Sanskrit
अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थितः । अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च ॥ २० ॥
aham ātmā guḍākeśa sarvabhūtāśayasthitaḥ aham ādiś ca madhyaṃ ca bhūtānām anta eva ca
Translation
I, O Gudakesha, am the Self, seated in the heart of all beings; I am the beginning, the middle, and also the end of all beings.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The list proper begins not with a category example but with its foundational claim: Krishna as the Self seated in the heart of all beings, and as beginning, middle, and end of all beings. Every specific instance from verse 21 onward — this river, that mountain, this sage — is offered as a particular case of the universal claim made here first.
Concepts