BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:3

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:3

 

sri-bhagavan uvaca

aksaram brahma paramam

svabhavo 'dhyatmam ucyate

bhuta-bhavodbhava-karo

visargah karma-samjnitah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

sri-bhagavan uvaca--the Supreme Personality of Godhead said;

aksaram--indestructible; brahma--Brahman; paramam--transcendental;

svabhavah--eternal nature; adhyatmam--the self; ucyate--is called;

bhuta-bhava-udbhava-karah--producing the material bodies of the living

entities; visargah--creation; karma--fruitive activities;

samjnitah--is called.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The indestructible,

transcendental living entity is called Brahman, and his eternal nature

is called adhyatma, the self. Action pertaining to the development of

the material bodies of the living entities is called karma, or

fruitive activities.

 

PURPORT

 

Brahman is indestructible and eternally existing, and its constitution

is not changed at any time. But beyond Brahman there is Parabrahman.

Brahman refers to the living entity, and Parabrahman refers to the

Supreme Personality of Godhead. The constitutional position of the

living entity is different from the position he takes in the material

world. In material consciousness his nature is to try to be the lord

of matter, but in spiritual consciousness, Krsna consciousness, his

position is to serve the Supreme. When the living entity is in

material consciousness, he has to take on various bodies in the

material world. That is called karma, or varied creation by the force

of material consciousness.

 

In Vedic literature the living entity is called jivatma and Brahman,

but he is never called Parabrahman. The living entity (jivatma) takes

different positions--sometimes he merges into the dark material nature

and identifies himself with matter, and sometimes he identifies

himself with the superior, spiritual nature. Therefore he is called

the Supreme Lord's marginal energy. According to his identification

with material or spiritual nature, he receives a material or spiritual

body. In material nature he may take a body from any of the 8,400,000

species of life, but in spiritual nature he has only one body. In

material nature he is manifested sometimes as a man, demigod, animal,

beast, bird, etc., according to his karma. To attain material heavenly

planets and enjoy their facilities, he sometimes performs sacrifices

(yajna), but when his merit is exhausted he returns to earth again in

the form of a man. This process is called karma.

 

The Chandogya Upanisad describes the Vedic sacrificial process. On the

sacrificial altar, five kinds of offerings are made into five kinds of

fire. The five kinds of fire are conceived of as the heavenly planets,

clouds, the earth, man and woman, and the five kinds of sacrificial

offerings are faith, the enjoyer on the moon, rain, grains and semen.

 

In the process of sacrifice, the living entity makes specific

sacrifices to attain specific heavenly planets and consequently

reaches them. When the merit of sacrifice is exhausted, the living

entity descends to earth in the form of rain, then takes on the form

of grains, and the grains are eaten by man and transformed into semen,

which impregnates a woman, and thus the living entity once again

attains the human form to perform sacrifice and so repeat the same

cycle. In this way, the living entity perpetually comes and goes on

the material path. The Krsna conscious person, however, avoids such

sacrifices. He takes directly to Krsna consciousness and thereby

prepares himself to return to Godhead.

 

Impersonalist commentators on the Bhagavad-gita unreasonably assume

that Brahman takes the form of jiva in the material world, and to

substantiate this they refer to Chapter Fifteen, verse 7, of the Gita.

But in this verse the Lord also speaks of the living entity as "an

eternal fragment of Myself." The fragment of God, the living entity,

may fall down into the material world, but the Supreme Lord (Acyuta)

never falls down. Therefore this assumption that the Supreme Brahman

assumes the form of jiva is not acceptable. It is important to

remember that in Vedic literature Brahman

(the living entity) is distinguished from Parabrahman (the Supreme Lord).

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.