Chapter 13 Shloka 14

सर्वेन्द्रियगुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम्।

असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च।।१४।।

That One empowers the attributes of all the senses,

(but in actual fact) is devoid of all sense faculties.

That One is devoid of attachment and all qualities.

(Despite this) That One is the sustainer and nourisher

of all and also the enjoyer of all attributes.

Chapter 13 Shloka 14

सर्वेन्द्रियगुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम्।

असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च।।१४।।

Now Bhagwan elucidates on the manifest Brahm with attributes and the unmanifest Brahm and their essential unity.

That One empowers the attributes of all the senses, (but in actual fact) is devoid of all sense faculties. That One is devoid of attachment and all qualities. (Despite this) That One is the sustainer and nourisher of all and also the enjoyer of all attributes.

Little one, the Lord has just explained that He Himself comprises all the sense faculties. Now He says that He is the knower of all the objects of the senses – yet He is devoid of all sense faculties.

Understand this once again with the example of the dream witness. All sense faculties function with His authority. He Himself is the mainstay of those sense faculties. It is He who comprises all those faculties of sense within His Omnipresent Whole. However, that Atma is devoid of all the senses.

a) He is the Lord of the senses;

b) He constitutes all the senses;

c) He is the power behind all the senses;

– yet He is not those senses Himself.

He knows all those sense objects that the sense faculties partake of. Even though it is He who pervades all manifest forms, He is not in fact restricted to those forms. Just as there is naught but the dream witness in the dream, so also there is naught but the essence of That Brahm in this entirety. However, just as the dream world is nothing but the one who witnesses it and yet it remains only a dream, so also, even though this entire creation is pervaded by Brahm, it is not Brahm.

The Lord now says that, That One is devoid of attachment. Despite His detachment, it is He who sustains all. Despite the fact that He is devoid of attachment:

1. He creates the entire universe.

2. He sustains the entire universe.

3. He controls the universe.

4. He supports and upholds this entire creation.

5. It is He who nourishes this entirety.

6. He is the mainstay of all.

Little one, even though the Lord is the well-wisher of the humble and fulfils everyone’s tasks:

1. He seeks nothing from anyone.

2. He fulfils the desires of all without any expectations.

3. He seeks no fruits of any action whatsoever.

He fulfils the tasks of all beings irrespective of whether they accept or reject Him. No matter if those individuals pay any heed to Him, He gives them all. He is devoid of qualities, yet He is the enjoyer of all qualities, this means:

1. He transcends all qualities.

2. He is completely distant from all qualities.

3. He is uninfluenced by all qualities.

4. He is untouched by qualities.

Little one, without any qualities, yet possessing all qualities, He is the Master of all qualities and also their enjoyer.

The interplay of qualities takes place within His authority. He is the supreme witness of all, yet distant from and beyond all. When conjoined with Prakriti He enjoys all, yet in essence He is a non-participant.

Although that Brahm is equipped with all qualifying attributes, yet He is devoid of all attributes. The dream belongs to the dreamer, but the dreamer is not the dream. That dream witness is the mainstay of the dream, yet he is still not the dream. It would be sheer foolishness to attribute the characteristics of the dream participants to the dream witness. The dream witness is himself the support of the dream participant – from that point of view, he enjoys all the events of the dream. However, since that dream witness is not attached to the dream, he is ever a ‘non-enjoyer’.