Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 10, Verse 33
अक्षराणामकारोऽस्मि द्वन्द्वः सामासिकस्य च।
अहमेवाक्षयः कालो धाताऽहं विश्वतोमुखः।।
अहमेवाक्षयः कालो धाताऽहं विश्वतोमुखः।।
akṣarāṇām a-kāro 'smi dvandvaḥ sāmāsikasya ca
aham evākṣayaḥ kālo dhātāhaṁ viśvato-mukhaḥ
also searched as "aksharanam akaro'smi dvandvah samasikasya cha"
Translation
Of letters, I am the alphabet 'A'; of compound words, I am the dvandva (copulative); I am myself imperishable time; I am the creator, facing all sides.
Vāṇi's rendering
Of letters I am A; of compounds, the paired. I am unending time itself, the sustainer facing every way.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अक्षराणाम्akṣarāṇām | of letters, of the sounds of the alphabet |
| अकारःa-kāraḥ | the letter A, the first vowel (sandhi: a-kāro before 'smi) |
| अस्मि'smi | I am (asmi, with the initial a elided) |
| द्वन्द्वःdvandvaḥ | the paired compound, where two words stand as equals |
| सामासिकस्यsāmāsikasya | of compound words |
| चca | and |
| अहम्aham | I |
| एवeva | indeed, myself (sandhi: evākṣayaḥ = eva + akṣayaḥ) |
| अक्षयःakṣayaḥ | unending, never used up |
| कालःkālaḥ | time |
| धाताdhātā | the sustainer, the one who holds and apportions (sandhi: dhātāhaṁ = dhātā + aham) |
| अहम्aham | I |
| विश्वतोमुखःviśvato-mukhaḥ | facing in every direction, turned toward all |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10 Verse 33 mean?
Krishna names himself in the smallest parts of language — the letter A, and the dvandva compound that joins two words as equals — and then in the largest: unending time, and the sustainer who faces every direction. The tiny and the immense are one claim. Nothing is too small to be his, and nothing is large enough to be outside him.
What does aksharanam akaro smi mean in the Gita?
It means: of letters, I am A. In Sanskrit, A is the sound already present in every consonant, the vowel a mouth makes by opening. Krishna takes the first and simplest sound as his own form. Before you say a word, before meaning begins, he is the breath the word rides on.
Why does Krishna say he is the dvandva compound?
Because in a dvandva neither word is subordinate — mother and father, day and night, both stand whole. Other compounds bend one word toward another. Krishna chooses the one built on equality. Where two things are held together without one being swallowed, that holding is him. Look at what joins the pairs in your own life.
What does vishvato-mukhah, facing every way, mean here?
It means there is no direction in which he has his back to you. The sustainer is not seated somewhere and attended to elsewhere; every side is a face. Whichever way you turn today — toward work, toward grief, toward someone difficult — you are turning toward him, not away.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
A is the sound a mouth makes when it simply opens. No tongue, no lip — just breath given a throat. Krishna claims that first, before the large claims of unending time and sustaining. Then he claims dvandva, the compound where neither word bows to the other: this and that, held equal. He is the opening sound and the joining between things. Arjuna is being taught to look under his own speech. Everything you will say today rests on a vowel you never chose and a small word that lets two things stand side by side. He is already in your sentence before you mean anything by it.