Gita 9.4
Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga
मया ततमिदं सर्वं जगदव्यक्तमूर्तिना | मत्स्थानि सर्वभूतानि न चाहं तेष्ववस्थितः ||४||
mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā | mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ ||4||
In essence: I fill everything yet nothing contains Me - like space pervading all objects while being touched by none, the Divine is everywhere without being anywhere in particular.
A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply
Sadhak-Guru Dialogue
Sadhak: "This sounds like a contradiction. 'I pervade everything' but 'I am not in them.' How can both be true?"
Guru: "Consider space. Does space pervade this room?"
Sadhak: "Yes, it pervades everything in the room."
Guru: "And if the room is painted red, does space become red?"
Sadhak: "No, space has no color."
Guru: "So space pervades the red room but the redness is not in space. Space allows the room without being modified by the room. Is this a contradiction?"
Sadhak: "No, I see - space is in everything but nothing is in space in the sense of affecting it. But can consciousness really be like space?"
Guru: "Is there any experience you've ever had that wasn't pervaded by awareness?"
Sadhak: "No... every experience implies awareness."
Guru: "And when you had a nightmare, did awareness become frightened? When you had a happy dream, did awareness become happy?"
Sadhak: "The content was frightening or happy, but... the awareness witnessing it..."
Guru: "Was simply aware. Unmodified. Pervading the experience without being affected by it. This is what Krishna means. The Divine pervades all experiences while remaining untouched by their qualities."
Sadhak: "But I feel affected by my experiences. I am not untouched!"
Guru: "Who feels affected?"
Sadhak: "I do... the mind, the ego?"
Guru: "And the mind and ego are objects appearing in awareness. The sufferer is part of the content, not the awareness itself. You, as awareness, have never been touched by any experience. You have only believed yourself to be the content rather than the space in which content appears."
Sadhak: "This is dizzying. Am I the sufferer or the awareness?"
Guru: "Right now, in this very dizziness - what is aware of being dizzy?"
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🌅 Daily Practice
Upon waking, before any thought solidifies, notice the space of awareness in which thoughts will appear. This space is the 'avyakta-mūrti' - the unmanifest form that pervades all. Rest in this spaciousness before engaging with the day's content. Set the intention: 'Today I remember that I am the space in which experience appears, not merely the content of experience.'
When challenging situations arise, practice the 'space meditation': instead of focusing on the problem, notice the awareness in which the problem appears. The problem exists in awareness; awareness is not in the problem. This shift from content to context immediately changes your relationship to difficulty - you're no longer trapped inside it but holding it in the vast space of consciousness.
As you prepare for sleep, contemplate: 'All today's experiences - the pleasant and unpleasant, the successes and failures - all appeared in me. I pervaded them all while remaining untouched by any of them.' Let this recognition dissolve the accumulation of the day's impressions. Sleep as the awareness that held the day rather than as the person who lived it.