Devanagari
वक्तुमर्हस्यशेषेण दिव्या ह्यात्मविभूतय: ।
याभिर्विभूतिभिर्लोकानिमांस्त्वं व्याप्य तिष्ठसि ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
vaktum arhasy aśeṣeṇa
divyā hy ātma-vibhūtayaḥ
yābhir vibhūtibhir lokān
imāṁs tvaṁ vyāpya tiṣṭhasi
Synonyms
vaktum
—
to say
;
arhasi
—
You deserve
;
aśeṣeṇa
—
in detail
;
divyāḥ
—
divine
;
hi
—
certainly
;
ātma
—
Your own
;
vibhūtayaḥ
—
opulences
;
yābhiḥ
—
by which
;
vibhūtibhiḥ
—
opulences
;
lokān
—
all the planets
;
imān
—
these
;
tvam
—
You
;
vyāpya
—
pervading
;
tiṣṭhasi
—
remain.
Translation
Please tell me in detail of Your divine opulences by which You pervade all these worlds.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
16. You should speak about Your vibhūtis in detail, at least about those by which You remain pervading this universe.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
16. You should speak about Your vibhūtis in detail, by which You remain controlling this universe.
Translation (Bhurijana Dasa)
Please tell me in detail of Your divine opulences by which You pervade all these worlds.
(com) Krsna's opulences are unnlimited and as much of Your opulences are pervading this material world, nothing more.
Krsna: "It's impossible to speak about My opulences as they are unlimited."
Arjuna: "Please tell me in detail of Your divine opulences by which You pervade all these worlds."
Gita Bhushan:
Arjuna: "Difficult to understand Krsna, as He is, so my interest is to hear only about Your opulences." (Krsna has previously said 10.7) that one who undestands Krsna's opulences becomes united with Him in yoga, so Arjuna asks about His opulences, which (man mana bhava mad bhakta) Arjuna needs to know so he can think of Him.
Purport
In this verse it appears that Arjuna is already satisfied with his understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. By Kṛṣṇa’s grace, Arjuna has personal experience, intelligence and knowledge and whatever else a person may have, and through all these agencies he has understood Kṛṣṇa to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For him there is no doubt, yet he is asking Kṛṣṇa to explain His all-pervading nature. People in general and the impersonalists in particular concern themselves mainly with the all-pervading nature of the Supreme. So Arjuna is asking Kṛṣṇa how He exists in His all-pervading aspect through His different energies. One should know that this is being asked by Arjuna on behalf of the common people.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
“It is difficult to understand the truth about You. Therefore, I want to know about Your vibhūtis. Your vibhūtis are very attractive (divya). You should speak about them fully.”
“But it is impossible to speak of all of My vibhūtis fully.”
“Speak about those vibhūtis by which You spread Yourself in this world.”
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Since Your svarūpa is difficult to understand in full, I am now curious to know about your vibhūtis (expanded potencies in this world). You should describe completely Your (ātma) attractive, extraordinary (divyā) vibhūtis, by which You remain in control of (vāpya tiṣṭhasi) this world.
Nominative cause vibhūtayaḥ is used to indicate the accusative case vibhūtīḥ. [Note: The correct form would be: vibhūtīḥ vaktum arhasi.]
Surrender Unto Me
Arjuna is asking Krsna to tell him about His opulences and Krsna has already explained 'aham sarvasya prabhavo...', how He is everything. But Arjuna is saying: "It is difficult to understand You, so let me hear more of Your opulences. Why? So I can think of You!" Because Krsna has said in Chapter Six, 'mad gatenantaratmanam', and in the end of Chapter Nine, 'man mana bhava mad bhakto', "You become My devotee and always think about Me!"
Krsna has been describing His opulences in this Chapter so that Arjuna can be always thinking about Him.