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Chapter 10 · Verse 37
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 10, Verse 37

वृष्णीनां वासुदेवोऽस्मि पाण्डवानां धनञ्जयः। मुनीनामप्यहं व्यासः कवीनामुशना कविः॥

vṛṣṇīnāṁ vāsudevo'smi pāṇḍavānāṁ dhanañjayaḥ | munīnāmapyahaṁ vyāsaḥ kavīnāmuśanā kaviḥ ||

Word by Word 12 words
वृष्णीनाम्
vṛṣṇi the Vrishni clan of the Yadavas

among the Vrishnis

वासुदेवः
vasudeva son of Vasudeva, Krishna

Vasudeva, Krishna himself

अस्मि
as to be

I am

पाण्डवानाम्
pāṇḍava the sons of Pandu

among the Pandavas

धनञ्जयः
dhana wealth jaya winner, conqueror

Dhananjaya, the winner of wealth — Arjuna

मुनीनाम्
muni sage, silent seer

among the sages

अपि
api also, even

also, indeed

अहम्
aham I

I

व्यासः
vyāsa the arranger, the compiler — sage Vyasa

Vyasa, who arranged the Vedas

कवीनाम्
kavi poet, seer

among the poets and seers

उशना
uśanā Ushanas, the seer-poet Shukra

Ushanas, the poet-sage Shukra

कविः
kavi poet, wise seer

the poet

keeps naming the finest of each kind. Among his own Yadava clan he is Vasudeva — that is, himself. Among the five brothers he is , called Dhananjaya, the winner of wealth. Among silent sages he is Vyasa, who arranged the Vedas, and among great poets he is Ushanas, the wise Shukra. Even Arjuna, sitting right there, is named as a spark of the divine.

कथा

When the Spark Has Your Friend's Name

An original story

Kiran lay on his stomach on the cool stone floor of the verandah, chin in his hands, while Thatha read aloud from the worn old book.

Outside, the afternoon was thick and golden. A koel called from the mango tree. Thatha's voice rose and fell in the singsong way he used for the sacred verses, and Kiran half-listened, half-drifted, watching dust float in a bar of sunlight.

Then he sat bolt upright.

"Wait. Thatha. Say that again."

Thatha looked over his spectacles. "Among the Pandavas, I am ."

"But — is the one he's *talking to!*" Kiran's eyes were wide. " is sitting right next to Arjuna in the chariot. And he says one of his greatest glories is... Arjuna? The boy he's talking to?"

Thatha set down the book and smiled the slow smile that meant a good question had been asked.

"You've caught something most grown-ups miss," he said. "Yes. names his dear friend in the very same breath as the sun and the ocean and the holy mountain. Why do you think he does that?"

Kiran thought hard. He picked at a loose thread on the mat. "Because... is the best of the brothers?"

"That's part of it. But there's more." Thatha picked up his Kalamkari pen and dipped it in the iron-black dye. On the cream cloth stretched before him, he drew two figures in the chariot — one with a crown, one with a flute. " is telling a secret. He is saying: the spark of God is not only in the far-off, blazing, untouchable things. It is also right here. In your friend. In the person next to you. In someone with a name and a face and dusty feet, just like you."

Kiran looked at the two little painted figures. "So the divine spark could be in... my friend Ravi? Who eats too many guavas and can't catch a ball?"

Thatha laughed out loud, a warm rumble. "Especially in Ravi who can't catch a ball. The greatness speaks of isn't far away, kanna. It's wearing the face of someone you already love. You only have to learn to see it."

Kiran looked out at the mango tree, where Ravi was, in fact, at that very moment, dropping a guava. And for a moment, in the golden light, his ordinary friend looked just slightly like a glory of God.

चिन्तनम्

Krishna says the divine spark shines in his own friend Arjuna. Who is someone close to you in whom you can see a little bit of greatness?