FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Bhagavad-gītā 13.14

సర్వత: పాణిపాదం తత్సర్వతోఽక్షిశిరోముఖమ్ । సర్వత:శ్రుతిమల్ల‍ోకే సర్వమావృత్య తిష్ఠతి ॥ ౧౪ ॥
sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat
[sarvatah paani-paadam tat]
sarvato ’kṣi-śiro-mukham
[sarvato ’kshi-shiro-mukham]
sarvataḥ śrutimal loke
[sarvatah shrutimal loke]
sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati
[sarvam aavritya tishthati]
Word-for-word
sarvataḥ — everywhere pāṇi — hands pādam — legs tat — that sarvataḥ — everywhere akṣi — eyes śiraḥ — heads mukham — faces sarvataḥ — everywhere śruti - mat — having ears loke — in the world sarvam — everything āvṛtya — covering tiṣṭhati — exists .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat
sarvataḥ
everywhere
pāṇi
hands
pādam
legs
tat
that
sarvato ’kṣi-śiro-mukham
sarvataḥ
everywhere
akṣi
eyes
śiraḥ
heads
mukham
faces
sarvataḥ śrutimal loke
sarvataḥ
everywhere
śruti - mat
having ears
loke
in the world
sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati
sarvam
everything
āvṛtya
covering
tiṣṭhati
exists .
Important Words
  • sarvataḥ — everywhere
    Repeated three times in the verse for emphasis. Sanskrit poetry uses repetition surgically — Kṛṣṇa is closing every spatial loophole the mind would use to limit the Lord's presence.
  • pāṇi — hands
    Concrete, bodily image. Kṛṣṇa does not say "the Lord pervades" abstractly; He gives Him hands, feet, eyes, heads, faces. The personal Lord pervades, not a pervading nothing.
  • śruti - mat — having ears
    He hears. Every whisper, every cry, every silent prayer reaches Him. The word makes prayer cosmologically possible — there is no place outside the divine hearing.
  • āvṛtya — covering
    Gerund from ā- + √vṛ — "surrounding, enveloping." The Supersoul does not merely fill space; He envelops it from outside as well. There is no exit.
  • tiṣṭhati — exists
    Verb of standing, abiding — not mere being. The Lord stands present; He does not flicker or fade. The omnipresence is steady, available.
Everywhere are His hands and legs, His eyes, heads and faces, and He has ears everywhere. In this way the Supersoul exists, pervading everything.
Purport

As the sun exists diffusing its unlimited rays, so does the Supersoul, or Supreme Personality of Godhead. He exists in His all-pervading form, and in Him exist all the individual living entities, beginning from the first great teacher, Brahmā, down to the small ants. There are unlimited heads, legs, hands and eyes, and unlimited living entities. All are existing in and on the Supersoul. Therefore the Supersoul is all-pervading. The individual soul, however, cannot say that he has his hands, legs and eyes everywhere. That is not possible. If he thinks that under ignorance he is not conscious that his hands and legs are diffused all over but when he attains to proper knowledge he will come to that stage, his thinking is contradictory. This means that the individual soul, having become conditioned by material nature, is not supreme. The Supreme is different from the individual soul. The Supreme Lord can extend His hand without limit; the individual soul cannot. In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that if anyone offers Him a flower, or a fruit, or a little water, He accepts it. If the Lord is a far distance away, how can He accept things? This is the omnipotence of the Lord: even though He is situated in His own abode, far, far away from earth, He can extend His hand to accept what anyone offers. That is His potency. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) it is stated, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ: although He is always engaged in pastimes in His transcendental planet, He is all-pervading. The individual soul cannot claim that he is all-pervading. Therefore this verse describes the Supreme Soul, the Personality of Godhead, not the individual soul.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
14. Everywhere this Brahman has His hands and feet. Everywhere Brahman has His eyes, heads and mouths. Everywhere are His ears. Brahman covers everything in the universe.
Commentary

The doubt may arise that if this Brahman is without cause and effect, then that contradicts the statements of śruti such as sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14) and brahmaivedaṁ sarvam (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.2.12): everything is Brahman. Though Brahman in its essential nature is beyond cause and effect, this Brahman (Paramātmā) is also cause and effect because of non- difference between the energy and the source of energy. [Note: The Lord is the creator of material bodies since prakṛti produces the bodies, but prakṛti, being the energy of the Lord, is non-different from Him. Thus as prakṛti, He is a cause of the material bodies.] That is stated in this verse. This Brahman has His hands and feet everywhere. By the manifestation everywhere of hands and feet of all creatures from Lord Brahmā down to the ant (His effects), one can say that Brahman is endowed with countless hands and feet. Similarly, His eyes, head, and face are everywhere.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
14. Everywhere this paramātmā has its hands and feet. Everywhere paramātmā has its eyes, heads and mouths. Everywhere are its ears. Paramātmā covers everything in the universe.
Commentary

The Lord then teaches about the paramātmā. The word tat refers to the paramātmā. His hands and feet are everywhere. The meaning is clear.

