Chapter 7, Verse 12
ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास्तामसाश्च ये | मत्त एवेति तान्विद्धि न त्वहं तेषु ते मयि ||७-१२||
ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasāstāmasāśca ye . matta eveti tānviddhi na tvahaṃ teṣu te mayi ||7-12||
Meaning
7.12 Whatever beings (and objects) that are pure, active and inert, know that they proceed from Me. They are in Me, yet I am not in them.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Every state of being arises from the interplay of the three gunas — sattva (purity, harmony), rajas (passion, activity), and tamas (inertia, darkness). Krishna affirms that all three proceed from Him; nothing in creation lies outside the Divine. Yet He adds a crucial qualification: 'they are in Me, but I am not in them.' The Absolute pervades all, yet remains untouched and unbound by the qualities of the world.
The sun illumines clean and dirty things alike without becoming either. So the Divine sustains the play of the gunas while transcending it. For the seeker, this is liberating. We need not be enslaved by our passing moods of clarity, restlessness, or dullness; like God, we can learn to be the witnessing awareness in which these states arise and pass, neither defined nor diminished by them.
💡 Key Takeaway
All your shifting moods arise within the Divine, yet the Divine remains untouched — learn to witness your states rather than be ruled by them.
Related Verses
भूमिरापोऽनलो वायुः खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च | अहंकार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा ||७-४||
bhūmirāpo.analo vāyuḥ khaṃ mano buddhireva ca . ahaṃkāra itīyaṃ me bhinnā prakṛtiraṣṭadhā ||7-4||
7.4 Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and egoism thus is My Nature divided eightfold.
अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम् | जीवभूतां महाबाहो ययेदं धार्यते जगत् ||७-५||
apareyamitastvanyāṃ prakṛtiṃ viddhi me parām . jīvabhūtāṃ mahābāho yayedaṃ dhāryate jagat ||7-5||
7.5 This is the inferior Prakriti, O mighty-armed (Arjuna); know thou as different from it My higher Prakriti (Nature), the very life-element, by which this world is upheld.
बलं बलवतां चाहं कामरागविवर्जितम् | धर्माविरुद्धो भूतेषु कामोऽस्मि भरतर्षभ ||७-११||
balaṃ balavatāṃ cāhaṃ kāmarāgavivarjitam . dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo.asmi bharatarṣabha ||7-11||
7.11 Of the strong, I am the strength devoid of desire and attachment, and in (all) beings, I am the desire unopposed to Dharma, O Arjuna.