In plain words
With hands and feet everywhere, eyes, heads, and faces everywhere, with ears everywhere, that stands in the world pervading all.
Word for word
Having hands and feet everywhere [is] that; having eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, having ears everywhere, in the world it stands, pervading all.
सर्वतः पाणिपादं तत् सर्वतोऽक्षिशिरोमुखम्सर्वतः श्रुतिमल्लोके सर्वमावृत्य तिष्ठति
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
सच्छब्दप्रत्ययाविषयत्वात् असत्त्वाशङ्कायां ज्ञेयस्य सर्वप्राणिकरणोपाधिद्वारेण तदस्तित्वं प्रतिपादयन् तदाशङ्कानिवृत्त्यर्थमाह —
सर्वतःपाणिपादं सर्वतः पाणयः पादाश्च अस्य इति सर्वतःपाणिपादं तत् ज्ञेयम् । सर्वप्राणिकरणोपाधिभिः क्षेत्रज्ञस्य अस्तित्वं विभाव्यते । क्षेत्रज्ञश्च क्षेत्रोपाधितः उच्यते । क्षेत्रं च पाणिपादादिभिः अनेकधा भिन्नम् । क्षेत्रोपाधिभेदकृतं विशेषजातं मिथ्यैव क्षेत्रज्ञस्य, इति तदपनयनेन ज्ञेयत्वमुक्तम् ‘न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते’ इति । उपाधिकृतं मिथ्यारूपमपि अस्तित्वाधिगमाय ज्ञेयधर्मवत् परिकल्प्य उच्यते ‘सर्वतःपाणिपादम्’ इत्यादि । तथा हि सम्प्रदायविदां वचनम् — ‘अध्यारोपापवादाभ्यां निष्प्रपञ्चं प्रपञ्च्यते’(?) इति । सर्वत्र सर्वदेहावयवत्वेन गम्यमानाः पाणिपादादयः ज्ञेयशक्तिसद्भावनिमित्तस्वकार्याः इति ज्ञेयसद्भावे लिङ्गानि ‘ज्ञेयस्य’ इति उपचारतः उच्यन्ते । तथा व्याख्येयम् अन्यत् । सर्वतःपाणिपादं तत् ज्ञेयम् । सर्वतोक्षिशिरोमुखं सर्वतः अक्षीणि शिरांसि मुखानि च यस्य तत् सर्वतोक्षिशिरोमुखम् ; सर्वतःश्रुतिमत् श्रुतिः श्रवणेन्द्रियम् , तत् यस्य तत् श्रुतिमत् , लोके प्राणिनिकाये, सर्वम् आवृत्य संव्याप्य तिष्ठति स्थितिं लभते ॥ १३ ॥
In plain words
The knowable does not fall within reach of the word "existent," nor of the idea "existent" — and so a doubt arises: perhaps it is not there at all. To clear that doubt away, Kṛṣṇa establishes that it is indeed there, showing it through the limiting adjuncts that are the organs of every living being. So he says —
'Having hands and feet on all sides' — on every side, hands and feet belong to it; that is what the phrase means, and that 'it' is the object of knowledge. Through the organs of every living being, taken as limiting conditions, the field-knower's very existence becomes evident to us. And the field-knower can only ever be spoken of through the field that conditions it. The field itself, through hands, feet, and everything like them, appears divided in countless ways. But every one of those divisions — everything that seems to distinguish the field-knower through the field's different conditions — is simply an illusion where the knower himself is concerned. Strip that illusion away, and what is left is exactly what was already declared: 'it is called neither existent nor non-existent.' Even though this whole picture — hands, feet, and the rest — is really just an illusory form produced by limiting conditions, it is deliberately painted onto the object of knowledge, as if these were its actual properties, purely so that we can come to grasp that it exists at all. That is why the verse says, 'having hands and feet on all sides,' and so on. Teachers of the tradition put it this way: 'through superimposing and then withdrawing again, what is free of any world of appearance gets described as if it had one.' Everywhere, in ordinary life, hands and feet are understood as limbs belonging to bodies — but really, they are effects, produced because the power of the object of knowledge is genuinely present. Being signs pointing to that underlying existence, they are spoken of, figuratively, as belonging 'to the object of knowledge' — not literally, just as a manner of speaking. The rest of the verse works exactly the same way. 'Having hands and feet on all sides' — that is the object of knowledge. 'Having eyes, heads, and mouths on all sides' means: on every side, eyes, heads, and mouths belong to it. 'Possessing hearing on all sides' means: hearing is the ear, and that belongs to it too. In this world — that is, among the whole mass of living beings — having wrapped around everything, having thoroughly pervaded it, it simply stands there: it holds its ground, everywhere, always.
Close to the Sanskrit
Since [the knowable] is not an object of the word 'existent' and of the concept 'existent', when there is the doubt of the non-existence of the knowable, establishing its existence by way of the limiting adjuncts that are the organs of all living beings, [the Lord], for the purpose of removing that doubt, says —
'Having hands and feet on all sides' [means]: on all sides, hands and feet belong to it — thus [is meant by] 'having hands and feet on all sides'; that [is] the object of knowledge. By the limiting adjuncts that are the organs of all living beings, the existence of the field-knower is inferred. And the field-knower is spoken of only by way of the limiting adjunct that is the field. And the field, by hands, feet, and so on, is manifoldly differentiated. The class of distinctions produced by the differences among the field's limiting adjuncts is simply illusory with respect to the field-knower — thus, by the removal of that [illusory diversity], the state of being an object of knowledge [without such diversity] has been declared, [namely, in the words] 'it is called neither existent nor non-existent'. Even though it is an illusory form produced by limiting adjuncts, for the sake of arriving at an understanding of [Brahman's] existence, having figuratively attributed [these features] as if they were properties of the object of knowledge, it is said, 'having hands and feet on all sides' and so on. For thus, indeed, is the statement of those who know the tradition — 'through superimposition and subsequent retraction, that which is free of the phenomenal world is [nevertheless] elaborated as the phenomenal world' — thus [it is said]. Everywhere, being understood by way of being limbs of all bodies, hands, feet, and so on are, as its own effects, occasioned by the underlying existence of the power of the object of knowledge — thus, [being] signs of the existence of the object of knowledge, they are called, figuratively, '[the hands and feet] of the object of knowledge' — thus. In the same way, the rest is to be explained. 'Having hands and feet on all sides' — that [is] the object of knowledge. 'Having eyes, heads, and mouths on all sides' [means]: on all sides, eyes, heads, and mouths belong to it — thus [is meant by] 'having eyes, heads, and mouths on all sides'. 'Possessing hearing on all sides' [means]: 'śruti' [is] the organ of hearing; that belongs to it — thus [is meant by] 'possessing hearing'. In the world, [that is,] in the mass of living beings, having enveloped and pervaded everything, it stands — [that is,] it attains [that] position.