Bhagavad Gita 13.29

Verse 29

समं पश्यन्हि सर्वत्र समवस्थितमीश्वरम् | न हिनस्त्यात्मनात्मानं ततो याति परां गतिम् || २९ ||

Transliteration

samaṁ paśyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam īśvaram na hinasty ātmanātmānaṁ tato yāti parāṁ gatim

Synonyms

samam—equally; paśyan—seeing; hi—certainly; sarvatra—everywhere; samavasthitam—equally situated; īśvaram—the Lord; na—does not; hinasti—degrade; ātmanā—by the self; ātmānam—the self; tataḥ—then; yāti—reaches; parām—the supreme; gatim—destination.

Translation

Seeing the Lord equally present everywhere, one does not injure the Self by the self — and thereby reaches the Supreme destination.

Multi-Tradition Commentary

Swami Sivananda

An extraordinary ethical implication: when one truly sees the Lord equally in all, one cannot harm others without harming the same Self one sees in oneself. The phrase 'na hinasty atmanatmanam' — does not injure the Self by the self — means that the lower self (ego) no longer wars against the higher Self by acting as though others are different from oneself. This is the spiritual root of ahimsa — non-violence as a natural consequence of equality-vision.

Practical Application (Modern Life)

The deepest motivation for non-violence is not ethical duty but the recognition that the one you would harm is the same Self wearing a different body. When this is genuinely seen rather than merely believed, harming another becomes as absurd as harming one's own hand. Cultivate equality vision as the foundation of all ethical life.

Chapter Content

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