BHAGAVAD-GITA 9:4

BHAGAVAD-GITA 9:4

maya tatam idam sarvam
jagad avyakta-murtina
mat-sthani sarva-bhutani
na caham tesv avasthitah

WORD FOR WORD

maya--by Me; tatam--pervaded; idam--this; sarvam--all; jagat--cosmic
manifestation; avyakta-murtina--by the unmanifested form;
mat-sthani--in Me; sarva-bhutani--all living entities; na--not;
ca--also; aham--I; tesu--in them; avasthitah--situated.

TRANSLATION

By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All
beings are in Me, but I am not in them.

PURPORT

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is not perceivable through the
gross material senses. It is said,

atah sri-krsna-namadi
na bhaved grahyam indriyaih
sevonmukhe hi jihvadau
svayam eva sphuraty adah
(Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.234)

Lord Sri Krsna's name, fame, pastimes, etc., cannot be understood by
material senses. Only to one who is engaged in pure devotional service
under proper guidance is He revealed. In the Brahma-samhita (5.38) it
is stated, premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva
hrdayesu vilokayanti: one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Govinda, always within himself and outside himself if one has
developed the transcendental loving attitude towards Him. Thus for
people in general He is not visible. Here it is said that although He
is all-pervading, everywhere present, He is not conceivable by the
material senses. This is indicated here by the word avyakta-murtina.
But actually, although we cannot see Him, everything is resting in
Him. As we have discussed in the Seventh Chapter, the entire material
cosmic manifestation is only a combination of His two different
energies--the superior, spiritual energy and the inferior, material
energy. Just as the sunshine is spread all over the universe, the
energy of the Lord is spread all over the creation, and everything is
resting in that energy.

Yet one should not conclude that because He is spread all over He has
lost His personal existence. To refute such an argument the Lord says,
"I am everywhere, and everything is in Me, but still I am aloof." For
example, a king heads a government which is but the manifestation of
the king's energy; the different governmental departments are nothing
but the energies of the king, and each department is resting on the
king's power. But still one cannot expect the king to be present in
every department personally. That is a crude example. Similarly, all
the manifestations that we see and everything that exists, both in
this material world and in the spiritual world, are resting on the
energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The creation takes place
by the diffusion of His different energies, and, as stated in the
Bhagavad-gita, vistabhyaham idam krtsnam: He is everywhere present by
His personal representation, the diffusion of His different energies.

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with
permission.