Bhagavad Gita 8.22: meaning and translation
Chapter 8: Akshara Brahma Yoga. Krishna says
That supreme Purusha, in whom all beings dwell and by whom all this is pervaded, can be reached by undivided devotion (bhakti), Krishna tells Arjuna.
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Bhagavad Gita 8.22
पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया ।यस्यान्तःस्थानि भूतानि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ॥
Purushah sa parah partha bhaktya labhyastvananyayaYasyantahsthani bhutani yena sarvamidam tatam
puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha bhaktyā labhyastvananyayā |yasyāntaḥsthāni bhūtāni yena sarvamidaṃ tatam ||
Our explanation That supreme Purusha, in whom all beings dwell and by whom all this is pervaded, can be reached by undivided devotion (bhakti), Krishna tells Arjuna.
हिंदी अर्थ कृष्ण अर्जुन से कहते हैं कि वह परम पुरुष, जिसके भीतर सब प्राणी हैं और जिससे यह सब व्याप्त है, अनन्य भक्ति से प्राप्त होता है।
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Word by word
- पुरुषः puruṣaḥ · the Purusha, the person (nominative singular) Dictionary: puruṣa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 637, col. 1 “the Supreme Being or Soul of the universe”
- सः saḥ · that (pronoun, nominative singular) Dictionary: tad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 434, col. 1 “m. he, f. she, n. it, that, this”
- परः paraḥ · supreme (nominative singular) Dictionary: 1. para, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 586, col. 1 “highest, supreme, chief”
- पार्थ pārtha · O son of Pritha (Arjuna) (vocative singular) Dictionary: 2. pārtha, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 621, col. 3 “metron. of Yudhi-shṭhira or Bhīma-sena or Arjuna”
- भक्त्या bhaktyā · by devotion (instrumental singular) Dictionary: bhakti, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 743, col. 2 “attachment, devotion, fondness for, devotion to”
- लभ्यः labhyaḥ · can be reached (gerundive ("to be done"), nominative singular) Dictionary: labhya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 896, col. 3 “capable of being reached or attained, obtainable, acquirable, procurable”
- तु tu · indeed (indeclinable) Dictionary: 2. tu, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 449, col. 3 “but; and; or”
- अनन्यया ananyayā · undivided, to no other (instrumental singular (feminine)) Dictionary: an-anya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 25, col. 2 “having no other (object), undistracted”
- यस्य yasya · in whom (relative pronoun, genitive singular) Dictionary: yad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 844, col. 2 “who, which, what, whichever, whatever, that”
- अन्तःस्थानि antaḥsthāni · dwelling within (compound, nominative plural) Dictionary: antar, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 43, col. 2 “within, between, amongst, in the middle or interior”; 2. stha, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1262, col. 3 “standing, being, existing in or on or among”
- भूतानि bhūtāni · beings (nominative plural) Dictionary: bhūta, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 761, col. 3 “that which is or exists, any living being”
- येन yena · by whom (relative pronoun, instrumental singular) Dictionary: yad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 844, col. 2 “who, which, what, whichever, whatever, that”
- सर्वम् sarvam · all (pronoun, nominative singular) Dictionary: sarva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1184, col. 3 “whole, entire, all, every”
- इदम् idam · this (pronoun, nominative singular) Dictionary: 1. idam, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 165, col. 2 “this, this here, referring to something near the speaker”
- ततम् tatam · pervaded (past participle, nominative singular) Dictionary: 2. tata, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 435, col. 1 “extended, stretched, spread, diffused, expanded”
Old translations
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882. Public domain. Page 80.
That supreme Being, O son of Prithâ! he in whom all these entities dwell1, and by whom all this is permeated, is to be attained to by reverence not (directed) to another.
Footnotes (the translator’s own) - I. e. by whom, as the cause of them, all these entities are supported; cf. p. 82 infra. ↩
Compare 3 translations
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882. Public domain. Page 80.
That supreme Being, O son of Prithâ! he in whom all these entities dwell1, and by whom all this is permeated, is to be attained to by reverence not (directed) to another.
