Arjuna
Devotee & WarriorThe great Pandava warrior and skilled archer. Overwhelmed by moral dilemma on the battlefield, he seeks guidance from Krishna, becoming the ideal disciple.
Speaking: Chapter 10, Verse 15
Verse 15
Hard VerseThe Yoga of Divine Glories
Indeed, You alone know Yourself by Your own internal potency, O Supreme Person, origin and Lord of all beings, God of gods, Lord of the universe!
Context & Meaning
Only the Divine knows itself completely through its own power. No external means — no scripture, no inference, no tradition — can exhaust the knowledge of the Supreme. It knows itself by itself. And yet it chooses to share that self-knowledge with the beloved devotee. The teaching of the Gita is therefore a divine act of self-disclosure.
Scholar Commentaries
1 commentary · Public domainAdi Shankaracharya
AdvaitaSelf-luminous consciousness knows itself by itself — ātmanā ātmānam. This is the nature of pure awareness: it requires no other instrument of knowledge. The Gita is God revealing this self-knowledge to a human friend.