BHAGAVAD-GITA 9:4

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 9:4

 

maya tatam idam sarvam

jagad avyakta-murtina

mat-sthani sarva-bhutani

na caham tesv avasthitah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

maya--by Me; tatam--pervaded; idam--this; sarvam--all; jagat--cosmic

manifestation; avyakta-murtina--by the unmanifested form;

mat-sthani--in Me; sarva-bhutani--all living entities; na--not;

ca--also; aham--I; tesu--in them; avasthitah--situated.

 

TRANSLATION

 

By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All

beings are in Me, but I am not in them.

 

PURPORT

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is not perceivable through the

gross material senses. It is said,

 

atah sri-krsna-namadi

na bhaved grahyam indriyaih

sevonmukhe hi jihvadau

svayam eva sphuraty adah

(Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.234)

 

Lord Sri Krsna's name, fame, pastimes, etc., cannot be understood by

material senses. Only to one who is engaged in pure devotional service

under proper guidance is He revealed. In the Brahma-samhita (5.38) it

is stated, premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva

hrdayesu vilokayanti: one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead,

Govinda, always within himself and outside himself if one has

developed the transcendental loving attitude towards Him. Thus for

people in general He is not visible. Here it is said that although He

is all-pervading, everywhere present, He is not conceivable by the

material senses. This is indicated here by the word avyakta-murtina.

But actually, although we cannot see Him, everything is resting in

Him. As we have discussed in the Seventh Chapter, the entire material

cosmic manifestation is only a combination of His two different

energies--the superior, spiritual energy and the inferior, material

energy. Just as the sunshine is spread all over the universe, the

energy of the Lord is spread all over the creation, and everything is

resting in that energy.

 

Yet one should not conclude that because He is spread all over He has

lost His personal existence. To refute such an argument the Lord says,

"I am everywhere, and everything is in Me, but still I am aloof." For

example, a king heads a government which is but the manifestation of

the king's energy; the different governmental departments are nothing

but the energies of the king, and each department is resting on the

king's power. But still one cannot expect the king to be present in

every department personally. That is a crude example. Similarly, all

the manifestations that we see and everything that exists, both in

this material world and in the spiritual world, are resting on the

energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The creation takes place

by the diffusion of His different energies, and, as stated in the

Bhagavad-gita, vistabhyaham idam krtsnam: He is everywhere present by

His personal representation, the diffusion of His different energies.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.