5.29 The friend of all beings Krishna speaks
भोक्तारं यज्ञतपसां सर्वलोकमहेश्वरम्
सुहृदं सर्वभूतानां ज्ञात्वा मां शान्तिमृच्छति
bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśhvaram
suhṛidaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śhāntim ṛichchhati
Knowing me as the one who receives every offering and austerity, the great lord of all worlds, and the friend of all beings — one comes to peace.
Explanation
And the last word of the chapter is friend.
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām — the friend of all beings. It comes after the receiver of every offering and the great lord of all worlds, which are the expected titles.
Twenty-eight verses of renunciation, evenness, restraint and the nine-gated city, and the note it ends on is affection. Knowing that, the verse says, is what brings peace.
Going further
Word by word
- bhoktāram
- the enjoyer
- yajña
- sacrifices
- tapasām
- austerities
- sarva-loka
- of all worlds
- mahā-īśhvaram
- the Supreme Lord
- su-hṛidam
- the selfless Friend
- sarva
- of all
- bhūtānām
- the living beings
- jñātvā
- having realized
- mām
- me (Lord Krishna)
- śhāntim
- peace
- ṛichchhati
- attains
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The chapter closes by naming Krishna suhṛidaṁ sarva-bhūtānām — the friend of all beings.
After twenty-eight verses of renunciation, evenness, restraint and the nine-gated city, the last word is friendship. The Gita tends to do this: the austere argument arrives somewhere unexpectedly warm, and the warmth is the conclusion rather than a consolation prize.