Fallible

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Dear Radhikesh Prabhu,

 

Please accept my obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

> According to Bhakta Ivar ksara meaning fallible refers to the material

> body which is perishable.

 

That's what I read in Sridhara Svami's subodhini commentary. Ksara literally

means perishable or changeable. Therefore we as persons cannot be considered

ksara, because we, as eternal spirit souls, are by nature imperishable and

unchangeable.

 

> But here we see SP saying from Brahma to small

> ant who are changing the body, THEY are all fallible.

 

The example of Brahma is also there in Sridhara Svami's commentary

(translation by Swami Vireswarananda):

 

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16. There are two beings (Purushas) in this world - perishable and

imperishable; the perishable one is all these creatures, and the immutable

(kutashah) is called the imperishable.

 

Now, what has been referred to in the text, "That is My supreme state"

(verse 6), that supreme nature of His is being shown in the three verses

beginning with: There are etc. There are two beings, perishable and

imperishable (which are well known) in this world. They are being stated: Of

these, the being called perishable is all these creatures (consists of

bodies beginning with that of Brahma down to immovable things, for the

ignorant commonly use the word 'person' with respect to bodies only). The

immutable, that which stands firm like a rock without any change when the

bodies perish, i.e., the conscious principle [soul] that is the experience;

he is said to be the imperishable being by the discriminative.

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It would be interesting however to hear what Baladeva Vidyabhusana's and

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura's say about this verse in their commentaries.

 

Your servant,

bhakta Ivar.