Chapter 13, Verse 14
सर्वतः पाणिपादं तत्सर्वतोऽक्षिशिरोमुखम् | सर्वतः श्रुतिमल्लोके सर्वमावृत्य तिष्ठति ||१३-१४||
sarvataḥ pāṇipādaṃ tatsarvato.akṣiśiromukham . sarvataḥ śrutimalloke sarvamāvṛtya tiṣṭhati ||13-14||
Meaning
13.14 With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the worlds enveloping all.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna now describes the supreme knowable through vivid paradox: it has hands, feet, eyes, heads, and ears everywhere. The imagery, echoing the great hymns of the Veda, conveys that Brahman is not confined to one body or place but acts and perceives through all bodies at once. Whatever hand reaches, whatever eye sees, whatever ear hears throughout creation — it is the one reality working through countless forms.
The closing phrase 'enveloping all it abides' (sarvam avritya tishthati) gives the key: this universal presence both pervades and surrounds everything. We are tempted to picture God as a being somewhere among other beings, but Krishna stretches the imagination toward an all-pervading awareness that has no outside. Every sense organ in every creature is, in truth, an instrument of the one Knower. This vision dissolves the illusion that consciousness is locked inside a single skull and opens us to the Divine present in and around all life.
💡 Key Takeaway
The one supreme awareness perceives and acts through every being everywhere — it has no outside.
Related Verses
क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत | क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तज्ज्ञानं मतं मम ||१३-३||
kṣetrajñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarvakṣetreṣu bhārata . kṣetrakṣetrajñayorjñānaṃ yattajjñānaṃ mataṃ mama ||13-3||
13.3 Do thou also know Me as the knower of the field in all fields, O Arjuna. Knowledge of both the field and the knower of the field is considered by Me to be ï1the ï1 knowledge.
ज्ञेयं यत्तत्प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वामृतमश्नुते | अनादिमत्परं ब्रह्म न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते ||१३-१३||
jñeyaṃ yattatpravakṣyāmi yajjñātvāmṛtamaśnute . anādi matparaṃ brahma na sattannāsaducyate ||13-13||
13.13 I will declare that which has to be known, knowing which one attains to immortality, the beginningless supreme Brahman, called neither being nor non-being.
सर्वेन्द्रियगुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम् | असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च ||१३-१५||
sarvendriyaguṇābhāsaṃ sarvendriyavivarjitam . asaktaṃ sarvabhṛccaiva nirguṇaṃ guṇabhoktṛ ca ||13-15||
13.15 Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without the senses; unattached, yet supporting all; devoid of alities, yet their experiencer.