Chapter 13Verse 14 of 34

Bhagavad Gita 13.14

सर्वेन्द्रियगुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम्। असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च॥

sarvendriya-guṇābhāsaṁ sarvendriya-vivarjitam asaktaṁ sarva-bhṛc caiva nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca

Translation

Appearing with all sense-qualities, free from all senses; unattached, yet supporting all; without qualities, yet enjoyer of qualities.

Three pairs of paradoxes packed into one verse. Brahman shines through every sense-quality yet possesses no senses of its own. Unattached, yet the supporter that holds everything in place. Beyond gunas, yet the enjoyer of gunas. The grammar of contradiction is not careless. It signals an object that breaks normal predicate logic. To say brahman has senses is wrong. To say brahman lacks senses is also wrong. Both fail. What remains: the recognition that whatever you point at, the opposite is also true. This is not mysticism for its own sake. It is a precise statement about how brahman relates to qualified existence. Read three times slowly. Each pair carries its own teaching.

Reflection

Where does sensing happen if no sense organ is doing it? Try to find that place.

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Thirteen

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