Bhagavad Gita 13.16
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 16 of 34
बहिर् अन्तश् च भूतानाम् अचरम् चरम् एव च / सूक्ष्मत्वात् तद् अविज्ञेयं दूरस्थं चान्तिके च तत्
bahir antaś ca bhūtānām acaram caram eva ca / sūkṣmatvāt tad avijñeyaṃ dūra-sthaṃ cāntike ca tat
Brahman: outside and inside all beings; unmoving yet moving; subtle beyond perception; far yet absolutely near.
Word by word (4)
- bahiḥ antaḥ ca bhūtānām
- — outside (bahiḥ) and inside (antaḥ) of all beings (bhūtānām) — Brahman is both the outer environment and the inner inhabitant of all creatures · Bahis = exterior; antaḥ = interior. Brahman is not limited to one side of the boundary: it is the world outside every being AND the consciousness inside. This collapses the inside/outside distinction that we use to define 'self vs. world.' The boundary that separates 'me in here' from 'world out there' is itself within Brahman.
- acaram caram eva ca
- — the unmoving (acara = still, inert) and also the moving (cara = moving, animate) — Brahman is the ground of both stillness and motion · Acara = without movement (rocks, mountains, the unmanifest ground); cara = with movement (animals, thoughts, wind, time). Brahman subsumes both. This is not a dualism: the apparently motionless and the apparently moving are both modalities of one Brahman. The still and the dynamic are not opposites but complementary faces of the same absolute.
- sūkṣmatvāt tat avijñeyam
- — because of its subtlety (sūkṣmatva), that (Brahman) is imperceptible/unknowable to the ordinary senses — 'avijñeya' = not-knowable through direct perceptual cognition · Sūkṣma = subtle (opposite of sthūla = gross). The senses can only detect the gross (sthūla) world. Brahman is the subtlest possible — the ground behind all subtlety. Not subtle as in 'barely perceptible' but subtle as in 'prior to perception itself.' Avijñeya = cannot be known through vijñāna (sensory/empirical cognition); but CAN be known through jñāna (the knowledge the Gita has been defining).
- dūra-stham ca antike ca tat
- — that (Brahman) is far away (dūra-stham = standing at a distance) and yet near (antike = in proximity) — the ultimate spatial paradox · For the seeker who does not know their own nature, Brahman seems impossibly distant — the object of a lifetime's quest. Yet it is the nearest possible (antike = in the vicinity, nearby): it IS the awareness reading these words. The ancient paradox from Kenopaniṣad: 'yad na manasā manute... tad eva brahma tvam viddhi' — what the mind cannot grasp IS Brahman. The seeker cannot find it because they ARE it.
Without and within all beings; unmoving, and yet moving; too subtle to be known; far away, and yet near at hand —
A modern analogy
You have been looking for your glasses all over the house. They are on your nose. The glasses are both 'far' (from the perspective of a frantic search) and 'near' (literally on your face). Brahman = the awareness that is aware of the search. It cannot be found because the finder IS it.
What it does NOT mean
Avijñeya (imperceptible) does not mean 'unknowable in principle.' The verse says 'avijñeyam' — not knowable through sense-perception (vijñāna = empirical knowledge). But it IS jñāna-gamyam — as the next teaching makes clear, Brahman is reachable through knowledge, the Light of lights dwelling in every heart. The Gita doesn't end in mystical agnosticism; it points to a different mode of knowing.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Without and within (all) beings; the unmoving and also the moving; because of Its subtlety incomprehensible; It is far and near. [4]
[Arnold full chapter text; verse describes Brahman as outside and inside all beings, far yet near, subtle beyond ordinary perception] [7]
Without and within all beings, the moveless as also the moveable — because subtle that is incomprehensible — that is far off and near too. [9]
Outside and inside all beings, moving and also unmoving; because of subtlety that is imperceptible; that is far and also near. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Arjuna's honest confusion: if wisdom is better than action, why push me into this terrible fight?
Duryodhana catalogues the Pandava heroes — naming his fears, one by one.
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for — and call it wisdom.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Steady wisdom begins here: when all desires fall away and the Self finds fullness in itself alone.
Satisfied by knowledge and realisation, senses mastered, gold and mud equally seen — this is the true steadfast yogi.
Verse 16 of 34 · back to Chapter 13