Sanskrit
समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रियः । ये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या मयि ते तेषु चाप्यहम् ॥
samo 'haṃ sarvabhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ ye bhajanti tu māṃ bhaktyā mayi te teṣu cāpy aham
Translation
The same am I to all beings; there is none hateful to Me nor dear. They verily who worship Me with devotion, they are in Me, and I also in them.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A claim about Krishna’s own nature rather than a practice to adopt: strict impartiality (samo ‘haṃ sarvabhūteṣu, “the same am I in all beings”) sits in the same verse as a promise of mutual indwelling for devotees specifically — “they in Me, I also in them.” The pairing isn’t a contradiction to explain away; impartiality describes the ontological baseline, devotion describes a relationship a being can choose to activate on top of it. The mutual-indwelling language here anticipates the far more developed treatment of divine immanence in chapters 10 and 15. Samo ‘haṃ… mayi te teṣu cāpy aham — impartiality as the baseline, mutual indwelling as what devotion switches on. The sun shines on all; only the one who turns toward it is lit.
Study deeper
Word by word
- samo 'haṃ sarvabhūteṣuसमो ऽहं सर्वभूतेषु
- I am the same toward all beings (samaḥ + aham + sarva-bhūteṣu)
- na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥन मे द्वेष्यो ऽस्ति न प्रियः
- none is hateful or dear to Me (na + me + dveṣyaḥ + asti + na + priyaḥ)
- ye bhajanti tu māṃ bhaktyāये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या
- but those who worship Me with devotion (ye + bhajanti + tu + mām + bhaktyā)
- mayi te teṣu cāpy ahamमयि ते तेषु चाप्य् अहं
- they are in Me, and I in them (mayi + te + teṣu + ca + api + aham)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Read in isolation, “no one is hateful or dear to me” could sound like distance. But the very same verse immediately follows it with a promise of indwelling for whoever turns toward him, which reframes the impartiality as the precondition for universal access rather than a withholding of warmth — it’s precisely because Krishna favors no one by default that anyone, starting from anywhere, can choose to activate the relationship.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Don't mistake someone's evenhandedness toward everyone for a lack of warmth available to you specifically — impartiality at the baseline is often what keeps a relationship open to anyone who chooses to lean in, rather than closed to all but a favored few.
Professional
- Treating your whole team with equal baseline fairness isn't coldness — it's what keeps the door open for anyone to build real trust with you, rather than reserving that trust for a favored few from the start.
Family & Social
- Loving the people in your life equally at the baseline doesn't prevent depth with any one of them — it's what allows each relationship to deepen on its own terms, without anyone being structurally locked out.
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