Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 13, Verse 16
अविभक्तं च भूतेषु विभक्तमिव च स्थितम्।भूतभर्तृ च तज्ज्ञेयं ग्रसिष्णु प्रभविष्णु च।।
avibhaktaṁ ca bhūteṣu vibhaktam iva ca sthitam
bhūta-bhartṛ ca taj jñeyaṁ grasiṣṇu prabhaviṣṇu ca
also searched as "avibhaktam cha bhuteshu vibhaktam iva cha sthitam"
Translation
Undivided yet appearing as if divided among beings, this Self is to be known as the supporter of the elements. It devours them and causes their generation.
Vāṇi's rendering
Undivided, it seems divided among beings. Know it as their sustainer — the one who devours, the one who births.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अविभक्तम्avibhaktaṁ | undivided, not split into parts |
| चca | and |
| भूतेषुbhūteṣu | among beings |
| विभक्तम्vibhaktam | divided, distributed |
| इवiva | as if, seemingly |
| चca | and |
| स्थितम्sthitam | abiding, standing |
| भूत-भर्तृbhūta-bhartṛ | the sustainer of beings, that which holds them up |
| चca | and |
| तत्tat | that (before jñeyaṁ the final t softens in sandhi: taj) |
| ज्ञेयम्jñeyaṁ | to be known |
| ग्रसिष्णुgrasiṣṇu | devouring, drawing beings back in |
| प्रभविष्णुprabhaviṣṇu | bringing forth, causing beings to arise |
| चca | and |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Verse 16 mean?
It means the knower within is one, though it appears parcelled out among countless beings. Krishna asks Arjuna to know that one as the sustainer of all beings — and as the power that draws them back at the end and brings them forth again. Division is apparent. Presence is whole.
What is the meaning of avibhaktam cha bhuteshu vibhaktam iva cha sthitam?
Avibhaktam is undivided; iva is the crucial word — as if. Beings look separate because bodies are separate, the way sunlight looks broken when it falls through slatted blinds. The light is not broken. What abides in you abides identically in whoever you are struggling to see as kin.
Why is the same reality called both devourer and creator?
Because it is not one force among others, competing with death. Grasiṣṇu and prabhaviṣṇu are the same holding, seen at two moments — the outbreath and the inbreath of existence. Nothing is lost to an enemy. What arises and what dissolves are returning into the one that never left.
How do I actually practise this verse?
Stop trying to feel unity, and start doubting the division. When someone irritates or terrifies you, notice that you have made them wholly other, and test whether that is true. The verse does not ask for sentiment. It asks you to withdraw your certainty that you end at your skin.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Look at any crowd and you see separate lives — separate bodies, separate fates, separate griefs. Krishna says the division is in the seeing, not in the seen. One is present in all of them, undivided, the way space is not cut into pieces by the walls built inside it. And that same one holds beings up, takes them back, brings them out again. Birth and death are not interruptions of it; they are its motions. So the person you cannot forgive, and the person you cannot bear to lose, are held by what holds you.