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Please resolve the contradiction regarding the understanding of the following verses.

[Shri Durgaprasad asked: Paada Namaskaaram, Swami. My following question refers to a statement of Lord Krishna that came up during a discussion with a colleague. In a recent discourse, You mentioned a verse from Gita that says all living beings dwell in Lord Krishna, but Krishna does not dwell in them (Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṃ...). But this statement appears to contradict another verse from Gita that says Krishna is seated in the hearts of all living beings (sarvasya chāhaṁ hṛidi...). Kindly remove my confusion. At Your lotus feet, -Durgaprasad]

Swami replied:- The word ‘Bhuuta’ in Sanskrit has two meanings:- i) All inert five elements and ii) All non-inert zoological living beings. When God is referred to be the maintainer of all the Bhuutas, here, it means that God is the substratum of all inert and non-inert items, which constitute the entire creation. When God is said to be in the heart of the creation, here, it means that He is the center of gravity revolving the entire creation around Him. Here, the word ‘heart’ means the center (Hṛddeśe'rjuna…- Gita). God Krishna told very clearly at several places in the Gita that He is neither any item of the creation (Māmebhyaḥ paramavyayam) (Neti neti…- Veda) nor in any item of the creation (Na tvahaṃ teṣu…). As far as the items of the creation are concerned, God exists only in the incarnation and the incarnation is called as God because God fully merges with the medium of incarnation.

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