samaḿ paśyan hi sarvatra
samavasthitam īśvaram
na hinasty ātmanātmānaḿ
tato yāti parāḿ gatim

Translation of Bhagavad Gita 13.29

One who sees the Supersoul equally present everywhere, in every living being, does not degrade himself by his mind. Thus he approaches the transcendental destination.

Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

The living entity, by accepting his material existence, has become situated differently than in his spiritual existence. But if one understands that the Supreme is situated in His Paramatma manifestation everywhere, that is, if one can see the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in every living thing, he does not degrade himself by a destructive mentality, and he therefore gradually advances to the spiritual world. The mind is generally addicted to sense gratifying processes; but when the mind turns to the Supersoul, one becomes advanced in spiritual understanding.

Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

He who sees Me situated everywhere does not make the soul (atmanam) fall down (hinasti) by the mind (atmana), which wanders on the wrong path.

Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:

13.29 ‘The ruler’ (the self) abides in the bodies of divinities and the rest as their supporter, controller and as their Sesin (principal). He who sees the self free from dissimilar shapes of divinities etc., and as being of the same form of knowledge, he does not injure himself by ‘himself’, namely, by his mind. Therefore, as a result of seeing the sameness of the nature of the self in every place as a knower, he attains the ‘highest goal.’ What is to be reached is called ‘goal’. He attains the supreme, namely, the self in its pure form. On the contrary, if he should view the self as dissimilar in every place, i.e., identifies It with the bodies, then he ‘injure the self, namely, hurls It into the middle of the ocean of Samsara.

Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:

Why is such an enlightened person said to see saman or equally? This is being explained by Lord Krishna. By seeing the resplendent Supreme Lord everywhere, within oneself, within all beings and within all things; one does not perform any activity that will degrade the atma or immortal soul of themselves nor degrade the atma of others. This means they have recognised the Supreme Being within all beings and does not deny through capriciousness or ignorance the presence of paramatma or the Supreme immortal soul whose very nature is sat or eternal existence, cit or unlimited consciouness and ananda never ending bliss. Such an enlightened being is qualified to achieve moksa or liberation from material existence and attain the eternal spiritual worlds which are param gati the supreme destination. But one who is unable to see equally in this manner erroneously looks upon their physical body as being the same as the atma thinking that when the physical body perishes the atma perishes with it and thus mistakenly sentence the to atma to be non-existent. The Isa Upanisad, verse III beginning asurya nama te loka andhena meaning: The demoniac and the demons degrade the atma, totally ignorant of its eternal divine nature and are forced to enter the dark, gloomy hellish worlds in their next life.

Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:

Lord Krishna is explaining that one who perceives and recognises the Supreme Being in every being is one who actually sees reality. The jiva or embodied being practically witnesses death and destruction in material existence everyday along with its associated misery. The Padma Purana states that as a form of misery the jiva sees itself; yet devoid of misery is the Supreme Lord residing within every jiva equally from Brahma the highest material being down to an ant. The Supreme Lord expansion as paramatma or the Supreme Soul within all jivas throughout all dimensions of creation does not diminish or degrade His transcendental position whatsoever, whether abiding in a demigod, human, animal etc. Perceiving the reality of the Supreme Lord in this way one is not subject to illusion.

Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:

Lord Krishna now presents the results of the afore stated realisations that of perceiving the Supreme Lord present within all bodies demigod, human, animal, etc. and His imperishable nature present everywhere. Such a jiva or embodied being na hinasti never degrades atmanam their immortal soul by being attached to material desire and prolonging their imprisonment in material existence. The essence is one who sees created beings separate from the Supreme Lord and separate from themselves will be compelled to revolve in samsara the perpetual cycle of birth and death in the material existence and continue to perform sinful and degraded activities that keeps them shackled permanently in the prison of material existence. This is corroborated by Sakuntala’s statement in Moksa Dharma that: Such a one who has not realised the atma or immortal soul inherent within all beings; what sinful activity did such a cheater of themselves deign not to commit? The Isa Upanisad, verse III reveals the resultant consequence due to the greatest ignorance for those that degrade their own atma and the soul of others living entities by engaging in evil activities of unrighteousness beginning: asurya nama te loka andhena meaning such sinful demons oblivious of their inherent divine nature enter the dark, gloomy hellish planets when their life has ended.

Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:

13.29 Hi, since; pasyan, by seeing, by realizing; samam, equally; isvaram, God, i.e., (by realizing Him) as described in the immediately preceding verse; who is samavasthitam, present alike; sarvatra, everywhere, in all beings;-what follows from seeing equally?-he na, does not; hinasti, injure; his own atmanam, Self; atmana, by the Self, by his own Self; tatah, therefore, as a result of that non-injuring; yati, he attains; the param, supreme; gatim, Goal, called Liberation. Objection: Is it not that no creature whatsoever injures himself by himself? Why do you refer to an irrelevant thing by saying, ‘He does not injure…,which is like saying, ‘Fire should neither be lit on the earth nor in the sky,’ etc.? Reply: This defect does not arise, because it is logical with reference to an unenlightened person’s ignoring the Self. For, all unillumined people ignore the very wellknown Self which is manifest and directly perceptible, and regard the non-Self as the Self. By performing righteous and unrighteous acts they destroy even that self which has been accepted, and adopt another new self. And destroying even that, they take up another. Similarly, destroying even that, they adopt another. In this way they destroy the self that had been accepted successively. Thus, all unillumined persons are destroyers of the Self. But that which is the Self in reality, even that remains as though destroyed for ever by ignorance, because of the absence of any benefit from Its presence. So, all unenlightened persons are, verily, destroyers of the Self. On the contrary, the other person who has realized the Self as described does not injure in either way [i.e. either through superimposition or through non-super-imposition.] the Self by his own Self. Therefore he attains the supreme Goal, i.e., the result stated above comes to him. Lest it be doubted that what was said in, ‘seeing equally God who is present in all beings, he does not injure the Self by the Self, is improper with regard to the selves which are diverse according to the differences created by the variety in their own qualities and actions, the Lord says:

Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:

13.29 Samam etc. A man of Yoga, who’s thought is on what is equal in one and all, does not harm the Self i.e, does not fell the Self down in the ocean of the cycle [of birth and death], difficult to cross over.

Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:

samam pasyan hi sarvatra
samavasthitam isvaram
na hinasty atmanatmanam
tato yati param gatim

Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:

samam — equally; paśyan — seeing; hi — certainly; sarvatra — everywhere; samavasthitam — equally situated; īśvaram — the Supersoul; na — does not; hinasti — degrade; ātmanā — by the mind; ātmānam — the soul; tataḥ — then; yāti — reaches; parām — the transcendental; gatim — destination.