Confluence of Extremes
आसीनो दूरं व्रजति शयानो याति सर्वतः ।
कस्तं मदामदं देवं मदन्यो ज्ञातुमर्हति ॥ २१॥
āsīno dūraṃ vrajati śayāno yāti sarvataḥ .
kastaṃ madāmadaṃ devaṃ madanyo jñātumarhati .. 21..
Though sitting still, It travels far; though lying down, It goes everywhere. Who but myself can know that luminous Atman who rejoices and rejoices not?
Commentary:
Āsīno dūraṁ vrajati: Sitting in one place, it moves everywhere. A thing that is sitting in one place cannot move, as we know very well, but here is a thing which is sitting in one place only, and yet it is everywhere—śayāno yāti sarvataḥ. It is lying down, calmly resting, as it were, but it travels to all places. Who can know this secret? Yama says, “Except for people like me who have the blessing of this realisation, who can know this great truth of that Being which can move about without actually moving, and travel without actually travelling?” Faster than the fastest, nearer than the nearest, remoter than the remotest, greater than the greatest, smaller than the smallest, most wonderful is this Atman. There is neither joy nor sorrow in that Atman. Madāmada is the word used here. It is the state where there is no joy and no sorrow. Who can know it? Only a great Master like Yama can know it, and perhaps Nachiketas may know it.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
Sitting He goes far, lying He goes everywhere; who else but men of purified and subtle understanding are qualified to know the God in whom all conflicting attributes meet?[Source]
