Bhagavad Gita 13.14
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 14 of 34
सर्वतः पाणिपादं तत् सर्वतोऽक्षिशिरोमुखम् / सर्वतः श्रुतिमल् लोके सर्वम् आवृत्य तिष्ठति
sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṃ tat sarvato'kṣi-śiro-mukham / sarvataḥ śrutimal loke sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati
Brahman: hands, feet, eyes, heads, mouths, ears everywhere — enveloping and pervading the entire universe.
Word by word (4)
- sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādam tat
- — That (tat = Brahman) has hands (pāṇi) and feet (pāda) everywhere (sarvataḥ) · Sarvataḥ = from all sides, everywhere (sarva + taḥ = from all). Pāṇi = hand; pāda = foot. Brahman has the capacity of grasping and moving everywhere — this is not a physical description but a declaration of Brahman's omnipotence (ability to act anywhere). The Puruṣa Sūkta (RV 10.90) also uses the cosmic body imagery: Puruṣa with thousand heads, eyes, feet.
- sarvataḥ akṣi-śiraḥ-mukham
- — with eyes (akṣi), heads (śiras), and mouths (mukha) everywhere · Akṣi = eye (capacity for perception and light); śiras = head (seat of consciousness and will); mukha = mouth (speech, expression, consumption). Each sense/organ represents a cosmic faculty: Brahman perceives everywhere (akṣi), knows everywhere (śiras), expresses and receives everywhere (mukha). This is omniscience + omnipresence expressed in bodily metaphor.
- sarvataḥ śrutimat loke
- — with hearing (śrutimant = endowed with śruti/hearing) everywhere in the world · Śrutimat = possessed of hearing. Brahman hears everywhere in the world (loke). This is not mere omniscience but the specific capacity to receive the prayers, joys, and sorrows of all beings — a quality particularly important in bhakti theology: Brahman hears.
- sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati
- — existing by enveloping/encompassing all (sarvam = all; āvṛtya = having covered/enveloped; tiṣṭhati = stands, abides, exists) · Āvṛtya = having encompassed, wrapped around (ā + vṛ = to cover all around). Tiṣṭhati = abides. The conclusive image: Brahman does not merely pervade the world as water fills a pot; it ENVELOPS all — the world is inside Brahman, not Brahman inside the world. This is the Vedantic panentheism: the universe is within Brahman, not Brahman within the universe.
With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads, and faces everywhere, with hearing everywhere, That abides in the world, enveloping all.
A modern analogy
Ocean and waves: the ocean doesn't just touch the waves — the waves ARE the ocean in motion. Similarly, Brahman doesn't just 'pervade' the universe — all the universe's hands, feet, eyes, and mouths ARE Brahman's capacities appearing in countless forms. 'Sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati' = the ocean-nature that wraps around and includes every wave.
What it does NOT mean
Some readers take this picture of Brahman with hands, feet, eyes and faces everywhere as a description of a pantheistic God-who-is-literally-everywhere-visible. But this is a metaphysical statement, not a physical description. Brahman's 'hands everywhere' means the universal capacity for action is Brahman; the 'eyes everywhere' means the universal faculty of perception is Brahman. It is a statement about capacities and functions, not about a cosmic physical body.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads, and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere in the universe — That exists pervading all. [4]
[Arnold full chapter text; verse describes Brahman with hands and feet everywhere, eyes and heads and mouths everywhere, hearing everywhere] [7]
With hands and feet on all sides, with eyes, heads and faces on all sides, with hearing on all sides, That exists in the world, enveloping all. [9]
With hands and feet on all sides, with eyes, heads, and faces on all sides, with ears on all sides — That exists in the world enveloping all. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Action → yajna → rain → food → all beings. Human right-action sustains the entire chain of life.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
For the protection of the good, destruction of wickedness, establishment of dharma — I come, age after age.
All beings arise from these two natures as their womb — and I am the origin and dissolution of the entire universe.
Verse 14 of 34 · back to Chapter 13