:: Chapter 13 :: Nature, the Enjoyer, and Consciousness

Text 23

upadrastanumanta ca
bharta bhokta mahesvarah
paramatmeti capy ukto
dehe 'smin purusah parah

Synonyms

upadrasta--overseer; anumanta--permitter; ca--also; bharta--master; bhokta--supreme enjoyer; maha-isvarah--the Supreme Lord; parama-atma--the Super soul; iti--also; ca--and; api--indeed; uktah--is said; dehe--in the body; asmin--this; purusah--enjoyer; parah--transcendental.

Translation

Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer, who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Super soul.

Purport

It is stated here that the Super soul, who is always with the individual soul, is the representation of the Supreme Lord. He is not an ordinary living entity. Because the monist philosophers take the knower of the body to be one, they think that there is no difference between the Super soul and the individual soul. To clarify this, the Lord says that He is represented as the Paramatma in every body. He is different from the individual soul; He is para, transcendental. The individual soul enjoys the activities of a particular field, but the Super soul is present not as finite enjoyer nor as one taking part in bodily activities, but as the witness, overseer, permitter and supreme enjoyer. His name is Paramatma, not atma, and He is transcendental. It is distinctly clear that the atma and Paramatma are different. The Super soul, the Paramatma, has legs and hands everywhere, but the individual soul does not. And because the Paramatma is the Supreme Lord, He is present within to sanction the individual soul's desiring material enjoyment. Without the sanction of the Supreme Soul, the individual soul cannot do anything. The individual is bhukta, or the sustained, and the Lord is bhokta, or the maintainer. There are innumerable living entities, and He is staying in them as a friend.

The fact is that every individual living entity is eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, and both of them are very intimately related as friends. But the living entity has the tendency to reject the sanction of the Supreme Lord and act independently in an attempt to dominate nature, and because he has this tendency he is called the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord. The living entity can be situated either in the material energy or in the spiritual energy. As long as he is conditioned by the material energy, the Supreme Lord, as his friend, the Super soul, stays with him just to get him to return to the spiritual energy. The Lord is always eager to take him back to the spiritual energy, but due to his minute independence the individual entity is continually rejecting the association of spiritual light. This misuse of independence is the cause of his material strife in the conditioned nature. The Lord, therefore, is always giving instruction from within and from without. From without He gives instructions as stated in Bhagavad-Gita, and from within He tries to convince the living entity that his activities in the material field are not conducive to real happiness. "Just give it up and turn your faith toward Me. Then you will be happy," He says. Thus the intelligent person who places his faith in the Paramatma or the Supreme Personality of Godhead begins to advance toward a blissful eternal life of knowledge.

Text 24

ya evam vetti purusam
prakrtim ca gunaih saha
sarvatha vartamano 'pi
na sa bhuyo 'bhijayate

Synonyms

yah--anyone who; evam--thus; vetti--understands; purusam--the living entity; prakrtim--material nature; ca--and; gunaih--the modes of material nature; saha--with; sarvatha--in all ways; vartamanah--being situated; api--in spite of; na--never; sah--he; bhuyah--again; abhijayate--takes his birth.

Translation

One who understands this philosophy concerning material nature, the living entity and the interaction of the modes of nature is sure to attain liberation. He will not take birth here again, regardless of his present position.

Purport

Clear understanding of material nature, the Super soul, the individual soul and their interrelation makes one eligible to become liberated and turn to the spiritual atmosphere without being forced to return to this material nature. This is the result of knowledge. The purpose of knowledge is to understand distinctly that the living entity has by chance fallen into this material existence. By his personal endeavor in association with authorities, saintly persons and a spiritual master, he has to understand his position and then revert to spiritual consciousness or Krisna consciousness by understanding Bhagavad-Gita as it is explained by the Personality of Godhead. Then it is certain that he will never come again into this material existence; he will be transferred into the spiritual world for a blissful eternal life of knowledge.