Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 14

सर्वेन्द्रियगुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम् । असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च

sarvendriyaguṇābhāsaṃ sarvendriyavivarjitam | asaktaṃ sarvabhṛccaiva nirguṇaṃ guṇabhoktṛ ca

Translation

Shining by the functions of all the senses, (yet) without the senses, unattached, yet supporting all; devoid of qualities; yet enjoying qualities.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

sarvendriyaguṇābhāsam

of all, of senses, in the qualities, the splendour, whose, that

sarvendriyavivarjitam

by all, (by) senses, abandoned

asaktam

unattached

sarvabhṛt

all, supports, thus

ca

and

eva

even

nirguṇam

without qualities

guṇabhoktṛ

of qualities, the enjoying

ca

and

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

All the senses: the buddhi-indriyas and karma-indriyas, plus the inner senses (manas and buddhi). Brahman manifests Itself through the upādhis of external and internal senses through the functions of all the senses — determination, purposes and thoughts, hearing, speech and the like. The Knowable functions, as it were, through the functions of all the senses. The Śruti says: "It meditates as it were, It moves as it were" (Bṛ. Up. 4.3.7). Yet It is not possessed of any of the senses; It does not actually function. Because It is devoid of the senses, It is unattached. Though so, It supports all. Indeed, everything is based on the 'sat,' the Existent; everywhere the idea of 'sat' is present. Not even the mirage and the like exist without a basis. Though devoid of the guṇas — Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas — the Knowable is the enjoyer, the perceiver, of the guṇas which, assuming the forms of sound and other objects of sense, transform themselves into pleasure, pain and delusion.