Bg. 7.8

रसोऽहमप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभास्मि शशिसूर्ययोः ।
प्रणवः सर्ववेदेषु शब्दः खे पौरुषं नृषु ॥८॥

raso ‘ham apsu kaunteya
prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu
śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu

rasaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigrasah

juice; mellow; sense of enjoyment; taste; the sense of taste; the subtle element taste; transcendental mellows.—taste; ahamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigaham

as far as I am concerned; as I am; egotism; false ego; false identification (in the bodily concept of life); false identity; I ("I am this body"); I (am); I (Kṛṣṇa); I (Lord Brahmā); I (Lord Śiva); I (Prahlāda Mahārāja); I (the person desiring release from material life); I (Śukadeva Gosvāmī); I; I am; I am everything; I am independent; I am the material body; I myself; I, Lord Kṛṣṇa; I, the Personality of Godhead; I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; I, Yamarāja; me; my existence ("I am something"); my humble self; myself (Brahmājī); Myself; the word aham; the wrong mental conception.—I; apsuplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigapsu

in the water; in water; on the water; unto water; water; when the whole universe was inundated; within the water.—in water; kaunteyaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigkaunteya

O son of Kuntī.—O son of Kuntī; prabhāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigprabhā

by the effulgence; Prabhā; rays; sunshine; the effulgence; the sunshine. asmiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigasmi

am; I; I am; I have been.—I am the light; śaśiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsasi

moon; of the moon; the moon.-sūryayoḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsūryayoḥ

of the sun.—in the sun and the moon; praṇavaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigpraṇavaḥ

oṁkāra; the oṁkāra; the three letters A.U.M.—the three letters A.U.M.; sarvaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsarva

all; all around; all kinds; all kinds of; all over; everyone; everything; for all; for everyone; in all; in all respects; of all; of all demigods; of all kinds; of everyone; of everything.—in all; vedeṣuplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvedeṣu

in the Vedas; in the study of the Vedas; in the Vedic literatures; unto the Vedic scriptures; Vedic literatures.—in the Vedas; śabdaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigśabdaḥ

combined sound; sound; sound vibration; speculative sound; the Vedas; word.—sound vibration; kheplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigkhe

form of space (virāṭ-rūpa); in the air; in the ether; in the higher planetary systems in the sky; in the sky.—in the ether; pauruṣamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigpauruṣam

ability; as the Supreme Personality of Godhead; distressing to others; human; of His Lordship; of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; pertaining to the Supreme Person; plenary portion as the puruṣa incarnation; powerful actions; the puruṣa incarnation.—ability; nṛṣuplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bignṛṣu

among all human beings; among men; and men; in human society; in man.—in man. ¶

O son of Kuntī [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man. ¶

This verse explains how the Lord is all-pervasive by His diverse material and spiritual energies. The Supreme Lord can be preliminarily perceived by His different energies, and in this way He is realized impersonally. As the demigod in the sun is a person and is perceived by his all-pervading energy, the sunshine, similarly, the Lord, although in His eternal abode, is perceived by His all-pervading, diffusive energies. The taste of water is the active principle of water. No one likes to drink sea water because the pure taste of water is mixed with salt. Attraction for water depends on the purity of the taste, and this pure taste is one of the energies of the Lord. The impersonalist perceives the presence of the Lord in water by its taste, and the personalist also glorifies the Lord for His kindly supplying water to quench man’s thirst. That is the way of perceiving the Supreme. Practically speaking, there is no conflict between personalism and impersonalism. One who knows God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously present in everything and that there is no contradiction. Therefore Lord Caitanya established His sublime doctrine: acintya-bheda and abheda-tattvam-simultaneously one and different. ¶

The light of the sun and the moon is also originally emanating from the brahmajyoti, which is the impersonal effulgence of the Lord. Similarly praṇava or the omkāra transcendental sound used in the beginning of every Vedic hymn to address the Supreme Lord also emanates from Him. Because the impersonalists are very much afraid of addressing the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa by His innumerable names, they prefer to vibrate the transcendental sound omkāra. But they do not realize that omkāra is the sound representation of Kṛṣṇa. The jurisdiction of Kṛṣṇa consciousness extends everywhere, and one who knows Kṛṣṇa consciousness is blessed. Those who do not know Kṛṣṇa are in illusion, and so knowledge of Kṛṣṇa is liberation, and ignorance of Him is bondage. ¶