स्वयमेवात्मनात्मानं वेत्थ त्वं पुरुषोत्तम | भूतभावन भूतेश देवदेव जगत्पते || १५ ||
svayam evātmanātmānaṁ vettha tvaṁ puruṣottama bhūta-bhāvana bhūteśa deva-deva jagat-pate
svayam—personally; eva—certainly; ātmanā—by Yourself; ātmānam—Yourself; vettha—You know; tvam—You; puruṣa-uttama—O greatest of all persons; bhūta-bhāvana—O source of everything; bhūteśa—O Lord of everything; deva-deva—O God of gods; jagat-pate—O Lord of the entire universe.
“Indeed, You alone know Yourself by Yourself, O Supreme Person, O source of all beings, O Lord of all, O God of gods, O Lord of the universe!”
Arjuna here articulates the deepest truth of the Upanishads: the Absolute knows itself only by itself, not through any external instrument. No yoga, no scripture, no teacher can do more than remove the obstacles to this self-recognition. The final knowing is always the Self knowing itself — svayam evātmanātmānam.
This verse points to the ultimate nature of self-knowledge: it is not object-knowledge but the Self's recognition of itself. All spiritual practices are meant to quieten the mental noise that obscures this self-luminous reality. When the mind becomes truly still, what remains is not emptiness but the Self knowing itself in clarity.