Bhagavad Gita 10.42
Spoken by Krishna ★ Essential verse · Verse 42 of 42
अथ वा बहुनैतेन किं ज्ञातेन तवार्जुन | विष्टभ्याहमिदं कृत्स्नमेकांशेन स्थितो जगत् ||४२||
atha vā bahunaitena kiṃ jñātena tavārjuna | viṣṭabhyāham idaṃ kṛtsnam ekāṃśena sthito jagat || 42 ||
But why such detail, O Arjuna? With a single fragment of Myself I establish and uphold this entire universe.
Word by word (3)
- atha vā bahunā etena kiṃ jñātena tava arjuna
- — But O Arjuna — what need do you have of knowing all this much? · atha vā = but, or rather, or however (atha = now, then, but — a discourse marker indicating a shift or concession; vā = or; atha vā = 'but rather, or alternatively' — here marking a rhetorical pivot: 'but set aside all that'). bahunā = by much, with much (instrumental of bahu = much, many, numerous; bahunā = 'with/by much'). etena = by this (instrumental of etat = this; etena = 'by this [teaching, this enumeration]'). kiṃ = what use? what need? (kim = what; in rhetorical question: 'what use/point is there in?'). jñātena = by knowing (instrumental of jñāta = known, the act of knowing; jñātena = 'by knowing all this'). tava = for you (genitive of tvaṃ = you; tava = 'your, for you'). arjuna = O Arjuna. 'But what need do you have, O Arjuna, of knowing all this much?' — rhetorical question that withdraws the entire elaborate catalogue (V10.20-V10.40) and replaces it with one simple comprehensive statement. The pivot is radical: after 23 verses of careful enumeration, the divine suddenly says: 'but actually — why all that detail?' V10.42 is the Gita's most stunning example of teaching by withdrawal: the entire catalogue was useful — and now it can be released.
- viṣṭabhya aham idaṃ kṛtsnam ekāṃśena sthitaḥ jagat
- — I establish and pervade this entire world with just one fragment of Myself · viṣṭabhya = having supported, having pervaded (gerund of vi + √stabh = to prop up, support, fix, pervade; viṣṭabhya = 'having supported/pervaded/sustained'; the prefix vi = all around; √stabh = to become firm, to prop up; viṣṭabhya = 'having propped up from all sides, having pervaded and sustained'). aham = I (emphatic — the divine speaking directly, first person, emphatically). idaṃ = this (proximate demonstrative — 'this [universe] here'). kṛtsnam = whole, entire, all of it (kṛtsna = 'whole, entire, complete' — an emphatic adjective: 'not partially, but entirely, completely'). ekāṃśena = with just one fraction (eka = one; aṃśa = portion, fragment; instrumental = 'by means of, with'; ekāṃśena = 'with just one fraction, with a single portion'). sthitaḥ = abiding, standing, established (past passive participle of √sthā = to stand; sthitaḥ = 'the one who stands/abides'). jagat = the world, the universe (jagat = 'the moving one, the world' — from √gam = to move; jagat = 'what moves, the world, the universe'). 'I, having established this entire universe with just one fragment, abide.' The word ekāṃśena (with one fragment) is the compression of the entire vibhūti teaching: the ENTIRE universe — with all its excellence, beauty, power, the 20+ named vibhūtis AND all the unnamed ones — is sustained by just ONE fragment of the divine. The divine's wholeness is so vast that one fragment sustains the infinite cosmos. This makes V10.41's tejoṃśasambhavam even more stunning: what felt like the entire diversity of divine vibhūtis is itself only ONE portion of the divine's tejas.
