7.12 They are in me, not I in them Krishna speaks
ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास्तामसाश्च ये
मत्त एवेति तान्विद्धि नत्वहं तेषु ते मयि
ye chaiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasās tāmasāśh cha ye
matta eveti tān viddhi na tvahaṁ teṣhu te mayi
Whatever states arise from clarity, from restlessness, or from inertia — know that they come from me. I am not in them; they are in me.
Explanation
They are in me; I am not in them.
A precise piece of theology in a single line, and the asymmetry is the whole point.
Whatever the strands produce comes from him and does not contain him. It is how the chapter can claim everything without being implicated in it — the thread again, running through the pearls and made of something else.
Going further
Word by word
- ye
- whatever
- cha
- and
- eva
- certainly
- sāttvikāḥ
- in the mode of goodness
- bhāvāḥ
- states of material existence
- rājasāḥ
- in the mode of passion
- tāmasāḥ
- in the mode of ignorance
- cha
- and
- ye
- whatever
- mattaḥ
- from me
- eva
- certainly
- iti
- thus
- tān
- those
- viddhi
- know
- na
- not
- tu
- but
- aham
- I
- teṣhu
- in them
- te
- they
- mayi
- in me
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They come from me. I am not in them; they are in me.
A precise piece of theology in a single line, and the asymmetry is the whole point. Whatever this text means by the divine, it is not distributed evenly through the states of clarity, restlessness and inertia — it contains them without being contained.