Chapter 7, Verse 7
मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय | मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव ||७-७||
mattaḥ parataraṃ nānyatkiñcidasti dhanañjaya . mayi sarvamidaṃ protaṃ sūtre maṇigaṇā iva ||7-7||
Meaning
7.7 There is nothing whatsoever higher than Me, O Arjuna. All this is strung on Me, as clusters of gems on a string.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
In one of the Gita's most luminous images, Krishna declares that nothing exists beyond or above Him, and that the whole of creation is 'strung' on Him as gems are threaded on a single cord. The gems are the countless forms and beings of the world — varied, beautiful, distinct. The thread is the unseen Divine that runs through them all, holding the scattered many into one.
The metaphor is exquisite precisely because the thread is hidden. We see the jewels — the people, events, and objects of our lives — but rarely the unifying presence that gives them coherence. The spiritual life is learning to sense the cord behind the beads. When we perceive it, the apparent fragmentation of existence resolves into a single sacred continuity sustained by God.
💡 Key Takeaway
Behind the scattered jewels of life runs one hidden thread of the Divine — learn to feel the cord, not just the beads.
Related Verses
एतद्योनीनि भूतानि सर्वाणीत्युपधारय | अहं कृत्स्नस्य जगतः प्रभवः प्रलयस्तथा ||७-६||
etadyonīni bhūtāni sarvāṇītyupadhāraya . ahaṃ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayastathā ||7-6||
7.6 Know that these two (Natures) are the womb of all beings. So I am the source and dissolution of the whole universe.
रसोऽहमप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभास्मि शशिसूर्ययोः | प्रणवः सर्ववेदेषु शब्दः खे पौरुषं नृषु ||७-८||
raso.ahamapsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśisūryayoḥ . praṇavaḥ sarvavedeṣu śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṃ nṛṣu ||7-8||
7.8 I am the sapidity in water, O Arjuna; I am the light in the moon and the sun; I am the syllable Om in all the Vedas, sound in ether and virility in men.
पुण्यो गन्धः पृथिव्यां च तेजश्चास्मि विभावसौ | जीवनं सर्वभूतेषु तपश्चास्मि तपस्विषु ||७-९||
puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṃ ca tejaścāsmi vibhāvasau . jīvanaṃ sarvabhūteṣu tapaścāsmi tapasviṣu ||7-9||
7.9 I am the sweet fragrance in the earth and the brilliance in the fire, the life in all beings, and I am the austerity in ascetics.