Bhagavad Gita 9.5

na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni

paśya me yogam aiśvaram

bhūta-bhṛn na ca bhūta-stho

mamātmā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ

 

They dwell in me, yet behold my mystical connection:

They dwell not in me—for I feel no exhaustion;

I bear all life, yet stand apart,

My Self gives birth to every heart.

 

My dear Lord, help me appreciate your inconceivable relationship with the world that entangles me. You are in the world, and the world is in you; yet you are also beyond the world, and the world remains distinct from you.

O inconceivable Lord, such statements can seem illogical—and even unacceptable—to my finite mind. But you do not speak them with the embarrassment of an accidental contradiction or an inadvertent error. You speak them with celebration, inviting me to behold this seeming contradiction as a display of your mystical potency.

O Supreme Guru, help me see your love in the fact that you do not preside in solitary cosmic majesty, removed from the world. Out of your infinite and inexhaustible love for me—and for countless souls like me—you are forever present within the world, ready to direct my head and heart toward you whenever I express any spiritual interest or intention. Yet you are never entangled by the world—neither allured by its temptations while present here, nor annoyed or angered by my repeated neglect of you.

O infallible Lord, you reveal how deeply you care for me by asserting your constant presence in this world. And you reveal how much power you have to rescue me from this world by asserting your complete transcendence over it. May the memory of both your care and your power draw my heart toward you—immediately, intimately, irreversibly.

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09.05 And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence! Although I am the maintainer of all living entities and although I am everywhere, I am not a part of this cosmic manifestation, for My Self is the very source of creation.