Krishna said in Bhagawad Gita that He is Rama among the weapon wielders. Whom was He referring to Rama (or) Parasurama?

Question

In the 10th Chapter of Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna said as follows:

पवनः पवतामस्मि रामः शस्त्रभृतामहम्।

झषाणां मकरश्चास्मि स्रोतसामस्मि जाह्नवी।।10.31।।

"Among the purifiers (or the speeders) I am the wind; Rama among the warriors am I; among the fishes I am the shark; among the streams I am the Ganga."

Now, a question arises as to which Rama was being referred to in this Sloka, was it Rama, the son of Dasaratha (or) Rama, the son of Jamadagni, as both of them preceded Sri Krishna.

Answer 1

Adi Sankaracharya in his Bhagavad Gita Bhashyam says

रामः शस्त्रभृताम् अहं शस्त्राणां धारयितृृणां दाशरथी रामः अहम् ।

rāmaḥ śastrabhṛtām ahaṃ śastrāṇāṃ dhārayitṛṛṇāṃ dāśarathī rāmaḥ aham ।

I am Rama among the armed men. I am Dasaratha Rama (viz the son of the King Dasaratha) among the bearers of weapons.

Swami Dayananda Saraswati explains the Sankara's commentary to this sloka as

Among those who wield weapons, I am Rama who is an avatara of Visnu himself. The avatara in this human body of Rama had great prowess. Even with one arrow he could dry up the ocean and perform incredible feats because his arrows had extraordinary powers. Since there are other powerful avataras also named Rama, like Parasurama and Balarama, Sankara says, Dāśarathī Rāma, who was the son of Dasaratha.

So it is Lord Rama, son of Dasaratha who is referred here to.

Hope this helps you.

Answer 2

ParashurAma seems the right interpretation.

BG 10.31 - Of the purifiers I am air; among the wielders of weapons I am Rama. Among fishes, too, I am the shark; I am Ganga among rivers.

This has a solid back-up in MahAbhArata's Adi Parva:

Sauti said, 'Listen, O ye Brahmanas, to the sacred descriptions I utter O ye best of men, ye deserve to hear of the place known as Samanta-panchaka. In the interval between the Treta and Dwapara Yugas, Rama (the son of Jamadagni) great among all who have borne arms, urged by impatience of wrongs, repeatedly smote the noble race of Kshatriyas.

_{There is a difference between "warrior" (as in Qn) & "wielder of weapons" (correct translation). "Wielder" means "[much] conversant". A person very much conversant with weapons may not win all the wars, because war requires -- tactics, swiftness, strategy -- apart from weapons.}

Reasons

1. It's believed that ParashurAma was living during Gita time, while lord RAma had already died long back. Now most of the people & entities referred in Gita's chapter 10 were existent during the discourse of Gita: i.e. Arjuna, VAsudeva, VyAsa, Indra, Kubera, Veda-s, etc.
2. Like lord Rama, both ParashurAma & BalarAma were conversant with weapons. All 3 were referred as "RAma" at many placed.
3. At least few commentators explicitly mention "ParashurAma" in their commentary of this verse: Sri Vishvanatha Thakur, Sri Sridhara Swami, Sri Keshava Kashmiri. Many others simply mention "RAma" without further clarification.
4. Lord RAma was known for many other things like -- protector of Dharma, marriage with Sita, 14 years in forest, killing RAvana, later life related to Luv-Kusha, chemistry with VAli-Sugriva-Hanumana; The weapons part was a small part of his life;
5. ParashurAma is primarily known for his hold on weapons, as he killed many of the Kshatriya-s; Moreover, he was also the Guru of other great warriors like -- Bhishma, Drona, Karna

Answer 3

It refers to Lord Shri RAM (son of Raja Dashrath) .Why it is so because the sloka clearly state word रामः

"रामः शस्त्रभृतामहम्"

Means Just Ram but not Parshuram or any other Ram .Because Lord Ram with his शस्त्र is undefeatable .Even Lord Shri Parshuram has acknowledged it During Goddess Shri Sita swayamvar prasang .

Further In shrimad bhagvatam when lord Brahma worshipped Lord Krishna He urged sloka :

सत्यव्रतं सत्यपरं त्रिसत्यं

सत्यस्ययोनिं निहतं च सत्ये

सत्यस्य सत्यमृतं सत्यनेत्रं,

सत्यात्मकं त्वाँ शरणं प्रपन्नः

He called the Lord as सत्य and everything related to him as सत्य mean Lord himself is सत्य and whatever he says/speaks is सत्य ,So when the Lord says राम then it means just राम but certainly not परशुराम ,otherwise it will be a lie aka असत्य and God never lies .

I know you may argue that Lord Shri Krishna manipulated things as suggested in Mahabharata and all but that is nothing but a fallacy ,Don't get influenced by the narrative made by so called different Dharmic serials and their creators , In the name of creativity they disrespect the dignity and purity of the Lord . Lord never speaks a lie ,Infact whatever he says becomes the ultimate truth because this is what God is all about , the truth and only the Truth . If you want to know the truth then you should read the actual ancient sculptures rather reading it through its interpretations. Jai Shri Krishna !

Answer 4

According to "ram tattva prakash" by shri ramananda sampradaya rasik acharya Madhuracharya, Shri Krishna was actually referring to bhagwan parshuram in "ramah shastabhrutam aham" in bhagwat gita 10.31

Answer 5

Gita 10.31 पवन: पवतामस्मि राम: शस्त्रभृतामहम् | झषाणां मकरश्चास्मि स्रोतसामस्मि जाह्नवी ||

Here , mostly people say here ram is referred to as bhagwan shri Ramchandra.

But there is difference between shastradhari (who took upon weapon) and kshatriya. Shri Ram is born kshatriya. He never took upon weapon on purpose.

Also Anand ramayan clearly says

रामेण सदृशो देव न भुतो न भविष्यति।

There was no god nor there will be any god who is equal to bhagwan shri Ramchandra.

Moreover in Brihad Ramayan

न राघव समोदेवः क्कापि ब्रह्माण्ड गोलके।

There was no god nor there will be any god who is equal to bhagwan shri Ramchandra.

So it's quite clear that here "ram " is not said to shri Ramchandra.

Let's see Mahabharata adi parv 2.3

त्रेताद्वापरयोः संधौ रामः शस्त्रभृतां वरः। असकृत्पार्थिवं क्षेत्रं जघानामर्षचोदितः।।

Mahabharata adi parv 2.3

In the interval between the Treta and Dwapara Yugas, Rama (the son of Jamadagni) great among all who have borne arms, urged by impatience of wrongs, repeatedly smote the noble race of Kshatriyas.

Ram is actually said to parshuram ji.