Footnotes (the translator’s own) - I. e. by whom, as the cause of them, all these entities are supported; cf. p. 82 infra. ↩
You are reading this one
Annie Besant, 1895. Public domain. Page 85.
He, the highest Purusha, O Pârtha, may be reached by devotion to Him only, in Whom all beings abide, by Whom all This1 is spread out.
Footnotes (the translator’s own) - This, the universe, in opposition to THAT, the Source of all, ↩
You are reading this one
Swami Swarupananda, 1909 (first printed 1907). Public domain. Page 169.
And that Supreme Purusha is attainable, O son of Prithâ, by whole-souled devotion to Him alone, in Whom all beings dwell, and by Whom all this is pervaded.
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Cite this verse
The translation: K. T. Telang, The Bhagavadgîtâ (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 80. Bhagavad Gita 8.22.
The translation: Annie Besant, The Bhagavad Gîtâ, or The Lord's Song (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1895), p. 85. Bhagavad Gita 8.22.
The translation: Swami Swarupananda, Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita (Mayavati: Prabuddha Bharata Press, 1909; first printed in Prabuddha Bharata, 1907–1909), p. 169. Bhagavad Gita 8.22.
Our explanation: “Bhagavad Gita 8.22: meaning and translation.” Pujadeep. Updated October 27, 2026. https://pujadeep.com/bhagavad-gita/8/22/
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Bhagavad Gita 8.22
पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया ।
यस्यान्तःस्थानि भूतानि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ॥
“That supreme Being, O son of Prithâ! he in whom all these entities dwell, and by whom all this is permeated, is to be attained to by reverence not (directed) to another.”
(K. T. Telang, The Bhagavadgîtâ (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 80, public domain)
“He, the highest Purusha, O Pârtha, may be reached by devotion to Him only, in Whom all beings abide, by Whom all This is spread out.”
(Annie Besant, The Bhagavad Gîtâ, or The Lord's Song (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1895), p. 85, public domain)
“And that Supreme Purusha is attainable, O son of Prithâ, by whole-souled devotion to Him alone, in Whom all beings dwell, and by Whom all this is pervaded.”
(Swami Swarupananda, Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita (Mayavati: Prabuddha Bharata Press, 1909; first printed in Prabuddha Bharata, 1907–1909), p. 169, public domain)
Sanskrit: G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1922.
https://pujadeep.com/bhagavad-gita/8/22/ Nothing is sent from this site. Your own app sends it, to the chat you choose. The picture quotes the translation you chose on this page, with its name and year.
Sanskrit text: The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation, 1922. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
Questions families ask
Who speaks Bhagavad Gita 8.22?
Krishna speaks this verse, in chapter 8 (Akshara Brahma Yoga).
Where does the Sanskrit text come from?
Sanskrit text: The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation, 1922. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Is the meaning on this page a translation?
Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
Source and licence
- Sanskrit text
- The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation (Annie Besant, G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1922). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
- Translation
- The Bhagavadgîtâ with the Sanatsugâtîya and the Anugîtâ, translated by Kâshinâth Trimbak Telang (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, ed. F. Max Müller) (Kashinath Trimbak Telang, F. Max Müller, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1882). Public domain. Shown verbatim, as printed.
- Translation
- The Bhagavad Gîtâ, or The Lord's Song, translated by Annie Besant (Annie Besant, Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1895). Public domain. Shown verbatim, as printed.
- Translation
- Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita, with Sanskrit Text; Paraphrase with Word-by-word Literal Translation; English Rendering and Comments, Index, &c., by the Swami Swarupananda (Himalayan Series, No. XX) (Swami Swarupananda, The Editors and Publishers, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, Prabuddha Bharata Press, Mayavati, Almora, Himalayas, 1909). Public domain. Shown verbatim, as printed.
- Common wording
- In this text, 32 words follow today's common wording, checked against sanskritdocuments.org; Sanskrit Wikisource; Gita Press, Gorakhpur; GRETIL, Göttingen and Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
- Our explanation
- Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the cited edition, October 27, 2026.