Verse 9.4

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 9.4:

मया ततम् इदं सर्वं जगद् अव्यक्त-मूर्तिना ।
मत्-स्थानि सर्व-भूतानि न चाहं तेष्व् अवस्थितः ॥ ४ ॥

mayā tatam idaṃ sarvaṃ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā |
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṃ teṣv avasthitaḥ || 4 ||

mayā–by Me; tatam–is pervaded; idam–this; sarvam–entire; jagat–cosmic manifestation; avyakta-mūrtinā–by My form which is beyond the range of sense perception; mat-sthāni–are situated in Me; sarva-bhūtāni–all living beings; na–not; ca–yet; aham–I; teṣu–in them; avasthitaḥ–am situated.

This whole universe is pervaded by My form, which is beyond material sense perception. All living beings are situated in Me, but I am not in them.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Śrī Bhagavān says, “Only when bhakti is in the mood of servitorship (dāsya) do My devotees desire knowledge of My opulences (aiśvarya).” To explain this knowledge, Bhagavān is speaking seven verses, starting here with the word mayā. “I am the cause of this world, and I pervade it through My form, which is unmanifest (avyakta) and beyond the purview of the material senses. Thus all moving and non-moving beings are situated in Me, who am the cause of everything and the complete conscious entity. Even so, because I am aloof and unattached, I am not situated in the created beings, unlike earth which is present in its effects (i.e. earthen objects such as pots).”

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Pariṇāma: Milk is a pure sub-stance. In contact with a souring agent, it turns to yogurt. This is called a transformation. Thus yogurt is a pariṇāma, or transformation, of milk.

Vivarta: To mistake one object for another is called vivarta. Examples of this are mistaking a rope for a snake and thinking that there is silver in an oyster.

The essence of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s instruction lies herein. “This universe is not a pariṇāma (transformation) of Me, nor is it a vivarta (illusion). I have not transformed My existence to become either the individual living entity or the material world. Nor should they be mistaken to be Me, like a rope is sometimes mistaken to be a snake. I am the Absolute, self-effulgent Reality. The jīvas and the material world are also real; both are the transformation of My potency, or śakti. The jīvas are eternal and have come into existence from My marginal potency (the taṭasthā-śakti), but the material world, which is born of My external, material potency (the bahiraṅgā-śakti), is temporary and subject to destruction, even though it is also real.

“The jīvas and the material world are transformations of My potency, which is non-different from Me; therefore, they are simultaneously one with and different from Me. This conception is inconceivable (acintya), because it can be understood by scripture only and can-not be experienced by ordinary, material intelligence. Wherever one experiences both difference and oneness at the same time, the perception of difference is indeed stronger than the perception of oneness. Therefore, I am the absolute conscious entity, different from both the individual living entity and the material world.”