अन्तःशरीरे निहितो गुहायामज एको नित्यो यस्य पृथिवी शरीरं यः पृथिवीमन्तरे संचरन् यं पृथिवी न वेद । यस्यापः शरीरं योऽपोन्तरे संचरन्यमापो न विदुः । यस्य तेजः शरीरं यस्तेजोन्तरे संचरन् यं तेजो न वेद । यस्य वायुः शरीरं यो वायुमन्तरे संचरन् य वायुर्न वेद । यस्याकाशः शरीरं य आकाशमन्तरे संचरन् यमाकाशो न वेद । यस्य मनः शरीरं यो मनोन्तरे संचरन् यं मनो न वेद। यस्य बुद्धिः शरीरं यो बुद्धिमन्तरे संचरन् यं बुद्धिर्न वेद । यस्याहङ्कारः शरीरं योऽहङ्कारमन्तरे संचरन् यमहङ्कारो न वेद । यस्य चित्तं शरीरं यश्चित्तमन्तरे संचरन् यं चित्तं न वेद । यस्याव्यक्तं शरीरं योऽव्यक्तमन्तरे संचरन् यमव्यक्तं न वेद । यस्याक्षरं शरीरं योऽक्षरमन्तरे संचरन् यमक्षरं न वेद । यस्य मृत्युः शरीरं यो मृत्युमन्तरे संचरन् यं मृत्युर्न वेद । स एष सर्वभूतान्तरात्मापहतपाप्मा दिव्यो देव एको नारायणः
antaḥśarīre nihito guhāyāmaja eko nityo yasya pṛthivī śarīraṃ yaḥ pṛthivīmantare saṃcaran yaṃ pṛthivī na veda | yasyāpaḥ śarīraṃ yo'pontare saṃcaranyamāpo na viduḥ | yasya tejaḥ śarīraṃ yastejontare saṃcaran yaṃ tejo na veda | yasya vāyuḥ śarīraṃ yo vāyumantare saṃcaran ya vāyurna veda | yasyākāśaḥ śarīraṃ ya ākāśamantare saṃcaran yamākāśo na veda | yasya manaḥ śarīraṃ yo manontare saṃcaran yaṃ mano na veda| yasya buddhiḥ śarīraṃ yo buddhimantare saṃcaran yaṃ buddhirna veda | yasyāhaṅkāraḥ śarīraṃ yo'haṅkāramantare saṃcaran yamahaṅkāro na veda | yasya cittaṃ śarīraṃ yaścittamantare saṃcaran yaṃ cittaṃ na veda | yasyāvyaktaṃ śarīraṃ yo'vyaktamantare saṃcaran yamavyaktaṃ na veda | yasyākṣaraṃ śarīraṃ yo'kṣaramantare saṃcaran yamakṣaraṃ na veda | yasya mṛtyuḥ śarīraṃ yo mṛtyumantare saṃcaran yaṃ mṛtyurna veda | sa eṣa sarvabhūtāntarātmāpahatapāpmā divyo deva eko nārāyaṇaḥ
Laid within the body, in the hidden place — unborn, one, eternal. Whose body is the earth, who moves within the earth, whom the earth does not know; whose body is the waters, who moves within the waters, whom the waters do not know; whose body is fire, whom fire does not know; whose body is wind, whom wind does not know; whose body is space, whom space does not know; whose body is the mind, whom the mind does not know; whose body is reason, whom reason does not know; whose body is selfhood, whom selfhood does not know; whose body is consciousness, whom consciousness does not know; whose body is the unmanifest, whom the unmanifest does not know; whose body is the imperishable, whom the imperishable does not know; whose body is death, whom death does not know. He is the inner soul of all beings, who has struck off evil, the divine God, the one Nārāyaṇa.
8c281ea206b9 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:12:03 AM UTC
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This is the most famous place in the Subāla and the one for which it is most often cited.
The construction is taken from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, where Yājñavalkya describes the antaryāmin, the Inner Governor, with the same threefold formula: whose body this is, who moves within, whom this does not know. The Subāla repeats it twelve times.
Let us think the formula itself through. One and the same thing is said three times, and each time differently. “Whose body is the earth” — that is, the earth belongs to Him as our body belongs to us. “Who moves within the earth” — that is, He acts in it and does not rest. And “whom the earth does not know” — that is, for all this it is unaware of Him.
The last is the most important. Our body does not know us; and the world does not know Him whose body it is. This unknowing is no defect of the world — it is the condition of its being a body and not a master.
The list is built in ascent and deliberately carried to the end. First the five elements: earth, waters, fire, wind, space. Then the inner instruments: mind, reason, selfhood, consciousness. Then what is above all the created: the unmanifest and the imperishable — avyakta and akṣara, the summits of the ladder from the second khaṇḍa. And last — death.
This last link decides everything. Even death is His body, and within it He moves, and it does not know Him. Thus is removed the fear spoken of in the first khaṇḍa, where Brahmā took fright and death entered him: death is great, but it too is not the mistress.
And the close names outright Him of whom the speech is: “the inner soul of all beings, who has struck off evil, the divine God, the one Nārāyaṇa”. It is this verse that Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa adduces in the Govinda-bhāṣya as testimony that the inner governor is a Person; and the same verse — as proof that the Lord remains untouched by anything while being in everything.