Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 28

Chapter 13 – Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

समं सर्वेषु भूतेषु तिष्ठन्तं परमेश्वरम् ।
विनश्यत्स्वविनश्यन्तं यः पश्यति स पश्यति ॥

Transliteration

samaṃ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṃ parameśvaram .
vinaśyatsvavinaśyantaṃ yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati ॥

Meaning

He who sees the Supreme Lord abiding equally in all beings, the imperishable within the perishing, he truly sees.

Word meanings

समम् – equally, evenly
सर्वेषु – in all
भूतेषु – in beings
तिष्ठन्तम् – abiding, dwelling
परमेश्वरम् – the Supreme Lord
विनश्यत्सु – among the perishing
अविनश्यन्तम् – the one who does not perish
यः – who
पश्यति – sees
सः – he
पश्यति – (truly) sees

Anvaya (word order)

यः सर्वेषु भूतेषु समं तिष्ठन्तं विनश्यत्सु अविनश्यन्तं परमेश्वरं पश्यति, सः पश्यति ।

Explanation

Having said in the previous verse that every being, moving or unmoving, arises from the union of the field and its knower, Krishna now names the fruit of that understanding: right vision. Bodies are born, grow, decay and vanish. Yet within them dwells the Supreme Lord, who is neither born nor diminished nor destroyed. To recognise the imperishable within the perishing, vinashyatsu avinashyantam, is the heart of this verse.

The word samam, equally, carries great weight. An elephant and an ant, a scholar and a labourer differ in body, temperament and capacity, but the Lord who abides within them is the same in each. Just as one space fills many differently shaped pots, one consciousness shines in many differently shaped bodies. This is the vision of the sama-darshin praised in 5.18, who sees the same in a learned brahmin, a cow, an elephant and a dog.

The repetition yah pashyati sa pashyati, he who sees thus, he sees, contrasts ordinary seeing with seeing reality. Everyone has eyes, but one who sees only names and forms sees partially; one who sees the ground of all forms is the real seer. The Katha Upanishad speaks of the one eternal among eternals, the one consciousness among the conscious, and this verse points to the same truth.

Shankara reads the Supreme Lord here as the Self, the knower of the field, one and the same in all beings; seeing this oneness destroys the ignorance that is the cause of birth and death. Ramanuja sees in it the equality of all individual selves in their nature as knowledge, together with the indwelling Lord who is their inner controller. Madhva understands the Supreme Lord as distinct from the souls, pervading and governing them all while remaining untouched by their destruction. Their metaphysics differ, but all agree that seeing the deathless within the mortal is true sight.

Context

In the closing section of the Kshetra-Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga, Krishna explains to Arjuna the result of knowledge. Verse 27 traced all beings to the union of field and knower; here Krishna declares that seeing the imperishable Lord within that union is true vision. The next verse describes the fruit of such vision, the highest goal.

Life lesson

People, possessions and circumstances keep changing, but something unchanging lives within them all. When we practise seeing the same Lord in every being, hatred, envy and fear begin to loosen their grip. This vision also keeps us steady in times of loss.

Key terms

Parameshvara: the Supreme Lord dwelling in all beings
Sama-darshana: equal vision, seeing the one Self equally everywhere
Vinashyatsu avinashyantam: the imperishable within the perishing