Shloka
ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति |
भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ||१८-६१||Transliteration
īśvaraḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ hṛddeśe.arjuna tiṣṭhati .
bhrāmayansarvabhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā ||18-61||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
18.61. O Arjuna ! This Lord dwells in the heart of all beings, causing, by His trick-of-Illusion, all beings to whirl round [as if they are] mounted on a [revolving] mechanical contrivance.
Shri Purohit Swami
18.61 God dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna! He causes them to revolve as it were on a wheel by His mystic power.
Sri Abhinav Gupta
18.61 See Comment under 18.62
Sri Ramanuja
18.61 Lord Vasudeva, who is the ruler over all, lives in ’the heart of all beings,’ i.e., in the region from which arises all knowledge which is at the root of all secular and spiritual activities. How and doing what does He exist? He exists enabling, by His Maya (power), ‘all beings who are mounted, as it were, on the machine Prakrti’ in the form of body and senses created by Himself, to act in accordance with their Gunas of Sattva and others. It was already expressed in ‘And I am seated in the hearts of all. From Me are memory, knowledge and their removal also’ (15.15) and in ‘From Me proceed everything’ (10.8). The Srutis also proclaim ‘He who, dwelling in the self’ (Br. U. Madh., 3.7.22).
He now explains the way to get rid of the Maya:
Sri Shankaracharya
18.61 Arjuna, O Arjuna-one whose self is naturally white (pure), i.e. one possessing a pure internal organ. This follows from the Vedic text, ‘The day is dark and the day is arjuna (white) (Rg. 6.9.1). Isvarah, the Lord , Narayana the Ruler; tisthati, resides, remains seated; hrd-dese, in the region of the heart; sarva-bhutanam, of all creatures, of all living beings. How does He reside? In answer the Lord says: bhramayan, revolving; mayaya, through Maya, through delusion; sarva-bhutani, all the creatures; as though yantra-arudhani, mounted on a machine-like man’ etc., made of wood, mounted on a machine. The word iva (as though) has to be thus understood here. Bhramayan, revolving, is to be connected with tisthati, resides (conveying the idea, ‘resides৷৷.while revolving’).
Swami Adidevananda
18.61 The Lord, O Arjuna, abides in the heart of every being, spinning them round and round, mounted on a wheel as it were, by His power.
Swami Gambirananda
18.61 O Arjuna, the Lord resides in the region of the heart of all creatures, revolving through Maya all the creatures (as though) mounted on a machine!
Swami Sivananda
18.61 The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, causing all beings, by His illusive power, to revolve as if mounted on a machine.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
18.61 ईश्वरः the Lord? सर्वभूतानाम् of all beings? हृद्देशे in the hearts? अर्जुन O Arjuna? तिष्ठति dwells? भ्रामयन् causing to revolve? सर्वभूतानि all beings? यन्त्रारूढानि mounted on a machine? मायया by illusion.Commentary Isvara The Lord the Ruler of the universe Narayana.The Lord abides in the hearts of all beings. It is He Who has given a gift of this marvellous machine to you. It is by His power that all bodies move. The Lord is the real Actor within.By Maya By causing illusion.He causes all beings to revolve like wooden dolls mounted on a machine. (Cf.X.20.XIII.18)