Chapter 7, Verse 8
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||
Meaning
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.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna now teaches how to perceive Him in daily experience. Rather than asking Arjuna to imagine an abstract Absolute, He points to the very essence within familiar things: the taste in water, the radiance of sun and moon, the sacred sound Om in the Vedas, the resonance in space, the vitality in human beings. In each case He is not the object itself but its inmost quality — the 'isness' that makes it what it is.
This is a practical meditation. Every time you taste water, behold sunlight, or feel your own strength, you are touching the Divine essence at the core of that experience. The teaching dissolves the false divide between the sacred and the ordinary. Creation becomes a continuous revelation, and remembrance of God need not wait for the temple — it can arise in the simplest sip of water.
💡 Key Takeaway
The Divine is the essence within ordinary things — taste it in water, see it in light, and the whole world becomes a remembrance.
Related Verses
मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय | मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव ||७-७||
mattaḥ parataraṃ nānyatkiñcidasti dhanañjaya . mayi sarvamidaṃ protaṃ sūtre maṇigaṇā iva ||7-7||
7.7 There is nothing whatsoever higher than Me, O Arjuna. All this is strung on Me, as clusters of gems on a string.
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.