SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
bahir anthaS cha bhUthAnAm acharam charam Eva cha |
sUkshmathvAth thadhavigyEyam dhUrastham chAnthikE cha thath ||
word-by-word meaning
bhUthAnAm bahi: antha: cha – [AthmA] is present both inside and outside the five great elements starting with bhUmi (earth)
acharam charam Eva cha – (naturally) unmoving, yet moving (due to being connected with a body)
sUkshmathvAth – due to being very subtle
thath – that AthmA
avigyEyam – is not known (as something different from the body though it resides in the same body);
thath – that AthmA
dhUrastham cha – though present inside one’s own body, it stands very far (for those who lack the qualities such as amAnithvam etc and who have qualities contradictory to these)
thath – that AthmA
anthikE cha – it stands very near (for those who have qualities such as amAnithvam etc)
Simple Translation
AthmA is present both inside and outside the five great elements starting with bhUmi (earth); it is (naturally) unmoving, yet moving (due to being connected with a body); that AthmA, due to being very subtle, is not known (as something different from the body though it resides in the same body); that AthmA, though present inside one’s own body, stands very far (for those who lack the qualities such as amAnithvam etc and who have qualities contradictory to these) and it stands very near (for those who have qualities such as amAnithvam etc).
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘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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