December 23, 2025
tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarvabhāvena bhārata
tatprasādāt parāṁ śāntiṁ sthānaṁ prāpsyasi śāśvataṁ (XVIII-62)
XVIII/62. Fly unto him for refuge with all thy being, O Arjuna; by his
grace thou shalt obtain supreme peace and the eternal abode.
Swamiji's Commentary
‘Śaraṇaṁ’ in the text means ‘asylum’, ‘refuge’. Until we take refuge or seek asylum in the centre of our being, we shall be whirled helplessly on the wheel or the merry-go-round of birth and death. We can take birth again and again, experiencing newer joys and suffering up-to-date agonies, but we shall remain where we were ages ago, bound to individuality and the fleshy tabernacle.
The centre, referred to as the ‘heart’ in the previous verse is equated to God in this verse. ‘The heart of all beings’ neither confines God to a limited space (though the physical heart has been used as the focal point for meditation by all devotees) nor cancels his omnipresence. It is the ‘heart’ of each cell in living beings, of each atom of existence. Science indirectly admits of the existence of a mighty intelligence (which it calls ‘nuclear power’) within the nucleus of an atom, where, contrary to all known laws of electromagnetism, several protons (having positive charge which should normally compel them to repel one another) live in unity, and which at the same time keep the electrons vibrating around the nucleus. That intelligence is God or God’s. In him disharmonies are harmonized, all opposites are integrated. By taking refuge in him man shall be able to transcend the puzzling and tormenting pulls of the extremes; in him alone can one find lasting and unalloyed peace.
‘Sarvabhāvena’ in the text has been translated ‘with all thy being’. It can also mean: ‘convert all your emotions into devotion and direct that to God. Love him as your master, your friend, your parent and your lover; seek him in all these attitudes (bhāva).’ At every turn it is good to remind ourselves that all this is not ego-activity, but its dissolution in the light of knowledge, in the light of love.
With the descent of this light of knowledge into your heart, a perception of the truth arises which transforms the world into the love of God without touching it. And this perception transforms your life, too, without changing it, so that established thus in God’s supreme love, you will know no sorrow nor will you ever be subject to sin.