SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
bahir antaś ca bhūtānām
acaraṁ caram eva ca
sūkṣmatvāt tad avijñeyaṁ
dūra-sthaṁ cāntike ca tat
‘Without and within the elements; unmoving and moving; being subtle, incomprehensible; it (soul) stands far and yet near.'[1. Laotze; ‘After calling it Distant, I say it comes back to me’ p:249. Max Mueller’s Intro: to Science of Religion.]
Without=the soul can exist disembodied abandoning the elements, earth etc., and it is within them also.
It can roam about or not at will, as stated in the Śruti:
‘Eating and playing and enjoying with partners, equipages etc.’[2. Chh. Up: (VIII ?) VII-12-3: ‘Jakshan etc.’]
By nature, it is steady (unmoving), but moving in the embodied state.
Being subtle, incomprehensible=The soul-principle is possessed of all powers, and all knowledge, and though it inhabits this bodily tenement, it is very subtle; and therefore difficult by worldly men to understand it in separation from the body.
It stands far and yet near=It stands far to those men who are not possessed of the aforesaid virtues of ‘Reverence’ etc., but possessed of vices contrary thereto; and therefore far to them though it is present in their own bodies. But it is near to those who are possessed of the virtues ‘Reverence’ etc., (Gi: XIII-7 to 11).
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