Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 6, Verse 29: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  The yogi whose mind is absorbed in samādhi sees his own ātman dwelling in all beings from Brahmā down to a blade of grass, and sees all those beings as having attained oneness within that single ātman. This vision is not metaphor but direct cognition of brahma-ātma-ekatva (the identity of Brahman and the self), which Śaṅkara calls sama-darśana: a seeing in which the apparent hierarchy of brahmin-to-stump dissolves because the only real substrate is nirviśeṣa (undifferentiated) Brahman. The result of this ātma-ekatva-darśana (vision of self-identity) will be stated immediately after.

  divergence: Śaṅkara: 'sarvatra samaṃ nirviśeṣaṃ brahma-ātmaikatva-viṣayaṃ darśanaṃ jñānaṃ yasya sa sarvatra sama-darśanaḥ' — 'sama' here is nirviśeṣa, not merely equal regard.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The yogi with a purified mind sees all selves — his own and those of every other being — as equal in essential form (jñānaikākāratā, the character of being pure knowing) once their adventitious difference-producing prakṛti (matter-nature) is set aside. He therefore sees his own ātman as dwelling in all beings and all beings as residing within his ātman, because when any one ātman is truly seen, all ātmans of the same essential form are seen together. Rāmānuja grounds this in the Gītā's own cross-reference: 'nirdoṣaṃ hi samaṃ brahma' (5.19) — Brahman is flawless and equal — confirming that the equality belongs to the mode of essential selfhood, not to an undifferentiated identity.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: 'prakṛtiviyuktasvarūpāṇāṃ jñānaikākāratayā sāmyāt vaiṣamyasya ca prakṛtigatvāt' — difference is real but belongs to prakṛti, not to svarūpa (essential nature).

• Madhvadvaita

  The object of this meditative vision is not the individual jīva but Paramēśvara (the Supreme Lord) himself: one sees that Lord Hari dwelling within all beings and simultaneously sees all beings dwelling within that same Lord. The 'ātman' in the verse denotes Paramēśvara, as confirmed by the Bhāgavata citation Madhva supplies — 'apaśyat sarvabhūtāni bhagavatya api cātmani' (BhP 3.24.46) — and by the secondary text 'samaṃ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṃ parameśvaram.' The yogi's vision is thus a vision of Hari's all-pervading lordship (aiśvarya), perceived equally across Brahmā, grass-blade, and everything between.

  divergence: Madhva: 'sarvabhūtastha-ātmānaṃ parameśvaram ... sāmyena paśyati' — the 'sama' (equality) is the uniformity of the Lord's presence, not a merging of the seer with what is seen.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha reads two grades of unseen (guhya) samādhi layered into verses 6.29-6.30: the first, concerning akṣara-Brahman, yields the recognition that one's own ātman stands in all beings and all beings stand within it — a seeing of cause-and-effect unity (kārya-kāraṇa-vastu-aikatva). The second and subtler grade, concerning Bhagavān Vāsudeva, yields immediate non-dual presence: 'sarvabhūtāni svaṃ ca mayy avasthānena abhedena ca paśyati.' At the peak of ānanda's (bliss's) manifestation, the Lord's all-pervasiveness (vyāpakatva) becomes directly luminous, and Kṛṣṇa himself remains visible — not disappearing into an abstract unity but appearing in catuṣbhuja (four-armed) form through kṛpā-dṛṣṭi (the glance of grace).

  divergence: Vallabha cites Chāndogya 6.8.16 ('aitadātmyam idaṃ sarvaṃ'), BG 7.19 ('vāsudevaḥ sarvaṃ'), and the śruti statement 'yo'sau so'ham yo'ham so'sau' to ground both grades.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara reads the verse as direct brahma-sākṣātkāra (Brahman-realization) emerging from sustained yoga: the yogi whose mind is concentrated (samāhita-citta) sees everywhere only Brahman — and specifically sees his own ātman, stripped of the limiting adjuncts (upādhi) of avidyā-produced body-identifications, dwelling unobstructed in all beings from Brahmā down to unmoving things. He then sees those same beings as resting within that ātman in non-difference (abhedena). The key move is the removal of avidyā-kṛta-deha-ādi-pariccheda (the delimitation of self produced by ignorance-born body-identification); what remains is the boundless, undivided witness.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'svam ātmānam avidyākṛtadehādipariccheda-śūnyaṃ sarvabhūteṣu brahma-ādi-sthāvara-anteṣv avasthitaṃ paśyati — tāni ca ātmani abhedena paśyati.'

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana situates 6.29 as the verse establishing the 'tvaṃ-pada-lakṣya' (the referent of the word 'you' in the tat tvam asi mahāvākya): the yogi who has reached nirvicāra-vaiśāradya (the clarity beyond discursive thought) sees the single eternal witness-self (sākṣin) pervading all embodied beings as their one sentient ground, and conversely sees all beings — as objects superimposed upon that witness through ādhyāsika (superimposition-based) relation — as ultimately unreal, delimited, inert, and sorrow-natured. This synthetic vision is produced by yoga AND by vicāra (inquiry); Madhusūdana quotes Vasiṣṭha's Yogavāsiṣṭha to confirm two equally valid paths: vṛtti-nirodha (suppression of mental modifications) for the yogic line, and samyag-avekṣaṇa (right examination) for the Vedāntic line.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'sākṣibhyo anṛta-jaḍa-paricchinna-duḥkharūpebhyo vivekena īkṣate sākṣāt karoti ... tāni ca ātmani sākṣye ādhyāsikena sambandhe na bhogya-tayā kalpitāni mithyābhūtāni paricchinnāni jaḍāni duḥkhātmakāni.'