नमः पुरस्तादथ पृष्ठतस्ते नमोऽस्तु ते सर्वत एव सर्व। अनन्तवीर्यामितविक्रमस्त्वं सर्वं समाप्नोषि ततोऽसि सर्वः ॥
namaḥ purastādatha pṛṣṭhataste namo'stu te sarvata eva sarva| anantavīryāmitavikramastvaṃ sarvaṃ samāpnoṣi tato'si sarvaḥ ||
Salutation from front, from behind, from every side — You pervade all, O Infinite-valorous; therefore You ARE all!
Word by word (3)
- namaḥ purastād atha pṛṣṭhatas te namo'stu te sarvata eva sarva
- — Salutation from the front, and also from behind; salutation to You from every side, O All! · Purastāt = from in front, from before (locative: purastāt = in front). Pṛṣṭhataḥ = from behind, from the back (pṛṣṭha = back, rear; pṛṣṭhataḥ = from the back). Sarvataḥ = from every side/direction (sarvatas = from all sides). Sarva = O All! (vocative of sarva = all, everything — the Divine addressed as 'Everything' directly). The structure: front + back + all sides = complete spatial encirclement in salutation. Arjuna salutes the Divine from every direction because the Divine is present in every direction — you cannot be outside the Divine to bow to it from outside; you bow from within it. The spatial salutation is simultaneously an acknowledgment that YOU are within the saluted.
- ananta-vīryāmita-vikramas tvaṃ
- — You are of infinite valor/power and immeasurable prowess · Ananta-vīrya = of infinite valor/power (ananta = infinite, endless; vīrya = heroic strength, valor, power — also 'potency' in Sāṃkhya's list of Viṣṇu's six divine qualities: jñāna-bala-aiśvarya-śakti-vīrya-tejas). Amita-vikrama = of immeasurable prowess (amita = unmeasured, unlimited; vikrama = step, stride, heroic prowess — the same root as Vāmana's three strides across the cosmos in the Vāmana avatāra story). The pairing ananta (infinite) + amita (immeasurable) creates a double negation of limitation: not just 'very great' but BEYOND MEASUREMENT, BEYOND COUNTING. This is the Upaniṣadic anantam (infinite) applied to power itself.
- sarvaṃ samāpnosi tato'si sarvaḥ
- — You pervade everything, therefore You ARE everything · Sarvaṃ samāpnosi = You pervade/contain/encompass everything (sam + ā + √āp = to reach completely, to pervade; samāpnosi = present 2nd person: You pervade). Tataḥ asi sarvaḥ = therefore You are All (tataḥ = therefore, from that fact; asi = You are; sarvaḥ = all, everything). The logical structure: BECAUSE You pervade everything → THEREFORE You are everything. This is the pervasion-identity equation of Advaita Vedānta: sarvavyāpitva (all-pervasiveness) entails sarvātmakatva (being the Self of all). If X pervades all of Y, then X = Y from the perspective of identity. The Upaniṣadic 'sarvam khalvidam brahma' (all this is indeed Brahman) is here expressed as a direct logical consequence: sarvaṃ samāpnosi → tato'si sarvaḥ.
Arjuna bows to the Divine from every direction simultaneously — front, back, all sides. He acknowledges infinite power and immeasurable valor. Then the philosophical conclusion: because You pervade all, You ARE all. The pervasion implies identity.
A modern analogy
Like standing in the middle of an ocean and bowing to it — from the front, from behind, from everywhere — realizing that there's no direction in which it's absent, and therefore no direction from which you can bow to it as something 'other.' You bow FROM within it, TO it, which means you bow to your own ground.
Sit with this: V40 concludes: 'You pervade everything, therefore You ARE everything.' If the Divine pervades everything including you, does your bow go outward (to something separate) or inward (to your own deepest nature)? Can both be true simultaneously?
V40's sarvam samāpnosi tato'si sarvaḥ (You pervade all, therefore You ARE all) is the Gita's most direct statement of the pervasion-identity equation. It operates as a philosophical proof: Premise: You pervade everything (sarvam samāpnosi). Conclusion: Therefore You are everything (tato'si sarvaḥ). The logical connector tataḥ (therefore) makes this an actual argument, not merely a rhetorical statement. The argument is valid: if X pervades ALL of Y without remainder, then X = Y. This is the advaitic mahāvākya (great saying) 'sarvam khalvidam brahma' (all this is indeed Brahman, Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1) expressed as logical deduction rather than direct statement. V40 closes the praise-arc's philosophical content; V41 onwards shifts to Arjuna's confession.
Advaita lens
The pervasion-identity equation (sarvaṃ samāpnosi → tato'si sarvaḥ) is Advaita's central ontological move. Advaita proves Brahman's non-duality precisely through this: if Brahman pervades everything without exception, then there is no 'remainder' that is not Brahman. The world is not Brahman's product (which would imply a dualism: Brahman + world); it is Brahman's pervasion — Brahman FULLY present in each point of existence. V40 states this in the second person (to Krishna), making it direct experience: Arjuna has SEEN the pervasion in the cosmic form and now states the conclusion.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Hail to Thee before and behind! Hail to Thee on every side! O All! Thou, infinite in power and infinite in daring, pervadest all, wherefore Thou art All. [1]
Salutation to Thee before and behind, salutation to Thee on every side, O All! Thou, infinite in power and infinite in prowess, pervadest all; wherefore Thou art All. [4]
Cried here, above, below, uttered when Thou dost go, uttered where Thou dost come! Namo! we call; Namostu! God adored! Namostu! Nameless Lord! Hail to Thee! Praise to Thee! Thou One in all; For Thou art All! Yea, Thou! [7]
Hail to thee from before and from behind! Hail to thee on all sides, O Everything! O thou of infinite valor and prowess! Thou pervadest all; hence thou art All. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Action → yajna → rain → food → all beings. Human right-action sustains the entire chain of life.
By Me, in unmanifest form, all this world is pervaded — all beings are in Me, but I do not dwell in them.
Primal God, Ancient Puruṣa, supreme Refuge — Knower and Known and supreme Abode — by You is this universe pervaded!
I am the seed of all beings, O Arjuna — there is no being, moving or unmoving, that can exist without Me.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.