Chapter 5Verse 29 of 29

Bhagavad Gita 5.29

भोक्तारं यज्ञतपसां सर्वलोकमहेश्वरम् । सुहृदं सर्वभूतानां ज्ञात्वा मां शान्तिमृच्छति ॥

bhoktāraṃ yajña-tapasāṃ sarva-loka-maheśvaram | suhṛdaṃ sarva-bhūtānāṃ jñātvā māṃ śāntim ṛcchati ||

Translation

Knowing me to be the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities, the great lord of all the worlds, the friend of all beings, he attains peace.

Three identities the chapter closes by naming. Bhoktāraṃ yajña-tapasām, the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities. Sarva-loka-maheśvaram, the great lord of all worlds. Suhṛdaṃ sarva-bhūtānām, the friend of all beings. The third is the surprise: not the lord, not the enjoyer, but the friend. Suhṛd, the good-hearted one. Shankara reads the closing word śāntim ṛcchati, attains peace, as not a separate result but the natural exhalation that follows recognizing whose room you have been in all along. The chapter that opened with the student demanding a binary closes with the discovery that the teacher was a friend.

Reflection

Whose closeness have you been chasing in distant places that has been near the whole time?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Five

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