10.20 The self in every heart Krishna speaks
अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थितः
अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च
aham ātmā guḍākeśha sarva-bhūtāśhaya-sthitaḥ
aham ādiśh cha madhyaṁ cha bhūtānām anta eva cha
I am the self seated in the heart of all beings. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of beings.
Explanation
Before the catalogue: the self in every heart.
I am the self seated in the heart of all beings — the beginning, the middle and the end of them.
The chapter is about to name Vishnu among gods and the lion among animals. It begins by saying the real location is interior and universal, so the list that follows cannot be read as a ranking of where he is more.
Going further
Word by word
- aham
- I
- ātmā
- soul
- guḍākeśha
- Arjun, the conqueror of sleep
- sarva-bhūta
- of all living entities
- āśhaya-sthitaḥ
- seated in the heart
- aham
- I
- ādiḥ
- the beginning
- cha
- and
- madhyam
- middle
- cha
- and
- bhūtānām
- of all beings
- antaḥ
- end
- eva
- even
- cha
- also
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Before the long catalogue begins, this: I am the self seated in the heart of all beings.
The chapter is about to name Vishnu among the Adityas, the sun among lights, Meru among mountains — dozens of superlatives. It starts instead with something interior and unremarkable, and that placement is the key to reading everything after it.