A declaration · expansive in mood · a little context helps
“All brilliance is borrowed from the same source.”
Know Me, O Partha, as the eternal seed of all beings. I am the intelligence of the intelligent and the brilliance of the brilliant.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallyseed · Me · of all beings · know · O Partha · eternal · intelligence · of the intelligent · I am · brilliance · of the brilliant · I am
Krishna says he is the original source of every living being, and that intelligence and brilliance in people come from him.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Jnana Vijnana Yoga" (Knowledge and Wisdom).
Verse 10 sits in Chapter 7 of the Bhagavad Gita — Jnana Vijnana Yoga, "Knowledge and Wisdom". The chapter has 30 verses in total.
You watch someone speak with rare clarity in a tense room and feel small beside them. The verse says that clarity itself is not privately owned; it flows from a deeper source.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from personal pride to the shared source behind intelligence, vitality, and presence.
What this verse means
Krishna says he is the original source of every living being, and that intelligence and brilliance in people come from him.
Context & commentary
On the Kurukshetra battlefield, Arjuna is frozen before the war. Krishna shifts the vision from fear to origin: every being comes from him, and every clear mind and radiant strength is his presence shining through.
Why this verse still matters
You watch someone speak with rare clarity in a tense room and feel small beside them. The verse says that clarity itself is not privately owned; it flows from a deeper source.
“You can stop treating brilliance as personal ownership and start seeing it as something received.”
Explore related themes: vibhuti (43 verses)