Chapter 10 Shloka 20

अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थित:।

अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च।।२०।।

O Gudakesh! I am the Atma

which dwells in all beings

and I am the beginning,

the middle and the end of all beings.

Chapter 10 Shloka 20

अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थित:।

अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च।।२०।।

Speaking of His principal divine manifestations, the Lord says:

O Gudakesh! I am the Atma which dwells in all beings and I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.

Kamla and Abha, listen! Acknowledging all beings as His own and establishing His essential unity with them, the Lord says, “I am the Atma which dwells in all beings and I am their origin, I am the intervening span of their lives and I am their end.” In other words:

a) The Lord is the originating cause of the individual.

b) The individual’s intermediary life is also the Lord Himself.

c) The ego that permeates the individual’s life is the Lord.

d) The death of the individual is also the Lord.

Look little one, the Lord has thus claimed all individuals as His very own. Speaking of the Atma, the Lord is not referring to the ‘I’ of the individual.

1. He is the indication of consciousness in the individual.

2. He is the hint of consciousness which is also known as ‘Para Prakriti’.

3. He is the consciousness which enlivens the mind and the intellect.

4. He constitutes the attributes that enliven an individual’s body.

5. He is all that falls into the category of transient and intransient – inert and conscious.

6. The body is made of five elements which are the creation of the Lord’s Prakriti.

7. The threefold energy of the three principal qualities which create this entirety and colour all sense objects with their threefold hues, is also part of the Lord’s Prakriti.

8. The entire universe and the interaction of all beings is transacted through the strength of these qualities. If all qualities are a creation of the Lord, then their interaction is also caused by the Lord Himself.

Little one, understand this in another manner.

a) If you are not responsible for the creation of the body, then this body is not yours.

b) If you have not created the qualities, then you cannot claim them as your own.

c) If the qualities are not yours, how can you claim any credit for their interaction?

d) If you have no right over this body and its qualities, where is there any place for the ‘I’?

e) The Atma is indestructible, but the body and these qualities are destructible. There is no possible meeting between the two.

f) The Atma is indivisible but this body and all its qualities are changeable. How can the twain meet?

g) The Atma is ancient – but this body takes birth and dies – how can the two ever meet?

h) How can the transient and the immortal ever unite? Those of like status can conjoin – not those which are of opposite natures.

However, the Lord has claimed possession of all, the conscious and the inert, and is trying to reveal the secret of His integrative nature. Therefore, if all is the Lord, then:

a) the individualising ‘I’ has no entity;

b) the pride of the ‘I’ is false and baseless;

c) claiming any quality of the ‘I’ is a lie;

d) claiming any action of the ‘I’ as one’s own is a lie.

If all that the individual possesses actually belongs to the Lord, then greed seems a foolish obsession. When the Lord has declared that the individual owes his birth to Him, attachment to life is sheer absurdity; to misuse life is a great mistake; to pursue one’s selfish interests is a great blunder. One must leave all these to the Lord. If all is the Lord, then claiming any rights over or any credit for His creation is tantamount to theft.

Actually, if one has faith in the Lord, and if the individual accepts the Lord’s words to be true, there will be no room left for the ego to subsist. Then the individualising ‘I’ will be annihilated.

The body of one devoid of ego

1. The body of one devoid of ego is indeed divine.

2. The attributes and the actions of such a one are divine.

3. Each word that leaves his lips is divine.

4. The life of the one devoid of ego is a display of the nature of Brahm.

5. The life of the egoless one is a unique proof of identification with all, which is the nature of Brahm.

6. The life of such a one is a divine proof of his establishment in the Supreme for the spiritual practicant.

7. Egolessness is enduring silence.

8. The egoless one is completely silent towards his body, mind and intellect unit.

­­–  This silence is the goal of every spiritual aspirant.

­­–  This silence is the path of every sadhak.

­­–  This silence is the essence of the Supreme.

A non-dualistic identification with all beings is the basic essence of such silence.

It is not the body that abides in the Self – it is the ‘I’ which must merge therein. The life of one who abides in the Self is extremely ordinary yet unique on account of the silence that pervades it.

Little one, the Lord too, is acknowledging:

a) His unity with ordinary people;

b) His essential harmony with all;

c) His identification with the qualities of all beings.

Look little one, try to understand the basic nature of the one who accepts and believes the Lord’s statement.

