Generally, yoga is conceived as a discipline, or a constellation of disciplines, that a yogī undertakes to attain a state of consciousness. In the Bhagavad-gītā, such a discipline and state of consciousness come together as engagement in relation to the master of yoga, yogeśvara, who is bhagavān. However, in the Gītā in particular, and especially in this chapter as well as chapters 12 and 15, yoga is presented as the impetus of yogeśvara to make himself accessible to the yogī.

Chapter 10 opens with further characterization of bhagavān (again, identified as yogeśvara, the master of yoga), emphasizing supremacy and primordial causality, leading to four verses (8-11) that tradition identifies as the “four-verse Bhagavad-gītā.” These four verses highlight the reciprocity, the bi-directionality of yoga. In these verses, bhagavān Krishna (1) identifies himself as the source of all existence, who is heartily honored by wise persons who accept his position. (2) These wise persons are constantly absorbed in thoughts of bhagavān, and they happily relish conversing with others about him. (3) Bhagavān reciprocates with such wise persons by bestowing the “yoga of discernment” (buddhi-yoga) on them. (4) And, finally, out of compassion for these persons, he dispels any lingering ignorance with the light of knowledge (jñāna-dīpa).

As soon as Krishna concludes these four verses, Arjuna excitedly and confidently exclaims his conviction that Krishna himself is the supreme spirit, the ultimate refuge, the final purifier, the perpetual, divine, excellent person who is “unborn”; he further claims that many exalted sages have declared the same, and therefore now he is fully confident that whatever Krishna says, he regards as universally true (10.12-14). To help yoga practitioners in their practice of the yoga of excellence, now Arjuna requests Krishna to elaborate how he is present throughout the world by his excellences (vibhūti; 10.16-17). By his presence in the world in the many forms of his manifest excellences, bhagavān also engages in the yoga of excellence, thus making himself easily accessible to the yogī.

What follows is a list, several verses in extent, in which bhagavān Krishna identifies himself as the prominent, or most essential, of various aspects of the phenomenal world. So, for example, he identifies himself as the very self of all beings, as well as their beginning, middle, and end (10.20). Further, among the six senses (which traditionally include the mind), Krishna identifies himself as the mind. Among ritual practices of sacrifice, Krishna identifies himself as the sacrifice of softly reciting mantras; among weapons, he is the lightning bolt (wielded by the storm-god, Indra); and among purifying agents, he is the wind (10.22, 25, 28, 31). Among the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Krishna identifies himself as the very first one, the letter a; he is time, the all-facing creator, and he is the death of all; of the feminine, he is fame, beauty, speech, memory, reason, firmness, and forgiveness (10.33-34). Among seasons, Krishna identifies himself as spring; he is victory and resolve, and he is the moral conduct of those seeking victory (10.35, 36, 38).

Krishna concludes his review of excellences by noting that there is no end to them, that he has given Arjuna only a sampling. The yogī can recognize these excellences simply by cultivating awareness that whatever excellences that exist in the world are the excellences of bhagavān. Finally, Krishna asks rhetorically, “What is gained by knowing further details of my excellences, when with but a mere fraction of myself I sustain this entire cosmos?” (10.40-42). In contrast to the yoga disciplines described in Chapter 6—especially the disciplines of controlling and concentrating one’s mind—here we get a sense that yoga can be for everyone, since everyone can notices and appreciate the countless “excellences” in this world and recall that these are all forms of bhagavān.