Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 33

यथा प्रकाशयत्येकः कृत्स्नं लोकमिमं रविः । क्षेत्रं क्षेत्री तथा कृत्स्नं प्रकाशयति भारत

yathā prakāśayatyekaḥ kṛtsnaṃ lokamimaṃ raviḥ | kṣetraṃ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṃ prakāśayati bhārata

Translation

As the one sun illumines all this world, so does the embodied One, O Bhārata, illumine all bodies.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

yathā

as

prakāśayati

illuminates

ekaḥ

one

kṛtsnam

the whole

lokam

world

imam

this

raviḥ

sun

kṣetram

the field

kṣetrī

the field-owner

tathā

so

kṛtsnam

the whole

prakāśayati

illuminates

bhārata

O Bhārata

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

The embodied one (Kṣetrin), the Supreme Self (Paramātman), is one and illumines all bodies, the whole material being (Kṣetra), from the Avyakta down to the unmoving objects, from the 'Great Elements' down to 'firmness' (xiii.5-6). The illustration by means of the sun serves here a double purpose with reference to the Self — showing that, like the sun, the Self is One only in all bodies, and that like the sun, He is unsoiled.