Verse 15.7

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 15.7:

ममैवांशो जीव-लोके जीव-भूतः सनातनः ।
मनः षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृति-स्थानि कर्षति ॥ ७ ॥

mamaivāṃśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ |
manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati || 7 ||

mama–My; eva–certainly; aṃśaḥ–separated part and parcel (vibhinnāṃśa); jīva-loke–in the world of conditioned living beings; jīva-bhūtaḥ–who experience conditioned life; sanātanaḥ–eternal; manaḥ–including the mind; ṣaṣṭhāni–the six; indriyāṇi–senses; prakṛti-sthāni–which are subject to the influences of material nature; karṣati–attracted.

The eternal living entities in this material world are certainly My separated parts and parcels (vibhinnāṃśa). Situated in material nature, they are attracted by the six senses, including the mind.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

“Who are the living entities who perform bhakti to You and consequently transcend this material world to obtain Your abode?” In response, Śrī Bhagavān speaks this verse beginning with mamaivāṃśaḥ. The Varāha Purāṇa states, “The aṃśas (parts) of Bhagavān are of two types: svāṃśa (personal expansions) and vibhinnāṃśa (separated expansions). The jīvas are vibhinnāṃśa, separated parts.” The living entities are eternal, but in the conditioned state they identify with their material bodies. In this way, they are bound by mundane attraction through the mind and the five senses. Due to this ego they think, ‘All this is mine,’ and thus they are drawn to worldliness, as if hauled by a chain binding their feet.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

In the present verse, Śrī Bhagavān is explaining jīva-tattva, the fundamental truth of the living being. The jīva is a part (aṃśa) of Bhagavān, but one should understand what type of part. Śrī Bhagavān’s aṃśas are of two types: svāṃśa (personal expansions) and vibhinnāṃśa (separated expansions). Within the svāṃśa category is viṣṇu-tattva, or incarnations of the Lord like Matsya, Kūrma, Nṛsiṃha and Rāma.

The living entities are vibhinnāṃśa-tattva, His separated parts. When Bhagavān, who is composed of eternality, knowledge and bliss, is separated from all other energies and endowed exclusively with His marginal potency (taṭasthā-śakti), then these separated parts are called vibhinnāṃśa-tattva.

This is also explained in the following manner: The living entities are generated from the jīva-śakti, or taṭasthā-śakti, which is non-different from Bhagavān, and they are known as vibhinnāṃśa-tattva. In some ways, they are non-different from the Lord, and in other ways they are different from Him. Therefore, their relationship with Bhagavān is one of inconceivable oneness and difference. This philosophy is termed acintya-bhedābheda-tattva.

Jīvas can be in one of two states: bound or liberated. In the liberated state, the living entity is free from illusory designations and remains engaged in service to Bhagavān. But in the bound state, he remains entangled in the material world, being covered by the illusory designations of the gross and subtle bodies.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.11.4), this has been explained in the following way:

ekasyaiva mamāṃśasya jīvasyaiva mahā-mate
bandho’syāvidyayānādir vidyayā ca tathetaraḥ

O most intelligent Uddhava, the jīvas are the separated parts of Me, who am one without a second and the non-dual Absolute Reality. Due to ignorance (avidyā), they have become bound, and by knowledge (vidyā), they attain liberation.

Moreover, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.7.5) also states, yayā sammohito jīvaḥ. “Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the modes of nature, thinks himself a material product. In this way, he undergoes the reactions of material suffering.”

By speaking this verse (mamaivāṃśo jīva-loke–the living entity is My separated part) Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa herein refutes the illusory conception that the living entity himself is brahma, the Absolute Truth.

Also, by using the word sanātanaḥ (eternal), Śrī Bhagavān refutes the opinion of the māyāvādīs, who claim that when brahma accepts the shelter of the external, deluding potency, brahma becomes the living entity; and when the living entity is freed from that potency, he again becomes brahma.

This verse serves to clarify that the jīva is an eternal entity. He cannot merge with anything, nor can he be destroyed. His individual existence is eternal, whether he is liberated or bound. Essentially, the jīva is always a jīva;it is not possible for him to become the Supreme (brahma). This fact has been established in the Gītā (2.23–24). Had the jīva ever been brahma or if he were actually identical with brahma in every respect, he would never have become bound to the material world. That is to say, he would not suffer material miseries. “Satyaṃ jñānam anantam–the Absolute Reality is eternal, full of knowledge and limitless.” According to this scriptural statement, it is impossible for brahma to be in illusion, or ignorance. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore told the famous monist, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, “Parameśvara is the controller of māyā, and the living entities are controlled by māyā. This is what scripture establishes. You are saying that the living entity and Īśvara are one and the same, but this is counter to scriptural statements.”

The Śrutis clearly affirm that the living entity is not brahma: “vasanti yatra puruṣāḥ sarve vaikuṇṭha-mūrtayaḥ–people who are free from māyā can acquire a form suitable for residence in Vaikuṇṭha, where they serve Śrī Nārāyaṇa, the master of Vaikuṇṭha” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.15.14). In other words, after obtaining their spiritual nature and form (sārūpya-mukti) they serve Śrī Nārāyaṇa. In the present verse, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s words such as jīva-bhūtaḥ, mamāṃśah and sanātanaḥ also demonstrate the futility of the opinion that this material world is false and that the living entity and brahma are one.

Other māyāvādīs (pratibimba-vādīs) hold that the living entity and also inert matter are a reflection of brahma, but this conception, also, is speculative and without foundation:

(1) If brahma is all-pervading, how can He have a reflection?

