Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 15

बहिरन्तश्च भूतानामचरं चरमेव च । सूक्ष्मत्वात्तदविज्ञेयं दूरस्थं चान्तिके च तत्

bahirantaśca bhūtānāmacaraṃ carameva ca | sūkṣmatvāttadavijñeyaṃ dūrasthaṃ cāntike ca tat

Translation

Without and within (all) beings; the unmoving as also the moving. Because subtle, That is incomprehensible; and near and far away is That.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

bahiḥ

outside

antaḥ

inside

ca

and

bhūtānām

of beings

acaram

immovable

caram

movable

eva

even

ca

and

sūkṣmatvāt

from subtlety

tat

that

avijñeyam

unknowable

dūrastham

(at) distance, stands, thus

ca

and

antike

near

ca

and

tat

that

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Without: what lies outside the body which is regarded through ignorance as one's own self. And within refers to the Inner Self, Pratyagātman, lying inside the body. To prevent the implication that It is absent in the middle, the Lord says It is 'the unmoving as also the moving.' It is Brahman, the Knowable, that appears as the bodies, moving and unmoving, just as a rope appears as a snake. It manifests Itself as everything; but It is subtle like the ākāśa. Wherefore, on account of Its subtlety, It is incomprehensible to the unenlightened, though knowable in Itself. It is far away when unknown; for It is unattainable by the unenlightened even in millions of years. And to the enlightened It is very near, because It is their own Self.