Chapter II · Śloka 69
या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी |
यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुनेः ||
यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुनेः ||
yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṃ tasyāṃ jāgarti saṃyamī |
yasyāṃ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ ||
yasyāṃ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ ||
What is night to all beings, in that the self-controlled one is awake. What all beings are awake to, that is night to the seeing sage.
One of the Gita's most beautiful paradoxes: the inner world of the Absolute, which is dark and unreal to the senses-bound multitude, is brilliant wakefulness to the sage; the outer world of sense objects that ordinary people call being alive is, to the sage, a form of sleep.