बहिरन्तश्च भूतानामचरं चरमेव च | सूक्ष्मत्वात्तदविज्ञेयं दूरस्थं चान्तिके च तत् || १६ ||
bahir antaś ca bhūtānām acaram caram eva ca sūkṣmatvāt tad avijñeyaṁ dūra-sthaṁ cāntike ca tat
bahiḥ—outside; antaḥ—inside; ca—also; bhūtānām—of all living beings; acaram—not moving; caram—moving; eva—also; ca—and; sūkṣmatvāt—due to subtlety; tat—that; avijñeyam—unknowable; dūra-stham—far away; ca—also; antike—nearby; ca—and; tat—that.
“It is outside and inside all beings; it is the unmoving and also the moving. It is unknowable because of its subtlety. It is far away and also near at hand.”
Brahman is simultaneously inside (as the inner Self, closer than the closest) and outside (as the world and space beyond), simultaneously still (as the unchanging ground) and moving (as the dynamism of all life). The phrase 'dura-stham chantike' — far and yet near — captures the paradox of all mystical experience. The Divine that seems so remote in one moment of spiritual aridity is recognized in the next as the very closest reality, never having been absent.
The awareness you are right now — the one reading these words — is that which is described as closer than close ('antike'), never absent, never other. It is also that which pervades all space ('bahih') and is therefore infinitely vast. Holding both simultaneously — intimate and infinite — is the contemplation that dissolves the sense of separation.