Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 10, Verse 40
नान्तोऽस्ति मम दिव्यानां विभूतीनां परंतप।
एष तूद्देशतः प्रोक्तो विभूतेर्विस्तरो मया।।
एष तूद्देशतः प्रोक्तो विभूतेर्विस्तरो मया।।
nānto ’sti mama divyānāṁ vibhūtīnāṁ parantapa
eṣa tūddeśataḥ prokto vibhūter vistaro mayā
also searched as "nanto 'sti mama divyanam vibhutinam parantapa"
Translation
There is no limit to My divine manifestations. Here, I have briefly described the extent of such manifestations.
Vāṇi's rendering
There is no end to my divine glories. What I have spoken is only a glimpse of their extent.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नna | not (joins with the next word as nānto) |
| अन्तःantaḥ | end, limit |
| अस्तिasti | there is |
| ममmama | of mine |
| दिव्यानाम्divyānāṁ | of the divine ones |
| विभूतीनाम्vibhūtīnāṁ | of the glories, the outshinings |
| परन्तपparantapa | O burner of foes — Arjuna |
| एषःeṣa | this |
| तुtu | however, indeed (joins as tūddeśataḥ) |
| उद्देशतःuddeśataḥ | by way of a sample, briefly, as an indication |
| प्रोक्तःprokto | has been spoken |
| विभूतेःvibhūter | of the glory |
| विस्तरःvistaro | the extent, the spreading out |
| मयाmayā | by me |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10 Verse 40 mean?
Krishna closes his long recital of glories by saying it was never complete. The vibhūtis he named are a sample given by way of indication — uddeśataḥ — because there is no end to them. The teaching is not the list. The teaching is that no list could ever finish.
What does nanto sti mama divyanam vibhutinam parantapa mean?
"There is no end to my divine glories, O burner of foes." Krishna calls Arjuna parantapa here, the one who scorches enemies — a fighter's name, given at the moment he is asked to stop counting and simply see. What is limitless cannot be tallied, only met.
Why does Krishna say the list of his glories is incomplete?
Because a complete list would let you close the book. Arjuna wanted the glories named so he could hold them; Krishna names enough to train the eye, then removes the boundary. Meru and the Gaṅgā were examples, not limits. Whatever shines anywhere shines from him, listed or not.
How do I apply Bhagavad Gita 10.40 in daily life?
Stop treating the sacred as a fixed set of places and objects. If the glories have no end, then the ordinary hour you are living in is not excluded from them. Look at what is actually in front of you today and ask what is shining there.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna has just named some seventy things — the sun among lights, the Gaṅgā among rivers, Arjuna among the Pāṇḍavas — and now he says that list was a courtesy. Not a catalogue: a sample, offered so a finite mind would have somewhere to begin. Arjuna asked for the glories in full; he is told they cannot be exhausted. This changes how you look. If the list were complete, you could check it and be done. Because it is only a glimpse, everything left off it is still on it — the street you walked this morning, the face across the table. Keep looking.