Bhūrijana Dāsa Gauḍīya
Commentary

This verse refers to the Supersoul, not the individual soul. (DS) A person could argue that this verse refers to the Supersoul, but also could refer to the individual soul but he hasn't realized it yet. Why not? He would say: 'Because right now I am in ignorance'. Srila Prabhupada answers to this by saying: "Supreme means that He is always the Supreme. And Supreme cannot be covered by ignorance otherwise ignorance would be greater than the Supreme . And this is contradictory.

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study Key verse
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

Supersoul is ‘’All Pervading’’

Focus of Learning

refers to the All-pervading, describes the Supersoul, not the living entity

(a) Supersoul has hands, legs, eyes, ears, heads and faces everywhere

Supersoul is All-pervading – Analogy: Sun is all pervading by diffusing unlimited rays
In Him exist all unlimited individual living entities (Brahma to small ant)

(a) Living entity as the “knowable”

Chapter 2 describes the living entity as eternal
No history of date of jiva’s manifestation available (therefore called ‘anadi’)
Supporting Ref. Katha Upanisad: “na jayate mriyate…” – knower of body has no birth and death, but is full of knowledge

(b) Supreme Lord as ‘Supersoul’: Srila Prabhupada gives references for the presence of the Supersoul

as the supreme knower and thus different from the individual soul

Ref. Svetasvatara Upanisad: Supersoul is the chief knower of body and master of three modes
Ref. Smrti: Living entities are eternally servant of the Lord
Ref. Lord Caitanya: “Only Krishna is the Supreme Lord, all others are His servants’’

(c) This verse refers to the living entity, i.e Vijnana Brahman and not Ananda Brahman

Ananda Brahman is the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
13.14 Tat, That-the Knowable; sarvatah-pani-padam, which has hands and feet everywhere-. The existence of the Knower of the field is revealed through th adjuncts in the form of the organs of all creatures. And the Knower of the field is spoken of as such because of the limiting adjuncts of the field. The field, too, is diversely differentiated as hands, feet, etc. All diversity in the Knower of the field, caused by the differences in the adjunct-the field-, is certainly unreal. Hence, by denying it, the nature of the Knowable has been stated, in, 'That is called neither being nor non-being.' Although the unreal form is caused by the limiting adjuncts, still, for the comprehension of Its existence it is said, '(It) has hands and feet everywhere, etc., by assuming this as a ality of the Knowable. Thus, as is well known, there is saying of the people versed in tradition, 'The Transcendental is described with the help of superimposition and its refutation'. Everywhere the hands, feet, etc., which are perceived as limbs of all bodies, perform, their duties due to the presence of the power of the Knowable (Brahman). Thus the grounds for the inference of the existence of the Knowable are metaphorically spoken of as belonging to the Knowable. The others have to be explained similarly. That Knowable has hands and feet everwhere. That which has eyes, heads, and mouths everywhere is sarvatoksi-siro-mukham. That which has ears every-where is sarvatah-srutimat: sruti means the organs of hearing; that which has it is sruti-mat. Tisthati, It exists, remains established; loke, in the multititude of creatures; avrtya, by pervading; sarvam, them all. With this purpose is view, that as a result of the superimposition of the organs like hands, feet, etc., which are adjuncts, there may not be the misconception that the Knowable is possessed of them (adjuncts), the (next) verse is begun:
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
13.14 Everywhere are Its hands and feet i.e., the self in Its pure form is able to perform everywhere the works of hands and feet. Its eyes, heads and mouths are everywhere; It performs everywhere the task of eyes etc. The Sruti declares; 'Without feet or hands, He moves swiftly and seizes things; He sees without eyes, He hears without ears? (Sve. U., 3.19). It may be said that it means that the Supreme Brahman performs everywhere the task of hands, feet etc., even though He is devoid of hands and feet. If 'Brahman' is taken to mean the self, it can be asked how this power of the Supreme Brahman (namely, having hand, feet, eyes, etc., everywhere) can be attributed to the self, then the answer is that it is established in the Srutis that the pure individual self has the capacity of performing the task of hands, feet etc., because It is eal to Him. Sruti also declares: 'Then, the wise seer, shaking off good and evil, stainless, attains the supreme eality with Him' (Mun. U., 3.1.3). Sri Krsna will also teach later on: 'Resorting to this knowledge, It partakes of My nature' (14.2). It exists encompassing all things, whatever aggregate of things that exist in the world; It encompasses them. The sense is that in Its pure state, It is all-pervasive, as It has no limitation of space etc.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
13.14 See Comment under 13.18
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
13.14 With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the worlds enveloping all.
Commentary

