What need of endless knowing: one portion of Krishna holds up the whole world.
The catalogue of glories could never be finished. Here Krishna stops counting and hands Arjuna the single truth every counted item was resting on.
Or rather, what need have you of knowing all this in such detail, Arjuna? I remain, upholding this entire world with a single portion of myself.
The reading read whole, as one unhurried piece
Where it stands
You have just heard glory after glory named, one at a time, the sun among lights, the Ganges among rivers, the Himalaya among mountains. Now Krishna stops, and asks what need there really is of hearing it all this way, item by item.
The teaching
No list of glories could ever be complete; whatever was named, more was left unnamed. So set the counting aside, because the counting was never the point. Grasp instead the one truth every counted item was resting on: with a single portion of himself, Krishna upholds this whole world. He props it up, braces it firm, holds it steady; he stands, and the world stands because he holds it. Scripture puts it this way, one foot of him is all beings. And if a single portion is enough to carry everything you can see and name, then the far greater part of him lies entirely beyond the world, beyond every glory just listed, beyond the counting itself. So your seeing is asked to change, not this glory and that one, gathered like beads on a string, but a single, even vision: the same one being under every form, with nothing at all standing apart from him. What is stated here in words, the very next chapter will set before your eyes in sight.
The doubt that rises
If a single fraction of Krishna already accounts for this entire universe, what could it possibly mean to relate to the far greater remainder of him that lies completely beyond anything I have ever seen or named?
Where the paths divide
Read as the seen world set against the unconditioned beyond.
The single portion by which he holds the world is his own nature as all beings, the very world you can see and name; you are pointed past it to the unconditioned reality beyond the world, the three remaining portions the Vedic hymn calls the immortal in heaven. The world is genuinely his, not illusory, but naming a fraction turns your mind from any single glory toward the undivided ground beneath every glory.
For the world taken as real, genuinely upheld, never dissolved.
The whole world, conscious and unconscious, gross and subtle, cause and effect, is real, and it rests within a mere part of a myriad of a myriad of his greatness, so that nothing in it can overstep his resolve. It is not an appearance for you to see through but a real field genuinely held, and the wonder is doubled: the field is real, and it is still an inconceivably small fraction of what holds it.
For the seeker tempted to think the earlier detailed knowledge was declared worthless.
Do not hear the question what need of this knowing as calling the earlier detailed teaching fruitless. That what is a known idiom, praising one thing by comparison, the same usage found elsewhere in scripture. Had the prior knowledge been without value, it would never have been given. Its value stands; what is added here is that knowledge of him as the one pervading ground carries a still greater, distinctly promised fruit.
Read across a single continuous unit, not this line in isolation.
Abhinavagupta's surviving comment treats verses 10.19 through 10.42 together, as one argument rather than a note on this line alone. Read that way, the closing or rather gathers every difference named across the whole chapter back into one undivided pervasion, guarding precisely against the misreading that would carve him into separate, competing glories rather than one ground appearing under many forms.
For the devotee for whom knowing is meant to ripen into tasting.
The single portion is Vasudeva himself, decisively personal, the whole catalogue of glories collapsed into one being. What showed itself in samples, this glory and that one, is in its own being Krishna alone. Sridhara reads this verse as directly readying you for the vision to come; Madhusudana closes his own comment with a verse of devotional gladness, tasting what the doctrine only states.
Read as the deliberate hinge from catalogue to vision.
Taken together, the commentators' emphasis on sequence stands out: this verse turns knowledge stated in words into the sight Arjuna will ask for in the very next chapter. What no further list could ever complete, a single declaration followed by a direct vision can accomplish instead.
All six readings agree that one portion of Krishna genuinely upholds the whole world, and that the far greater part of him lies beyond it. They part on what that means. For Shankara the portion names the seen world itself, provisional beside the unconditioned beyond it. For Ramanuja the world is fully real, however small a fraction it occupies. For Madhva, nothing earlier is discarded, only ranked. For Abhinavagupta, every named difference is finally one pervasion. For the bhakti reading, the portion is a person to be known and tasted. Whether the fraction marks a real division within Krishna or only the world's own smallness beside him, the verse leaves for you to sit with.
A question to carry
When the many glories of your own day pull your attention outward, one thing after another, what would it take to notice, just once, the single ground that is quietly holding all of them at the same time?
Where this teaching travels
Verses that sit near this one, each going its own way; follow whichever calls you.
The long list of glories was a door. Beyond it, one ground holds the many, and it has never once let go.
Each school is voiced from the commentators named above. Their full words, every translation, and where the schools agree and differ wait in the reading desk just below. Open the commentary desk.
