Vibhuti Explained

Bg 10

TEXT 19

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

hanta te kathayiṣyāmi

divyā hy ātma-vibhūtayaḥ

prādhānyataḥ kuru-śreṣṭha

nāsty anto vistarasya me

SYNONYMS

śrī bhagavān uvāca—the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; hanta—yes; te—unto you; kathayiṣyāmi—I shall speak; divyāḥ—divine; hi—certainly; ātma-vibhūtayaḥ—personal opulences; prādhānyataḥ—principally; kuruśreṣṭha—O best of the Kurus; na asti—there is no; antaḥ—limit; vistarasya—to the extent; me—My.

TRANSLATION

The Blessed Lord said: Yes, I will tell you of My splendorous manifestations, but only of those which are prominent, O Arjuna, for My opulence is limitless.

PURPORT

It is not possible to comprehend the greatness of Kṛṣṇa and His opulences. The senses of the individual soul are imperfect and do not permit him to understand the totality of Kṛṣṇa's affairs. Still the devotees try to understand Kṛṣṇa, but not on the principle that they will be able to understand Kṛṣṇa fully at any specific time or in any state of life. Rather, the very topics of Kṛṣṇa are so relishable that they appear to them as nectar. Thus they enjoy them. In discussing Kṛṣṇa's opulences and His diverse energies, the pure devotees take transcendental pleasure. Therefore they want to hear and discuss them. Kṛṣṇa knows that living entities do not understand the extent of His opulences; He therefore agrees to state only the principal manifestations of His different energies. The word prādhānyataḥ (principal) is very important because we can understand only a few of the principal details of the Supreme Lord, for His features are unlimited. It is not possible to understand them all. And vibhūti, as used in this verse, refers to the opulences by which He controls the whole manifestation. In the Amara-kośa dictionary it is stated that vibhūti indicates an exceptional opulence.

The impersonalist or the pantheist cannot understand the exceptional opulences of the Supreme Lord nor the manifestations of His divine energy. Both in the material world and in the spiritual world His energies are distributed in every variety of manifestation. Now Kṛṣṇa is describing what can be directly perceived by the common man; thus part of His variegated energy is described in this way.

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Bg 10
TEXT 41

yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ

śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā

tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṁ

mama tejo-'ṁśa-sambhavam

SYNONYMS

yat yat—whatever; vibhūti—opulences; mat—having; sattvam—existence; śrīmat—beautiful; ūrjitam—glorious; eva—certainly; vā—or; tat tat—all those; eva—certainly; avagaccha—you must know; tvam—you; mama—My; tejaḥ—splendor; aṁśa—partly; sambhavam—born of.

TRANSLATION

Know that all beautiful, glorious, and mighty creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.

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If one is situated in an opulent position in spiritual advancement, his opulence never decreases. Therefore such a spiritual benediction is

called bhūti or vibhūti. Kṛṣṇa confirms this in Bhagavad-gītā (10.41). Yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ. .. mama tejo-’ṁśa-sambhavam: if a devotee advances in spiritual consciousness and thus becomes materially opulent also, his position is a special gift from the Lord. Such opulence is never to be considered material. SB 7.3.13

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SB 10.9.15

When mother Yaśodā was trying to bind the offending child, she saw that the binding rope was short by a distance the width of two fingers. Thus she brought another rope to join to it.

PURPORT

Here is the first chapter in Kṛṣṇa’s exhibition of unlimited potency to mother Yaśodā when she tried to bind Him: the rope was too short. The Lord had already shown His unlimited potency by killing Pūtanā, Śakaṭāsura and Tṛṇāvarta. Now Kṛṣṇa exhibited another vibhūti, or display of potency, to mother Yaśodā. “Unless I agree,” Kṛṣṇa desired to show, “you cannot bind Me.”

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The vibhūti, or opulences, offered by māyā are of many varieties. We experience different varieties of material enjoyment even on this planet, but if one is able to promote himself to higher planets like Candraloka, the sun or, still higher, Maharloka, Janaloka and Tapoloka, or even ultimately the highest planet, which is inhabited by Brahmā and is called Satyaloka, one will find immense possibilities for material enjoyment. TLK vs 37

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SB 6.1.32

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa koṭi [Bs. 5.40]. Jagad-aṇḍa. Jagad-aṇḍa means this universe, aṇḍa, round sphere(?). Koṭi. Koṭi means innumerable. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam [Bs. 5.40]. And in each of them there are innumerable planets, and each planet, the atmosphere is different from one another. Vibhūti-bhinnam. Just like sun planet. It is a different thing from this planet, but... And the moon planet is a different thing from this planet. And the scientists, they are thinking that the sun planet being fiery, there cannot be any living entity. No. There are. There are living entities. Their bodies are also fiery. Fire is also one of the elements. Here we have body with material elements. Major portion is earth, and there major portion is fire. So somewhere major portion is water. So therefore there are vibhūti-bhinnam, different atmosphere. That is God's creation.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs. 5.40]

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