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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 13.14
सर्वत: पाणिपादं तत्सर्वतोऽक्षिशिरोमुखम् ।
सर्वत:श्रुतिमल्लोके सर्वमावृत्य तिष्ठति ॥ १४ ॥
sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat
sarvato ’kṣi-śiro-mukham
sarvataḥ śrutimal loke
sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati
Everywhere are His hands and legs, His eyes, heads and faces, and He has ears everywhere. In this way the Supersoul exists, pervading everything.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioWhat this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.
3 study points
The Supersoul pervades everything, with hands, legs, eyes, heads, faces and ears everywhere.
Prabhupāda explains that all living beings exist in the Supersoul. Unlike Him, the individual soul is not all-pervading.
Offer the Lord a flower, fruit or a little water, knowing that He can accept it even from His faraway abode.
Supersoul is ‘’All Pervading’’
refers to the All-pervading, describes the Supersoul, not the living entity
Supersoul has hands, legs, eyes, ears, heads and faces everywhere
Supersoul is All-pervading – Analogy: Sun is all pervading by diffusing unlimited rays
In Him exist all unlimited individual living entities (Brahma to small ant) FOCUS OF LEARNING: PURPORT 13.14 continued…
Purport proves that Text 13.14 talks about Supersoul and not the individual soul — as follows:
Individual soul cannot claim that he has legs, hands, etc everywhere
To think this, is the effect of ignorance – If one thinks that under ignorance one is not conscious that his legs and hands are diffused everywhere, but when he attains to proper knowledge he attains to that stage, his thinking is contradictory
Refutation: If living entity has become conditioned by material nature, then how can he be Supreme
Individual soul cannot extend his hands and legs etc everywhere
Supreme Soul can extend without limit as shown by Ref. Bg. 9.26: ‘’patram pushpam…” and Brahma Samhita 5.37: “goloka eva…”
(Krishna addresses the 6th question)
The soul can know the Supersoul, the ultimate object of knowledge
Only devotees can understand - the field of activities (the body), process of knowledge and both the soul and Supersoul
Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.
Key ideas: bhagavān, vibhūti.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What does BG 13.14 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to krishna’s nature?
Notice something excellent and see it as His opulence.
Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.
Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.