Bhagavad Gita · 9.5 · Yoga through the King of Sciences·5 of 34
न च मत्स्थानि भूतानि पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम्।भूतभृन्न च भूतस्थो ममात्मा भूतभावनः ॥
na cha mat-sthāni bhūtāni paśhya me yogam aiśhwaram
bhūta-bhṛin na cha bhūta-stho mamātmā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ
Sanskrit recitation
A royal secret, simply held · 9.1–9.10 · Teaching
Translation
Nor do beings exist in Me (in reality); behold, My divine Yoga, which supports all beings, but does not dwell in them, is My Self, the efficient cause of beings.
Meaning
Brahman or the Self no connection with any object as It is very subtle and attributes and formless and so It is unattached (Asanga). There cannot be any real connection between matter and Spirit. Saakara (an object with form) can have no connection with Nirakara (the formless). How could this be Devoid of attachment It is never attached. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, III.9.26) Though unattached, It supports all beings It is the efficient or instrumental cause It brings forth all beings but It does not dwell in them, because It is unconnected with any object. This is a great mystery. Just as the dreamer has no connection with the dream object, just as ether or air has no connection with the vessel, so also Brahman has no connection with the objects or the body. The connection between the Self and the physical body is illusory.The Adhishthana or support (Brahman) for the illusory object (Kalpitam) superimposed on,Brahman has no connection whatsoever with the alities or the defects of the objects that are superimposed on the Absolute. The snake is superimposed on a rope. The rope is the support (Adhishthana) for the illusory snake (Kalpitam). This is an example of superimposition or Adhyasa. (Cf.VII.25X.7.XI.8)
After Swami Sivananda
A royal secret, simply held· 9.1–9.10→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 9.1The Blessed Lord said, "I shall now declare to thee, who does not cavil, the greatest secret—the knowledge combined with experience (Self-realisation). Having known this, thou shalt be free from evil."
- 9.2This is the royal science, the royal secret, the supreme purifier, realizable by direct intuitive knowledge, according to righteousness, very easy to perform and imperishable.
- 9.3Those who have no faith in this Dharma, O Parantapa, return to the path of this world without attaining Me.
- 9.4All of this world is pervaded by Me in My unmanifest aspect; all beings exist within Me, but I do not dwell within them.
9.5Nor do beings exist in Me (in reality); behold, My divine Yoga, which supports all beings, but does not dwell in them, is My Self, the efficient cause of beings.
- 9.6As the mighty wind, moving everywhere, always rests in the ether, so too, know that all beings rest in Me.
- 9.7All beings, O Arjuna, go into My Nature at the end of a Kalpa; I send them forth again at the beginning of the next Kalpa.
- 9.8Animating My Nature, I again and again send forth all this multitude of beings, helpless under the force of Nature.
- 9.9These acts do not bind Me, O Arjuna, sitting as one indifferent, unattached to those acts.
- 9.10Under Me, as supervisor, Nature produces the moving and the unmoving; therefore, O Arjuna, the world revolves.
Word-by-word→
- me
- my
- na
- never
- cha
- yet
- mama
- my
- ātmā
- self
- paśhya
- behold
- bhūtāni
- all living beings
- mat-sthāni
- abide in me
- bhūta-bhṛit
- the sustainer of all living beings
- bhūta-sthaḥ
- dwelling in
- yogam aiśhwaram
- divine energy
- bhūta-bhāvanaḥ
- the creator of all beings
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