Verse 15

In plain words

And there is more —

'Outside' means this: take the body, everything up to the skin, wrongly mistaken through ignorance for the Self, and treat that as the boundary — that is what 'outside' means. In the same way, take the innermost Self as your reference point, and treat the body itself as the boundary — that is what 'inside' means. But when the verse says 'outside and inside,' it sounds as if it leaves out everything in between — so it adds: 'unmoving, and moving too.' Whatever moves and whatever does not — even a mere appearance of a body — that very thing is the object of knowledge, the same way a snake glimpsed in a rope is only ever an appearance. But then someone might object: if the moving and the unmoving together simply make up the whole of ordinary experience, and that is the object of knowledge, why is it not known to everyone just by pointing and saying 'this'? Here is the answer: true, Brahman does appear as everything. But even so, like space, it is subtle. And because it is subtle, Brahman, even though it truly is knowable in its own real nature, stays unknown to those without knowledge. But to the wise, it has always already been known — that is exactly what texts like 'the Self alone is all this' (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 7.25.2), or 'Brahman alone is all this,' are telling us. Because it stays unknown, it seems far away to the ignorant — unreachable even across billions of years. And yet it is near — near, because it is nothing but the very Self of the one who knows.

Close to the Sanskrit

Moreover —

'Outside' [means]: having considered the body up to the skin, superimposed as the Self through ignorance, and having made just that the boundary, 'outside' is said. Similarly, having considered the inmost Self, and having made just the body the boundary, 'inside' is said. When it is said 'outside and inside', since [this would wrongly imply] the middle as absent, this is said — 'unmoving, and moving too' — that which, moving and unmoving, even [as merely] a semblance of a body, is that very thing [which is] the object of knowledge, just as the appearance of a snake in a rope. If the unmoving and the moving alone were the whole object of ordinary transaction, [being] the object of knowledge, for what reason is it not known by all, [merely] by [saying] 'this' — [so runs the objection]. It is answered — true, that [Brahman] has the semblance of everything; nevertheless, like space, [it is] subtle. Therefore, because of [its] subtlety, that [Brahman], though [indeed] the object of knowledge in its own true nature, is unknown to the ignorant. But to the wise, it is eternally known, from proof-texts beginning with 'the Self alone is all this' (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 7.25.2), '[or] Brahman alone is all this'. Because of [its] unattainability by the ignorant, even over billions of years, owing to being unknown, it is [said to be] far. And [it is] near, because it is the very Self of the wise.

In plain words

“Arjuna! You still do not understand. The Ātma is extremely subtle; it is very hard to know. You know the five elements, surely: earth, water, fire, air and ākāśa! If you examine them from the first, each is lighter than the one before. That is, water is lighter than earth, fire than water, air than fire, and ākāśa than air; and not only lighter, but vaster too. That is, earth has five guṇas: sound, touch, form, taste and smell. In water, the second, smell has dropped away; in fire, smell and taste have dropped away; in air, form, taste and smell have dropped away. So air moves about lighter still than earth, water and fire, and more pervasive. And the fifth, ākāśa, has no touch, form, taste or smell; it has only the one, sound. When ākāśa, with a single guṇa, is so subtle, you cannot think how much subtler still the nirguṇa Ātma must be! It is because it is so subtle that you cannot know it by looking outward. It is very near only to those who are turned inward,” said Kṛṣṇa.