THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 13
VERSE NUMBER 22
TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:
Upadrashttaa ‘numantaa cha bhartaa bhoktaa mahesvarah
Paramaatme ‘ti chaa ‘py ukto dehe ‘smin purushah parah
SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:
Upadrashtaa = the spectator: anumantaa = the permitter: cha = and: bhartaa = the supporter: bhoktaa = the enjoyer: mahesvarah = the Great Lord: paramaatmaa = the Supreme Self: iti = thus: cha = and: api = also: uktah = is called: dehe = in the body: asmin (in) this: purushah = Purusha: parah = Supreme.
TEXT IN ENGLISH:
The Supreme Purusha in this body is also called the Spectator, the One who permits, the Supporter, the One who experiences, the Great Lord and the Supreme Self.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Manifold are the activities taking place in the human body. The Jivatman enshrouded in ignorance imagines himself the author thereof. But the fact is that this Jivatman is merely a reflection of the Great Lord enshrined in the body. And His glories are as follows:
Upadrashttaa—the Spectator. The person who witnesses the game or the person who acts as the referee is able to see better into the orderliness and fouls in a game. The Lord resides in the human heart as a witness to all that takes place in the body and the mind.
Anumantaa—the One who permits. To one who has no ear for music, a fine melody in classical music is no more than meaningless sound. His approval or permission for the musical performance to go on counts for nothing. Whereas when an expert critic who enjoys that melody, pleads for its continuance, there is pleasure and purpose in that act. More seriously and effectively than this, the Lord witnesses the activities of the Jivatman, knows them in their true perspective and permits those of the activities which are conducive to the progress of the Jivatman. He is, therefore, the One that permits.
Bhartaa—the Supporter. More important than witnessing a play and approving of it, is to materially aid and support it. In that way, the Lord is the Supporter of the Jagat and the Jivatman.
Bhoktaa—the One who experiences. A husband is not only the supporter of his wife, but he is also a partner, enjoyer and the one that experiences the family life. In this wise, the Omniscient Lord is the One that experiences the insentient Prakriti.
Maheswara—the Great Lord. Gaining the devoted love of a chaste wife is more important in family life than gathering a variety of experiences in it. An ideal wife is never self-willed but subordinates her will to that of her husband. Prakriti is eternally spoused to Eswara: and the functions ever subservient to her Lord. Because of His complete mastery over Prakriti, He is adored as the Great Lord.
In the midst of His comprehensive relationship with Prakriti, He is eternally established in His Entirety and is in no way affected by the modifications of the Prakriti. He is, therefore, Paramaatmaa—the Supreme Self, residing in the human tabernacle.
SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The universe has come into being as a result of the union of the Purusha and the Prakriti. And do you know how it functions? The master of the family is seated somewhere absorbed in some serious thought. The housewife busies herself running here and there and attending to all the details of the affairs of the household. Now and then she acquaints her husband with what is taking place here and there and seeks his counsel too, when necessary. The man approves of what has taken place already and suggests what ought to take place next. It is in this way that the Purusha and the Prakriti function.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Here the Supreme Self is different from the psychophysical individual who becomes the immortal self by transcending the separatist consciousness, due to entanglement in the activities of Prakriti. In the Gita, no distinction is made between the knower of the field and the Supreme Lord.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Upadrashta: A spectator, a witness, a looker-on, a bystander, one who sits near. When the priests and the sacrificer perform the sacrificial rites, an expert who has good experience in sacrificial matters sits by their side. He does not take any part at all in the sacrifice. He sits as a silent witness. He guides them. He points out their defects and corrects them. Even so, the Supreme Self does not act. It does not take any part in the activities of the body, the mind and the senses. It is entirely distinct from them. It is a silent witness of their activities. It sits near Nature and silently watches Her actions.
It may be explained in another way. The body, the eyes, the mind, the intellect and the Self are the seers. Of these the body is the most external seer; the Self is the most internal seer. Beyond the Self, there is no other internal seer.
Anumanta: Permitter. The Supreme Self gives consent. It expresses Its approval or satisfaction regarding the actions done by the sense, the mind and the intellect. The King consents and says “Yes”. The Prime Minister and the other officers carry out his orders. Even so, the Supreme Self consents or gives permission; the body, the mind, the intellect, and the senses perform their respective functions. Or, though It Itself does not work while the senses, the mind and the intellect work, It appears to be engaged in action, It seems to co-operate with them. As It is an onlooker or mere witness It never stands in the way of the activities of the body, the mind, the intellect and the senses.
