15.17 uththama: purushas thvanya:

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Chapter 15

<< Chapter 15 verse 16

SlOkam – Original

uththama: purushas thvanya: paramAthmEthyudhAhrutha: |
yO lOkathrayam AviSya bibharthyavyaya ISvara: ||

word-by-word meaning

ya:thu – one who is
lOka thrayam – three types of entities [of the world] viz achith (matter), badhdha jIvAthmAs (bound souls) and mukthAthmAs (liberated souls)
AviSya – pervading
bibharthi – supporting (them)
(he is) avyaya: – indestructible
ISvara: – controller
paramAthmA ithi udhAhrutha: – known (from SAsthram) as paramAthmA
uththama: purusha: – the supreme person (due to these reasons)
anya: – distinct (from previously explained kshara and akshara purushas)

Simple Translation

But the one who is pervading and supporting the three types of entities [of the world] viz achith (matter), badhdha jIvAthmAs (bound souls) and mukthAthmAs (liberated souls), who is indestructible and is the controller, who is known (from SAsthram) as paramAthmA, is the supreme person (due to these reasons) and is distinct (from previously explained kshara and akshara purushas).

Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam

‘But the Soul Paramount is Another, who is proclaimed as Paramātma, Who —the Infinite, the King,— penetrates all the three worlds and sustains (them).’

But there is a Supreme Soul (or Spirit) Who is different from both Kshara and Akshara, or Conditioned souls and Freed souls, respectively. That Spirit is declared as a distinct Postulate, as the Paramātma, in all the Śrutis. The very epithet Param-ātma (the Supreme or Exalted Soul) shows that the Supreme Spirit is a distinct Verity other than the bound and the freed souls. How? Because He, penetrating all the three worlds, sustains (them).

Loka=world, because it is seen (lokyate). Such worlds are three in number viz: (1) the inanimate world (achetana), (2) the animate world in conjunction with the inanimate, (baddha-chetana), and (3) the freed souls (mukta). All these three are proved to us by Authority. And these three worlds, He —the Spirit Paramount— permeates and sustains. By the fact that these are worlds, by Him pervaded, and by Him sustained, He is a Principle distinct from them. Also is this the fact by reason that He is Infinite and King, inasmuch as only a Principle Infinite can be distinct from the finite-natured achetana (inert matter), the chetanas (soul), conjoined thereto and following its lead, and the muktas, who once before were in union with it (matter) and now freed; inasmuch as only a King or Universal Sovereign can be distinct from those over whom he holds sway.

>> Chapter 15 Verse 18

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