Text 47
hṛdi-stho ’py ati-dūra-sthaḥ
karma-vikṣipta-cetasām
ātma-śaktibhir agrāhyo
’py anty upeta-guṇātmanām
hṛdi — in the heart; sthaḥ — situated; api — although; ati — very; dūra-sthaḥ — far away; karma — by material activities; vikṣipta — disturbed; cetasām — for those whose minds; ātma — by one’s own; śaktibhiḥ — powers; agrāhyaḥ — not to be taken hold of; api — although; anti — near; upeta — realized; guṇa — Your qualities; ātmanām — by whose hearts.
But although You reside within the heart, You are very far away from those whose minds are disturbed by their entanglement in material work. Indeed, no one can grasp You by his material powers, for You reveal Yourself only in the hearts of those who have learned to appreciate Your transcendental qualities.
The all-merciful Lord is in everyone’s heart. Seeing Him there, however, is possible only when one’s heart is completely purified. Materialists may demand that God prove His existence by coming into view as a result of their empirical investigations, but God has no need to respond to such impudence. As Lord Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (7.25):
nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya
yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ
mūḍho ’yaṁ nābhijānāti
loko mām ajam avyayam
“I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency, and therefore they do not know that I am unborn and infallible.”