Sanskrit
नान्तोऽस्ति मम दिव्यानां विभूतीनां परन्तप । एष तूद्देशतः प्रोक्तो विभूतेर्विस्तरो मया ॥ ४० ॥
nānto'sti mama divyānāṃ vibhūtīnāṃ parantapa eṣa tūddeśataḥ prokto vibhūter vistaro mayā
Translation
There is no end of My divine powers, O Parantapa. What has been declared is illustrative of My infinite glory.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
States outright what verse 39 implied and verse 19 already flagged: there is no end to Krishna’s divine powers, and everything given from verse 21 onward was illustrative (uddeśataḥ, “by way of indication”), not an exhaustive inventory. This is the chapter’s own commentary on its method, retroactively reframing eighteen-plus verses of specific examples as samples of a principle rather than a closed list. Uddeśataḥ proktaḥ — “stated by way of pointing” — is the chapter naming its own method: the list gestures, it does not enumerate. BG 10.41 turns the gesture into a rule Arjuna can apply himself.
Study deeper
Word by word
- nānto'sti mama divyānāṃनान्तोऽस्ति मम दिव्यानां
- there is no end to My divine (na + antaḥ + asti + mama + divyānām)
- vibhūtīnāṃ parantapaविभूतीनां परन्तप
- glories, O scorcher of the foe (vibhūtīnām + parantapa)
- eṣa tūddeśataḥ proktoएष तूद्देशतः प्रोक्तो
- this has been told by way of illustration (eṣaḥ + tu + uddeśataḥ + proktaḥ)
- vibhūter vistaro mayāविभूतेः विस्तरो मया
- the extent of My glory, by Me (vibhūteḥ + vistaraḥ + mayā)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Krishna addresses Arjuna here as parantapa, “scorcher of foes,” a martial epithet, in the very sentence declaring that his own glory has no end. The abstraction of the claim, infinitude, immeasurability, is anchored right back to Arjuna’s concrete identity as a warrior on the verge of a specific battle; the teaching keeps returning to ground itself in exactly who is listening, however far the content itself reaches.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When a teaching or insight starts to feel abstract and untethered, bring it back to who you actually are and what you're actually about to do — the biggest ideas still need to land on a concrete person in a concrete situation to mean anything.
Professional
- When presenting a big strategic vision to your team, keep addressing people by their actual concrete roles and current work, not just the abstraction — it keeps the vision tethered to the people who have to execute it.
Family & Social
- When sharing a big realization or value with family, tie it back to who they specifically are and what they're specifically facing, rather than leaving it as an abstract statement that everyone nods at and no one applies.
Ask yourself
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