श्रीभगवानुवाच स एष जीवो विवरप्रसूति: प्राणेन घोषेण गुहां प्रविष्ट: । मनोमयं सूक्ष्ममुपेत्य रूपं मात्रा स्वरो वर्ण इति स्थविष्ठ: ॥ १७ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca sa eṣa jīvo vivara-prasūtiḥ prāṇena ghoṣeṇa guhāṁ praviṣṭaḥ mano-mayaṁ sūkṣmam upetya rūpaṁ mātrā svaro varṇa iti sthaviṣṭhaḥ
- śrī-bhagavān uvāca
- the Supreme Personality of Godhead said
- saḥ eṣaḥ
- He Himself
- jīvaḥ
- the Supreme Lord, who gives life to all
- vivara
- within the heart
- prasūtiḥ
- manifest
- prāṇena
- along with the life air
- ghoṣeṇa
- with the subtle manifestation of sound
- guhām
- the heart
- praviṣṭaḥ
- who has entered
- manaḥ-mayam
- perceived by the mind, or controlling the mind even of great demigods like Lord Śiva
- sūkṣmam
- subtle
- upetya
- being situated in
- rūpam
- the form
- mātrā
- the different vocalic lengths
- svaraḥ
- the different intonations
- varṇaḥ
- the different sounds of the alphabet
- iti
- thus
- sthaviṣṭhaḥ
- the gross form
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Uddhava, the Supreme Lord gives life to every living being and is situated within the heart along with the life air and primal sound vibration. The Lord can be perceived in His subtle form within the heart by one’s mind, since the Lord controls the minds of everyone, even great demigods like Lord Śiva. The Supreme Lord also assumes a gross form as the various sounds of the Vedas, composed of short and long vowels and consonants of different intonations.