Bhagavad Gita 10.20
अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थितः | अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च ||
aham ātmā guḍākeśa sarva-bhūtāśaya-sthitaḥ | aham ādiś ca madhyaṁ ca bhūtānām anta eva ca ||
Translation
I am the self, O Guḍākeśa, seated in the heart of all beings. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all beings.
Reflection
Can you find the source first in your own heart before searching elsewhere?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Ten
The catalogue opens with the deepest claim of all. Krishna is the atman, the self, seated in the heart of every being. He is the beginning, the middle, and the end of beings. The verse places the first vibhuti where the listener most needs to find Him, inside his own breast. Before the longer list of particular cosmic figures comes the simplest fact. The same source that appears as Vishnu among the Adityas and as Shankara among the Rudras is already seated in the chest of the one listening. This placement organises everything that follows. The catalogue is not an inventory of foreign objects. It is a series of locations where the same inwardly known self also shows. Reading the list in this order keeps the chapter from collapsing into mythological roll-call.