Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 13, Verse 28
समं पश्यन्हि सर्वत्र समवस्थितमीश्वरम्।न हिनस्त्यात्मनाऽऽत्मानं ततो याति परां गतिम्।।
samaṁ paśyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam īśvaram
na hinasty ātmanātmānaṁ tato yāti parāṁ gatim
also searched as "samam pashyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam ishvaram"
Translation
For, seeing the ruler abiding alike in every place, he does not injure himself with his own mind and therefore reaches the highest goal.
Vāṇi's rendering
Seeing the lord present equally everywhere, you stop wounding yourself by yourself — and reach the highest.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| समम्samam | the same, equally |
| पश्यन्paśyan | seeing, one who sees |
| हिhi | for, indeed |
| सर्वत्रsarvatra | everywhere |
| समवस्थितम्samavasthitam | abiding alike, equally present |
| ईश्वरम्īśvaram | the lord, the ruler |
| नna | not |
| हिनस्तिhinasti | injures, wounds (written hinasty before the following vowel) |
| आत्मनाātmanā | by oneself, by one's own self |
| आत्मानम्ātmānam | oneself, the self |
| ततःtataḥ | therefore, from that (becomes tato before y) |
| यातिyāti | goes, reaches |
| पराम्parām | the highest, the supreme |
| गतिम्gatim | goal, destination |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Verse 28 mean?
It means the harm you fear most is the harm you do yourself. Seeing the īśvara abiding equally in every place, you no longer wound yourself by your own hand — and that unwounded seeing is itself the highest going. Equality of vision and freedom from self-injury are one movement, not two.
What does samam pashyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam ishvaram mean?
Seeing the same lord standing equally everywhere. Samam is the key word — not similar, not almost, the same. Not the lord distributed in pieces, more here and less there, but one presence undivided across every body and every place you would rather not look.
How do I injure myself with my own self?
By ranking. Every time you decide one being carries the lord and another does not, you make a cut, and the blade turns inward — you have declared a place where the lord is absent, and you live inside that absence. The injury is not metaphorical. It is how a small life is built.
What is the highest goal Krishna speaks of here?
Parā gati — the supreme going. Krishna does not describe it as a reward given later for good seeing. It arrives with the seeing. When the self-inflicted cut stops, what remains is already the destination; nothing more has to be reached, only nothing more spoiled.
Themes in this verse
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Commentary
Notice what Krishna calls the wound. Not the enemy's arrow — your own hand. To see the lord in some places and not others is already an injury, and the one injured is you. Arjuna divides the field into kin and foe, worthy and unworthy, and every division cuts through him first. Equal seeing is not a sentiment about others; it is the end of a self-inflicted cut. When nothing stands outside the lord, there is no one left to diminish, and so no one left to be diminished by. You stop bleeding from a wound no one but you could make.