Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 10.20

aham ātmā gudākeśa

sarva-bhūtāśaya-sthitah

aham ādiś ca madhyam ca

bhūtānām anta eva ca

SYNONYMS

aham — I; ātmā — the soul; gudākeśa — O Arjuna; sarva-bhūta — of all living entities; āśaya-sthitah — situated within the heart; aham — I am; ādih — the origin; ca — also; madhyam — middle; ca — also; bhūtānām — of all living entities; antah — end; eva — certainly; ca — and.

TRANSLATION

I am the Supersoul, O Arjuna, seated in the hearts of all living entities. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.

PURPORT

In this verse Arjuna is addressed as Gudākeśa, which means "one who has conquered the darkness of sleep." For those who are sleeping in the darkness of ignorance, it is not possible to understand how the Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests Himself in various ways in the material and spiritual worlds. Thus this address by Krishna to Arjuna is significant. Because Arjuna is above such darkness, the Personality of Godhead agrees to describe His various opulences.

Krishna first informs Arjuna that He is the soul of the entire cosmic manifestation by dint of His primary expansion. Before the material creation, the Supreme Lord, by His plenary expansion, accepts the purusha incarnations, and from Him everything begins. Therefore He is ātmā, the soul of the mahat-tattva, the universal elements. The total material energy is not the cause of the creation; actually the Mahā-Vishnu enters into the mahat-tattva, the total material energy. He is the soul. When Mahā-Vishnu enters into the manifested universes, He again manifests Himself as the Supersoul in each and every entity. We have experience that the personal body of the living entity exists due to the presence of the spiritual spark. Without the existence of the spiritual spark, the body cannot develop. Similarly, the material manifestation cannot develop unless the Supreme Soul, Krishna, enters. As stated in the Subala Upanishad, prakrity-ādi-sarva-bhūtāntar-yāmī sarva-śeshī ca nārāyanah: "The Supreme Personality of Godhead is existing as the Supersoul in all manifested universes."

The three purusha-avatāras are described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. They are also described in the Sātvata-tantra. Vishnos tu trīni rūpāni purushākhyāny atho viduh: the Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests three features — as Kāranodakaśāyī Vishnu, Garbhodakaśāyī Vishnu and Kshīrodakaśāyī Vishnu — in this material manifestation. The Mahā-Vishnu, or Kāranodakaśāyī Vishnu, is described in the Brahma-samhitā (5.47). Yah kāranārnava-jale bhajati sma yoga-nidrām: the Supreme Lord, Krishna, the cause of all causes, lies down in the cosmic ocean as Mahā-Vishnu. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the beginning of this universe, the maintainer of the universal manifestations, and the end of all energy.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness