Bhagavad Gita 13.31

yadā bhūta-pṛthag-bhāvam
eka-stham anupaśyati
tata eva ca vistāraḿ
brahma sampadyate tadā

Translation of Bhagavad Gita 13.31

When a sensible man ceases to see different identities due to different material bodies and he sees how beings are expanded everywhere, he attains to the Brahman conception.

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

When one can see that the various bodies of living entities arise due to the different desires of the individual soul and do not actually belong to the soul itself, one actually sees. In the material conception of life, we find someone a demigod, someone a human being, a dog, a cat, etc. This is material vision, not actual vision. This material differentiation is due to a material conception of life. After the destruction of the material body, the spirit soul is one. The spirit soul, due to contact with material nature, gets different types of bodies. When one can see this, he attains spiritual vision; thus being freed from differentiations like man, animal, big, low, etc., one becomes purified in his consciousness and able to develop Krishna consciousness in his spiritual identity. How he then sees things will be explained in the next verse.

Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

When one perceives that the various forms of the living beings, moving and non- moving (prthag bhavam), are situated in the one prakrti at the time of pralaya, and sees at the time of creation the expansion of living entities from prakrti, he becomes brahman (brahma sampadyate).

Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:

13.31 Yada, when, at the time when; anupasyati, one realizes-having reflected in accordance with the instructions of the scriptures and the teachers, one realizes as a matter of one’s own direct experience that ‘All this is but the Self’ (Ch. 7.25.2); that bhuta-prthak-bhavam, the state of diversity of living things; is ekastham, rooted in the One, existing in the one Self; and their vistaram, manifestation, origination; tatah, eva, is also from That-when he realizes that origination in such diverse ways as, ‘the vital force is from the Self, hope is from the Self, memory [Smara, memory; see Sankaracarya’s Comm. on Ch. 7.13.1.-Tr.] is from the Self, space is from the Self, fire is from the Self, water is from the Self, coming into being and withdrawal are owing to the Self, food is from the Self’ (op. cit. 7.26.1); tada, then, at that time; brahma sampadyate, one becomes identified with Brahman Itself. This is the import. If the same Self be the Self in all the bodies, then there arises the possiblity of Its association with their defects. Hence this is said:

Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:

Since all jivas or embodied beings emanate from prakriti or the material substratum pervading physical existence there is no difference between them in substance at the root level. Therefore there is absolutely no difference between atmas as the atma precedes this root level. One who perceives this inherent non-difference between atmas regardless of diversity of form achieves the realisation of the brahman or the spiritual substratum pervading all existence. This inherent non-difference applies to all things in creation animate and inanimate which manifest again after the pralaya or periodic universal dissolution as they were before and commence their emanation into prakriti once more. Realising this one realises the brahman.

Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:

The word eka-stham meaning situated in the single material nature. This is singular and denotes the Supreme Lord Krishna because He is all pervading throughout all creation. One who sees all jivas or embodied beings regardless of form or species as being part of prakkriti or the material substratum pervading physical existence which is a modification of the Supreme Lord and can realise the difference and gradation between all three; such a person experiences direct realisation of the brahman or spiritual substratum pervading all existence.

Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:

Thus by irrefutably establishing the fact of the atma or immortal soul as existing equally within the etheric heart of each and every living entity and the reality that paramatma or the Supreme Soul is residing equally within the etheric heart of all living entities simultaneously; Lord Krishna categorically refuted any and all conceptions that different shapes and forms of the physical body was relevant to this. Now He confirms that prakriti or the material substratum pervading physical existence is the source of all variegated species and forms of the physical bodies of the jivas or embodied beings. When one can see and understand that all jivas in material existence are in possession of the atma whether they are demigods, human or animal, etc. and are all rooted in the same absolute reality and appear only as different manifestations of the same absolute nature expanded at the commencement of creation. At that very moment one achieves infinite knowledge and realisation of the brahman or the spiritual substratum pervading all existence.

Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:

13.31 Yada, when, at the time when; anupasyati, one realizes-having reflected in accordance with the instructions of the scriptures and the teachers, one realizes as a matter of one’s own direct experience that ‘All this is but the Self’ (Ch. 7.25.2); that bhuta-prthak-bhavam, the state of diversity of living things; is ekastham, rooted in the One, existing in the one Self; and their vistaram, manifestation, origination; tatah, eva, is also from That-when he realizes that origination in such diverse ways as, ‘the vital force is from the Self, hope is from the Self, memory [Smara, memory; see Sankaracarya’s Comm. on Ch. 7.13.1.-Tr.] is from the Self, space is from the Self, fire is from the Self, water is from the Self, coming into being and withdrawal are owing to the Self, food is from the Self’ (op. cit. 7.26.1); tada, then, at that time; brahma sampadyate, one becomes identified with Brahman Itself. This is the import. If the same Self be the Self in all the bodies, then there arises the possiblity of Its association with their defects. Hence this is said:

Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:

13.31-34 Yada etc. upto na upalipyate. When [a man of Yoga] perceives the mutual difference i.e., separateness of all beings (all mutually different beings) in the very Self on account of Its all pervasive nature and realises the said difference as having sprung up from the Self alone – even then he does not get any stain. For [in that case] he would be the creator (or performer) of all. For, he is none but the Supreme Self; and though residing in the body, he is not stained just as the Eather is [not stained].

Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:

yada bhuta-prthag-bhavam
eka-stham anupasyati
tata eva ca vistaram
brahma sampadyate tada

Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:

yadā — when; bhūta — of living entities; pṛthak-bhāvam — separated identities; eka-stham — situated in one; anupaśyati — one tries to see through authority; tataḥ eva — thereafter; ca — also; vistāram — the expansion; brahma — the Absolute; sampadyate — he attains; tadā — at that time.