Bhagavat gita adetailed study-chapter 9 -Brahmavidya the royal secret

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4. mayaa thatham idham sarvam jagath avyaktha moorthinaa

mathsThaani sarva bhoothaani na chaaham theshu

avasThithaH

The entire world is pervaded by Me, in my unmanifest form; All beings dwell in Me but I do not dwell in them..

idham sarvam denoted the entire world of sentient and insentient beings. This is a reflection of the upaishaduc statement eeSaavaasyam idham sarvam yath kincha jagathyaam jagath(Isa.up.1.1) whatever exists in this world all that is pervaded by Brahman. yatho va imaani bhoothaanjaayanthe yena jaathaani jeevanthi yasmin abhisamviSanthi thath vijijnaasasva thath brahma (Thath.Up.) From which all these beings emerge, by which they are sustained and into which they merge in the end , know that to be Brahman. The Lord is like the outer circle of two concentric circles in which the smaller is in the larger but not the larger is in the smaller.

5. na cha mathsThaani bhoothaani paSya me yogam aisvaram

bhoothabrth na cha bhoothasTho mamaaathmaa

bhoothabhaavanaH

Neither do things exist in Me. Behold My sovereign yoga. It is My Self bringing the beings into existence and sustain them yet does not dwell in them.

In the previous sloka Krishna said that all the beings are in Me but I am not in them and now He says " neither are they in Me.'

These two statements appear to be self-contradicting and Krishna illustrates the idea contained in these two slokas by the next one:

Yogam aisvaram means the power of the Lord in pervading all but not connected with them in any way. He is bhoothabhrth the support of everything but na cha bhoothasThaH , He is not in them.

He is the sustainer in the sense that all exists because of His support like the spokes of the wheel are supported by the axle. Yet He is not different from the universe He supports not like a basket which supports the fruits but like the soul to the body.

Upanishad says `vaachaarambhaNam vikaaraH naamaDheyam mrttthikethyeva sathyam `(Chandhogya) which means that when you see a pot or a jar or a plate made of mud, the differences are due only to name and form but the essential and basic material is the mud which alone is real while others ,viz.name and form changes. Thus the only reality in the universe of sentient and non-sentient beings is the Lord without whom nothing can exist. In this sense He is the bhoothabhrth.

Mamaaathmaa- The universe is His sarira, body of which He is

the self being the antharyaamin, indweller. `Esha tha aathmaa

antharyaamyamrthah' (Brhadhaaranyaka up.)

 

`eko vasI sarva bhUtAntarArmA rUpam rUpam pratirUpo bahisca' (Katopanishad)

The One Lord manifesting Himself as the souls of all beings who have

different external forms.

 

bhoothabhaavanaH-

 

He creates everything and gives them existence, bhoothaani

bhaavayathi and saththayaa sthaapayathi. It also means He makes them flourish. and grow, vikaasayathi,pushpyathi, vardhayathi vaa.

 

He makes all things grow by providing what makes them sustained, nourished and making them enjoy.

 

tAni dhAraka poshaka bhogyapradAnena vardhayati iti bhUta-bhAvanah

 

For example if plant has to grow it needs earth to sustain it, water to nourish it and air and sunshine for it to enjoy. All this are provided by the Lord and the whole nature is provided for the sake of man for him to grow.

 

6. yaThaa aakaasasthiTho nithyam vaayuH sarvathrago

mahaan

thaThaa sarvaaNi bhoothaani mathsThaani ithi upaDhaaraya

Just as the vast air eternally subsists in space and moves everywhere even so all beings exist in Me."They are in Me and I am not in them," and neither do things exist in Me," have to be understood as in the case of wind which stays in the akasa and moves in it yet the akasa is not in any way connected with the wind. Another example can be given by the sky in which the clouds exist and move, is not in any way connected with them. This is what is meant by ."they are in Me but I am not in them." The sky or akasa remain the same with or without the clouds or the wind. But the next statement "neither do they exist in Me ," is not that easy to comprehend. This can be illustrated by an example. When we say things are in something else like the fruits in a basket, which supports them they are two different things and have separate existence apart from each other. But Brahman , though the supporter of all is not the container like a basket and has independent existence not connected with the beings created and supported by Him. But the beings have no separate existence apart from Brahman, as the fruits in the basket . Hence they are not really in Brahman as they are non-etern