BHAGAVAD-GITA 7:7

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 7:7

 

mattah parataram nanyat

kincid asti dhananjaya

mayi sarvam idam protam

sutre mani-gana iva

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

mattah--beyond Me; para-taram--superior; na--not; anyat

kincit--anything else; asti--there is; dhananjaya--O conqueror of

wealth; mayi--in Me; sarvam--all that be; idam--which we see;

protam--is strung; sutre--on a thread; mani-ganah--pearls; iva--like.

 

TRANSLATION

 

O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything

rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.

 

PURPORT

 

There is a common controversy over whether the Supreme Absolute Truth

is personal or impersonal. As far as Bhagavad-gita is concerned, the

Absolute Truth is the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, and this is

confirmed in every step. In this verse, in particular, it is stressed

that the Absolute Truth is a person. That the Personality of Godhead

is the Supreme Absolute Truth is also the affirmation of the

Brahma-samhita: isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah; that

is, the Supreme Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead is Lord Krsna,

who is the primeval Lord, the reservoir of all pleasure, Govinda, and

the eternal form of complete bliss and knowledge. These authorities

leave no doubt that the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person, the

cause of all causes. The impersonalist, however, argues on the

strength of the Vedic version given in the Svetasvatara Upanisad

(3.10): tato yad uttarataram tad arupam anamayam/ ya etad vidur amrtas

te bhavanti athetare duhkham evapiyanti. "In the material world

Brahma, the primeval living entity within the universe, is understood

to be the supreme amongst the demigods, human beings and lower

animals. But beyond Brahma there is the Transcendence, who has no

material form and is free from all material contaminations. Anyone who

can know Him also becomes transcendental, but those who do not know

Him suffer the miseries of the material world."

 

The impersonalist puts more stress on the word arupam. But this arupam

is not impersonal. It indicates the transcendental form of eternity,

bliss and knowledge as described in the Brahma-samhita quoted above.

Other verses in the Svetasvatara Upanisad (3.8-9) substantiate this as

follows:

 

vedaham etam purusam mahantam

aditya-varnam tamasah parastat

tam eva vidvan ati mrtyum eti

nanyah pantha vidyate 'yanaya

 

yasmat param naparam asti kincid

yasman naniyo no jyayo 'sti kincit

vrksa iva stabdho divi tisthaty ekas

tenedam purnam purusena sarvam

 

"I know that Supreme Personality of Godhead who is transcendental to all

material conceptions of darkness. Only he who knows Him can transcend

the bonds of birth and death. There is no way for liberation other

than this knowledge of that Supreme Person.

 

"There is no truth superior to that Supreme Person, because He is the

supermost. He is smaller than the smallest, and He is greater than the

greatest. He is situated as a silent tree, and He illumines the

transcendental sky, and as a tree spreads its roots, He spreads His

extensive energies."

 

>From these verses one concludes that the Supreme Absolute Truth is the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is all-pervading by His

multi-energies, both material and spiritual.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.