना कविः ॥ ३७ ॥
vṛṣṇīnāṃ vāsudevo'smi pāṇḍavānāṃ dhanañjayaḥ munīnām apy ahaṃ vyāsaḥ kavīnām uśanā kaviḥ
Translation
Of the Vṛishnis Vâsudeva am I; of the Pândavas Dhananjaya; of the Sages also I am Vyâsa; of poets Ushanâ the Bard.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna names Vasudeva, his own patronymic, among the Vrishnis, and Dhananjaya — Arjuna’s own epithet — among the Pandavas. This is the one moment in the entire vibhuti catalogue where Krishna names his listener as an instance of the principle being taught; Arjuna isn’t just being instructed about vibhuti, he’s told he is one. Pāṇḍavānāṃ dhanañjayaḥ — “of the Pāṇḍavas, Arjuna” — turns the list on the listener: the person receiving the teaching is named as one of its examples. The chariot itself holds a vibhūti of Krishna.
Study deeper
Word by word
- vṛṣṇīnāṃ vāsudevo'smiवृष्णीनां वासुदेवोऽस्मि
- among the Vṛṣṇis I am Vāsudeva (vṛṣṇīnām + vāsudevaḥ + asmi)
- pāṇḍavānāṃ dhanañjayaḥपाण्डवानां धनञ्जयः
- among the Pāṇḍavas, Arjuna (pāṇḍavānām + dhanañjayaḥ)
- munīnām apy ahaṃ vyāsaḥमुनीनां अप्य् अहं व्यासः
- among sages I am Vyāsa (munīnām + api + aham + vyāsaḥ)
- kavīnām uśanā kaviḥकवीनां उशना कविः
- among seers, Uśanā the seer (kavīnām + uśanā + kaviḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Vāsudeva is Krishna’s own patronymic, and Dhanañjaya is Arjuna’s — teacher and student are named in the same verse, each as a vibhuti within their own clan. For one line, the asymmetry of guru and disciple that structures the whole dialogue drops away: both men are cited as instances of the same principle, side by side, before the list moves on to sages and poets.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice moments when someone teaching you also places themselves inside the same standard they're holding you to — that kind of parity is worth trusting more than instruction from someone who quietly exempts themselves from what they ask of you.
Professional
- When setting a standard for your team, look for a genuine moment to name yourself as also held to it, the way this verse names teacher and student in the same breath — it changes how the standard actually lands with people.
Family & Social
- When asking someone close to you to live up to a value, look for the moment to include yourself as measured by the same standard — naming both sides in the same breath lands very differently than issuing the expectation from outside it.
Ask yourself
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