Sarvendriya-Gunabhasam

This verse lays out paradox after paradox. Brahman lights up the functions of every sense — yet possesses no senses of its own. It sustains everything — yet is attached to nothing. It is beyond the three gunas — yet is called the experiencer of those very gunas.

These contradictions are the point. They signal that Brahman cannot be grasped through ordinary logic. Sunlight makes everything visible, but the sun itself is not in every object. Brahman's relationship with the world has something of that quality — intimate yet utterly free.

This verse captures Brahman's transcendent nature — a central theme of the Upanishadic tradition. The balance between 'nirguna' (without qualities) and 'saguna' (with qualities) is a hallmark of Indian philosophy.

In the Gita Press edition, this is the fifteenth shloka. Reading it carefully stirs a sense of wonder in the mind — that is precisely its purpose.