Shloka 18
अन्त: पुरुषरूपेण कालरूपेण यो बहि: । समन्वेत्येष सत्त्वानां भगवानात्ममायया ॥ १८ ॥
antaḥ puruṣa-rūpeṇa kāla-rūpeṇa yo bahiḥ samanvety eṣa sattvānāṁ bhagavān ātma-māyayā
By displaying His potencies, Bhagavān harmonizes all elements—within as Puruṣa, the Supersoul, and without as Kāla, time—through His own ātma-māyā.
Here it is stated that within the heart the Supreme Personality of Godhead resides as the Supersoul. This situation is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā: the Supersoul rests beside the individual soul and acts as a witness. This is also confirmed elsewhere in the Vedic literature: two birds are sitting on the same tree of the body; one is witnessing, and the other is eating the fruits of the tree. This puruṣa, or Paramātmā, who resides within the body of the individual soul, is described in Bhagavad-gītā (13.23) as the upadraṣṭā, witness, and the anumantā, sanctioning authority. The conditioned soul engages in the happiness and distress of the particular body given him by the arrangement of the external energy of the Supreme Lord. But the supreme living being, or the Paramātmā, is different from the conditioned soul. He is described in Bhagavad-gītā as maheśvara, or the Supreme Lord. He is Paramātmā, not jīvātmā. Paramātmā means the Supersoul, who is sitting by the side of the conditioned soul just to sanction his activities. The conditioned soul comes to this material world in order to lord it over material nature. Since one cannot do anything without the sanction of the Supreme Lord, He lives with the jīva soul as witness and sanction-giver. He is also bhoktā; He gives maintenance and sustenance to the conditioned soul.
FAQs
This verse states that the Lord is present within as the indwelling Puruṣa (Paramātmā) and outside as Time (kāla), pervading and governing all beings by His own potency.
In teaching Sāṅkhya, Kapila clarifies the Lord’s immanence (as Paramātmā within) and transcendental control (as Time without), helping Devahuti understand how liberation comes through recognizing His all-pervading presence.
Remember the Lord as the inner guide in conscience and as Time that moves everything forward—this encourages humility, urgency in spiritual practice, and steadiness in devotion amid change.