BHAGAVAD-GITA 18:21

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 18:21

 

prthaktvena tu yaj jnanam

nana-bhavan prthag-vidhan

vetti sarvesu bhutesu

taj jnanam viddhi rajasam

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

prthaktvena--because of division; tu--but; yat--which;

jnanam--knowledge; nana-bhavan--multifarious situations;

prthak-vidhan--different; vetti--knows; sarvesu--in all;

bhutesu--living entities; tat--that; jnanam--knowledge; viddhi--must

be known; rajasam--in terms of passion.

 

TRANSLATION

 

That knowledge by which one sees that in every different body there is

a different type of living entity you should understand to be in the

mode of passion.

 

PURPORT

 

The concept that the material body is the living entity and that with

the destruction of the body the consciousness is also destroyed is

called knowledge in the mode of passion. According to that knowledge,

bodies differ from one another because of the development of different

types of consciousness, otherwise there is no separate soul which

manifests consciousness. The body is itself the soul, and there is no

separate soul beyond the body. According to such knowledge,

consciousness is temporary. Or else there are no individual souls, but

there is an all-pervading soul, which is full of knowledge, and this

body is a manifestation of temporary ignorance. Or beyond this body

there is no special individual or supreme soul. All such conceptions

are considered products of the mode of passion.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.