Chapter 15. The Yoga
of the Supreme Person
TEXT 7
mamaivamso jiva-loke
jiva-bhutah sanatanah
manah-sasthanindriyani
prakrti-sthani karsati
SYNONYMS
mama--My;
eva--certainly; amsah--fragmental particles; jiva-loke--world
of conditional life; jiva-bhutah--the conditioned living entity;
sanatanah--eternal; manah--mind; sasthani--six; indriyani--senses;
prakrti--material nature; sthani--situated; karsati--struggling
hard.
TRANSLATION
The living
entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due
to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses,
which include the mind.
PURPORT
In this verse
the identity of the living being is clearly given. The living entity is
the fragmental part and parcel of the Supreme Lord--eternally. It is not
that he assumes individuality in his conditional life and in his liberated
state becomes one with the Supreme Lord. He is eternally fragmented. It
is clearly said, sanatanah. According to the Vedic version, the
Supreme Lord manifests and expands Himself in innumerable expansions, of
which the primary expansions are called visnu-tattva and the secondary
expansions are called the living entities. In other words, the visnu-tattva
is the personal expansion, and the living entities are separated expansions.
By His personal expansion, He is manifested in various forms like Lord
Rama, Nrsimhadeva, Visnumurti and all the predominating Deities in the
Vaikuntha planets. The separated expansions, the living entities, are eternally
servitors. The personal expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
the individual identities of the Godhead, are always present. Similarly,
the separated expansions of living entities have their identities. As fragmental
parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, the living entities have also fragmental
qualities, of which independence is one. Every living entity has an individual
soul, his personal individuality and a minute form of independence. By
misuse of that independence, one becomes a conditioned soul, and by proper
use of independence he is always liberated. In either case, he is qualitatively
eternal, as the Supreme Lord is. In his liberated state he is freed from
this material condition, and he is under the engagement of transcendental
service unto the Lord; in his conditional life he is dominated by the material
modes of nature, and he forgets the transcendental loving service of the
Lord. As a result, he has to struggle very hard to maintain his existence
in the material world.
The living
entities, not only the human beings and the cats and dogs, but even the
greater controllers of the material world--Brahma, Lord Siva, and even
Visnu--are all parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. They are all eternal,
not temporary manifestations. The word karsati (struggling or grappling
hard) is very significant. The conditioned soul is bound up, as though
shackled by iron chains. He is bound up by the false ego, and the mind
is the chief agent which is driving him in this material existence. When
the mind is in the mode of goodness, his activities are good; when the
mind is in the mode of passion, his activities are troublesome; and when
the mind is in the mode of ignorance, he travels in the lower species of
life. It is clear, however, in this verse, that the conditioned soul is
covered by the material body, with the mind and the senses, and when he
is liberated this material covering perishes, but his spiritual body manifests
its individual capacity. The following information is there in the Madhyandinayana-sruti:
sa va esa brahma-nistha idam sariram martyam atisrjya brahmabhisampadya
brahmana pasyati brahmana srnoti brahmanaivedam sarvam anubhavati.
It is stated here that when a living entity gives up this material embodiment
and enters into the spiritual world, he revives his spiritual body, and
in his spiritual body he can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face
to face. He can hear and speak to Him face to face, and he can understand
the Supreme Personality as He is. In smrti also it is understood
that in the spiritual planets everyone lives in bodies featured like the
Supreme Personality of Godhead's. As far as bodily construction is concerned,
there is no difference between the part and parcel living entities and
the expansions of visnu-murti. In other words, at liberation the
living entity gets a spiritual body by the grace of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead.
The word
mamaivamsah (fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord) is
also very significant. The fragmental portion of the Supreme Lord is not
like some material broken part. We have already understood in the Second
Chapter that the spirit cannot be cut into pieces. This fragment is not
materially conceived. It is not like matter, which can be cut into pieces
and joined together again. That conception is not applicable here because
the Sanskrit word sanatana (eternal) is used. The fragmental portion
is eternal. It is also stated in the beginning of the Second Chapter that
(dehino 'smin yatha) in each and every individual body, the fragmental
portion of the Supreme Lord is present. That fragmental portion, when liberated
from the bodily entanglement, revives its original spiritual body in the
spiritual sky in a spiritual planet and enjoys association with the Supreme
Lord. It is, however, understood here that the living entity, being the
fragmental part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, is qualitatively one, just
as the parts and parcels of gold are also gold.
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