BHAGAVAD-GITA 13:15

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 13:15

 

sarvendriya-gunabhasam

sarvendriya-vivarjitam

asaktam sarva-bhrc caiva

nirgunam guna-bhoktr ca

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

sarva--of all; indriya--senses; guna--of the qualities; abhasam--the

original source; sarva--all; indriya--senses; vivarjitam--being

without; asaktam--without attachment; sarva-bhrt--the maintainer of

everyone; ca--also; eva--certainly; nirgunam--without material

qualities; guna-bhoktr--master of the gunas; ca--also.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The Supersoul is the original source of all senses, yet He is without

senses. He is unattached, although He is the maintainer of all living

beings. He transcends the modes of nature, and at the same time He is

the master of all the modes of material nature.

 

PURPORT

 

The Supreme Lord, although the source of all the senses of the living

entities, doesn't have material senses like they have. Actually, the

individual souls have spiritual senses, but in conditioned life they

are covered with the material elements, and therefore the sense

activities are exhibited through matter. The Supreme Lord's senses are

not so covered. His senses are transcendental and are therefore called

nirguna. Guna means the material modes, but His senses are without

material covering. It should be understood that His senses are not

exactly like ours. Although He is the source of all our sensory

activities, He has His transcendental senses, which are

uncontaminated. This is very nicely explained in the Svetasvatara

Upanisad (3.19) in the verse apani-padojavano grahita. The Supreme

Personality of Godhead has no hands which are materially contaminated,

but He has His hands and accepts whatever sacrifice is offered to Him.

That is the distinction between the conditioned soul and the

Supersoul. He has no material eyes, but He has eyes--otherwise how

could He see? He sees everything--past, present and future. He lives

within the heart of the living being, and He knows what we have done

in the past, what we are doing now, and what is awaiting us in the

future. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita: He knows everything,

but no one knows Him. It is said that the Supreme Lord has no legs

like us, but He can travel throughout space because He has spiritual

legs. In other words, the Lord is not impersonal; He has His eyes,

legs, hands and everything else, and because we are part and parcel of

the Supreme Lord we also have these things. But His hands, legs, eyes

and senses are not contaminated by material nature.

 

Bhagavad-gita also confirms that when the Lord appears He appears as

He is by His internal potency. He is not contaminated by the material

energy, because He is the Lord of material energy. In the Vedic

literature we find that His whole embodiment is spiritual. He has His

eternal form, called sac-cid-ananda-vigraha. He is full of all

opulence. He is the proprietor of all wealth and the owner of all

energy. He is the most intelligent and is full of knowledge. These are

some of the symptoms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the

maintainer of all living entities and the witness of all activity. As

far as we can understand from Vedic literature, the Supreme Lord is

always transcendental. Although we do not see His head, face, hands or

legs, He has them, and when we are elevated to the transcendental

situation we can see the Lord's form. Due to materially contaminated

senses, we cannot see His form. Therefore the impersonalists, who are

still materially affected, cannot understand the Personality of

Godhead.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.