Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 9, Verse 5
न च मत्स्थानि भूतानि पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम्।
भूतभृन्न च भूतस्थो ममात्मा भूतभावनः।।
भूतभृन्न च भूतस्थो ममात्मा भूतभावनः।।
na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni paśya me yogam aiśwaram
bhūta-bhṛn na ca bhūta-stho mamātmā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ
also searched as "na cha mat-sthani bhutani pashya me yogam aishvaram"
Translation
Yet, beings do not remain in Me. Behold My divine Yoga. I am the sustainer of all beings, yet I am not in them. It is My will alone that causes their existence.
Vāṇi's rendering
And yet they do not rest in me — see my sovereign mystery. I carry all beings without being contained.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नna | not |
| चca | and, yet |
| मत्स्थानिmat-sthāni | resting in me, standing within me |
| भूतानिbhūtāni | beings, all that exists |
| पश्यpaśya | look, behold |
| मेme | my |
| योगम्yogam | power of joining, mystery of how it works |
| ऐश्वरम्aiśvaram | sovereign, belonging to the lord |
| भूतभृत्bhūta-bhṛt | carrier and sustainer of beings (sandhi: bhūta-bhṛn before na) |
| नna | not |
| चca | and |
| भूतस्थःbhūta-sthaḥ | seated in beings, contained by them |
| ममmama | my (sandhi: mamātmā = mama + ātmā) |
| आत्माātmā | self |
| भूतभावनःbhūta-bhāvanaḥ | the one by whose willing beings come to be |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Verse 5 mean?
It says the opposite of the verse before it, on purpose. All beings rest in Krishna; also they do not. He carries everything and is contained by nothing. Rather than reconcile this, Krishna says paśya — look. Some truths are not solved, only seen.
What does na cha mat-sthani bhutani pashya me yogam aishvaram mean?
Beings do not stand inside me — behold my sovereign working. Krishna withdraws the easy picture of a container holding its contents. He upholds beings as bhūta-bhṛt, yet is never lodged among them. The support is total and the separation is total, at once.
Is Krishna contradicting himself between 9.4 and 9.5?
In language, yes. In fact, no. Anything vast enough to hold everything cannot be located anywhere in particular; say it rests in him and you shrink him to a place. Both sentences are needed because one alone would mislead. The contradiction is the accurate description.
How does this verse help when I feel unsupported?
It says support does not have to be visible to be real. You look for where you are held, find no shelf beneath you, and conclude nothing is there. Krishna's answer is that the carrying was never a place you could inspect. Being unable to find it is not evidence of its absence.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
One verse ago all beings rested in Krishna. Now they do not. He does not fix the contradiction; he tells Arjuna to look at it — paśya. Sovereignty here means being able to hold without being held, to carry every weight without becoming the shelf it sits on. A mother's care does not sit inside the child, yet the child is carried by it. Arjuna wants a diagram of where things are. What he gets is a mystery he can stand inside. You are being carried right now by something you cannot point to, and it is not lessened by your inability to point.