Sanskrit
ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति । भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ॥ ६१ ॥
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṃ hṛd-deśe'rjuna tiṣṭhati bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
Translation
The Lord dwelleth in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, by His illusive Power causing all beings to revolve, as though mounted on a potter's wheel.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
One of the most quoted verses in the entire text, and it earns the attention: the Lord dwells in the heart of every being, whirling all beings by his illusive power (maya) as though mounted on a machine — Besant renders yantra-arudha as “mounted on a potter’s wheel.” It condenses the Gita’s whole metaphysics into a single image: a divine presence genuinely immanent in every heart, operating not as an occasional visitor but as the hidden mechanism turning all beings through their conditioned lives, an idea that reaches back to 3.27’s claim that action is performed entirely by the gunas of prakriti while the ego merely mistakes itself for the doer. The verse offers no comfort about autonomy — it offers something else instead, the possibility of consciously locating oneself in relation to the very force doing the turning. The definitive Īśvara verse: the Lord “seated in the heart-region of all beings, turning them by his māyā as though mounted on a machine (yantra).” Not an external ruler — the innermost presence that both moves a being and can be surrendered to (BG 18.62).
Study deeper
Word by word
- īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṃईश्वरः सर्व-भूतानां
- the Lord of all beings (īśvaraḥ + sarva-bhūtānām)
- hṛd-deśe'rjuna tiṣṭhatiहृद्-देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति
- dwells in the heart-region, O Arjuna (hṛd-deśe + arjuna + tiṣṭhati)
- bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāniभ्रामयन् सर्व-भूतानि
- turning all beings (bhrāmayan + sarva-bhūtāni)
- yantrārūḍhāni māyayāयन्त्रारूढानि मायया
- mounted on a machine, by his māyā (yantra-ārūḍhāni + māyayā)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The claim itself is maximally impersonal — every being, without exception, is being turned by the same mechanism. Yet Krishna delivers it by name: “Arjuna.” The most universal statement in the entire text is spoken as the most personal address, as if the scale of the claim only becomes usable once it’s aimed at one particular, named person standing in front of you.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- A universal truth about the human condition rarely changes anything until someone says your actual name while telling it to you — don't just absorb general wisdom, find the moment it gets addressed to you specifically.
Professional
- A company-wide principle lands as noise until a leader applies it by name to one person's actual situation — the scale of an idea becomes usable to a team member only once it's addressed to them directly, not broadcast generally.
Family & Social
- Telling a loved one a universal truth about people in general rarely reaches them — saying their name and applying it specifically to their situation is what makes the same idea actually land.
Ask yourself
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