(2) Who sees the reflection, and where exactly is He reflected? If one considers the jīva to be the seer and avidyā, or ignorance, the place of reflection, then one has to accept the existence of two objects that are separate from brahma: the jīva and māyā in the form of ignorance. How, then, can brahma be ekam evādvitīyam–one without a second, and how can He be all-pervading?

(3) Brahma is not the object of perception, for He is without energy, transformation or qualities and is nirguṇa. How can transcendental brahma be divided if even the sky, which is a material element, cannot be divided?

Therefore, the māyāvāda philosophy, that brahma has divided into parts to become the jīva (pariccheda-vāda), is also completely baseless.

Scripture says that brahma is avikārī, devoid of transformation. This means He cannot transform into a jīva or into matter. We can therefore see that both concepts of the māyāvādīs–pratibimba-vāda (the philosophical treatise that the living entity and inert matter are a reflection of brahma) and pariccheda-vāda (the opinion that brahma has divided into parts as the jīva)–are illusory. One may argue that this assertion contradicts Vedic statements such as “sarvaṃ khalv idaṃ brahma–everything is brahma”, and “tat tvam asi–you are that (you, the living entity, are brahma)”, but all scriptures, including the Upaniṣads and Vedānta, explain that it is Bhagavān’s potency (śakti) and not Bhagavān Himself that has transformed into the living entities and the universe. Bhagavān (brahma) is non-different from His potency, so in that sense, the living entity and this material world, which are transformations of the potency of brahma, are also non-different from brahma.

Śruti statements such as “nityo nityānāṃ cetanaś cetanānām–He is the supreme eternal among all eternals. He is the supreme conscious entity amongst all other conscious entities” clearly establish the difference between the jīva, brahma and Bhagavān. This is also established by various statements in the Gītā. For example, Gītā 15.18 states, “I am puruṣottama-tattva, the Supreme Person, beyond both perishable and imperishable entities.”

Therefore, everything is composed of brahma. Parabrahma however, is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself who is indeed beyond everything. The māyāvādīs falsely assert that the Upaniṣad statement tat tvam asi means ‘you are that’, but this speculation is against the conclusions of scripture. This statement’s actual import is, ‘you belong to Him; you are the servant of Bhagavān’. All the statements of the Vedas establish this as the actual meaning of tat tvam asi.

Śaṅkarācārya explains the following two statements:

ṛtaṃ pibanto sukṛtasya loke guhāṃ praviṣṭau parame parārdhe

Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.3.1)

Having entered within the cave of the heart, both Paramātmā and the self-realized soul drink the nectar of the Truth for a very long time.

And:

guhām praviṣṭāv ātmānau hi tad-darśanāt

Brahma-sūtra (1.2.113)

Certainly the two souls have entered the cave so that the Supreme Lord can reveal Himself to the jīvātmā.

Śaṅkarācārya, what to speak of others, has accepted the existence of two separate puruṣas due to the grammatical construction of the word ātmānau in this verse. These two puruṣas are vijñānātmā (the living entity) and Paramātmā (the Supersoul). The difference between the jīva and brahma has been shown in various places in the Śrutis, which explain that Parameśvara is vibhu (all-pervading), and that the jīva is aṇu (atomic).

Some examples of this are as follows:

(1) yathāgneḥ kṣudrā visphulingā–just as tiny sparks from a fire fly in all directions (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.1.20).

(2) bālāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca–if the tip of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and if one part is again divided into one hundred, that is considered to be the size of the jīva. Such jīvas are declared to be eternal (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.9).

(3) eṣo’ṇur ātmā cetasā veditavyo–This tiny ātmā, who reposes on the five kinds of vital airs, should be understood through the mind. The entire consciousness of the living beings is extended throughout the body by those life-airs, and in the fully pure state of consciousness, that ātmā becomes manifest (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.1.9).

(4) yathā samudre vahavaś taraṅgā–as in the ocean there are many waves (Tattva-muktāvali 10).

(5) aṇu hi jīvaṃ prati-deha-bhinnam–the living entities are certainly atomic in dimension; one living entity is situated in each body (Daśa-ślokī by Śrī Nimbārka).

(6) hlādinyā saṃvidāśliṣṭah sac-cid-ānanda īśvaraḥ svāvidyā-samvṛto jīvaḥ saṅkleśa nikarākaraḥ–The Supreme Lord, the Supreme Controller, is the embodiment of eternity, cognizance and bliss and is accompanied by the pleasure (hlādini) and cognizance (samvit) potencies. The conditioned soul, however, is always covered by ignorance and is thus a storehouse of all kinds of tribulations (Śrī Viṣṇusvāmī, cited in Śrīdhara Svāmī’s Bhāvārtha-dīpikā commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.6).

(7) yah sarveṣu bhuteṣu tiṣṭhan sarvebhyo bhūtebhyo’ntaro–the living entity engrossed in ignorance of his true nature experiences helplessness amidst a multitude of sufferings (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.7.15).

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “If you doubt how the living entities attain these two states, then listen. I am Bhagavān, the embodiment of complete eternality, knowledge and bliss. I have two types of expansions (aṃśa): svāṃśa and vibhinnāṃśa. As svāṃśa, I perform pastimes in forms such as Rāma and Nṛsiṃha. As vibhinnāṃśa, I manifest as jīvas, who are My eternal servants. In svāṃśa-tattva, the ego of being the Supreme exists fully. In My vibhinnāṃśa, however, I do not have the ego of being the Supreme, and therefore a separate individual appears. This living entity, vibhinnāṃśa-tattva, has two states: mukta (liberated) and baddha (bound). The jīva is eternal, regardless of whether he is liberated or conditioned. In the liberated state, the jīva is completely dependent upon Me and has no relationship with material nature. In the bound state, the jīva accepts the six senses (the mind and the five external senses) as his own and identifies with them while situated in the material body, which he also sees as himself.”