Mrityuh Sarvaharash Chaham

Death is named as a vibhuti — sarvaharah, the one that takes everything away. And standing right beside it: the origin of things yet to come. Death and birth, placed in the same breath. Two sides of one coin. Both are the divine. When this understanding settles in, the fear of death loosens its grip.

Then seven qualities are named, all grammatically feminine in Sanskrit: fame, beauty, speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness, and patience. The Gita calls them nareenam — among the feminine. These qualities are divine wherever they appear — in a man or a woman, in a child or an elder. They are manifestations of the divine force itself.

Shri (Lakshmi) is counted here as a vibhuti. The Shri Sukta and Lakshmi traditions span both the Vedas and the Puranas. Naming Shri as a vibhuti affirms her place in the divine order.

This list of feminine qualities is unique in the Gita. Knowledge, memory, fortitude, forgiveness — the Gita repeatedly calls these elevated. Here, they are all presented as forms of the divine.