Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Bg 10.37

vṛṣṇīnāṁ vāsudevo ’smi
pāṇḍavānāṁ dhanañ-jayaḥ
munīnām apy ahaṁ vyāsaḥ
kavīnām uśanā kaviḥ

Word for word: 

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.

 

vṛṣṇīnāṁ vāsudevo ’smi, so Acharyas explains that here Vaasudevo doesn’t refer to Himself it refers to Balram Ji, of course both Krishna and Balaram are Vaasude they are sons of vasudev. As here Krishna is not talking about Himself but His opulence and naturally it refers to His brother over here, among the Vrinsnis the greatest is Balaram and He is manifestation of My opulence,

 

pāṇḍavānāṁ dhanañ-jayaḥ, so here Arjuna was thinking that pāṇḍavānāṁ means Krishna will refer to Yudhisthir but He has referred to dhanañ-jayaḥ, because Yudhisthir was Dharmaraj but Arjuna has intense devotion for Krishna. So it is interesting Arjuna doesn’t say O Krishna it is interesting to know that we two are one so no need for you to speak, both of us are one and then I will forget everything I am also God You are also God, No he didn’t say that, he understood the principle over here, the principle is he is talking about the opulence, 

munīnām apy ahaṁ vyāsaḥ, there are many munis but Vyasa is greatest he has complied all scriptures who can do that? 

kavīnām uśanā kaviḥ, So Usana refers to Sukracharya, he is priest, Asura may not worship Lord Vishnu but they have faith in power of rituals, so when they wanted to do Yajna they want a powerful priest also Sukracharya also knows Lord Vishnu e.g. conversation at the end of Lord Vanan Dev appearance, he said whatever fault can be there in sacrifice but when your holy name is there all the faults can be countered. So the point is Sukracharya is an extraordinary priest and that is also considered a manifestation of Krishna.

End of transcription.