SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
na cha mathsthAni bhUthAni paSya mE yOgam aiSvaram |
bhUtabhrun na cha bhUthasthO mamAthmA bhUthabhAvana: ||
word-by-word meaning (based on puththUr krishNamAchArya swAmy’s thamizh translation)
mathsthAni na cha – they are not in me (like water is held by pot physically, but they are held [easily] through my will)
aiSvaram – the opulence of ISvara, mine
mE yOgam – my sankalpa (divine will)
paSya – behold!
(What is that?)
bhUtha bhruth – one who holds all creatures
bhUthastha na cha – not held by the creatures [like I hold them]
mama AthmA Eva – my sankalpam only
bhUtha bhAvana – is the reason for their existence, sustenance and control.
Simple Translation (based on puththUr krishNamAchArya swAmy’s thamizh translation)
They are not in me (like water is held by pot physically, but they are held [easily] through my will); behold my sankalpa (divine will), the opulence of ISvara, i.e., mine. I am the one who holds all creatures and yet not held by the creatures [like I hold them]; my sankalpam only is the reason for their existence, sustenance and control.
Additional notes
When bhagavAn says “they are not in me”, it does not mean that the entities are not in him. Of course bhagavAn is the resting place for everyone. But he is saying “unlike I who am present in the entities as the one who sustains them, the entities do not sustain me while resting on me”.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘Behold My Divine Power that while beings are not upheld by Me, I am yet the Upholder of all beings ; and yet am I not seated in them. By my will I hold all.’
All this Kosmos constituted of Sentient and Insentient creatures, is permeated by Me.
By My subtle Form, =insensible or indiscernible (avyakta) Form. This means : ‘My nature as the unrevealed presence, as the internal (hidden) Ruler (antaryāmin)’. In spirit, thus, I pervade. I do so in My relation to the Universe as the Sovereign Lord (Śeshi)1, and for sustaining and ordering it, as declared in the Śruti—(Antaryāmi-Brāhmaṇa):—
‘(He) Who sits in earth, …., Whom earth knows not,’2
‘(He) Who sits in ātmā, …., Whom ātmā knows not’3,
Hence all existences have their Rest in Me, in My aspect as the Internal Ruler. That I am the Internal Ruler, is expressed in the same Antaryāmi-Brāhmaṇa4 thus:—
‘(He) to whom earth is body, Who, in the interior of earth, rules’5
‘(He), to Whom ātma is body, Who, in the interior of ātma, rules.’6.
By saying ‘body’ and ‘Ruler’, the subjection of all things to His rule, and all things deriving their existence from Him is established. Hence He is also the Sovereign Lord and Master (Śeshī).7
‘But I do not rest in them‘. =As for Me, I do not derive support from them; meaning that I do not in any way owe to them My own Being.
Beings are not upheld by Me: This means that I do not hold8 them in the manner that a vessel upholds water, but that I support all existence by My will.
Just fancy this wonderful Divine mode of Mine (yogam aiśvaram). The wonder or Divine Power is that my way is so unique and singular, and that it does not find comparison elsewhere.
What is this yoga (wonderful Mode or Power)?
‘I am the Upholder of all beings, and yet I am not seated in them. By My will I hold all’:—
I am the Supporter of all beings (bhūta-bhṛit)9 and I derive no kind of benefit from them.
Mam-ātma=My mind= My will. My abundance of will (manomayaḥ) alone is the Cause of existence, the Prop of existences, and What establishes an order for existences (Bhūta-bhāvanaḥ).10
An illustration is now given to show how all things depend on My will for their being and moving:—
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- Vide, note 3, Chapter 8 Proem. The word Śeshi is also rendered as Appropriator and Disposer. The sense conveyed by the Śesha-Śeshī relation is
as in Cor: 5-15: ‘they which live should not live unto themselves, but unto Him’. ↩ - Bri: Up: v-7-3 (Yaḥ prithivyām tishṭnan etc). ↩
- Bri: Up: v-7-22, Kānvāpāṭha (Ya ātmani tishṭhan etc. ↩
- Bri: Up°: V-7, goes by the name of Antaryāmi-Brāhmaṇa ↩
- Bri: Up: V-7-3, (Yasya pṛithivī śarīram etc. ↩
- Bri: Up: V-7-22, (Yasy-ātmā śarīram etc. ↩
- Vide, note 3, Chapter 8 Proem. The word Śeshi is also rendered as Appropriator and Disposer. The sense conveyed by the Śesha-Śeshī relation is
as in Cor: 5-15: ‘they which live should not live unto themselves, but unto Him’. ↩ - In book: “am no held by” which seems to be a printing error. ↩
- The 6th name of God. Cp: Taittirīya: Nārāyaṇam: I-2; Kaushitaki Up°: III-9. ↩
- The 9th name of God = The Bearer, Nourisher, and Giver of all good things. ↩