Upanishads · Kṛṣṇa 2.11
॥
Devanāgarī
स एष जगदन्तर्यामी । स एष सर्वात्मकः
Transliteration (IAST)
sa eṣa jagadantaryāmī | sa eṣa sarvātmakaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सः एषः जगत्-अन्तर्यामीsaḥ eṣaḥ jagat-antaryāmīhe is the inner ruler of the world
सः एषः सर्व-आत्मकःsaḥ eṣaḥ sarva-ātmakaḥhe is the all-pervading essence
Translation
"He is the inner ruler of the world; he is the all-pervading essence."
Version
c3af94c57234 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Antaryāmin, "the inner ruler," is named, and this word is one of the chief ones in Vaiṣṇava theology. It comes from antar, "within," and yam, "to rule, to restrain": the one who rules from within. The principal passage on this is held to be the Antaryāmi-brāhmaṇa of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka (3.7), and it is worth setting out, for it is decisive in the dispute over whether one dwells in the heart or two.
Yājñavalkya says: "He who, dwelling in the earth, is different from the earth, whom the earth does not know, whose body is the earth, who rules the earth from within — He is your self, the inner ruler, the immortal" (3.7.3). And so it is listed for water, fire, air, the sun, the directions, the moon, all beings — and finally: "he who, dwelling in the self, is different from the self, whom the self does not know, whose body is the self, who rules the self from within — He is your self, the inner ruler" (3.7.22). This last is the decisive one, and it is worth examining word by word.
Ātmani tiṣṭhan, "dwelling in the self"; ātmanaḥ antaraḥ, "different from the self"; yam ātmā na veda, "whom the self does not know"; yasya ātmā śarīram, "whose body is the self." Three of the four definitions establish difference: he is different, is not known by it, has it as his body. If there were only one in the heart, none of the three could be said: one cannot be different from oneself, cannot fail to know oneself, cannot have oneself as a body.
Hence this passage is cited first by the Vaiṣṇava side in disputes; and no answer to it acknowledged by both sides exists.