समं पश्यन्हि सर्वत्र समवस्थितमीश्वरम् |
न हिनस्त्यात्मनात्मानं ततो याति परां गतिम् || 29||
samaṁ paśhyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam īśhvaram
na hinasty ātmanātmānaṁ tato yāti parāṁ gatim
samam—equally; paśhyan—see; hi—indeed; sarvatra—everywhere; samavasthitam—equally present; īśhvaram—God as the Supreme soul; na—do not; hinasti—degrade; ātmanā—by one’s mind; ātmānam—the self; tataḥ—thereby; yāti—reach; parām—the supreme; gatim—destination
Translation:
Because he sees the Lord present alike everywhere, he does not injure Self by self, and thus he reaches the supreme state.
Commentary:
Samam, sarvatra, samavasthitam: These three words show that the Lord is (1) equally present, (2) is in all beings (3) and is the same. The wise man who realises Atma in this way does not destroy the Self with the self. What is meant is that the ignorant man destroys the Self by identifying himself with the body. In fact, this amounts to suicide (Atmahatya). The Lord shows how the ignorant man, thinking of himself as the non-Self, is destroying his true Self. Generally, what does the common man see and think? He sees the body and the world externally, си and thinks that he is the body. What happens then? The true Self is as good as having been destroyed because its existence is not known or realised. The wise man sees and realises the true Self, and so the does not care for the death of the body and the other vehicles covering the Atma. He knows that he is the immortal Self. But the ignorant not knowing this go through the wheel of suffering and death endlessly. They take birth after birth and die again and again. The brief interval of life is a horrible dream of sorrow and misery. This is the so-called life that man clings to desperately.
Therefore the seeker should be constantly in contact with the Self, Paramatma, who exists equally in all beings. This Self is universal and exists everywhere, also in one’s own heart. This Knowledge and realisation lead the aspirant to the highest goal (Moksha). There is no state higher than freedom and perfection for any man anywhere.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
Ay, if there is anything in the Gita that I like, it is these two verses, coming out strong as the very gist, the very essence, of Krishna’s teaching — “He who sees the Supreme Lord dwelling alike in all beings, the Imperishable in things that perish, he sees indeed. For seeing the Lord as the same, everywhere present, he does not destroy the Self by the Self, and thus he goes to the highest goal.” Thus there is a great opening for the Vedanta to do beneficent work both here and elsewhere. This wonderful idea of the sameness and omnipresence of the Supreme Soul has to be preached for the amelioration and elevation of the human race here as elsewhere. Wherever there is evil and wherever there is ignorance and want of knowledge, I have found out by experience that all evil comes, as our scriptures say, relying upon differences, and that all good comes from faith in equality, in the underlying sameness and oneness of things. This is the great Vedantic ideal.[Source]
“Thus seeing the same Lord equally present everywhere, the sage does not injure the Self by the self, and thus reaches the highest goal.”[Source]
This is the bane of human nature, the curse upon mankind, the root of all misery — this inequality. This is the source of all bondage, physical, mental, and spiritual. “Since seeing the Lord equally existent everywhere, he injures not Self by self, and so goes to the Highest Goal.” This one saying contains, in a few words, the universal way to salvation.[Source]
Why do you fear to weep? Weep! Weeping clears the eyes and brings about intuition. Then the vision of diversity — man, animal, tree — slowly melting away, makes room for the infinite realization of Brahman everywhere and in every thing. Then “Verily, seeing the same God equally existent everywhere, he does not injure the Self by the self, and so goes to the Supreme Goal”.[Source]
Therefore the absolute sameness of conditions, if that be the aim of ethics, appears to be impossible. That all men should be the same, could never be, however we might try. Men will be born differentiated; some will have more power than others; some will have natural capacities, others not; some will have perfect bodies, others not. We can never stop that. At the same time ring in our ears the wonderful words of morality proclaimed by various teachers: “Thus, seeing the same God equally present in all, the sage does not injure Self by the self, and thus reaches the highest goal. Even in this life they have conquered relative existence whose minds are firmly fixed on this sameness; for God is pure, and God is the same to all. Therefore such are said to be living in God.” We cannot deny that this is the real idea; yet at the same time comes the difficulty that the sameness as regards external forms and position can never be attained. [Source]
But yet, at the same time, even the idea of the body disappears where the mind itself becomes finer and finer, till it has almost disappeared, when all the different things that make us fear, make us weak, and bind us down to this body-life have disappeared. Then and then alone one finds out the truth of that grand old teaching. What is the teaching? “Even in this life they have conquered the round of birth and death whose minds are firm-fixed on the sameness of everything, for God is pure and the same to all, and therefore such are said to be living in God.” “Thus seeing the Lord the same everywhere, he, the sage, does not hurt the Self by the self, and so goes to the highest goal.”[Source]
Advaita and Advaita alone explains morality. Every religion preaches that the essence of all morality is to do good to others. And why? Be unselfish. And why should I? Some God has said it? He is not for me. Some texts have declared it? Let them; that is nothing to me; let them all tell it. And if they do, what is it to me? Each one for himself, and somebody take the hindermost — that is all the morality in the world, at least with many. What is the reason that I should be moral? You cannot explain it except when you come to know the truth as given in the Gita: “He who sees everyone in himself, and himself in everyone, thus seeing the same God living in all, he, the sage, no more kills the Self by the self.” Know through Advaita that whomsoever you hurt, you hurt yourself; they are all you. Whether you know it or not, through all hands you work, through all feet you move, you are the king enjoying in the palace, you are the beggar leading that miserable existence in the street; you are in the ignorant as well as in the learned, you are in the man who is weak, and you are in the strong; know this and be sympathetic. And that is why we must not hurt others. That is why I do not even care whether I have to starve, because there will be millions of mouths eating at the same time, and they are all mine. Therefore I should not care what becomes of me and mine, for the whole universe is mine, I am enjoying all the bliss at the same time; and who can kill me or the universe? Herein is morality. Here, in Advaita alone, is morality explained. The others teach it, but cannot give you its reason. Then, so far about explanation.[Source]
Those who have attained sameness are said to be living in God. All hatred is killing the “Self by the self”, therefore love is the law of life.[Source]
Question: How does the Lord pervade the universe?
Answer: Equally.
Question: What is the cause of Samsara?
Answer: Ignorance of the universal existence of the Lord.
Question: Who is responsible for this?
Answer: Each man is himself the cause of his own birth and death. He identifies himself with the body and destroys his true Self. He commits ‘Atma-hatya’.
Question: What is the way out of Samsara?
Answer: Knowing and realising Atma, the Lord, present equally everywhere is the way to liberation.
Question: What is the highest state of man?
Answer: Self-realisation, Moksha.
Question: What is the way to Self-realisation?
Answer: Knowing the universal presence of the Lord, and realising Him in one’s own heart, is the way to Self-realisation.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13 🔻 (35 Verses)
