Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Bg 10.21

ādityānām ahaṁ viṣṇur
jyotiṣāṁ ravir aṁśumān
marīcir marutām asmi
nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī

Word for word: 

ādityānām — of the Ādityas; aham — I am; viṣṇuḥ — the Supreme Lord; jyotiṣām — of all luminaries; raviḥ — the sun; aṁśu–mān — radiant; marīciḥ — Marīci; marutām — of the Maruts; asmi — I am; nakṣatrāṇām — of the stars; aham — I am; śaśī — the moon.

Translation: 

Of the Ādityas I am Viṣṇu, of lights I am the radiant sun, of the Maruts I am Marīci, and among the stars I am the moon.

 

ādityānām ahaṁ viṣṇur, of the ādityā, I am Vishnu

ādityā can have specific meaning and generic meaning also.

There are 12 months and space or cosmology can be divided in 12 sections, zodiac as we know, so path of the sky can be divided in 12 divisions and each section is presided by one-one form of Aditya and among them most powerful is Vishnu so Krishna is saying I am one most powerful Adityas, 

jyotiṣāṁ ravir aṁśumān, there are many effulgent objects but the sun is so effulgent, 

marīcir marutām asmi, there are various maruts who are in-charge of various winds and among them marīci is most powerful so he represents Krishna. 

So when Krishna is saying I am these what does it mean? Vibhuti can be understood in one sentence one among the many one above the many.

So many material manifestation are there among them one is special, so it is one among the many, and Vibhuti Yoga enables us to connect one among the many TO one above the many. The Supreme Lord who is transcendental. So Vibhuti Yoga chapter takes us from one among the many to one above the many. One among the many is one particular manifestation of the Lord. So we can move from spark to the whole by the connection of Vibhuti Yoga, ok this person has talent and it has come from Supreme Lord. So we take our consciousness through this understanding to the Supreme Lord. So one among many indicates that is also material but one above many refers to the one who is transcendental.

nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī, among the stars I am the moon. There is difference between vedic nomenclature and modern science nomenclature nakṣatrā in general refers to celestial bodies, whereas stars are those celestial objects which are themselves source of light, and planets which don’t give out light but reflect light. So among various nakṣatrā most attractive is moon and this attractive capacity comes from Krishna, so in that way we move our attention from moon to Krishna.

There are several kinds of fire explained in Vedas so moon gives a different kind of light which is not known to us.

End of transcription.