13-13

सर्वतः पाणि पादम् तत् सर्वतोऽक्षि शिरो मुखम् ।
सर्वतः श्रुतिमत् लोके सर्वम् आवृत्य तिष्ठति ॥ १३ ॥

sarvataH pANi pAdam tat sarvato'kSi ziro mukham |
sarvataH zrutimat loke sarvam AvRtya tiSThati || 13 ||

तत् [tat] It सर्वतः पाणि पादम् [sarvataH pANi pAdam] has all possible arms and feet, सर्वतः अक्षि शिरो मुखम् [sarvataH akSi ziro mukham] all possible eyes, heads and faces सर्वतः श्रुतिमत् [sarvataH zrutimat] and all possible activities. तिष्ठति [tiSThati] It is सर्वम् आवृत्य [sarvam AvRtya] all-pervasive लोके [loke] in this world.

The pure and liberated Self is capable of doing anything that can be done by our organs. It has eyes, heads and faces everywhere. It accomplishes all activities of these organs.

In the scriptures, स्वेताश्वतर [svetAzvatara] 3-19 describes the Lord in this way: ‘He moves about without using any legs, grasps without hands, sees without eyes, listens without ears’. It means the Lord can accomplish anything we do with our organs, while not being bound by them.

When liberated , the pure Self is equivalent to the Lord. It can accomplish the same without needing any organs.

The equivalence is mentioned in the scriptures, as in मुंडक उपनिशत् [muMDaka upanizat] , 3-1-3: ‘The one who practices devotion gives up both virtue and flaw, becomes pure, achieving equality with the Ultimate’. It is also said in 14-2: ‘Having gained this knowledge, they achieve My characteristics’.

This Shloka ended with: ‘It is all-pervasive in this world’ - It pervades every entity that exists in this world. In its pure form, the Self does not have constraints of space. Hence it pervades everything.