15.7 mamaivAmSO jIvalOkE

SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Chapter 15

<< Chapter 15 verse 6

SlOkam – Original

mamaivAmSO jIvalOkE jIvabhUtha: sanAthana: |
mana:shashtAnIndhriyANi prakruthisthAni karshathi ||

word-by-word meaning

sanAthana: – existing since time immemorial (forever)
mama amSa: Eva (san) – one amongst the jIvAthmAs who are having my features
jIva bhUtha: – being a badhdha jIva (bound soul, surrounded by karma)
jIva lOkE – being in this leelA vibhUthi (material realm) where bound souls live
prakruthi sthAni – present in body which is an effect of prakruthi (matter)
mana shashtAni indhiryANi – the mind and the five gyAna indhriyams (skin, mouth, eyes, nose and ears – the sense organs of knowledge)
karshathi – makes them work (based on karma)

Simple Translation

The jIvAthmA (soul) is existing since time immemorial (forever), being one amongst the jIvAthmAs who are having my features, being a badhdha jIva (bound soul, surrounded by karma), being in this leelA vibhUthi (material realm) where bound souls live; such AthmA makes the mind and the five gyAna indhriyams (skin, mouth, eyes, nose and ears – the sense organs of knowledge) which are present in body which is an effect of prakruthi (matter), work.

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

‘This portion[1. Sri M.R.Sampatkumaran’s Gitabhashya (1972) translation explain this: The self and the Lord are fundamentally distinct from one another. But, as the thing owned and the Owner, they become a composite and qualified unity. In this unity, the self which is the qualifying attribute is separately designated as a “part” with reference to the principal Object qualified (or the Lord). (Thus far per Tatparya Chandrika). (Also) Compare (with) Srimad Bhagavatam (II.3.45), where it is shown that the self is an amśa (or part) of the Lord in the sense of its being a mode which cannot exist apart from the possessor of the mode.] of Myself, —ancient,— (is) the life-entity in this world of life; it attracts to itself the matter-seated senses (five) with manas the sixth.'[2. Consult Br: Su: II-3-42: ‘Amśo nānā-vyapadeśatvāt’ etc., and Manu: I-16; Praś: Up°: III-9-10: Punarbhavam etc. (Editor’s note: Brahma Sutra: II-3-45: ‘Prakaśādivattu naivam Paraḥ’, specifically explains what “portion/part” means.)]

This (ātma) of the aforesaid nature, ancient (=eternal), constituting a portion of Myself, yet becomes enmeshed in the immemorial nescience of karma, and becomes a life-entity in the world of life (=conditioned existence), and attracts to itself the (five) senses and the manas (mind) the sixth, having their seat in matter and fashioned out into specific shapes as deva, man etc. But when it treads the path laid down already (Gi: XV-45), it frees itself from the nescience (avidyā), and re-asserts itself in its native character (of soul-nature.)

The living (or incorporeated) entity is very much limited in intelligence and power. Taking hold of the senses and the manas —of which he becomes lord— which he finds in the karma-begotten matter-moulded body, drags with them hither and thither.

>> Chapter 15 Verse 8

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