Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15, Verse 7

Chapter 15 – Purushottama Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः ।
मनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥

Transliteration

mamaivāṃśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ .
manaḥṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛtisthāni karṣati ॥

Meaning

An eternal fragment of My own self, having become the living soul in the world of beings, draws to itself the senses, with the mind as the sixth, which abide in nature.

Word meanings

मम – My
एव – indeed, alone
अंशः – part, fragment, portion
जीवलोके – in the world of living beings
जीवभूतः – having become the individual soul
सनातनः – eternal
मनःषष्ठानि – with the mind as the sixth
इन्द्रियाणि – the senses
प्रकृतिस्थानि – abiding in prakriti, nature
कर्षति – draws, attracts

Anvaya (word order)

जीवलोके सनातनः जीवभूतः मम एव अंशः प्रकृतिस्थानि मनःषष्ठानि इन्द्रियाणि कर्षति ।

Explanation

After describing the world-tree and the supreme abode, Krishna turns to the traveller who wanders among its branches: the jiva, the individual soul. His first words about it are full of dignity: ‘An eternal fragment of Myself, become the living soul in the world of beings.’ The soul is not an accidental, momentary product; it is sanatana, eternal, and its relation is directly with the Supreme. The particle eva underlines it: Mine alone.

Yet this eternal portion, having become embodied, draws to itself the senses and the mind that belong to prakriti. The five organs of knowledge and the mind as the sixth are made of nature; the soul gathers them around itself and through them experiences the world. Here bondage begins: what is a part of the Divine starts to think of itself not as the master of the senses and body, but as identical with them.

The word amsha, part, is where the three great schools of Vedanta divide most clearly, which makes this verse a philosophical crossroads. Shankara (Advaita) argues that Brahman is partless and cannot be split, so ‘part’ is figurative. The space enclosed in a pot seems a portion of infinite space, and the sun’s reflection in water seems a piece of the sun; when the pot breaks, the enclosed space is simply space. Likewise, when the limiting adjunct of ignorance is removed, the jiva is Brahman itself. Ramanuja (Vishishtadvaita) holds the part to be real, though not a severed piece: as radiance is part of a lamp, or a quality part of what it qualifies, the soul is an inseparable mode or attribute of the Lord, belonging to him as the body to its indweller, never identical with him yet never apart. Madhva (Dvaita) calls the jiva a vibhinnamsha, a separated part, distinguished from the svamsha, the Lord’s own forms such as his avataras. The soul is like a reflection, eternally distinct from and wholly dependent on the original.

Despite these differences, all three agree that the soul’s true identity is not body, mind or senses but its eternal relation to the Supreme. That relation is the source of hope: a part can return to its whole. In the coming verses Krishna describes how this soul carries the senses from body to body, and how only the eye of wisdom perceives it.

Context

Verse 6 described the supreme abode from which there is no return. Now Krishna reveals that the soul wandering in samsara is his own eternal fragment. Verse 8 will illustrate how this soul carries the senses with it when it leaves one body and enters another.

Life lesson

We are not as small, alone or incomplete as we often feel: our root is in the Divine. This recognition brings both self-respect and humility. Remembering that the mind and senses are our instruments, not our masters, changes the direction of a life.

Key terms

Amsha: part; in Advaita an apparent part through limiting adjuncts, in Vishishtadvaita an inseparable mode, in Dvaita a distinct reflected part
Jivabhuta: having become the embodied soul
Sanatana: eternal, without beginning or end
Manah-shashtha: the five senses with the mind as the sixth