Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 9, Verse 5

न च मत्स्थानि भूतानि पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम् । भूतभृन्न च भूतस्थो ममात्मा भूतभावनः

na ca matsthāni bhūtāni paśya me yogamaiśvaram | bhūtabhṛnna ca bhūtastho mamātmā bhūtabhāvanaḥ

Translation

Nor do those beings dwell in Me; behold My Divine Yoga! Sustaining all beings, but not dwelling in them, is My Self, the cause of beings.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

na

not

ca

and

matsthāni

in me, stand, thus

bhūtāni

beings

paśya

behold

me

my

yogam aiśvaram

sovereign mystery

bhūtabhṛt

beings, upholds, thus

na

not

ca

and

bhūtasthaḥ

in beings, sits, thus

mama

my

ātmā

self

bhūtabhāvanaḥ

beings, nourishes, thus

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

These beings, from Brahmā downwards, dwell not in Me; behold My Divine working, the Divine Mystery, the real nature of the Self. The Śruti speaks of the unattached condition of the Self: "Devoid of attachment, He is never attached" (Bṛ. Up. 3.9.26). Though unattached, My Self supports all beings, but does not dwell in them. Separating from the Real Self the aggregate of the physical and other material environments, the Lord speaks of the Self as 'My Self,' following the popular conception; not that He believes, as the masses ignorantly believe, that the Ātman is distinct from Himself. It is Myself that cause all beings to come into being.