Shloka

त्वमादिदेवः पुरुषः पुराणस्-
त्वमस्य विश्वस्य परं निधानम् |
वेत्तासि वेद्यं च परं च धाम
त्वया ततं विश्वमनन्तरूप ||११-३८||

Transliteration

tvamādidevaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇasa- tvamasya viśvasya paraṃ nidhānam .
vettāsi vedyaṃ ca paraṃ ca dhāma tvayā tataṃ viśvamanantarūpa ||11-38||

Translations

Dr.S.Sankaranarayan

11.38. You are the Primal God; You are the Ancient Soul; You are the transcending place of rest for this universe; You are the knower and the knowable; You are the Highest Abode; and the universe with its infinite forms is pervaded by You.

Shri Purohit Swami

11.38 Thou art the Primal God, the Ancient, the Supreme Abode of this universe, the Knower, the Knowledge and the Final Home. Thou fillest everything. Thy form is infinite.

Sri Abhinav Gupta

11.38 Sri Abhinavagupta did not comment upon this sloka.

Sri Ramanuja

11.38 You alone are all the knowers and all that must be known. You alone, abiding thus as the Self of all, are the ‘Dhaman’ (abode), namely, the goal to be attained. By You, O infinite of form, is the universe pervaded. By You the universe, composed of conscient beings and non-conscient matter, is ‘Tatam’, pervaded. You are the Primal God, the Ancient Person. You are the supreme resting place of the universe. The meaning is that You are the supreme foundation of the universe which constitutes Your body, as You are its Self. [It is to be noted how Ramanuja derives here the meaning of ‘individual self’ for the word Aksara, which helps him to explain ‘Kutasth’oksara ucchyate’ in 15.16]

Arjuna says: ‘Therefore You alone are expressed by the terms Vayu etc.’

Sri Shankaracharya

11.38 You are the adi-devah, primal Deity, because of being the creator of the Universe; the puranah, ancient, eternal; purusah, Person-(derived) in the sense of ‘staying in the town (pura) that is the body’. You verily are the param, suprem; nidhanam, Resort, in which this entire Universe comes to rest at the time of final dissolution etc. Besides, You are the vetta, knower of all things to be known. You are also the vedyam, object of knowledge-that which is fit to be known; and the param, supreme; dhama, Abode, the supreme State of Visnu. Anantarupa, O You of infinite forms, who have no limit to Your own forms; the entire visvam, Universe; tatam, is pervaded; tvaya, by You. Further,

Swami Adidevananda

11.38 (a) You are the Primal God and the Ancient Person. You are the Supreme resting place of the universe৷৷.

(b)৷৷.You are the knower and that which must be known, and the Supreme abode. By You, O infinite of form, is this universe pervaded.

Swami Gambirananda

11.38 You are the primal Deity, the ancient Person; You are the supreme Resort of this world. You are the knower as also the object of knowledge, and the supreme Abode. O You of infinite forms, the Universe is pervaded by You!

Swami Sivananda

11.38 Thou art the primal God, the ancient Purusha, the supreme refuge of this universe, the knower, the knowable and the supreme Abode. By Thee is the universe pervaded, O Being of infinite forms.

Commentaries

Swami Sivananda

11.38 त्वम् Thou? आदिदेवः the primal God? पुरुषः Purusha? पुराणः the ancient? त्वम् Thou? अस्य of (this)? विश्वस्य of Universe? परम् the Supreme? निधानम् Refuge? वेत्ता Knower? असि (Thou) art? वेद्यम् to be known? च and? परम् the Supreme? च and? धाम abode? त्वया by Thee? ततम् is pervaded? विश्वम् the Universe? अनन्तरूप O Being of infinite forms.Commentary Primal God? because the Lord is the creator of the universe.Purusha? because the Lord lies in the body (Puri Sayanat).Nidhaanam That in which the world rests during the great deluge or cosmic dissolution.The pot comes out of the clay and gets merged in clay. Even so the world has come out of the Lord and gets dissolved or involved in the Lord. So the Lord is the material cause of the world. Therefore? He is the primal God and the supreme refuge also.Vetta Knower of the knowable things. As the Lord is omniscient? He knows all about the world? and He is the instrumental or the efficient cause of this world.Param Dhama Supreme Abode of Vishnu. Just as the rope (the substratum for the superimposed snake) pervades the snake? so also Brahman or Vishnu through His Nature as ExistenceKnowledgeBliss Absolute pervades the whole universe.Moreover –