This closes the chapter of glories: after item upon item, Krishna gathers the whole list into one declaration, and sets up the vision Arjuna will ask to see with his own eyes in the very next chapter.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
The list of glories was a door, not a destination; walk through it to the single truth that was holding every item together.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · Madhva · Śrīdhara · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 3 others’ words
Krishna closes the long catalogue of glories not by adding one more item but by setting the whole list aside. The commentators agree this is a deliberate pivot: any inventory of glories could only ever be partial, so Krishna stops the counting and hands Arjuna the single truth that was holding every counted item together in the first place.
With one portion of himself Krishna braces this whole world firm; he stands, and because he holds it, everything stands.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · Śrīdhara · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 2 others’ words
That single truth is stated plainly: with one portion of himself, Krishna upholds, props up, and pervades this entire world. The verb carries the image of bracing something firm so it does not fall. Everything named in the chapter's long list rests, all of it together, on this one fraction.
If a single fraction carries all of this, then the rest of him lies beyond the world, greater than anything any list could name.
Across Advaita, Kashmir ŚaivaŚaṅkara · Abhinavagupta · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Abhinavagupta, and 1 others’ words
Because a single portion suffices to hold up everything, the readers converge on a further point: the rest of Krishna, by far the greater part, stands beyond the world altogether, and the commentators anchor this in the same Vedic line, that one foot of him is all beings while three feet remain the immortal in heaven.
Stop meditating glory by glory; hold one even vision, the same being under every form you have just heard named.
Across Advaita, Bhakti, Kashmir ŚaivaŚaṅkara · Śrīdhara · Madhusūdana · AbhinavaguptaIn Śaṅkara, Śrīdhara, and 2 others’ words
The practical shift asked of Arjuna is to stop meditating on glory after separate glory and instead hold one steady, even vision: the same single being under every form he has just heard named. This move from itemized seeing to unified seeing is read as the direct preparation for the vision Arjuna will ask for in the very next chapter.
What is told here in words, the very next chapter will set before Arjuna's own eyes in sight.
Across Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaita, BhaktiRāmānuja · Madhva · ŚrīdharaIn Rāmānuja, Madhva, and 1 others’ words
None of the commentators hear this verse as declaring the earlier detailed teaching worthless, even where Krishna's own question sounds dismissive. What is set aside is the habit of counting; what is affirmed, more strongly than before, is the one ground beneath everything counted.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is. Below is where they differ.
Where they differthe divergence
Viśiṣṭādvaita, in their fuller words
Ramanuja presses the scale far harder than a simple fraction: the real world, conscious and unconscious, gross and subtle, rests on a mere part of a myriad of a myriad of Krishna's greatness, so that nothing in it can overstep his resolve. The world is never illusory here; it is genuinely upheld, and it is genuinely tiny beside what upholds it.
Dvaita, in their fuller words
Madhva reads Krishna's opening what as an idiom of comparative praise, not dismissal, citing parallel usages elsewhere in scripture. The earlier detailed knowledge keeps its full value; what this verse adds is that knowledge of Krishna as the one all-pervading ground carries a still greater, distinctly promised fruit, reached by reasoning and confirmed by the text.
Bhakti, in their fuller words
Sridhara and Madhusudana together read the single portion as decisively personal: it is Vasudeva himself, the whole catalogue collapsed into one being to be known and, for Madhusudana, tasted in devotion. Sridhara adds that this verse directly readies Arjuna for the coming vision; Madhusudana closes with his own verse of devotional gladness at the doctrine.
A modern reading, in their fuller words
Read together as a bridge verse, the closing question and answer function as the hinge between the chapter of glories and the chapter of vision: knowledge stated in words here becomes, in the immediately following chapter, sight granted to Arjuna's own eyes, the sequence itself carrying the teaching forward.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
For a second sitting
Carry this with youwhat stays
Let the long list you carry in your own mind, of all the things and people and roles that seem to matter today, come to rest for a moment on this single thought: one ground holds all of it, and holds it easily. You do not need to finish counting the glories of your day to find the one who upholds them. Let your attention settle, just once, on the holding itself rather than on the held.
Wherever the many glories of your day pull your attention, the one who holds them all is the very ground beneath your feet.
Read deeper
Everything a full study holds, folded below.
