Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10, Verse 39

Chapter 10 – Vibhuti Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

यच्चापि सर्वभूतानां बीजं तदहमर्जुन ।
न तदस्ति विना यत्स्यान्मया भूतं चराचरम् ॥

Transliteration

yaccāpi sarvabhūtānāṃ bījaṃ tadahamarjuna .
na tadasti vinā yatsyānmayā bhūtaṃ carācaram ॥

Meaning

Whatever is the seed of all beings, that too am I, O Arjuna. There is no being, moving or unmoving, that could exist without Me.

Word meanings

यत् – whatever
च – and
अपि – also
सर्वभूतानाम् – of all beings
बीजम् – the seed
तत् – that
अहम् – I
अर्जुन – O Arjuna
न – not
तत् – that
अस्ति – is
विना – without
यत् – which
स्यात् – could exist
मया – Me
भूतम् – being, thing
चराचरम् – moving or unmoving

Anvaya (word order)

अर्जुन, यत् च अपि सर्वभूतानां बीजं, तत् अहम् (अस्मि); चराचरं भूतं यत् मया विना स्यात्, तत् न अस्ति ।

Explanation

From verse 21 to 38 Krishna named His glory in the finest member of many classes. Now He gathers the list into a universal principle: ‘Whatever is the seed of all beings, that am I.’ In 7.10 He had said the same: ‘Know Me, O Partha, as the eternal seed of all beings.’

The image of the seed is apt. A tiny seed holds within it the whole tree in subtle form, roots, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit. Without the seed there can be no tree. So too the root cause, potential and essence of every being is the Lord. Shankara explains bija as the cause from which the sprout emerges.

‘There is nothing moving or unmoving that could exist without Me.’ This removes a possible misunderstanding of the preceding list. One might think the Lord is present only in excellent things, in the sun but not in a lamp, in the Himalaya but not in a pebble. No, He says, nothing exists without Me. In the excellent My radiance shows more clearly, but existence itself is due to Me. Shankara adds that whatever were without the Lord would be void, non-existent, for He is the essence of all.

Ramanuja says that since the Lord is the Self of all, nothing can exist without Him any more than a body can live without its soul. This truth teaches the seeker that even the smallest creature, an ant or a blade of grass, holds the Lord’s presence, so disrespect or cruelty towards any being is never right.

Context

Verses 21 to 38 named particular glories. Here Krishna declares His all-pervasiveness as the seed of all beings. In the next verse He says there is no end to His divine glories and that what He has told is only a brief indication.

Life lesson

God is present not only in great things but in every creature, small or large, so never treat any being with contempt. The seed of every possibility in life lies in Him; it is by staying connected with Him that our best self unfolds.

Key terms

Bija: seed, the root cause holding all in subtle form
Characharam: all beings, moving and unmoving
Sarvabhuta: all beings
All-pervasiveness: being present in everything