Bhagavad Gita · 13.28 · Yoga through Distinguishing the Field and the Knower of the Field·28 of 35
समं सर्वेषु भूतेषु तिष्ठन्तं परमेश्वरम्।विनश्यत्स्वविनश्यन्तं यः पश्यति स पश्यति ॥
samaṁ sarveṣhu bhūteṣhu tiṣhṭhantaṁ parameśhvaram
vinaśhyatsv avinaśhyantaṁ yaḥ paśhyati sa paśhyati
Sanskrit recitation
Matter, spirit, and freedom · 13.19–13.35 · Teaching
Translation
He who sees the Supreme Lord existing truly in all beings, the imperishable within the perishable, sees indeed.
Meaning
He who beholds the Supreme Lord through the inner eye of wisdom, Him Who is seated in all beings from the Creator down to the unmoving objects and Who is not destroyed even when all beings are destroyed, he is said to have realised the Self.In different kinds of fire, the heat is the same. Gold is the same in different forms of ornaments. The light from many lamps is the same. So also in all living being,s the soul is the same. The soul or the Self is uniform everywhere. The Self is the same in ants, elephants, kings, beggars, saints and rogues.The Self is indestructible all living beings are perishable. It is the Supreme Lord when compared to the body, senses, mind, intellect, the Unmanifested Nature and the individual soul.Birth is the root cause of the BhavaVikaras or the modifications, viz., change, growth, decay and death. The other changes of state manifest themselves after the birth of the body.The Supreme Lord is one and changeless as He is birthless, decayless and deathless. He is the one common consciousness in all beings. He sees rightly who sees the Supreme Lord as now described. He is a Jivanmukta. He has knowledge of the knower of the field or the immortal Self. He is the real seer or a liberated sage.The sage alone sees properly on account of knowledge. The whole world sees erroneously on account of ignorance
After Swami Sivananda
Matter, spirit, and freedom· 13.19–13.35→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 13.19Thus, the field, as well as knowledge and the knowable, have been briefly stated. My devotee, knowing this, enters into My being.
- 13.20Know that Nature (matter) and the Spirit are both beginningless, and know also that all modifications and qualities are born from Nature.
- 13.21In the production of the effect and the cause, Nature (matter) is said to be the cause; in the experience of pleasure and pain, the soul is said to be the one responsible.
- 13.22The soul seated in Nature experiences the qualities born of Nature; attachment to the qualities is the cause of its birth in good and evil wombs.
- 13.23The Supreme Soul in this body is also called the observer, the permitter, the sustainer, the enjoyer, the great Lord, and the Supreme Self.
- 13.24He who thus knows the Spirit and Matter together with their qualities, in whatever condition he may be, he is not reborn.
- 13.25Some behold the Self within themselves through meditation, others through the Yoga of knowledge, and still others through the Yoga of action.
- 13.26Others, too, who do not know thus, worship, having heard of It from others; they, too, cross beyond death, regarding what they have heard as the supreme refuge.
- 13.27Wherever a being is born, whether unmoving or moving, know thou, O best of the Bharatas (Arjuna), that it is from the union of the field and its knower.
13.28He who sees the Supreme Lord existing truly in all beings, the imperishable within the perishable, sees indeed.
- 13.29For he who truly sees the same Lord dwelling everywhere does not destroy the Self by the self; rather, he attains the highest goal.
- 13.30He sees, who sees that all actions are performed solely by Nature and that the Self is without action.
- 13.31When a person sees all beings as resting in the One and emanating from the One alone, they then become Brahman.
- 13.32Being without beginning, devoid of any qualities, the Supreme Self, imperishable, though dwelling in the body, O Arjuna, neither acts nor is tainted.
- 13.33As the all-pervading ether is not tainted, due to its subtlety, so the Self seated everywhere in the body is not tainted either.
- 13.34Just as the one sun illuminates the entire world, so too does the Lord of the field (Supreme Self) illuminate the entire field, O Arjuna.
- 13.35They who, by the eye of knowledge, perceive the distinction between the field and its knower, as well as the liberation from the Nature of being, go to the Supreme.
Word-by-word→
- samam
- equally
- saḥ
- they
- yaḥ
- who
- paśhyati
- perceive
- sarveṣhu
- in all
- bhūteṣhu
- beings
- vinaśhyatsu
- amongst the perishable
- avinaśhyantam
- the imperishable
- tiṣhṭhan-tam
- accompanying
- parama-īśhvaram
- Supreme Soul
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