Bhagavad Gita · 8.22 · Path of the Eternal God·22 of 28
पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया।यस्यान्तःस्थानि भूतानि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ॥
puruṣhaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha bhaktyā labhyas
tvananyayā yasyāntaḥ-sthāni bhūtāni yena sarvam idaṁ tatam
Sanskrit recitation
The path of light · 8.14–8.22 · Teaching
Translation
That highest Purusha, O Arjuna, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone, within Whom all beings dwell and by Whom all this is pervaded.
Meaning
All the beings (effects) dwell within the Purusha (the Supreme Person, the cause) because every effect rests within its cause. Just as the effect, pot, rests within its cause, the clay, so also all beings and the worlds rest within their cause, the Purusha. Therefore the whole world is pervaded by the Purusha.Sri Sankara explains exclusive devotion as Jnana or knowledge of the Self.Purusha is so called because everything is filled by It (derived from the Sanskrit root pur which means to fill) or because It rests in the body of all (derived from the Sanskrit root pur). None is higher than It and so It is the Supreme Person. (Cf.IX.4XI.38XV.6and7)
After Swami Sivananda
The path of light· 8.14–8.22→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 8.14I am easily attainable by that ever-steadfast yogi who constantly and daily remembers me for a long time, not thinking of anything else with a single-minded or one-pointed focus, O Partha.
- 8.15Having attained Me, these great souls do not take birth again here—a place of pain and impermanence—but have reached the highest perfection of liberation.
- 8.16All the worlds, including the world of Brahma, are subject to return again, O Arjuna; but he who reaches Me, O son of Kunti, has no rebirth.
- 8.17Those who know the day of Brahma, which lasts a thousand Yugas, and the night, which also lasts a thousand Yugas, know day and night.
- 8.18From the Unmanifested, all the manifested worlds proceed upon the arrival of the 'day'; upon the arrival of the 'night', they dissolve indeed into that which is known as the Unmanifested.
- 8.19This same multitude of beings, being born again and again, helplessly dissolves, O Arjuna, into the Unmanifested at the coming of the night and comes forth at the coming of the day.
- 8.20But verily, there exists higher than this Unmanifested, another Unmanifested Eternal, which is not destroyed even when all beings are destroyed.
- 8.21What is known as the Unmanifested and the Imperishable, That is said to be the highest goal. Those who reach It do not return (to this Samsara). That is My supreme abode (place or state).
8.22That highest Purusha, O Arjuna, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone, within Whom all beings dwell and by Whom all this is pervaded.
Word-by-word→
- tu
- indeed
- idam
- this
- yena
- by whom
- saḥ
- he
- tatam
- is pervaded
- yasya
- of whom
- sarvam
- all
- paraḥ
- greatest
- pārtha
- Arjun, the son of Pritha
- bhaktyā
- through devotion
- ananyayā
- without another
- bhūtāni
- beings
- labhyaḥ
- is attainable
- puruṣhaḥ
- the Supreme Divine Personality
- antaḥ-sthāni
- situated within
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