Devanagari
वृष्णीनां वासुदेवोऽस्मि पाण्डवानां धनञ्जय: ।
मुनीनामप्यहं व्यास: कवीनामुशना कवि: ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
vṛṣṇīnāṁ vāsudevo ’smi
pāṇḍavānāṁ dhanaṣ-jayaḥ
munīnām apy ahaṁ vyāsaḥ
kavīnām uśanā kaviḥ
Synonyms
vṛṣṇīnām
—
of the descendants of Vṛṣṇi
;
vāsudevaḥ
—
Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā
;
asmi
—
I am
;
pāṇḍavānām
—
of the Pāṇḍavas
;
dhanam-jayaḥ
—
Arjuna
;
munīnām
—
of the sages
;
api
—
also
;
aham
—
I am
;
vyāsaḥ
—
Vyāsa, the compiler of all Vedic literature
;
kavīnām
—
of all great thinkers
;
uśanā
—
Uśanā
;
kaviḥ
—
the thinker.
Translation
Of the descendants of Vṛṣṇi I am Vāsudeva, and of the Pāṇḍavas I am Arjuna. Of the sages I am Vyāsa, and among great thinkers I am Uśanā.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
37. Among the Vṛṣṇis, I am Vasudeva. Among the Pāṇḍavas, I am Arjuna. Among the sages, I am Vyāsa. Among the wise, I am Uśanas.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
37. Among the Vṛṣṇis, I am Bālarāma. Among the Pāṇḍavas, I am Arjuna. Among the sages, I am Vyāsa. Among the wise, I am Uśanas.
Purport
Kṛṣṇa is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Baladeva is Kṛṣṇa’s immediate expansion. Both Lord Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva appeared as sons of Vasudeva, so both of Them may be called Vāsudeva. From another point of view, because Kṛṣṇa never leaves Vṛndāvana, all the forms of Kṛṣṇa that appear elsewhere are His expansions. Vāsudeva is Kṛṣṇa’s immediate expansion, so Vāsudeva is not different from Kṛṣṇa. It is to be understood that the Vāsudeva referred to in this verse of Bhagavad-gītā is Baladeva, or Balarāma, because He is the original source of all incarnations and thus He is the sole source of Vāsudeva. The immediate expansions of the Lord are called svāṁśa (personal expansions), and there are also expansions called vibhinnāṁśa (separated expansions).
Amongst the sons of Pāṇḍu, Arjuna is famous as Dhanaṣjaya. He is the best of men and therefore represents Kṛṣṇa. Among the munis, or learned men conversant in Vedic knowledge, Vyāsa is the greatest because he explained Vedic knowledge in many different ways for the understanding of the common mass of people in this Age of Kali. And Vyāsa is also known as an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa; therefore Vyāsa also represents Kṛṣṇa. Kavis are those who are capable of thinking thoroughly on any subject matter. Among the kavis, Uśanā, Śukrācārya, was the spiritual master of the demons; he was an extremely intelligent and far-seeing politician. Thus Śukrācārya is another representative of the opulence of Kṛṣṇa.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Among the Vṛṣṇis, I am Vasudeva, who is My father. [Note: Baladeva says that Vāsudeva refers to Balarāma, since Vāsudeva usually means the son of Vasudeva. In either case, taking Vāsudeva as father or brother avoids making Kṛṣṇa his own vibhūti.] He is My vibhūti. The rule is given as follows: prajṣāditvāt (Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pāṇini 5.4.38). [Note: Vāsudeva usually means the son of Vasudeva. However sometimes by the rule given, Vāsudeva can simply mean Vasudeva.] Sometimes the long ā can have the same meaning as short a. The long ā is used to indicate self-interest. Others would propose that the meaning is “Among the Vṛṣṇis, I am Myself, the son of Vasudeva.” This however is not agreeable, as it does not mean anything.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Among the members of the Vṛṣṇi clan, I am the son of Vāsudeva known as Saṅkarṣana, or Balarāma. Vāsudeva in this context cannot mean Kṛṣṇa, because it is wrong to call His svarūpa a vibhūti. Though Vāmana, Kapila and others mentioned in this chapter as vibhūtis are directly the Lord, and thus the creators and destroyers of the material world, calling them vibhūtis is acceptable by meditating on their being avatāra expansions of Kṛṣṇa. It should be understood that the expansions, though non-different from Kṛṣṇa in potencies, do not manifest all of the potencies. Among the Pāṇḍavas, I am you, Arjuna, because you have the distinction of also being My avatāra, whereas the other Pāṇḍavas are not. Among those dedicated to contemplation of spiritual matters (munīnām), I am Vyāsa, Bādarāyaṇa, since He as the excellence of being My avatāra, unlike other munis. Among those who discern the subtle meaning of things, I am Śukra (Uśanas), [Note: He is the teacher of the asuras.] who is known as Kavi.