13.16 Far away and also near Krishna speaks
बहिरन्तश्च भूतानामचरं चरमेव च
सूक्ष्मत्वात्तदविज्ञेयं दूरस्थं चान्तिके च तत्
bahir antaśh cha bhūtānām acharaṁ charam eva cha
sūkṣhmatvāt tad avijñeyaṁ dūra-sthaṁ chāntike cha tat
Outside beings and inside them, unmoving and moving; so subtle that it cannot be known; far away and also near.
Explanation
Far away and also near.
Outside beings and inside them; unmoving and moving; so subtle it cannot be known.
Verses 13.14 to 13.18 proceed almost entirely this way, and the method is the message: any description precise enough to be useful would place the thing, and it cannot be placed.
Going further
Word by word
- bahiḥ
- outside
- antaḥ
- inside
- cha
- and
- bhūtānām
- all living beings
- acharam
- not moving
- charam
- moving
- eva
- indeed
- cha
- and
- sūkṣhmatvāt
- due to subtlety
- tat
- he
- avijñeyam
- incomprehensible
- dūra-stham
- very far away
- cha
- and
- antike
- very near
- cha
- also
- tat
- he
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Far away and also near. Outside beings and inside them. Unmoving and moving.
Verses 13.14 to 13.18 proceed almost entirely by contradiction, and it is the honest way to do it. Each pair rules out a comfortable resolution — you cannot settle on transcendent or immanent, because the text keeps asserting both within a single line.