Bhagavad Gita 9.10
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 10 of 34
मयाध्यक्षेण प्रकृतिः सूयते सचराचरम् | हेतुनानेन कौन्तेय जगद्विपरिवर्तते ||१०||
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram | hetunānena kaunteya jagad viparivartate || 10 ||
Under My supervision, prakriti produces all that moves and is unmoving — by this cause, the world revolves.
Word by word (3)
- mayā adhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram
- — Under My supervision, prakriti produces all that moves and is unmoving · mayā adhyakṣeṇa = by Me as the overseer/supervisor (mayā = by Me, instrumental of aham; adhyakṣa = overseer, supervisor, superintendent — adhi = above/over + akṣa = eye/axis; adhyakṣa = 'one who watches over,' an overseeing authority; adhyakṣeṇa = instrumental — 'by Me as the supervisor'). prakṛtiḥ = prakriti (the primal creative nature — the same māmikā prakṛti of V7-V8). sūyate = produces, gives birth to (√sū or √sūy = to give birth, to produce, to project; sūyate = passive form — 'is produced,' or active 'produces'; here: prakriti, under My supervision, produces/gives birth to). sa-carācaram = both the moving and the unmoving (sa = with; cara = moving — from √car = to move; acara = not moving, stationary — sa-carācaram = 'together, the moving and the unmoving,' meaning all of manifest existence: living beings that move (cara) and inert matter that does not (acara)). V10's first half: under My oversight (mayādhyakṣeṇa), prakriti produces (sūyate) the entire manifest world — moving beings (animals, humans, plants — cara) and unmoving matter (mountains, rocks, rivers — acara). The divine's role is adhyakṣa (overseer), not the direct agent of production — prakriti produces, but under divine oversight.
- hetunā anena kaunteya jagat viparivartate
- — By this cause, O son of Kunti, the world revolves · hetunā anena = by this cause (hetu = cause, reason — from √hi = to impel; hetunā = instrumental, 'by the cause'; anena = 'this, this here' — 'by THIS cause'). kaunteya = O son of Kunti (Arjuna). jagat = the world (jagat = the moving world, the manifest universe — from √gam = to move). viparivartate = revolves, moves round and round (vi + pari + √vṛt = to revolve thoroughly, to turn completely around; viparivartate = 'revolves,' 'goes around'; the image is of a wheel or cycle — the world continually revolves). V10's second half: hetunā anena (by this cause — i.e., by the prakriti-under-divine-supervision described in V10a), the world (jagat) continually revolves (viparivartate). 'The world revolves' = the ongoing cosmic cycle of creation, maintenance, dissolution. The cause of the world's revolving is precisely the mayādhyakṣeṇa (divine oversight) + svaṃ prakṛtim (the divine's own prakriti) operating together. This completes V7-V10's complete cosmogony section: V7 = what happens (cycle); V8 = the mechanism (I control My prakriti); V9 = the divine's freedom (not bound by these acts); V10 = the reason the world revolves (prakriti under divine oversight = the world's causal engine).
- mayādhyakṣeṇa — by Me as overseer (not direct agent)
- — V10's adhyakṣa (overseer/supervisor) is a theologically precise term — the divine supervises creation without being its direct mechanical cause · Adhyakṣa (overseer, superintendent) is a precise term in ancient Indian administrative and philosophical language. In administrative usage, the adhyakṣa is the supervising official who oversees a department without doing its daily work directly. In philosophy, Brahman or the divine as adhyakṣa (overseer) means: the divine provides the presiding consciousness and ordering intelligence under which prakriti operates — but prakriti is the proximate cause of manifestation, not Brahman directly. This resolves the theological problem: 'If God created the world, who created evil?' V10's answer: the divine oversees (adhyakṣa) but does not directly produce evil — prakriti (the three guṇas, including tamas which produces ignorance and rajas which produces desire) produces the variety of manifest experience under divine oversight. The divine is the first cause (mayā adhyakṣeṇa), prakriti is the proximate cause (prakṛtiḥ sūyate). SW's rendering 'By reason of My proximity' (from the older edition) captures a different but related interpretation: brahman's mere presence (sānnidhyāt) is the cause of prakriti's activity — like the sun that does not directly move the world but whose presence enables all activity. Both interpretations (adhyakṣa = overseer; sānnidhya = proximity-effect) point to the same teaching: the divine is the ultimate cause without being the direct mechanical cause — an important theological distinction.