Firstly try to understand the Lord who has manifested Himself in a human body. Anyone limited to a single body cannot claim to dwell in all beings; therefore it is evident that the Lord is not imparting this knowledge from the point of view of the body – He is explaining this knowledge from the point of view of the Atma.

The Atmavaan is completely devoid of individualistic ego. He has no attachment to the body, neither when asleep, nor when awake, nor even when dreaming. Therefore, although His lips may utter the appellation ‘I’, he does nothing for the sustenance of the body idea, or the body, mind and intellect unit.

The Lord is viewing the entire creation not from the point of view of the ‘I’, but the Atma. The Atmavaan possesses a body, but the ‘I’ which claimed the body is extinct. The lips utter the word ‘I’ but that too is merely an appellation, because:

a) His ‘I’ is devoid of attachment to the mind, the intellect and the body, and also devoid of the ego.

b) He does not claim any attributes of the body because his body is not his own.

c) The mind has relinquished the form which nourished both desire and hatred.

d) The ‘I’ has renounced all ties with the mind.

e) The ‘I’ has relinquished intellectual pride.

f) In fact the ‘I’ no longer lays claim to the intellect.

g) The ‘I’ is thus devoid of the body, mind and intellect.

h) Once the wind of ego has been blown out of the sails of the ‘I’, what shall it be proud of?

No longer does the ‘I’, born of attachment, remain potent. It is as if it has vanished or has been destroyed. When the ‘I’ has no sanctuary, it merges in the Atma.

My little one,

1. The ‘I’ had donned the form of ego. However, once the basic ingredient which caused the ego has vanished, how can pride remain?

2. The ‘I’ nurtured an egoistic pride in the body, mind and intellect unit.

3. The ego idea occurred because of the fusion of ‘I’ with the body, mind and intellect.

4. This egoistic pride was dependent on some attribute – positive or negative – of the body, mind and intellect unit.

5. Ego is dependent on the body, mind and intellect.

­­–  When no attachment remains with the body, mind and intellect unit, the ‘I’ becomes non-existent.

­­–  When your relationship with the body, mind and intellect is severed, the ‘I’ disappears.

­­–  When one has no further use for the body, mind and intellect, the ‘I’ vanishes. Then how can the poor ego survive?

The ego idea is nourished by the qualities of the body, the mind and the intellect. Deprived of this food, it dies of starvation! On the other hand, the ego was giving importance to the ‘I’, seeking to establish that ‘I’ on account of the body, mind and intellect unit. When the ego, which was protecting the body, mind and intellect unit every moment, no longer exists, the ‘I’ becomes lifeless.

a) The body has been given away in charity and becomes the servitor of others.

b) The mind renounces hatred and repulsion – what remains is only love.

c) The intellect renounces attachment caused by attraction – what remains is the Truth.

Attraction and repulsion, which occurred because of the presence of the egoistic ‘I’, are now extinct. When the ‘I’ renounced all, it merged in the Supreme. When the ‘I’ renounced its individuality, it merged with the universal. Then it becomes whole, within the Whole. The renunciation of one single body led to absorption in the Whole.

Lord Krishna is expanding on that same Truth, on the concept of the Whole. He is explaining His omnipresence and completeness to the aspirant from the point of view of that non-dual indestructible Essence.

Had the Lord been confined to one single body, He could not have been the Whole. He Himself is the Atmavaan, the Essence of the Atma, He is all forms and bodies. With the mortal body left far behind, He is eternal, indestructible.

My dear friend, listen. After the complete annihilation of the sadhak’s ‘I’:

1. His body belongs to the Lord.

2. His body belongs to Brahm Himself.

3. His very life belongs to Brahm.

4. It becomes a part of the eternal essence of Adhyatam – the nature of Brahm.

5. It is called eternally pure, the Supreme Atma Itself.

6. It becomes proof of the knowledge of Adhyatam – the nature of the Supreme.

7. The life of such a one reflects the practical application of knowledge.

8. The essence of Brahm lies innate in such a one’s life.

The aspirant who weighs the words of the Scriptures with the life of such a One and studies the Scriptures from His point of view, can truly understand the Lord’s manifest form. The aspirant who compares the words of the Scriptures with the natural flow of knowledge from such a One, can truly understand the Lord’s manifestation.

That One is whole within the Whole. He is fully identified with the Supreme. He is in fact the Supreme. If you can understand this, you will be able to comprehend and believe all that the Lord is about to tell you as well.

Lord Krishna – the Supreme Yogi, who is one with the Atma, says:

1. I am the Atma which abides in all beings.

2. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.