- [synthesis note]
- — V10.42 as the compression of the entire chapter · V10.42 performs the final compression of the vibhūti teaching through two moves: (1) Rhetorical withdrawal: 'what need of all this detail?' — not dismissing the catalogue but releasing Arjuna from the need to hold it all. The catalogue did its work (trained recognition); now it can be released. (2) The single-fragment absolute: viṣṭabhyāham idaṃ kṛtsnam ekāṃśena sthito jagat — the ENTIRE cosmos is supported by ONE fragment. This closes the arch: V10.19 said 'na asto vistarasya me' (no end to My extent); V10.42 says 'one fragment of Me sustains the entire world.' The implication: the infinite extent of the divine (V10.19) is such that ONE portion of it = the entire universe. The rest of the divine's infinite extent is beyond this universe entirely. V10.42 is the Gita's most compact statement of divine transcendence: the entire vibhūti catalogue (the ENTIRE observable excellence of the world) = ONE fraction of the divine. The divine is simultaneously immanent (viṣṭabhya = pervading the entire world) and infinitely transcendent (ekāṃśena = this entire immanence is only one fraction).
But what need have you, O Arjuna, to know all this in detail? With a single fragment of Myself I stand, upholding this entire universe.
A modern analogy
This verse's ekāṃśena (with a single fragment) parallels the mathematics of infinity: in Cantor's set theory, the set of all real numbers (infinitely many) is only one 'size' of infinity — there are infinitely larger infinities (the power set of real numbers is 'more infinite' than the real numbers themselves). This verse makes a similar move: the entire universe, with all its excellence and vibhūtis, is sustained by one fragment of the divine's tejas. The divine's fullness is to the universe as Cantor's ℵ₁ is to ℵ₀ — infinitely greater than what appears.
What it does NOT mean
This verse's kiṃ jñātena (what need of knowing?) is not invalidating the vibhūti catalogue — from the inner Self in all beings through to the boundless manifestations that have no end — that just came before. The catalogue was necessary — it trained recognition. This verse is completing the teaching, not dismissing it. Like a math teacher who gives 20 examples of a theorem and then says: 'So you see — you don't need to memorize all 20 examples; you understand the theorem itself.' The examples did their work; now the understanding is portable. This verse's rhetorical withdrawal is the pedagogical completion: 'you've been trained; now you can let the examples go and hold the principle.'
Take with you
- This verse as the completion of the vibhūti study: having studied the catalogue from the inner Self in all beings to the principle that all excellence is born of the divine fragment, this verse gives the final instruction: 'what use all this detail?' Now you can let the specific examples settle into background. Keep only the recognition practice: wherever excellence appears, know it as the divine's tejas-fragment. The catalogue was training; this verse is graduation.
- This verse's ekāṃśena (single fragment) as a humility practice: recognize that ALL the excellence you can observe in the entire universe — every vibhūti, every beauty, every power — is only ONE FRACTION of the divine's infinite tejas. This recognition produces genuine humility not as self-diminishment but as accurate perception: what you call your greatest achievement, and the greatest achievement of the greatest person you know, together form one tiny fragment of one fragment. This is not discouraging — it is liberating: you are participating in the ONE fragment that sustains the entire universe.
- This verse's sthitaḥ (abiding, the divine abides) as the final teaching: viṣṭabhyāham... sthitaḥ — the divine, having sustained the entire world with one fragment, ABIDES. Not struggling, not exhausted, not partially present — sthitaḥ = abiding, fully established. The teaching for practice: the divine's support of all existence costs the divine nothing. The sustaining is effortless and complete. Therefore: the support you receive (as a fragment of that one fragment) is effortless and always complete. Your practice is not effort toward divine support — it is recognition of divine support that is already, always, fully present.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
Or what avails thee to know all this diversity, O Arjuna? (Know thou this that) I exist, supporting this whole world by a portion of Myself. [4]
But what, O Arjuna, hast thou to do with so much knowledge as this? I established this whole universe with a single portion of myself, and remain separate. [6]
Yet how shouldst thou receive, O Prince! the vastness of this word? / I, who am all, and made it all, abide its separate Lord! [7]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
I shall tell you My foremost divine manifestations, O best of Kurus — My nature's extent is without end.
I am the ātman, O Guḍākeśa, seated in the heart of all beings — their beginning, middle, and end.
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
I am in every heart — source of memory, knowledge, and forgetting; all Vedas point to Me, their author and knower.
Beyond both stands the uttama Puruṣa — Paramātmā, the inexhaustible Lord pervading and sustaining all three worlds.
Verse 42 of 42 · back to Chapter 10