Word by word
All the commentary, woven together
The commentary, woven together
machine-assisted draft, pending review
Convergence
rishna closes the long catalogue of glories not by adding one more item but by setting the whole list aside. The commentators agree this is a deliberate pivot: any inventory of glories could only ever be partial, so Krishna stops the counting and hands Arjuna the single truth that was holding every counted item together in the first place.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Madhvācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
That single truth is stated plainly: with one portion of himself, Krishna upholds, props up, and pervades this entire world. The verb carries the image of bracing something firm so it does not fall. Everything named in the chapter's long list rests, all of it together, on this one fraction.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Because a single portion suffices to hold up everything, the readers converge on a further point: the rest of Krishna, by far the greater part, stands beyond the world altogether, and the commentators anchor this in the same Vedic line, that one foot of him is all beings while three feet remain the immortal in heaven.
Śaṅkarācārya · Ācārya Abhinavagupta · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
The practical shift asked of Arjuna is to stop meditating on glory after separate glory and instead hold one steady, even vision: the same single being under every form he has just heard named. This move from itemized seeing to unified seeing is read as the direct preparation for the vision Arjuna will ask for in the very next chapter.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Ācārya Abhinavagupta
None of the commentators hear this verse as declaring the earlier detailed teaching worthless, even where Krishna's own question sounds dismissive. What is set aside is the habit of counting; what is affirmed, more strongly than before, is the one ground beneath everything counted.
Rāmānujācārya · Madhvācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
Shankara reads the single portion as Krishna's nature as all beings, the very world you can see and name, while the three remaining portions name the unconditioned reality beyond the world entirely. The world is genuinely his foot, not a separate thing, but the point of naming a fraction is to turn the mind past every itemized form toward the undivided whole that grounds them all.
Śaṅkarācārya
Viśiṣṭādvaita
Ramanuja presses the scale far harder than a simple fraction: the real world, conscious and unconscious, gross and subtle, rests on a mere part of a myriad of a myriad of Krishna's greatness, so that nothing in it can overstep his resolve. The world is never illusory here; it is genuinely upheld, and it is genuinely tiny beside what upholds it.
Rāmānujācārya
Dvaita
Madhva reads Krishna's opening what as an idiom of comparative praise, not dismissal, citing parallel usages elsewhere in scripture. The earlier detailed knowledge keeps its full value; what this verse adds is that knowledge of Krishna as the one all-pervading ground carries a still greater, distinctly promised fruit, reached by reasoning and confirmed by the text.
Madhvācārya
Kashmir Śaiva
Abhinavagupta, in a comment spanning verses 10.19 to 10.42 as one continuous unit rather than a note on this line alone, reads the closing or rather as Krishna gathering every difference named across the chapter back into a single, undivided pervasion, guarding against exactly the misreading that would carve him into separate, competing items.
Ācārya Abhinavagupta
Bhakti
Sridhara and Madhusudana together read the single portion as decisively personal: it is Vasudeva himself, the whole catalogue collapsed into one being to be known and, for Madhusudana, tasted in devotion. Sridhara adds that this verse directly readies Arjuna for the coming vision; Madhusudana closes with his own verse of devotional gladness at the doctrine.
Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Modern
Read together as a bridge verse, the closing question and answer function as the hinge between the chapter of glories and the chapter of vision: knowledge stated in words here becomes, in the immediately following chapter, sight granted to Arjuna's own eyes, the sequence itself carrying the teaching forward.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrīdhara Svāmī
A Seeker Asks
If Krishna upholds the whole universe with only a fraction of himself, how am I supposed to relate to the unimaginable rest of him that lies entirely beyond anything I can see or name?
Begin with what is given, not with what is withheld. The verse does not ask you to grasp the boundless remainder directly; it tells you that the single portion already holds and pervades everything you can see, so there is nothing here, in your ordinary world, that stands apart from him. That is enough of a foothold to begin with.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Let the fraction itself recalibrate your sense of scale rather than trying to measure the remainder. Ramanuja presses this hardest: even the visible, tangible world you inhabit is already an inconceivably small part of him, so the proper response to what lies beyond is not calculation but a widening awe at how much more there must be.
Rāmānujācārya · Madhvācārya
And trust the sequence the text itself sets up. This verse states the truth in words precisely so that the next chapter can show it to Arjuna in vision; what you cannot yet relate to conceptually, the tradition holds, becomes something closer to direct sight once the mind has been readied by exactly this kind of statement.
Śrīdhara Svāmī · Ācārya Abhinavagupta
Contemplation
Let the long list you carry in your own mind, of all the things and people and roles that seem to matter today, come to rest for a moment on this single thought: one ground holds all of it, and holds it easily. You do not need to finish counting the glories of your day to find the one who upholds them. Let your attention settle, just once, on the holding itself rather than on the held.
Sit with this · sonnet-5-authored
All the translations and commentary
Pull up a chair.
You have come to sit with this verse. When you are ready to hear the translators and the commentators in full, open a tradition in the doorways below, or add a voice by name above.
Also hear this verse, tradition by tradition.