Bharta: Supporter. Just as the husband is the supporter of his wife, so also the Self is the supporter of this body, mind, intellect, life-force and the senses. It is different from them, just as the father who supports the children is different from them.
Bhokta: Enjoyer: the Self, of the nature of eternal intelligence. Just as heat is the inherent nature of fire, so also eternal intelligence is the inherent nature of the Self. All the states of the mind such as pleasure, pain and delusion are permeated and illumined by the intelligent Self. Just as Govindan who takes the food is different from the food, so also the Self is different from the intellect, the mind and the senses.
Mahesvarah: The great Lord. As He is the soul or essence of everything and as He is independent of all. He is Mahesvara. The sky is very big. Mahesvara is bigger than even the sky, and so He is called Mahesvara. Just as the King is different from his subjects, so also Self is different from Nature and the effects or modifications of Nature.
Paramatma: The Supreme Self. It is supreme because It is superior to all those things, from the Unmanifested to the physical body, which is mistaken for the Self on account of ignorance. Just as an iron piece moves in the presence of a magnet, so also the mind and the intellect which are insentient move and function in the presence of the Supreme Self. Just as the moon borrows its light from the sun, so also the mind and the intellect borrow their light from the Supreme Self. The Supreme Self is self-luminous. Mind and intellect have no self-luminosity. In the Vedas also He is called the Supreme Self. Lord Krishna says in verse 17 of the fifteenth chapter: “But distinct is the Highest Purusha spoken of as the Supreme Self”.
“Do thou also know Me as the knower of the field in all the fields,” has been described in detail and the subject is concluded in this verse.
Comments by the blogger:
Atman or Soul sits in the cave of heart; that is, in the place just right of the physical heart. (Atman is different from the physical heart.) He is the Supreme Purusha in this body. In this body, the mind, intellect and the senses do act, while this Supreme Atman or Soul is without any action. But the mind, intellect and the senses can never do their duty but for the presence of Atman or Soul. There is a story in the Upanishad, wherein all the senses were very proud of themselves and they said they were the reason for the working of the body. Mind and intellect also said but for them, there could be no action in the body. And then the Prana (in this context the Soul), wishing to teach them a lesson, went out of the body. Alas! With the exit of the Prana, everything in the body, every action of the body came to a standstill! From this story we come to know that though the Purusha or the Soul or Atman is without any action personally is the reason for all the actions taking place in the body and through the body. When the fund of the Praraptha Karma comes to an end, the Purusha or Soul makes its exit and the same moment the body becomes totally inert and starts to decay. This is how death occurs in the body. All actions of the body are carried out because of the proximity of the non-acting Soul. When various bodily activities take place in the body, our Soul just remains as the Witness. Not even a lifting of our little finger escapes the Spectator or the Witness.
We should also be mindful of the relationship between our individual Soul and the Universal Soul. In this Universe, countless activities take place each and every second. In our Milky Way, all the planets go round the Sun. They follow a fixed pattern or the ruite, as it were, in the way they each go round the Sun. There exists mutual attraction which stabilises each planet in its course. The attraction of the Earth differs from the attraction of the Moon. If we can jump up to three feet in this earth with the same effort we can jump up to ten feet on the Moon!. Just think of it! This is because the moon exerts lesser attraction than the earth. Like this, each of the planets in the Milky Way exerts a differing attraction. They also differ in their individual mass. With the mutual attraction, they stay the course! The Big Bang should be considered as the first very big action taking place in this Universe! The earth, like any other planet in the Universe, took millions of years to cool down so that there could be life on this planet. The Universal Soul witnesses the teeming activities continuously taking place for trillions of years! Our Soul can have a continuous and patent connection with the Universal Soul. Here God is the Soul of the Universe and the whole Universe is His body! The term “Veda” not only refers to the Four Vedas that have come down to us and we read them in book forms, but the whole Universe is known as the “Veda”! So the Universe is God’s body and He is the eternal Witness to all the happenings in this Universe!
Purusha or Soul inhering in us is not only a witness to all the actions done by this body but also is the permitting agent and the supporting agent of these bodily activities. The Human Soul which is actionless also experiences the good and bad, the bliss and the pain and all the Dualities. This Soul is the Supreme Lord. All the fields have but one Soul and the knower of the fields is also the Only One!
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