Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10, Verse 8 (BG 10.8) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

10.8 अहम् I? सर्वस्य of all? प्रभवः the source? मत्तः from Me? सर्वम् everything? प्रवर्तते evolves? इति thus? मत्वा understanding? भजन्ते worship? माम् Me? बुधाः the wise? भावसमन्विताः endowed with meditation. Commentary Waves originate in water? depend on water and dissolve in water. The only support for the waves is water. Even so the only support for the whole world is the Lord. Realising this? feeling the omnipresence of the Lord? the wise worship Him with devotion and affection in all places. The Supreme is the same in all countries and at all times. He is the material and the efficient cause.As Mulaprakriti or Avyaktam the Lord is the source of all forms. The Lord is the primum mobile. He gazes at His Sakti (creative power) and the whole world evolves and the forms move. The worldly man who has neither sharp nor subtle intellect beholds the changing forms only through the fleshly eyes. He has no idea of the Indwelling Presence? the substratum? the allpervading intelligence or the blissful consciousness. He is allured by the passing forms. He fixes his hopes and joy on these transitory forms. He lives and exerts for them. He rejoices when he gets a wife and children. If these forms pass away he is drowned in sorrow. But the wise ones constantly dwell in the Supreme? the source and the life of all? and enjoy the eternal bliss of the immortal? inner Self? their own nondual Atman? albeit all these forms around them change and pass away. They are steadfast in Yoga. They are endowed with unshakable Yoga. They are enthroned in Yoga. They worship the Supreme in contemplation and enjoy the indescribable bliss of Nirvikalpa Samadhi.Para Brahman? known as Vaasudeva? is the source of the whole world. From Him alone evolves the whole world with all its changes? viz.? existence (Sthiti)? destruction (Nasa)? action (Kriya)? fruit (Phala) and enjoyment (Bhoga). Understanding thus? the wise adore the Supreme Being and engage themselves in profound meditation on the Absolute. (Cf.IX.10)

Commentaries

Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.

This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

Modern

The distinction between the individual and the universal arises solely from the limiting adjuncts through which the one eternal, complete Truth manifests itself. Because of these two adjuncts, Brahman successively assumes the nature of the individual soul and the Supreme Lord—just as the same electrical force expresses itself as light in a bulb and as heat in a heater. Electricity itself possesses neither light nor heat. Similarly, the Supreme Self in itself possesses neither the nature of the Lord nor that of the individual soul. The person who knows this in truth attains steadfastness in Brahman through unwavering yoga. A potter, in fashioning a vessel, first prepares pliable clay suitable for the work. Then he places the ball of clay upon the wheel and transforms it into the shape of a pot. In the third stage, he dries the vessel and polishes it to brightness, and in the fourth stage, he fires the finished pot and applies color to it. In this process of pot-making, the clay can indeed say that it is the source from which the pot emerges. Through all four stages of the pot's development, clay remains the substratum—nothing else. This truth holds for all pots in all times. No pot can originate, grow, or develop without the material cause that is clay. In the same way, the one conscious Supreme Self appears as both the Lord and the individual soul. The person who through discrimination has understood this subtle distinction between the individual and the universal can withdraw the mind from the external world and establish it firmly in the Self, which is the substratum of both. This state of mind is indicated here by the meaningful word "united in devotion." The measure of love or devotion is the capacity of a person to identify himself with what he holds dear. In brief, the perfection of love lies in the perfection of this identification. When a devotee comes to experience directly that the one Supreme Self, through the limiting adjuncts of the individual and universal consciousness, has become, as it were, both Lord and individual soul, then such a devotee is said to have attained supreme devotion. The devotion that was merely hinted at in the previous verse is here presented in an orderly manner as a spiritual practice. Through the cultivation of this practice, the knowledge described above can become the intimate and personal experience of every seeker.