Bhagavad Gita 2.30 · Krishna
Present in every body
देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं देहे सर्वस्य भारत।
तस्मात्सर्वाणि भूतानि न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि॥
dehī nityamavadhyo’ayaṃ dehe sarvasya bhāratatasmātsarvāṇi bhūtāni na tvaṃ śocitumarhasi
The one who dwells in every body is eternal and can never be slain, Bharata. So you should not grieve for any being.
Words
- dehī
What it means
Krishna closes his first teaching on the Self. The dehi, the one who dwells in each body, lives in every being, friend or foe. And in every case it is eternal and beyond harm. So grief for anyone's true Self, he says, is misplaced. What remains is the question of how to act.
The story
Notice the word sarvasya, of everyone. The same Self lives in Bhishma, in Duryodhana, in Arjuna. Krishna is not only consoling Arjuna. He's quietly teaching him to see the sacred in his opponents too.
In your life
Picture someone on a crowded train, irritated by strangers, who suddenly thinks, each of them is someone's whole world. The mood shifts. Try it on your next commute. See the same life in everyone.
The same light lives in everyone.