Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 10, Verse 39
यच्चापि सर्वभूतानां बीजं तदहमर्जुन।
न तदस्ति विना यत्स्यान्मया भूतं चराचरम्।।
न तदस्ति विना यत्स्यान्मया भूतं चराचरम्।।
yac cāpi sarva-bhūtānāṁ bījaṁ tad aham arjuna
na tad asti vinā yat syān mayā bhūtaṁ carācaram
also searched as "yaccapi sarvabhutanam bijam tadahamarjuna"
Translation
I am also that which is the seed of all beings, O Arjuna. Nothing that moves or does not move exists without Me.
Vāṇi's rendering
I am the seed of every being. Nothing that moves, and nothing that stands still, could exist without me.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| यत्yat | that which |
| चca | and (joined in sandhi as yac cāpi) |
| अपिapi | also, moreover |
| सर्वभूतानाम्sarva-bhūtānām | of all beings, of everything that lives |
| बीजम्bījam | the seed, the origin from which a thing grows |
| तत्tat | that |
| अहम्aham | I am |
| अर्जुनarjuna | O Arjuna |
| नna | not |
| तत्tat | that thing |
| अस्तिasti | exists |
| विनाvinā | without, apart from |
| यत्yat | which (joined in sandhi as yat syān mayā) |
| स्यात्syāt | could be, might exist |
| मयाmayā | by me, with me |
| भूतम्bhūtam | a being, anything that has come into existence |
| चराचरम्cara-acaram | moving and unmoving (cara + acara joined in sandhi) |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10 Verse 39 mean?
It ends Krishna's long list of glories by dissolving the list. He is not merely the best of each kind of thing; he is the bīja, the seed, from which every kind arises. Whatever moves and whatever stays still holds its existence from him. Nothing is left over, and nothing is left out.
What is the meaning of yaccapi sarvabhutanam bijam tadahamarjuna?
Krishna tells Arjuna: whatever is the seed of all beings, I am that. A seed is not a part of the tree standing beside it — it is the tree's whole possibility, folded small. Krishna claims that place in everything. Remove him and there is no remainder, only absence.
Why does Krishna call himself the seed of all beings?
Because a seed explains existence rather than decorating it. The earlier verses gave splendid examples — Meru, Ganga, the sun. Splendour can be admired from a distance. A seed cannot. Calling himself the seed, Krishna moves from what you look at to what you are made of.
How does this verse help someone who feels far from Krishna?
The verse forbids that distance. If nothing moving or unmoving can exist apart from him, then your feeling of separation is also held by him. You are not looking for something absent. You are noticing something so continuous it went unnoticed, the way breath does.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna has been naming himself: among mountains, Meru; among rivers, Ganga. The list could run forever, and here he stops it. Behind every splendour is a seed, and he is that. Not the finest instance of a thing — the reason there is a thing at all. Arjuna has been listening to a catalogue and hearing distance: all these grand items, none of them me. The verse closes that gap. Nothing that moves, nothing that stands still — that includes the man in the chariot, and the one reading this line. You are not outside the list. You were never the exception you feared you were.