Under My oversight, nature gives rise to all that moves and is unmoving; by this cause, O son of Kuntī, the world turns on its course.
A modern analogy
This verse's adhyakṣa (overseer) model parallels the role of a central bank or regulatory authority in an economy: the central bank sets the overall framework (interest rates, money supply, regulatory rules) within which all economic activity occurs. Individual actors (prakriti's guṇas) operate according to their own dynamics within that framework. The central bank does not directly cause every transaction — but its supervisory presence (adhyakṣa) is the causal ground for the economy's functioning. The divine here is the cosmic central bank of existence.
What it does NOT mean
This verse's mayādhyakṣeṇa (under My supervision) does not mean every detail of the manifest world is directly willed by the divine. The adhyakṣa (overseer) model preserves both divine sovereignty (the ultimate cause is divine) and natural causation (prakriti operates according to its own laws — the three guṇas, karma, etc.). This resolves the theological problem of 'why does God allow evil': the divine oversees but does not micromanage — prakriti's tamas produces ignorance, rajas produces desire, sattva produces clarity, all within the divine's overall supervision.
Take with you
- This verse's jagat viparivartate (the world revolves) as an acceptance teaching: the world's continuous revolving — seasons change, circumstances shift, what rises falls — is not chaos or abandonment but the prakriti operating under divine oversight. When change feels destabilizing, the teaching here: 'By this cause, the world revolves' — it is the divine's oversight of prakriti that produces this change, not random chaos.
- This verse's cara-acara (moving and unmoving) as a complete vision: prakriti produces everything — the human who moves through a lifetime AND the mountain that sits for eons — both within the divine oversight. Nothing in the manifest world is outside this oversight. This verse makes the divine's supervision universal: 'Under My oversight, all of this — all of it — is produced.'
- This verse completing a four-step cosmogony: first the cycle is announced — at each age's end all beings return to the divine's prakriti, and at the next dawn are sent forth again; then the mechanism — the divine projects the vast multitude from its own prakriti, helpless under prakriti's sway; then the divine's freedom — these acts do not bind the divine, who sits uninvolved; and finally, here, the causal explanation — prakriti under oversight is the cause of the world's revolving. Read all four together as a complete account of 'how the world works' from this chapter's perspective.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
By reason of My proximity, Prakriti produces all this, the moving and the un-moving; the world wheels round and round, O son of Kunti, because of this. [4]
Under my guidance, nature gives birth to all things, animate and inanimate; and on this account the world revolves, O son of Kunti. [6]
All things hang on Me As clustered pearls are strung on Me. I am the Taste in water; I the light In Moons and Suns; I am the Word of Power In Vedas; I the Sound in Ether; I the Manhood in mankind; [7]
With me as superintendent, nature produces both the movable and immovable, and, O son of Kunti! on this account the world revolves. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Projecting this vast multitude from My own prakriti again and again — I animate them, helpless under prakriti's sway.
These acts do not bind Me — I sit as one uninvolved, unattached to them, O Dhananjaya.
Brahman: hands, feet, eyes, heads, mouths, ears everywhere — enveloping and pervading the entire universe.
Bow down, arrows scattered, warrior collapsed — this is where the Gita begins.
I am your student. My mind is bewildered about what is right. Teach me.
Instrument, offering, fire, act, destination — all Brahman. One absorbed in Brahman-action reaches Brahman alone.
Verse 10 of 34 · back to Chapter 9