13.14 सर्वतः everywhere? पाणिपादम् with hands and feet? तत् that? सर्वतः everywhere? अक्षिशिरोमुखम् with eyes? heads and mouths? सर्वतः everywhere? श्रुतिमत् with ears? लोके in the world? सर्वम् all? आवृत्य having enveloped? तिष्ठति exists.Commentary He (the knower of the field or Para Brahman) pervades everything in this world. He fills and surrounds this world with Himself. He abides in the universe enveloping everything.In the previous verse it is said that the Brahman Which is to be known is neither being nor nonbeing. One may think that It is nonentity or void or nothing. In order to remove this misapprehension? the Lord says in this verse that the knowable has hands and feet everywhere? etc. It directs the mind and the senses to do their proper functions. This is only the manifest aspect of Saguna Brahman (Brahman with attributes).Just as the enginedriver drives the engine? so also the knowable or the knower of the field drieves the bodyengine. It is the Inner Ruler. It is the innermost Self. It is the support? substratum or basis for this world? body? mind? lifeforce and the senses. The existence of Brahman is determined or ascertained or indicated by the existence of the limiting adjuncts? viz.? body? mind and senses? because there must be selfconsciousness behind their activities. How can you call It nonexistence thenJust as the rope is not affected by the alities or the defects of the illusory superimposed snake? so also Para Brahman (the knower of the field) is not affected by the superimposed world? body? senses? mind and the lifeforce. There is only one common consciousness is eternal? selfluminous and allpervading. That common consciousness is Para Brahman.The body? mind? senses and the lifeforce are by nature insentient. But they are moved by Brahman to action. They act on account of the mere presence of Brahman or the knower of the field. (The limiting adjuncts are illusory.) Hence they put on the semblance of consciousness? just as the iron piece puts on the semblance of a magnet when it is in the presence of a magnet.The whole world is superimposed on Brahman like the snake on the rope. This is called Adhyaropa. It is sublated by the method (Yukti) of Apavada (negation or denial).This verse is taken from the Svetasvataropanishad 3.16.

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
13.14 That (Knowable), which has hands and feet everwhere, which has eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, which has ears everywhere, exists in creatures by pervading them all.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
13.14 Everywhere are Its hands and Its feet; everywhere It has eyes that see, heads that think and mouths that speak; everywhere It listens; It dwells in all the worlds; It envelops them all.
Related values & verses
Related values
Guru Bhakti (Reverence for Teacher)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Maitri (Friendship / Goodwill)Abhaya (Fearlessness)
Related verses
BG 11.16 BG 10.20 BG 9.4 SB 2.1.24 SB 10.40.1 SB 11.16.1 CC Madhya 21.10 CC Ādi 5.27 CC Madhya 20.282 Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.16Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.1.4
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Hands and legs everywhere, eyes, faces, mouths everywhere — He hears all, He pervades all.
Practical Applications
  • Recognize the omnipresence of the Lord — no place He is not.
  • Live as one who is always seen, always heard.
  • Use this verse during private moments.
Reflection Questions
  • Where do I act as if no one is watching?
  • How does omnipresence change those moments?
Analogy

Step into a hall of mirrors and you see your own form repeated in every direction — hands here, hands there, eyes from every angle. The Lord's omnipresence is not metaphor but reality: every pair of hands in the universe is finally His hands, every ear His ear. The verse asks you to stop looking for Him in one direction and notice Him in all.

Stories
Prahlāda sees Nṛsiṁha in the pillar

When Hiraṇyakaśipu mocked his son — "Is your Lord in this pillar?" — Prahlāda said yes without hesitation. The boy had read this verse with his whole life: the Lord's hands and feet are everywhere, even inside a slab of stone in a demonic palace.

The pillar burst, Nṛsiṁha emerged, and the doctrine became flesh. The story is preserved in the Seventh Canto of the Bhāgavatam. Omnipresence is not a slogan; it is a fact that a child's faith can demonstrate.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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