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Bhagavad Gita · 11.37 · Yoga through Beholding the Cosmic Form of God·37 of 55

कस्माच्च ते न नमेरन्महात्मन् गरीयसे ब्रह्मणोऽप्यादिकर्त्रेअनन्त देवेश जगन्निवास त्वमक्षरं सदसत्तत्परं यत्

kasmāch cha te na nameran mahātman garīyase brahmaṇo ’py

ādi-kartre ananta deveśha jagan-nivāsa tvam akṣharaṁ sad-asat tat paraṁ yat

Sanskrit recitation

After awe — devotion · 11.35–11.55 · Teaching

Translation

And why should they not, O great Soul, bow to Thee Who art greater than all else, the primal cause even of the Creator (Brahma), O Infinite Being, O Lord of the gods, O Abode of the universe; Thou art the imperishable, the Being, the non-being, and That which is supreme—that which is beyond the Being and the non-being.

Meaning

The Lord is Mahatma. He is greater than all else. He is the imperishable. So He is the proper object of worship, love and delight.That which exists in the three periods of time is Sat. Brahman is Sat. That which does not exist in the three periods of time is Asat. This world is Asat. This body is Asat.The words Sat and Asat mean here the manifested and the unmanifested which form the adjuncts of the Akshara (imperishable). In reality the Akshara transcends both these. The word Akshara is applied in the Gita sometimes to the Unmanifest (Nature) and sometimes to the Supreme Being.Ananta is He Who is free from the three kinds of limitations (of time, space and thing) which have already been explained.Arjuna again praises the Lord thus

After Swami Sivananda

After awe — devotion· 11.35–11.55

Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.

Word-by-word
te
you
api
even
cha
and
tat
that
yat
which
tvam
you
param
beyond
ananta
The limitless One
kasmāt
why
sat-asat
manifest and non-manifest
garīyase
who are greater
akṣharam
the imperishable
na nameran
should they not bow down
deva-īśha
Lord of the devatās
ādi-kartre
to the original creator
mahā-ātman
The Great one
brahmaṇaḥ
than Brahma
jagat-nivāsa
Refuge of the universe

Related verses

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