Bhagavad Gita 8.3
श्रीभगवानुवाच | अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते | भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः ||
śrī-bhagavān uvāca | akṣaraṁ brahma paramaṁ svabhāvo'dhyātmam ucyate | bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-saṁjñitaḥ ||
Translation
The Deity said: The supreme indestructible is Brahman. Its dwelling in the individual self is called adhyātma. The creative emission which produces the existence of beings is named karma.
Reflection
Where do you most often place the divine, outside you or inside?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eight
Krishna answers in order. The supreme indestructible is Brahman, the highest. Its presence inside the individual is adhyatma, the self in here. Karma is the visarga, the creative emission that produces the existence of beings. Three terms, three definitions, no surplus. He is not yet describing Brahman, only naming it, the way one points at something before describing it. The same with adhyatma. He places the indestructible at the top of the structure, then locates it in the individual, then names the activity that runs through every being. The vocabulary Arjuna asked for is being handed back to him with the minimum needed for the rest of the chapter to land.