The Divine pervades and transcends the world.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
मया ततमिदं सर्वं जगदव्यक्तमूर्तिना |मत्स्थानि सर्वभूतानि न चाहं तेष्ववस्थितः ||९-४||
mayā tatamidaṃ sarvaṃ jagadavyaktamūrtinā . matsthāni sarvabhūtāni na cāhaṃ teṣvavasthitaḥ ||9-4||
Use this verse for seeing Krishna in daily life.
Meaning
This whole universe is pervaded by Me in My unmanifest form. All beings are in Me, yet I am not limited by them.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Krishna pervades everything without being limited by anything.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
This verse gives a vast devotional worldview. Krishna is present everywhere, yet greater than all forms that appear within Him.
Read the traditional commentary
Here begins one of the Gita's most profound paradoxes. Krishna declares that he pervades the entire cosmos through his avyakta-murti, his unmanifest form — formless, subtle, beyond what the senses can grasp. All beings rest within him, dependent on him as their support. Yet, he adds, 'I do not dwell in them.'
This is the logic of the infinite: the ocean holds every wave, but no wave can contain the ocean. The Divine sustains all things without being limited, contained, or affected by any of them. Beings exist in God the way a dream exists in the dreamer — utterly dependent, yet never binding their source.
This teaching guards against two errors at once: thinking God is absent from the world, and thinking God is reducible to it.
In daily life
See Krishna in the world without reducing Him to the world.
A sunrise can remind you of Krishna, but Krishna is more than the sunrise.
Try this today
Pause once in nature and remember Krishna’s unseen presence.
Krishna pervades my world and remains beyond it.Reflect
Where can I notice Krishna’s presence today?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘इदं सर्वं जगत्’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on transcendence, in other chapters
- Verse 7.24Never shrink the Infinite to your image of it — when the Boundless takes a form, its fullness is never diminished.
- Verse 13.15Like light that reveals every colour yet takes on none, the Self enables all experience while remaining untouched.
- Verse 10.42The entire universe rests on but a single fragment of the Divine — find peace in a presence so near yet so boundless.
- Verse 2.28Expand your vision to include the unmanifest dimension of existence, and attachment to temporary forms will naturally loosen.
Swipe left for 9.5 · The Divine supports without being bound.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 9.4
Who says Bhagavad Gita 9.4, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 9.4, in Chapter 9, Raja Vidya Yoga (Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 9.4 mean?
This whole universe is pervaded by Me in My unmanifest form. All beings are in Me, yet I am not limited by them. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 9.4 for daily life?
See Krishna in the world without reducing Him to the world. A sunrise can remind you of Krishna, but Krishna is more than the sunrise.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 9.4 mean?
मया — by Me; ततम् — pervaded; इदं सर्वं जगत् — all this world; अव्यक्तमूर्तिना — in unmanifest form; मत्स्थानि — abide in Me.
Where does verse 9.4 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 4 of 34 in Chapter 9, Raja Vidya Yoga. The next verse is 9.5.