Bhagavad Gita 13.17

avibhaktaṁ ca bhūteṣu

vibhaktam iva ca sthitam

bhūta-bhartṛ ca taj jñeyaṁ

grasiṣṇu prabhaviṣṇu ca

 

Undivided, unlimited, present everywhere,

Appearing many, yet still the One up there;

You sustain it all, then draw it all in,

The source from which all worlds begin.

 

My dear Lord, love has an intoxicating quality—it feels both impossible and inevitable.

O beloved Lord, love feels inevitable because something deep within me believes—nay, knows—that I am meant to love and to be loved. Indeed, without love, what would be the point of life? So asserts my heart.

Simultaneously, O unfailing Lord, my head tells me—with irrefutable reasoning—that love is impossible. An object that awakens lasting love, not merely passing infatuation, is rarely found. Even if found, it is far more rarely attained. Even if attained, it cannot be retained against the ravages of time.

O benevolent Lord, you resolve this existential dilemma by revealing yourself as the supreme object of love—imperishable and inexhaustible. It is you who call me through the various objects that awaken love within me. They are but drops, meant to lead me to you, the ocean of love. When I experience these drops, may those experiences nourish my heart’s conviction that love is indeed real. When I experience them as drops and nothing more, may that realization nourish my head’s conviction that they are not destinations, but direction-pointers to you.

When, O all-attractive Lord, I thus cherish and relish you as the ultimate object of my love, may you make the love that is impossible in life’s ordinary course, inevitable in my life’s course to you.

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13.17 Although the Supersoul appears to be divided among all beings, He is never divided. He is situated as one. Although He is the maintainer of every living entity, it is to be understood that He devours and develops all.