BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:17

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:17

 

avinasi tu tad viddhi

yena sarvam idam tatam

vinasam avyayasyasya

na kascit kartum arhati

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

avinasi--imperishable; tu--but; tat--that; viddhi--know it; yena--by

whom; sarvam--all of the body; idam--this; tatam--pervaded;

vinasam--destruction; avyayasya--of the imperishable; asya--of it; na

kascit--no one; kartum--to do; arhati--is able.

 

TRANSLATION

 

That which pervades the entire body you should know to be

indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.

 

PURPORT

 

This verse more clearly explains the real nature of the soul, which is

spread all over the body. Anyone can understand what is spread all

over the body: it is consciousness. Everyone is conscious of the pains

and pleasures of the body in part or as a whole. This spreading of

consciousness is limited within one's own body. The pains and

pleasures of one body are unknown to another. Therefore, each and

every body is the embodiment of an individual soul, and the symptom of

the soul's presence is perceived as individual consciousness. This

soul is described as one ten-thousandth part of the upper portion of

the hair point in size. The Svetasvatara Upanisad (5.9) confirms this:

 

balagra-sata-bhagasya

satadha kalpitasya ca

bhago jivah sa vijneyah

sa canantyaya kalpate

 

"When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again

each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each

such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spirit soul."

Similarly the same version is stated:

 

kesagra-sata-bhagasya

satamsah sadrsatmakah

jivah suksma-svarupo 'yam

sankhyatito hi cit-kanah

 

"There are innumerable particles of spiritual atoms, which are

measured as one ten-thousandth of the upper portion of the hair."

 

Therefore, the individual particle of spirit soul is a spiritual atom

smaller than the material atoms, and such atoms are innumerable. This

very small spiritual spark is the basic principle of the material

body, and the influence of such a spiritual spark is spread all over

the body as the influence of the active principle of some medicine

spreads throughout the body. This current of the spirit soul is felt

all over the body as consciousness, and that is the proof of the

presence of the soul. Any layman can understand that the material body

minus consciousness is a dead body, and this consciousness cannot be

revived in the body by any means of material administration.

Therefore, consciousness is not due to any amount of material

combination, but to the spirit soul. In the Mundaka Upanisad (3.1.9)

the measurement of the atomic spirit soul is further explained:

 

eso 'nur atma cetasa veditavyo

yasmin pranah pancadha samvivesa

pranais cittam sarvam otam prajanam

yasmin visuddhe vibhavaty esa atma

 

"The soul is atomic in size and can be perceived by perfect

intelligence. This atomic soul is floating in the five kinds of air

(prana, apana, vyana, samana and udana), is situated within the heart,

and spreads its influence all over the body of the embodied living

entities. When the soul is purified from the contamination of the five

kinds of material air, its spiritual influence is exhibited."

 

The hatha-yoga system is meant for controlling the five kinds of air

encircling the pure soul by different kinds of sitting postures--not

for any material profit, but for liberation of the minute soul from

the entanglement of the material atmosphere.

 

So the constitution of the atomic soul is admitted in all Vedic

literatures, and it is also actually felt in the practical experience

of any sane man. Only the insane man can think of this atomic soul as

all-pervading visnu-tattva.

 

The influence of the atomic soul can be spread all over a particular

body. According to the Mundaka Upanisad, this atomic soul is situated

in the heart of every living entity, and because the measurement of

the atomic soul is beyond the power of appreciation of the material

scientists, some of them assert foolishly that there is no soul. The

individual atomic soul is definitely there in the heart along with the

Supersoul, and thus all the energies of bodily movement are emanating

from this part of the body. The corpuscles which carry the oxygen from

the lungs gather energy from the soul. When the soul passes away from

this position, the activity of the blood generating fusion ceases.

Medical science accepts the importance of the red corpuscles, but it

cannot ascertain that the source of the energy is the soul. Medical

science, however, does admit that the heart is the seat of all

energies of the body.

 

Such atomic particles of the spirit whole are compared to the sunshine

molecules. In the sunshine there are innumerable radiant molecules.

Similarly, the fragmental parts of the Supreme Lord are atomic sparks

of the rays of the Supreme Lord, called by the name prabha, or

superior energy. So whether one follows Vedic knowledge or modern

science, one cannot deny the existence of the spirit soul in the body,

and the science of the soul is explicitly described in the

Bhagavad-gita by the Personality of Godhead Himself.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.